The change in the weather over the past few days has been extraordinary. Especially today. This morning dark clouds loomed on the horizon to the west, contrasted with a bright light sky in the east. Suddenly it all changed and rain fell in bucketfuls. Shortly after that, we had a hammering of hail! The wind’s also been gusting forcefully for much of the day.

By late this afternoon the sun had broken free from the clouds and showed his face again. Even the cows returned to the field. They’ve been missing for a while now. It’s good to see them before we head off.

The wind, however, didn’t abate one iota, causing ocean-like waves on the normally calm surface. Daisy may be taking another dip soon; maybe she’s hoping to canal-surf?

It’ll Be Sad To Say Goodbye To Brock

Brock’s been looking forlorn, missing people venturing out anymore to throw his stick. Maybe he can sense that we’re heading off tomorrow, and he and Dave will be going a different way? Barry managed to go out and play with him for half an hour this morning, in between showers.

Symptom Study Second Wave Webinar

I finally got myself booked onto a Symptom Study live webinar this afternoon at 1 pm. It was chock-full of fascinating facts and figures around what’s happening in the UK, Europe and USA with regards to COVID-19. I felt that Professor Spector was once again being extremely humble and diplomatic when talking about some of the government’s responses here. I applaud him.

You’ll hear about ten minutes into the webinar, my name mentioned! I asked the question about how we can access a COVID-19 test when we live on a narrowboat. It was exclaimed as a rather unique question! The answer was interesting … And didn’t actually help, as the second half of my question, around the government credit check and not having a mortgage, wasn’t read out or acknowledged sadly. I did also ask about how we live aboard narrow boaters can change the area they’re reporting from, now that we are obliged to move every 14 days. Again, that wasn’t responded to. But I do know now where to post those questions to hopefully get an answer, in time …

Points Of Note From The Webinar

Some of the information that stood out for me was:

• The donations to the study, from those using the App, gave Professor Spector a tremendous buzz. He said he was really happy that so many people were as enthusiastic about the project as the team are.
• In the last 24 hours, cases in the UK have dropped 17% from last week.
• Infection rates are spread around the country, highest number in London. Urban living increases risk unsurprisingly – rural lessens it. The north has a far higher number than the south.
• Most children have more chance of being run over by a car on their way to school, than of dying of COVID-19. He said that getting a good education far outweighs the potential risk for most people. However, it was acknowledged that the risk of spreading the virus to vulnerable family members at home was an important consideration. Around 250,000 children are now being reported daily by their family.
• They need many more people logging in and reporting from Wales and Northern Ireland, to increase confidence in their statistics.
• He questioned why the government isn’t learning from other countries in Europe. Many places are loosening differently in areas depending on the situation.
• He also questioned why we’re suddenly going to isolate people coming IN to the country. I’m pretty certain he used the word ‘primitive’, and rightly so IMHO. He suggested that actually they’re more likely to make our figures look better by increasing the population! Other places, like Sardinia, are getting people to take a test before they arrive, and then one on arrival, wait for the results and then enter the country.
• A vaccine is not an easy solution. everyone will respond differently, and he doesn’t see it being available until at least the end of the year.
• Spend time outdoors during the summer while you can. But be cautious.
• From September it’ll be harder for people to be outside for long periods, as the weather starts to change and the days grow shorter. There needs to be far fewer cases by then, to reduce the risk of a second wave.
• There will be a survey soon through the App, for people reporting to share information they want to.

What an interesting time we’re living through.

Barry and I also had some extremely positive news today, that we’ll share here tomorrow – after we’ve travelled up the Hurleston Locks and along the Llangollen Canal. It’s going to be hard to leave our bubble …