such care....

“Hello Hunter Gatherer, how’s it?”

My wife puffed through the door lugging loads of fruit and veg and 5 L of milk in bottles, not plastic, which our veg man refills. She laughed, “It’s dangerous out there because I was an hour late, three in the veg shop, five in the Superette. But here I am and I hope I’m okay.”

“I hope you are too. Anyway, we won’t know till a week hence if we caught Covid at the hospital.”

Walking down the hospital's long low, airless corridor, I felt insecure even with my mask on. Porters pushing supplies or patients, nurses rushing past, a clump of doctors clamped together discussing things which had just happened in the intensive care units whose doors we were not far from where we sat waiting my appointment. I had almost cancelled, but just four days previously the consultant said I needed the procedure urgently. Everyone looked shattered, running on adrenaline. “Covid patients are arriving all the time!” The person treating me said. “They close the corridor when they’re wheeled past.”

When all the business was done, I felt great relief. I also felt sad for those I’d left behind. Hour after hour, day in, day out they breath that fouled air as they desperately try to save lives. I felt like weeping for those decent, hard-working people.

You hope they’re all going to be okay.

“I’ve had the jab but still got a few weeks before immunity kicks in.” My medic said, “I’m gonna join the vaccination team in my spare time. Quite a few of my colleagues are already off with Covid.”

Nearly 900 medics have died in Britain during this pandemic, too many, none of them should have died. They should’ve all have been inoculated as soon as the vaccine came out, they should all have been properly protected with quality PPE a long time ago. This government has been lax, we are an island after all and we could have closed our borders, checked and traced everyone in the early stages. Over 100,000 of us have died in this country. Heads should roll.

Brexit and the economy took precedence over saving lives... now look at the mess we're in. Anyway, hope is over the horizon, but this next year will be another one wiped out. Yet, it is weird to say, China is back to normal with hardly any deaths; it raises questions.... That means we each need to learn survival skills to survive lockdown. - Find the advantages, small as they might be. Learn to be more positive, more self aware. Love who and what you are and of course, exercise. I do daily even though it’s not easy for me (on Friday, a doctor exclaimed, “Wow! You’ve had years of bad luck in health!”) so most of us can, it just takes deciding to. Go on!