Get set for Freedom Day

It's pretty much looking like a warm weekend for most of us in England at least where things will be kind of different from Monday.

I say kind of as for the umpteenth time people are confusing Laws with Rules as it is the Laws that are changing in connection with Social Distancing  and related matters which is different because like with say wearing anything obscuring your face there is no Law to ban it but good luck going into a bank or building society with that as it often breaches their Rules and you won't get service only if you follow their rule.

Rules don't trump Laws, they deal with local situations such as in institutions such as school.

This is relevant because an area of concern has been around wearing Masks (I prefer to call Masks, Masks not "face coverings" which refer to a wider set of things you might wear to be honest) where the Law will have no legal requirement backed by authority to wear one.

This does not mean that you may be requested in certain setting such as busy crowded places with limited air flow to wear a mask or in medical settings.

Already transportation such as Trams and Underground trains have made it plain a number will be expecting you to comply with a request in metropolitan areas which as so far only two -thirds of people over eighteen are fully vaccinated and much less likely to spread and catch covid.

The same will apply in some Supermarkets which as we all know get super crowded at weekends and other establishments.

To me this does make sense for now and can always be reviewed later although some areas like hospitality may be more "at own risk" as it is impossible to eat and drink masked and opening with huge limits on numbers almost unsustainable economically.

It doesn't diminish our freedom to respect the rights of others such as service providers and their employees in looking after themselves.

You will be be able to do more and with more people BUT you will still need to be cautious and be responsible.

The moodlifter

Not the greatest of weeks here but it may get better by next, as I type this in a new splint, the seems to be a amazing mood about the Country.

Yes, England have made it to the finals of Euro 2020+1 which apart from giving many people over what has been a pretty rubbish 16 months since lockdown began something to cheer about it has been quite interesting to see the number of women and girls taking interest in it, attending the many fan zones set up.

Part of that is that the female game has come of age with both Premiership Clubs operating quality female teams and the increased numbers of girls taking part in football, even joining girls own teams, having their own heroines.

Certainly it was a rare thing when I went to school to see girls playing in PE/sports or in the playground although my Mom was one of handful that did play the game with her brother and his friends and yet today it is by no means uncommon to see a girl bouncing her football enroute for the park for a game and for it to be offered to girls as team sport in school.

In the crazy world here, the new Fridge has arrived as I left the one and only grump to get on with moving the old one out, sweeping god know how many years of dust and that where it was before unboxing and installing the new one.

I don't need the static of arguments often stupid ones born of an unwillingness to discuss and agree a timetable for doing things rather than just doing it when he wants and then have fuss because others are already halfway through things they've started.

Thankfully it was dry and fairly pleasant so  spent that time walking and watching the world go by before settling in to children's programming on the BBC in the afternoon.

The month things will change

Well, we're into July where touch wood, I should be able to be out of this house overnight for the first time in absolutely ages.

There is as ever continuing discourse about how we are supposed to get out of this some of which can be paraphrased as "let me sleep on it" forever looking at other things into the future and saying effectively I'm not sure I need more time.

We of course now have for other reasons a new health secretary who is more inclined to take a broader view looking at the social,economic and even health consequences of the measure we felt were necessary to tackle the Covid pandemic.

It's always been a balencing act an act that has at least reduced the numbers of projected deaths by a huge margin even if the situation around Care Homes remains understandably sore part of the problem being that Care homes moved from mainly local authority controlled where they would of recieved support to mainly privately owned ones where it appears home owners expected the state to supply P.pe. and non one in the state was checking what if anything care homes were doing.

Regardless of party politics, social care and medical care including homes needs to be fully intergrated into the NHS, not fractured with demarcation issues.

There is talk around the requirement to wear masks (we can now call them what they are not just facial coverings) with some saying they should be optional given some 85% of people have  had a one innoculation and about 63% currently have had both has had a massive effect at bring the link between cases of Covid which are high and people being so ill as to require hospitalization.

That impact goes beyond being decimated but I do feel strongly that in enclosed public spaces people would be best adviced to stay with wearing mask for both the additional protection against transmission not just of covid but of things such as Winter Flu.

There was a reason many in South East Asia do wear masks for this and from my point of view we should keep that even if we do relax the one metre rule in things like entertainment centres.

