Can't wait -

[Observer II]

India was relatively covid light until it totally opened up from lockdown, with Modi allowing election rallies and religious events, with tightly packed crowds rubbing shoulders. Now they're into a massive surge in cases, with health systems overwhelmed, shortage of oxygen, and funeral pyres by the sides of roads.   Europe is still experiencing another surge.  Now with reduced infections in the UK, the lemmings are clamouring for a complete release on lockdown, just like they did in India.   The pandemic is still raging throughout the world, and is airborne with every international flight.  So we'll no doubt see the lemmings flocking to the beaches and some even flying to the Med this Summer,  plus pubs and sports crowds;  so ensuring we require yet another lockdown by Winter  - unbelievable.       😠     😷     💀

[asperity]

Change the record Obs, it's getting tedious now 🙄

[Observer II]

Perhaps because the reality is quite tedious - the lemmings just won't learn.   😷

[Latchford Locks]

3 hours ago, Observer II said:

India was relatively covid light until it totally opened up from lockdown,.   The pandemic is still raging throughout the world, and is airborne with every international flight.  So we'll no doubt see the lemmings flocking to the beaches and some even flying to the Med this Summer,  plus pubs and sports crowds;  so ensuring we require yet another lockdown by Winter  - unbelievable.       😠     😷     💀

Yes I see your logic.

But what's the alternative ?

I don't think anyone is sure what to do

It is the younger generation I feel sorry for ,you can't recapture those golden years of first pint first kiss, first

holiday with your mates instead of Parents the list goes on......

I was lucky same as most folk on this site we had no world wars to fight just a summer of love to enjoy

I may be a bit old and decrepit rattling round with my zimmer frame.

But I Can Always Say "" I was there there ""

This young generation risk missing it. 🙁

[Observer II]

The alternative is happening in India just now, and until vaccines are in use globally, the risks remain real.   Survival trumps sentiment.     😷

[Latchford Locks]

9 minutes ago, Observer II said:

The alternative is happening in India just now, and until vaccines are in use globally, the risks remain real.   Survival trumps sentiment.     😷

I'm not advocating anything in particular in fact I'm at a loss what to do. 😔

Just passing a comment on the sometimes unseen cost of this wretched plague.

 

[Bill]

I’m hopeful that here in the UK we’re being a lot more sensible and that if there is to be any additional waves of infections then they won’t be anywhere near as bad. The variant of the virus that we had to endure was far worse than what most other countries had to contend with but now it’s that same variant that’s becoming the dominant strain in so many other countries.

We’ve had the really bad one and got through it, learned a lot of lessons, developed a load of medicines and with most of the country nearly all vaccinated, we’re in a better position than most others. Life has to go on so we just have to be a bit careful that we keep an eye on things and be prepared to act quickly if it looks like things start going pear shaped again.

 

Bill 😊

[Evil Sid]

4 hours ago, Observer II said:

So we'll no doubt see the lemmings flocking to the beaches and some even flying to the Med this Summer,  plus pubs and sports crowds;  so ensuring we require yet another lockdown by Winter  - unbelievable. 

For the 1958 Disney nature film White Wilderness, filmmakers eager for dramatic footage staged a lemming death plunge, pushing dozens of lemmings off a cliff while cameras were rolling.

Whilst lemming doe migrate they do not jump off cliffs, only idiot humans do that.

A more fitting reference would be wildebeest crossing and recrossing the same river during their migration until a consensus is reached on which way they were supposed to be going.....Oh well that is the end of the Gnus, now for the weather forecast. Look out the window for the up to date weather in your region......🤭

[Latchford Locks]

23 minutes ago, Evil Sid said:

For the 1958 Disney nature film White Wilderness, filmmakers eager for dramatic footage staged a lemming death plunge, pushing dozens of lemmings off a cliff while cameras were rolling.

Whilst lemming do migrate they do not jump off cliffs, only idiot humans do that....🤭

[Latchford Locks]

7 minutes ago, Latchford Locks said:

 

 

[Observer II]

Bill, some key words you used - "we just have to be a bit careful"; problem is, the majority of folk aren't "a bit careful"; either through complete ignorance or bravado; they ignore spacial distancing and crowded environments.  😷     Latch,  previous generations had to suffer a loss of their normal life expectations,  hunched up in air raid shelters while they were being bombed,  but they soldiered on and endured, without the current bleating about mental health issues. It's a  s**t sandwich and we've all got to take a bite.  😷

[Bill]

I don’t know Obs, maybe people in Paddington are different to where you live. I’d say during the normal day, most people I come across seem respectful of distancing whether it’s just walking down the street or queuing in the shop. Of course there are always some who don’t care enough but I wouldn’t say they are anything like the majority that you seem to see.

