Cunard Cruisers - How are things where you are ?

[Ray66]

3 hours ago, Lanky Lad said:

Shops here can open next Thursday,

 

The shops can reopen on Wednesday 2nd December. The next review is due two weeks later on 16th December.

[Lanky Lad]

11 hours ago, Ray66 said:

 

The shops can reopen on Wednesday 2nd December. The next review is due two weeks later on 16th December.

Lets hope the figures keep going the right way so that some in tier 3 can move to tier 2. 

 

I think there will be one big party when the restrictions are all lifted, like VE day all over again.

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, Lanky Lad said:

Lets hope the figures keep going the right way so that some in tier 3 can move to tier 2. 

 

I think there will be one big party when the restrictions are all lifted, like VE day all over again.

Sadly, I think that it will take a long time before the economic damage by the pandemic is repaired - perhaps something like the “austerity” the UK had to live through after VE Day.   So much wealth will have been dissipated - individual as well as national - that many of our priorities will have to be shuffled.

[Lanky Lad]

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

Sadly, I think that it will take a long time before the economic damage by the pandemic is repaired - perhaps something like the “austerity” the UK had to live through after VE Day.   So much wealth will have been dissipated - individual as well as national - that many of our priorities will have to be shuffled.

I think you might be right, but only time will tell for sure. 

[naturelovergirl]

Hello all from Central Florida.

We are going to experience the first bit of crisp weather tonight... it is very welcome since it felt like summer last week. 

I put up our Christmas house decorations, and it looks very merry in here.

We will pick up a tree on Wednesday from a local farm who has both trees to cut down (Florida pines) and also pre-cut trees they bring in from North Carolina and such. With the pandemic this year, the farm has the requirement that people wear masks and they only take reservations to come... no walk ups. So we have reserved a time to go visit on Wednesday. I am pleased to support local and small businesses especially in these tough times.

We continue to watch for news on the vaccines... and continue to hope for the future. This year has been disappointing in so many ways regarding our work, family time, and travel plans... but we continue to try to keep our hearts and souls in perspective- focusing on what we do have that is good. Remembering gratitude helps us.

Best to you all.

[Lanky Lad]

It is going to be cold here by the end of the week, with a chance of snow on Friday.  Looks like winter is here, well for a few days at least.

[Bigmike911]

Well, here in South East Texas we are expecting a freeze this evening with lows of 28-31F (-2.2c to .5c). We spent the afternoon putting plantkets (breathable cloth tents) over the citrus, which is nearly in perfect ripeness. The marmalade making begins this week. I don't recall it getting this cold here this early, but who knows. It is scheduled to warm up after tonight and we will have more rain.

 

It rarely snows here, but we have had a dusting every couple of years. With the hot of the summer, I had convinced myself that we would not see freezing weather this winter, but I guess I was wrong. The decorating has begun. The lighted wreath is on the front door, and the Harrods bears are in the great bookcase. I rushed to put up the Fortnum's Advent calendar and fill the days with gold and silver foil wrapped chocolate coins of the world, chocolate and ginger Neapolitans, little Italian foil wrapped chocolate Santa's in a variety of colors, red, green and gold behind each of the doors.  

 

I noticed in a You Tube video that Fortnum's have gussied up the out side of the store, and have put numbers in the windows corresponding to those on the Advent Calendar which is the façade of the store. They are very inventive at decoration, and You Tube has sufficed for my usual pre-Christmas trip to London. 

 

Today, The Trader Joe's was filled with many Christmas food items, including a number of German pastries, reflecting its German Ownership, I guess. Christmas goods rapidly replaced Thanks Giving items in the super duper market, where once again they have re-arranged things in a bizarre fashion (liquid soups on one aisle, dry soup mixes on a different one. But I got all I needed for the week. 

 

Hello, December. 

[navybankerteacher]

Torrential (at least for CT) rains today - over three inches, and 50-60 mph winds - all leaves are now down, and starting to turn cold.  We have battery powered candles in all windows, will decorate outside with a few white lights on our azalea bush and hang a wreath the next warmish day.  It will be a lonely Christmas - sort of surreal .    All my shopping is done (virtually all on line), wrapping underway, planning trip to post office in a week or so to get packages off to four children and ten grands. 

 

Very different from my very early years in New York City- a walk to the local Woolworth’s about 4:00 PM on Christmas Eve with my sisters and brother— stopping at the W. T. Grant’s if necessary, then home to wrap everything.

