Day 94

Well the much trumpeted NHS letter arrived for my wife today, it was a very nice letter from Matt Hancock, that very nice Health Minister who doesn't know his Daniel Radcliffe from his Marcus Rashford and the equally nice Robert Jenrick, housing minister, who believes it's ok to put through a mate's major housing scheme on the nod, so as to save millions in tax!

So , with this two in charge, to say I wasn't surprised by the lack of empathy within the letter would be an understatement. The government have made noises, praising the 2.2 million that have been shielding, but now appear to be quite happy to throw them under the bus as the saying goes.

I obviously can't speak for everyone, and there clearly will be some that have been shielding who will be desperate to get back to work, but equally there will be many others who don't think it is safe yet for them to go - I don't understand why, if the furlough scheme can run until the end of October they couldn't have applied the same dateline for shielders who don't yet feel ready to go back. 

As the letter acknowledges, the very vulnerable are still just as much at risk of becoming very ill if they contract Covid-19, just that the chances of this happening have reduced. They also talk about workers talking to their employers to ask for changes to be made, to make sure they are safe.

Now I am sure there will be many good employers who will do their utmost to make the workplace as safe as possible, but I equally feel there will be some that will force people back when they are not ready or face dismissal! It is a very scary time for some.

Fortunately our position allows that we don't really need to do anything different to what we are doing, certainly not before August 1st and then probably beyond. We have explained the situation to our two grand-daughters who live with us, and they both seem happy with the idea of staying put until the beginning of August - we shall see how this develops over time!

Anyway, apart from the political rant today has been a day of sitting in the garden, splashing in the paddling pool and generally relaxing in the sun - in true British fashion though, the sun was too hot!!!

Well, I promise no politics tomorrow...!