But then again, you’re the Observer, not me. 😊

 

Bill 😊

[Observer II]

Try the Town Centre Bill.   😷

[Bill]

That’s where they all are then. I don’t go into the town that often but if I do it’s a quick in and out and in any case, it’s been largely deserted the last few times I’ve been there.

When the Golden Square shops were all open last year and they were asking people to keep left when moving about, I did notice that about 1 in 5 seemed oblivious to the fact they were walking against everyone else. I doubt anyone was doing it deliberately and most likely their mind was on other things. Similar situation during the minuets silence for Prince Phillip where half the people in Sainsbury’s stood still while the rest ignored the loudspeaker request and carried on shopping.

The whole world’s full of odd people who don’t all think the same thank goodness.

  

Bill 😊

 

[Observer II]

Well Bill, it seems 10,000 "odd people" were marching in close order through London on Saturday, on yet another "protest" march.          😷

[asperity]

Is there any evidence that any of the demonstrations or marches have led to a spike?

[Bill]

Didn’t hear about that but yes, they’re clearly less concerned about virus spread but they only represent a tiny fraction of the general population. The person who steps into the road as he passes you to give you a little more space doesn’t make headline news, but I’d argue that infinitely more people would do this than go on protest marches.

Statistically, there will have been about 20 in that 10,000 that were carrying the virus and possibly could have spread it on to others but at least it was outside where it gets diluted. Overall we’ll never know if it had any affect because the numbers are so small.

I think the only genuine conclusion that can be drawn from this is that folk in London are a little more whacky than here in Paddington.

 

Bill 😊

[Observer II]

Plenty of evidence coming out of India at the moment.   It's not complicated, the virus spreads via human to human transmission, made easier in enclosed and crowded environments, engage in such activity and the rate of spread will increase and we'll be back to square one.  So if we stopped excusing these covidiots, we may reduce spread.  I'll put money on another surge over the Summer  and Autumn, with another lockdown by Winter,  and another booster jab to go with the flu jab for the grumpies.   😷

[Bill]

The surge in India isn’t something that developed in India and that could be brought back here to infect us, it’s just our virus that’s reached them. 

The only real concern is that with so many people over there being infected, the chance of a new mutation evolving there is increased but we've got such good measures in place now to monitor and control these things that I doubt we'll ever have a repeat of what we've just had and I'll put money on that.

 

Bill 😊

[asperity]

I'm intrigued Bill, how is it "our" virus? Or are you demonstrating that typical British trait of claiming that anything new in the world must have started in Britain? 🤣🤣

I'm coming to the conclusion that, given the government's slow response to the surge in India by leaving it a week before putting it on the red list, that they aren't really that concerned about the virus any longer. Add to that their cavalier attitude to following their own rules on lockdown, masks etc makes me trust them less than ever.

[asperity]

Obs, is the "flue jab" something to do with central heating boilers? 🤔

[Bill]

It’s quite simple Asp, the “Kent” variant of the virus that hit us so hard is now affecting other countries, most notably in India where it’s grown to become the most common strain. The rise in cases in several other countries is also due in part to the spreading and growth of our nasty variant.

Virtually every country in the world red listed us in an attempt to stop this particular strain spreading out of the UK hence it’s only fair to call it our virus but you're right of course, it could have first evolved on Mars for all we know but it certainly grew up here and has a British name to go with it. In fact, it’s so British it’d probably qualify for a full UK passport. 😊  

 

Bill 😊

[asperity]

If it's the so-called "Kent variant" why are they calling it the Indian variant? If it's a mutation of the Kent variant, which was in itself a mutation, then it could quite easily have been a mutation of a mutation of a mutation of the West Bromwich Albion variant (other football teams are available). In other words it's pointless trying to put names to these virus strains as it doesn't help. Makes you proud to be British doesn't it?

[Latchford Locks]

21 hours ago, Observer II said:

 Latch,  previous generations had to suffer a loss of their normal life expectations,  hunched up in air raid shelters while they were being bombed,  but they soldiered on and endured, without the current bleating about mental health issues. It's a  s**t sandwich and we've all got to take a bite.  😷

 

My Mum and Dad never used The Anderson except as a garden shed 😄

They preferred under the dining room table .. warmer and next to the kitchen to make a brew 

 

 

[Latchford Locks]

Unless they ran out then it was corporation pop