Yes we need, however hard we may be pyschologically to break out of the fearfullness of the last year and a bit for our own good but we should be prepared to learn from and kept those things that can keep us all healthy

Going forward on Tumblr

This week hasn't been a great one with pretty bad muzzy head for a large chunk of it and as I'm typing this apart from the bang bang bang of next door erecting another shed it is raining pretty hard here, to hard to be honest for me to be out spotting the wildlife and no I don't mean Grumpy by that,lol!

I've been working a little on my Tumblr which I've had for a while now tidying the odd post up and working on the style of it as some of things I might of considering posting to be honest I had grown a bit tired of.

Part of that is really more to do with how Age Dysphoria runs in my life, I don't so much need a regressive tumblr so much as one that covers just what interests me a bit like a half and half of this blog and my other one cos I'm in the same space.

So that does have things related to manga, anime and lolita fashion mixed in with some past childhood related posts minus much of the age regression war discourse which as I've said before ironically takes you out of the very headspace you need just for arguments about terms and that.

That's always been me I feel and getting that tumblr right so I feel comfortable posting on it the stuff that matters to me is important.

The summer on temporary hold

 

The summer has been paused due to concerns over the extent of case rising of the Delta (previously known as the "Indian" ) variant until July 19th with just a few relaxations around things such as weddings and  few events going ahead as "test" events  and the break on when people and businesses can be evicted for being behind on rent shunted forward to March 2022.

Of itself that doesn't surprise me because it is generally accepted the variant is something like 60% more transmissible so you need a higher ratio of people with at least once vaccination and more including all vulnerable groups on double vaccinations to keep the transmission and hence the number of cases down.   

The good news is the vaccine especially where both doses have been given does reduce the number of severe cases up to and including needing hospitalization down and those that are seem to recover quicker than the initial Covid form so take less time in hospital.

By today all adults over eighteen will be able to book their vaccinations and a combination of intense surge testing and mass immunization in hot spots including all of the historic counties of Cheshire and Lancashire with their modern day "City Regions" of Liverpool and Greater Manchester cases will be flattened as well as nearby Leek here in Staffordshire where it is clearly linked to high schools and colleges so were already on eighteen plus vaccination.

I see masks and much of the one metre plus rules staying in place for the foreseeable future although it must be stressed we WILL need to live with this virus, keeping ourselves safe rather than be kept on permanent restrictions because as sad as the impact of Covid has been on health and deaths, the measures being taken to deal with it are also having a severe affect on health from operations and treatments postponed leading to people losing health, massive impacts on mental health even amongst those less vulnerable, time lost in physical well-being and education and so on.

We can't permanently pause society due to concern about NHS capacity, we need to address that capacity issue through increasing it.

Past loves and the struggles today

Not being a good week here with a muzzy head and migraine for a few days only semi-interrupted by a trip to the hairdressers so while haven't been able to prepare very much my brain was going backwards.

One of my first earworms was Sugar Sugar as performed by the Archies who had in 1969 had a tv show apart from being a massive comic giving an outlook on the teen life but having at least a dog and super clothes to grab my attention back then

It was a funny kind of era because coming in from the end of 1967 into 1968 a mixture of sophisticated productions, allied to a more child-like comic book approach to pop music and even cartoons had come in from songs like "Simon Says" the party game we played set to cheesy organ driven pop, catchphrases like "Quick, Joey Small" turned into songs and then things like the Archies and Josie and The Pussycats.

That was before you took into account things like Rupert The Bear being sang on Top of the Pops and Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep by the Middle of The Road being in the charts

I always loved watching The Wizzard of Oz with it's songs I loved to sing along to.

I did see this crib sheet come up which I thought was handy.

Finally like a good number of us with autism I find small talk in parties, social get togethers and even in the world of polly ticks very hard going and remain unable to make eye contact without freaking out.

I was once told in a employment annual review to apologize for not making eye contact something which I saw as being near enough having to apologize for my autism, that I absolutely refuse to do.

It's one thing to say if someone's notices it "Due to my autism I'm afraid I'm unable to make eye contact with people" it's another to have to apologize for not being able to meet a norm due to a disability I have no control over.

The alpaca's pj's

Phew, it's been a pretty warm week here so I've had to keep up the hydration here with extra glasses of water and pop as the heat takes a fair bit out of you and I tend to run on the warm side normally as it is.

I've been outdoors a fair bit taking in the sun, meeting people as you do while I've been exploring and sunbathing trying to stay healthy after all of last years business apart from obviously having now had both of my vaccinations.

While out I spotted these Alpacas playing around, half expecting me to toss them a carrot or two otherwise they'll send a posse around. 

I think they're really cute.