Holidate

Well, I liked the film.  It was, as my wife said, corny in places, and it was predictable.  But it was funny, and appealed to my twisted sense of humour.  It was too much for my daughter who fled upstairs when some of the more intimate scenes took place.  I am glad we watched it and I do recommend it to others.

As for the rest of the day, we relaxed.  We got food from Brightlingsea and went for a walk there afterwards.  We would have walked for longer but for the cold and the weight loss of my wife meaning that her trousers do not fit and kept slipping down!

We made it

We made it through the year.  While my father passed away, no one I know personally outside my job has died of COVID yet.  I am very grateful for that.  Needless to say, 2020 has been a scary year.  Today when at work, I found out that a patient I saw on a home visit in December did have COVID. Fortunately the bin liner that I wear as an apron protected me, along with my flimsy mask and surgical gloves.  

Having two wonderful kids, my main worry is that they will be left with no parents due to COVID, something that has happened to far too many people across he globe. My wife works on he frontline as well, not in hospital but I worry for her as I think that she has greater exposure to the plague compared to me.

At work, we have had two people with it last year, and at present we have another member of staff off with it, one isolating as their spouse has it and one is waiting for test results.  

I know that I have a lot to be grateful for. But I want more, specifically I want my family to get through his period of history intact.  A wish that many up and down the country want as well I suspect.

Well, 2020 was an interesting year

Just a few more hours to go and I can say we survived 2020.  The last time this planet faced such a plague was in 1918 with the Spanish Flu.  

Here in the UK, things look scary with our infection rates and hospitals becoming overwhelmed.  But we have hope with vaccinations.  I have been vaccinated and was due to have my second dose in about two weeks time.  Instead, I am going to have to wait three months for my second dose, and we do not know if the first vaccine will cover me for that long.

But I am a patriot.  I know that it is more important to the nation for more people to get one dose, rather than for me to get better protection.  This means that my wife and friends will get one dose, and therefore some protection sooner than otherwise.

Fingers crossed that all my friends and family survive to see the next Nee Year.

I am proud to be British, most of the time.

Right now, I am ashamed at the acts of some of my fellow Brits.

Our nation has a lot to be proud of, as well as things that we need to remember so that we learn from and never repeat.  An example of this is the actions of the UK when it came to the transatlantic slave trade.  The UK profited from it, and despite the huge profits made (something that not everyone agrees on), ended it and tried to end it abroad as well.     

It was reported, that due to the new variant of COVID, Switzerland placed British holidaymakers in quarantine.  Despite the risks posted to others, many Brits decided to flee, some using the lateral flow tests as proof that they were not infectious.  (These tests are good for screening but are not good for testing if someone with symptoms has COVID or not.)

If that was not bad enough, loads of Brits decided to attend a super spreader event in Australia.

Living in Colchester, I can see how most are obeying the restrictions.  But it only takes a few morons to infect and kill others.  I am proud about how most people in Britain are obeying the rules, but I am so ashamed at the actions of this idiotic minority.

Copyright Infringement

I have been warned by Twitter for copyright infringement for a tweet that used a GIF found using the Twitter app itself!  While I cannot link to the tweet itself, I can link to the thread it was on. #Eyeroll!

Battleships

Today, I went into work.  My daughter came with me as she likes to do her homework there and we spent about an hour or so there before returning home.  

At home, after a bit of a rest, we all went out for our family dog walk.  It was a bitterly cold day and when we got there, time was short as sunset was approaching.  Leia loved meeting other dogs again and met more this time than before.  Socially distanced chats with other dog walkers took place and both children took turns holdings her lead.  I suspect that next time, my son will wear more appropriate footwear as he was not as prepared as he would like.  

Anyway, we are now relaxing playing Battleships. My daughter did not realise that she was beating me in the first round at first, but once she did, she did not let go of her advantage and slaughtered my fleet.  My kids are now playing against each other and they will decide who I play next.

My daughter is truly evil.

My daughter is evil.  She knows I do not like to know the football scores before watching Match of the Day.  I did not watch the game last night but I knew that Arsenal was 2-0 up at half time when I accidentally saw the scores when looking at social media.  But my daughter later told me yesterday that the score was 3-0 before it ended, which stressed me out as I know that Arsenal have thrown away leads like that in the past, examples being against Wigan in 2010 and against Newcastle in 2011.  I still watched it, and yes, we went 3-0 up.  And then Chelski scored.  I said many rude words about her.  So when Chelski got a penalty, my heart was in my mouth.  We still won, and Chelski did make it easier for us, possibly because they thought that three points were guaranteed.  To be fair, I thought that they were to win as well.  Anyway, after watching it in the morning, I confronted her about this and she laughed.  I have done similar in the past to others I know, about things like Game of Thrones (one of my friends at work watched the seventh series as a box set and I may have convinced her that something that did not happen did).

On a different note, I had hoped that we were all to go for a walk as a family.  We had agreed that, but my son changed his mind, because he was asked to zip up his hoodie.  I was disappointed.  Leia would have loved us all going for a walk, but I don’t know when we will be able to go for a walk together.  The weather was amazing when my wife daughter and I took Leia out.  It had been raining before which influenced our choice of destination.  Leia got to meet other dogs and we all bonded.

We did bond as a family later though, playing Pointless.  We played two rounds, and it was fun.  This is a game I definitely will want us all to play again.  Maybe tomorrow...

Alan Shearer said - "a week or two ago" - he thought Arsenal might get relegated...

Has he changed his mind?#MOTD on @BBCOne and the BBC Sport website 👉 https://t.co/IQvwYDcJBg #bbcfootball #ARSCHE pic.twitter.com/BpDqbzZPPL

— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) December 26, 2020