" Total bollocks"

 "Total Bollocks"

Week 3 done. Within sight of the finishing line, when we were promised a return to our regional tiers. Huh. Another broken promise. Lockdown is to continue after all. Yes, England will return to tiers but not as we knew it. 

Instead of our relatively relaxed tier 1, as befitted our low level of infection, here we join the majority of England in the restrictive tier 2. The only small mercy is that we are not in tier 3. 

It is, as one MP angrily declared on bbc radio 4 today, " total bollocks".

So from now on my life looks like this:

                            

I have made it through the November lockdown day by day, week by week. My family have stuck to the rules only to be slapped in the face by a corrupt, inefficient, dishonest Government who changed the goalposts yet again. 

Judging by the headlines the prevailing mood of the country is anger. This month has been full of rumours followed by leaks so deep they could fill a reservoir but this new lockdown light was hidden behind the smokescreen of the Christmas rules.

Little did we know when Boris offered us his Xmas cheer that his 5 day window to see up to 3 households was not as generous as it seemed, given it is now the only time we can meet inside this year. 

" Tis the season to be jolly...careful" declared the PM as he tried and failed to walk and talk the tightrope of festive joy and pandemic woes. 

The nations media was still generically working out the confusing rhetoric and rules around this 5 day "three household exclusive" bubble relaxation  in the calm equilibrium of expectation that the majority of the country would still be able to meet indoors in the rule of 6 in tier 1 when we found out that to do this we had to continue in a new variety of non lockdown.

Heartbreaking decisions need to be made. We are a large extended family and I have to face the fact that we cannot see everyone.  "Total bollocks" 

That has still to be faced.  I cannot bear it. I have managed another week of 1 on 1 walks, thank god for friends. I have  more planned next week because this and the company of my husband and daughter in our household bubble has saved my sanity.  

Now I must adjust to tier 2 . Rule of 6 outside socially distanced. No indoor household mixing/ There has been much emphasis on the social distance even outside. My grandchildren range from 6 to 14 months, enough said.

There is a growing surge of resentment in Parliament. A backbench revolt is planned for the vote on all the above next week. Labour, who have pledged to back the Government on Covid rules, are hesitating. The curb on our civil liberties is surreal. 

Sir Desmond Swayne, MP  for the new forest, challenged the PM with "The last ruler that told us how we may or may not celebrate Christmas was Oliver Cromwell. It didn’t end well, did it"

The suicide rate has shot up in the UK. Reports on loneliness show a horrifying level of despair across class, race, economics, generations. Businesses are in crisis. 

I no longer talk about the pandemic. I talk endlessly about the crazy bizarre parody of everyday life I am living. 

In the spring I thought the world had turned upside down. Now I simply don't know which way it was to start with anymore.