[Bigmike911]

Well, once again, the weather prognosticators missed the boat. At six am, usually the coldest part of the night, the outdoor sensors on my air conditioning system, located on the north side of my house showed the temperature to be 34 degrees f (1.1c). The day is bright and sunny and at ten am the temperature is already 50, going to 65 today. I will take it over freezing any day. 

[Host Hattie]

Good news here this morning that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has been approved for use in the UK.

Not so good news that pubs in Wales won't be able to serve alcohol and will have to close at 6pm from Friday. Many of them are choosing to close completely.

Hope everyone is having a good week.

[Lanky Lad]

1 hour ago, Host Hattie said:

Good news here this morning that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has been approved for use in the UK.

Not so good news that pubs in Wales won't be able to serve alcohol and will have to close at 6pm from Friday. Many of them are choosing to close completely.

Hope everyone is having a good week.

Yes it is good news. 

 

I am sorry Wales has had to go back into a kind of lockdown.  Here in Lancashire we are in tier 3 so our pubs can only do take away.  The number of new cases in my area have dropped by 45% in the last week so there is hope. 

[alc13]

The vaccine news is exciting, isn't it.  My immediate thoughts, I'll admit it, were about my own life returning to normal (I will travel again!) - but really, what a godsend for small businesses, healthcare workers, teachers and schoolchildren, and all the other collateral victims of a global pandemic.  Now if only we can all hang together through the winter...

[LewiLewi]

It is important to help those who have had a tougher time than us survive during this pandemic. We are including food programs that feed the growing numbers of needy people in our holiday giving, especially this year. A donation of whatever you can afford is so important.

[Ray66]

10 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

Not so good news that pubs in Wales won't be able to serve alcohol and will have to close at 6pm from Friday. Many of them are choosing to close completely.

 

I see that Mr Drakeford has been banned from over 100 Welsh pubs for 18 months 🙂

[Host Hattie]

It's an unfortunate response

[Bigmike911]

The Governor of Texas has just announced that 1.4 million doses of vaccine(s) have been allocated to Texas (population 30 Million) in December and distribution will begin on Monday 14 December. Not a lot for the need, but definitely a start. It is unclear at this point who will receive the first doses, but medical workers, and elderly in homes have been mentioned. 

[Lanky Lad]

Being 50 something, my age puts me at risk, but I am a long way down the list for a vaccine, so I will have quite a wait. So long as I can go on QM2 in May I will be happy.    

[Underwatr]

Just guessing; if the UK schedule is like that in the US you might have a time crunch to get your second shot by mid-April so it's effective by early May...

[alc13]

I read an article just now about how the UK was able to quickly approve the Pfizer vaccine.  They have been preparing since June, apparently, and can move independently of the EU because of a pandemic emergency exception.  The US is on track for a mid-December approval, following an advisory committee meeting on Dec 10.  The  EU has to get member state approvals so that will take longer. 

[Underwatr]

I've read that the UK relies more on the developers' analysis of trial data, while the US CDC analyzes the data independently. I don't have firsthand knowledge.

[Host Hattie]

That's not what the MHRA press release says 

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-medicines-regulator-gives-approval-for-first-uk-covid-19-vaccine

 

There seems to be plenty of criticism from other countries but our government has generally acted too slowly so far in this crisis so far.

It's about time they got something right.

 

 

 

[Bigmike911]

2 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

That's not what the MHRA press release says 

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-medicines-regulator-gives-approval-for-first-uk-covid-19-vaccine

 

There seems to be plenty of criticism from other countries but our government has generally acted too slowly so far in this crisis so far.

It's about time they got something right.

 

 

 

Amen!

[Host Hattie]

17 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

 

There seems to be plenty of criticism from other countries but our government has generally acted too slowly so far in this crisis so far.

It's about time they got something right.

I realised that this makes it sound as if the government approved the vaccine, that's not the case of course.

[pully8]

it is good news about the vaccine.

lets hope distribution will flow and life can return to more positives outcomes for as many as possible.

some countries are not due to start until next year.

[alc13]

23 hours ago, Underwatr said:

I've read that the UK relies more on the developers' analysis of trial data, while the US CDC analyzes the data independently. I don't have firsthand knowledge.

I read a similar article if not the same one.  I think it meant the US FDA actually reruns analyses, while the UK MHRA doesn't.  But both agencies review the data rigorously.