So the mask mandate has ended in Wales today. I think we're the last devolved nation to get rid of mandatory masks, but I'll still be wearing mine on the train and in supermarkets.
Loads of people I know seem to have caught Covid in the last couple of weeks and none of them have been to ill. So maybe it's a good time to catch it. Apparently 1 in 16 people had it in Scotland last week. That's just nuts.
Today's figures:
I'll let them speak for themselves.
We've gone into the 'living with Covid' stage even though it's still killing 1000 per week.
In other horrifying news the war in Ukraine has been going on for over a month now. It's utterly heartbreaking, so many needless deaths. Whole town and cities destroyed, millions of people displaced. The UK government are being total cunts as usual. We're the only European country that requires Ukrainians to obtain a visa before entry making it incredibly difficult for refugees to get here.
My friend Sarah has volunteered to take in a Ukrainian family with a special needs child and she said the forms were so complicated that even she couldn't understand them. She spent around 5 hours on a Skype call with the Ukrainians and a translator trying to get the forms completed for all of them. Basically the government are trying to make as difficult as possible for anyone to get here so that they don't have to fork out any money for anyone. It's pure evil.
In spite of everything we've had some nice weather lately and I've got the garden looking ship shape and some new garden chairs. What a difference having dry sunny weather makes. I've started cycling into work again too and the endorphins are working their magic. I'm feeling great and sleeping well.
British Summertime started yesterday, so it's not going dark until around 7.45pm, so it really feels like summer is on the way.
This weekend the BBC 6 Music Festival is in Cardiff and I'm going to a day event on the Saturday at the Tramshed seeing Joe Talbot in conversation with Steve Lamacq. Then on Sunday Alex and I are going to St. David's Hall to see Audiobooks, Gruff Rhys, Cat Power and Father John Misty with an orchestra. There will be tear - and we'll probably catch Covid but hey ho. Can you believe that in two years we've gone from being scared to even being in the same room as someone else because the virus is so dangerous to thinking, oh, maybe I'll just catch it this weekend and get it over and done with (we have vaccines to thank for that!). This would be the best time to catch it as I don't have anything on for the next couple of weeks, however the new rules mean that it is no longer a legal requirement to self-isolate if you test positive. It's recommended but not required. How bonkers is that? So you can now have covid and just go about your business without wearing a mask and infect who you like.