Day Twenty Seven - Recycling, Lampposts and Vaccines

Late yesterday afternoon there was a thunderous thumping at my front door which scared me out of my skin. I've got used to there being no callers. I tentatively opened the door to find my friend's daughter in law there (socially distanced, natch) and beyond her in the car  - her three daughters. They had made me an Easter card and brought round an Easter cornflake cake. Their cheery 'Hello Gilly Bean' lifted my flagging spirits. They call me Gilly Bean. It stems from a verbal mix up with jelly beans which their auntie had gifted me one time calling them gilly beans. It was hilarious at the time, (you had to be there), but the nickname has stuck. Sometimes it's shortened to just Bean or Beans. But all the kids call me Gilly Bean. I like it. It's one of the best nicknames I've ever had. I don't care to divulge some of the others.

I was reading  that scientists in Oxford hope to have a vaccine to protect against the virus ready by September. Part of me thinks that's great news but the sceptic in me is concerned. That seems too quick. Surely not enough is known about the virus yet? And shouldn't testing take longer than a few months? What about the side effects? What about other countries? I don't know how this all works. Does one country 'perfect' a vaccine for that country alone? That doesn't sound right. Or do they find it and share it ? Or is everyone all over the world all working together on this? Also, millions of doses of the vaccine would be needed. So many questions. Where are the answers? It's all mind boggling. And it's making me wonder about regular flu jabs. How have they developed those vaccines when different strains of flu seem to crop up every year.

Here's something I'm embarrassed to admit but it also amuses me. On my way to my cliff walk I have to cross one main road, usually pretty busy. (So busy in fact they were planning to put traffic calming humps down it but I guess that's on the back burner currently. It's pretty clear at the moment though. ) Then I walk down a side road. During this 'situation' I've taken to walking in the road itself. This is not as foolhardy as it might appear because it's very early in the morning, there is less traffic on the road and it ensures I maintain a social distance. I've noticed that not everyone is prepared to move if you meet others on the pavement. So I just stay in the road. But it's my return journey that cause the amused embarrassment. There are one or two stationery vehicles permanently parked. As I pass one of them out of the corner of my eye I think I see a really tall, thin person. It makes me jump. I instinctively move towards the centre of the road to maintain a social distance. I do it every damn day!!! But it isn't a person! It's a ruddy lamppost!!! Every day!!!

I'm a conscientious recycler. I have been for years. Even before recycling was the norm. I embrace the broadest aspects of recycling and their implications. So, in the normal way you won't find me putting a bag of recycling out every week. I wait until the bag is full to bursting before I put it out for collection. Then I read that a town not too far away had suspended their recycling collections. They continue to collect general rubbish but fortnightly instead of weekly. Fearing our town would follow I've been putting a bag out every week, full or not. I've been checking our council's website carefully, heart in mouth, in case they do the same. I fear that if they do people will simply put everything out as general rubbish. You can't blame them to a degree. Not everyone has the space to store recycling.  The large Waste and Recycling Centres have been closed everywhere which has given rise to an increase in fly tipping. A lot of people, myself included, have taken this lockdown opportunity to have clear outs. (My spare room is filling up with bags for the charity shops. ) The crews that collect the waste in my town go about their business seemingly unperturbed. They're a group who haven't seen much in the way of plaudits, have they? Yet what they are doing is essential. The last thing we want is for rubbish to mount up. I have subsequently found out that the town who suspended recycling collections have agreed to restart them after Easter but only every four weeks. That's something. But how about we all make an effort to thank our bin men on our next collection day?

Today is Easter Sunday. It doesn't feel like it. This is the first Easter ever that I've had no chocolate. I did watch an Easter service on the TV to 'get me in the mood'. But I'm not in the mood. I've done  bugger all today except feel sad. I have a strong desire to eat junk food. But I don't have any. The biggest treat was a slice of the bread I made yesterday with a dollop of raspberry jam. I know how to have a good time.