Mrs ok.
Now out of isolation and fine. Still very tired but no major issues.
Me n boys still isolating until tuesday midnight unless we show symptoms.
Be careful please as this does screw you mentally somewhat.

I was surprised to read this so I looked up the limits. Apparently it's only when you, and/or your partner, have more than £16,000 that you don't qualify at all. Whether for the maximum I don't know but it must be worth reviewing.

I fully understand how lucky we are here and how tough it is for those in the cities. There must though be some way to get some kind of exercise in the fresh(ish) air, without too much danger.

I do believe that was the main aim all along to be fair (NHS). So...

I still find it bizarre that people are expecting things to be normal, then surprised when they aren’t

Providing these vaccines are up to the job, as I said months ago, looking at it realistically it will be spring/summer of 2022 before things really start to feel normal again. But I can see winters remaining dicey for a few years - and people certainly won’t be letting go of the paranoia of contact for a long time. That will be hard to shift - vaccines don’t mean this thing goes away. It just becomes yet another flu virus, albeit a far more infectious one that will remain in circulation ad infinitum

As with all things we’ll eventually get used to it and learn to live with it, understand it and become complacent about it all again. But that doesn’t take months, it takes years

It has gone on long enough that as you say I don't see people bouncing out of the mindset overnight, but I like to hope that normality will return for the most part prior to 2022. It largely impacts the elderly and vulnerable so if we can get them vaccinated then we're in decent shape. Granted the vaccine isn't a cure-all, but in most of these trials even those who still got covid were not impacted badly. If some in those demographics elect not to have it, then that's their issue, it should not hinder the rest of us.

I'm not saying that it won't be something additional to worry about or be concerned by in future, but people can only be concerned about something at this level for so long..

I listened today to one of the virologists who will determine whether or not each vaccine will be approved for use. He was clearly excited at the prospects and said it could be done within the next two weeks.

He also confirmed that those who did get C19 after being given any of the vaccines only suffered mild symptoms so they too probably gained a benefit.

He also confirmed something I have wondered about. Because these vaccines take an entirely new approach they offer the prospect of turnkey solutions to other viruses that may emerge in the future. All that needs to be done is a little genetic tweek and a virus-specific vaccine is created with no need for large scale safety trials.