Saturday January 1st 2022 – Back behind the gun
On New Years Day a group of us traditionally meet at a friend’s farm for some clay pigeon shooting, the only time that most of us attempt to shatter clay discs catapulted across in front of the gun, with variable success. Every year the event is attended, on the whole, by the same group of friends, and every year, since 2003, I have photographed the event, a continuing record of ebbing youth and progressing wrinkles, at least on the outside. Within ourselves we are, and always will be, in our early twenties. After the event I share the images, and I always take the opportunity to scan through the previous photos of this traditional event. I realised that there is now a gap in the record, with no photographs from New Year’s Day 2020. The omission is itself is a record, a record of a Christmas Covid lockdown. It was good to be back behind the barrel. The Clay Pigeons didn’t mind – on the whole they remained safe.
Sunday January 2nd 2022 – Close contacts
The number of new Omicron cases nationally continues to increase each day, and this has been reflected within our own social circle. My stepdaughter has told us that she had just tested positive for Covid. We had visited the family just three days ago, spending a day eating together, playing board games, admiring and exchanging Christmas presents, and enjoyed a dog walk which included a visit to the local tavern. We may have socially distanced from other pub customers, but certainly not from each other.
Then we receive a WhatsApp from a friend telling us that he had just tested positive for covid. Only two days ago we had been for a walk with him and his partner, followed by an hour of tea and biscuits in our kitchen.
Tuesday January 4th 2022 – Tried and tested
It is unsurprising that after some of the people that we have been in contact with told us that they have contracted Covid, when my wife felt unwell she promptly booked herself in for a PCR test at a local test centre, despite repeated negative lateral flow tests. We both report regularly on the “ZOE” phone app, part of a research project. Reporting any symptoms that could vaguely be connected to Covid results in an invitation for a PCR test, and it was the ZOE project that allowed my wife to book a test. On arrival she joined a queue to enter, which shortly afterwards increased, in length, stretching back along the road, a further sign of the number of suspect covid cases in our immediate area. Today, 24 hours later, to our relief, she received a negative result.
Wednesday 12th January 2022 – A shortage of test kits
With the high number of cases coinciding with, and possibly because of, socialising over the Christmas and New Year holiday, we have been lateral flow testing before all social engagements. In fact, on occasion, we have been testing almost daily before leaving home to meet family or friends. The results have continued to be negative, but we soon began to run short of lateral flow tests. We have always ordered tests online, to be posted to us, but we got repeated messages advising that no kits were available at this time. It took three or four days before I was able to order a box of seven individual nose swabs and associated test kits, plus another box to be delivered to Mother-in-Law. It took another two or three days before my wife managed to order a box. Ordering a box of kits for each of us has always ensured that we had swabs available, but from now on I think we will each have a box “in hand”. We are now both back at work, unavoidably mixing with strangers, and want to ensure that we are “clean” before mixing with friends and family.
Friday 21st January 2022 – Getting complacent
Yet another close friend has succumbed to The Virus, but, as with other friends and family, the symptoms have been mild, typical of the Omicron variant. I find I am less cautious with this variant, worrying less if I need to mix with strangers during work visits, or in any other circumstances. I recall that, during the initial wave of viral infection, if I had been in close proximity with people that I did not know, I became convinced that I would contract the disease within days. No testing then – just wait and see if symptoms occurred. It wasn’t just the potential severity of an infection; it was also the fear of Long Covid. Long Covid is getting less attention these days – I have absolutely no idea of the risk of Long Covid with the Omicron variant. Maybe familiarity is breeding contempt. Maybe I shouldn’t be so complacent.
Thursday 20th January 2022 – An unexperienced issue when working from home
Working in the Leicester office today. This morning someone from another team rushed into the office, clearly late for on online meeting of some sort. As she rushed breathlessly from the door to her desk at the rear of the office, she explained that when she had settled down earlier in her “home office”, ready to log on for her meeting, her internet connection failed. This didn’t just mean leaping into the car and heading into town. Apparently, it meant suddenly having to wash hair, apply make-up, find something suitable to wear, and then leaping into the car. There seems to be complexities to this combined home and office working of which I have absolutely no experience.
CLICK IMAGE TO GO TO MARCH 2022 DIARY
2 years since the first lockdown and since my first post, and it is time to post my last entry and say farewell. There has been a change of culture, but Normal Service has pretty much resumed.
CLICK IMAGE TO GO TO LOCKDOWN DIARY HOME PAGE
Life in the UK changed for everyone in March 2020