Am feeling a wee bit as if tomorrow is Freedom-For-Everyone-But-The-CEV Day, yes 😕
Not that I’ve been anywhere other than that first trip to the park & to a coffee shop with my daddy after a hospital appointment that meant an 0630 start, but the idea of it & being able to tell myself that if my ridiculous body would just be a tiny bit less ridiculous I could go gallivanting. Short of investing in a zorbing bubble, however, that no longer seems v realistic. And I’m due to see my best friend from uni on Saturday. Up in town. She & her partner are down from the Lake District for a Baptism & - obviously - I’ve not seen her for over a year (feels like far FAR longer) so I’m definitely going; I’m just somewhat terrified at/by the prospect 
In case anyone’s not seen it yet, this is the new government guidance for CEV people in England - & for once they’ve had the Common Or Garden decency to include links at the top to what the changes in guidance will be in NI, Scotland & Wales as the UK continues its utterly disjointed approach to [mis]managing the pandemic 
To be clear, I think there’s a need for a slightly more joined-up approach, but not one that’s politician-led. Countries that coped well having learned from SARS & MERS have a policy of turning things over to the scientists in this particular sort of awful, so they really DO Follow The Science. And obviously health is devolved, but I’m sure that if you had an NHS UK for emergencies that ensured PPE went round the whole country & indeed was responsible for disaster drills & checking supply levels of things - but also got the powers in emergencies to do the commissioning for anything the NHS needed, so no ridiculous contracts, because to get in you have to be an NHS worker & there will be Voting & Accountability… There’s no doubt that Johnson has been an unmitigated disaster (well, he was steered away from the “piling up of bodies” idea, but that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement) but it’s not only the Westminster crowd that failed to cover themselves in glory going through this. Using a pandemic to try to push a political agenda is a different sort of sick - whereas I was genuinely proud Stormont managed to get it together [& the MLA’s could still find their way there, frankly, it’d been that long] to manage their own Covid response. They even managed not one sign language interpreter for their briefings but TWO - no Irish Language Act, & it’s a minuscule number of people on the whole of island of Ireland who use Irish Sign Language, but they did it! Because unlike Westminster, they think d/Deaf people deserve access to important information. (Yes Stormont have been, to quote one of my wee cousins [though not on this matter] “bolder than the Gruffalo’s Child!” about a whole host of other things, but I continue to have hope they’ll get it together, if only to avoid Westminster putting their foot down later this year as they’ve said they will…)
I’d to go to A&E last Saturday as I managed to fall & wallop my head, which means a CT scan to ensure I’ve not sent that one braincell flying straight out of my ear/nose on landing & it was weirdly busy. There was also a quite enthusiastic attempt to redirect me to paeds A&E. Out by around 20 years; but in fairness I was using my wheelchair so looked much smaller than my towering 163.5cm & The Parental Unit looks younger than his age (though I’ve given him some grey hairs). There was no attempt to separate people outside the department though (& it was a long old queue) then once I was in majors there was an absolute farce over where they were going to put me as original cubicle had been given away… staff triaging were quite full-on with “you’ve had this for a month, why haven’t you made an appointment with your GP?! this isn’t something you come to A&E for!” which I think was i. perfectly reasonable & ii. years of the pent-up longing to say that finally flowing free. They’ve now an OOH GP based there (no idea why they hadn’t before, my local hospital has one - actually, is entirely possible they were expecting people to traipse down there & were utterly astonished they rocked up at A&E instead) & were offering people appointments there with stern “there’s no guarantee it will be this time & if you miss it that’s it” & alternative of seeing their own GP. Absolutely no opting to clart up minor injuries or A&E. If they can keep A&E departments for, well Accidents & Emergencies, that would be awesome.
Assume we’re all looking forward to a covid booster to complement our flu jabs in the autumn, too? Everything I’ve read makes it sound as if they’re planning on doing them at the same time, which I suppose would get all the side-effects out of the way at once, but sounds utterly wretched, frankly.
@UnholyStramash
Am so sorry about your eyes. I hope you’re able to be seen by ophthalmology soon & that you get positive outcomes. Am glad your hearing aids worked out well though. That’s a PITA about your glasses breaking. I may have to hope Specsavers massively morally reform themselves in the next two years/before my eyes next noticeably deteriorate - I’ve just got new glasses (plus sunglasses [migraines & optimism, a heady - no pun intended, but I’m keeping it now - mix]) & had my previous pair reglazed in order to have a spare pair. If they fail to get their house in order with sufficient speed for you, I hope you can find somewhere that suits you.
@FlatteredFool
I’m sorry, that sounds both very stressful & really quite mis-making. As you say, wee children are quite capable of understanding masks & distancing; how is it adults struggle so much? Actually, I’ve noticed on my limited excursions that it mostly seems to be men who can’t cope with the concept of not being allowed to invade other people’s space & not being allowed to just charge along scattering people like ninepins because naturally Busy Important Men must be made way for. Obviously OBVIOUSLY not all men pull this entitled shite, but vastly too many do. And if ever challenged will usually bleat about Commuter Walking (you’re still an arse if you go barging people on your commute so, & if you can’t tell you’re in the park not trying to cross London Bridge in the rush hour you’ve a real issue) then “needing” to move quickly (if that’s true, you weave, you don’t barrel along), eventually to “I just didn’t notice” (bit worrying that one human failed to notice they were not only surrounded by other humans but that what they were doing was impacting on them). Not social distancing is like a hyper-aggressive form of manspreading. Some people do just have appalling spatial awareness, but I think anyone who falls into that category - well, who is aware they do - is trying to be extra cautious, so will be giving too much space if anything. I hope you (& La Famille Fool) get the chance to do some adventuring this summer despite it all.
@Outnumberedwoman
I hope things improve by you & you’ve the chance to take the boys out somewhere. If you make it to the coast, please say hello to the sea for me: I’ve never been so long without seeing it & I’m missing it something awful.