The Long View

This is an all too familiar scene, looking over to what I think are the villages of Gorebridge and Newtongrange from the bus stop at the Marie Curie Hospice.
It was such a lovely day and as I had a present for ‘our’ clinical care nurse, I took the bus there to hand it over to reception.

Earlier, I had a last Sunday coffee with one of my Merry Widows before we go back to a level 4 lockdown on Boxing Day. Just when you think there might be a light at the end of the tunnel, there comes a bend in the road and you can’t see the light any longer. The thought of having another 3 weeks aimlessly walking about the streets because nothing is open and you can’t go anywhere, is horrible to contemplate.

Earlier still while it was dark, I had a sortie to the neighbourhood Tesco to buy some stuffing. There were 2 other people in the store wearing masks but then in came 3 young Asian lads who had obviously never been to bed and none was wearing a mask. They had the run of the shop before finally a supervisor challenged them but not about the lack of masks but about carrying in an opened can of beer. They took their time leaving, using one of the self service tills to buy something. Meanwhile I fought with my misted up glasses, my mask and my beanie.

This is exactly why the virus is spreading so quickly- there are many, many young and not so young people who really don’t give a damn about following any directives and the reason why there will be countless people on the road from London and the SE to other parts of England and Scotland as I type, bringing with them the new variant of Covid.

Matt Hancock said on the Andrew Marr show this morning that the police can stop illegal travel, but realistically can they? They are too busy shutting down big illegal house parties. I don’t think the average IQ of the general population is 100, it’s much less than that.