Works in progress

Another day at zero degrees centigrade. I tracked down my long johns and wore them for possibly the first time in the ten years since we visited Rachel when she was living in Canada. It's also cold enough to wear the balaclava hood my sister bought for me last year. It fits nicely under the hood of my ski jacket, which now shows signs of its antiquity, bought in the early nineties. I think the padding has compacted, reducing its ability to insulate. It's a long time since we lived anywhere with a cold enough winter to call for an outdoor clothing upgrade.

When Clare returned from her early walk she said that a team of people were about to start work on Blackweir Bridge. When I walked down to the Taff later in the morning, work was in progress. The deck of the bridge was being taken up and each panel of stout mesh steel, two metres long, was being secured to the handrail above. Since last week's break-in through the barriers closing off the bridge to the public during the pandemic, a decision has been made to make a short-cut impossible by removing the deck. It's a sensible move under the circumstances, although, like thousands of others, I resent having to walk around instead of crossing over. A second temporary bridge with a one way system would have been preferable and not impossible. In other situations where bridges have been washed away by floods, Army engineers have erected temporary crossings. Why not here?

The Wales and West Utilities team replacing the street's gas main hit a problem this morning which meant the gas supply had to switched off for three hours while it was fixed. The house was quite warm and only slowly cooled to the point that the temperature difference was noticeable. Before reconnecting the supply an engineer came in and tested the gas flow to the meter with a special device before rebooting the boiler. He used a smartphone app linked (I think) to the house smart meter to check the supply. Unfortunately, he couldn't initially access the app and had to get the help of a colleague outside to make it work. It all works perfectly, except when it doesn't!

In daily pandemic news reports, it was disturbing to learn that six out of ten covid victims were disabled, very much a reflection of the unjust social and economic disadvantages they endured, and reflected in their general health condition. The UK's high covid related death rate, one of the world's highest, is also an indication of economic and environmental disparities that contribute to poor health. It's not just a matter of decades of NHS  under-funding, but people being made more vulnerable by their living conditions. Is this going to change any time soon I wonder? 

A month ago I was very annoyed by the criticism levelled at the Welsh government and NHS at what was perceived by BBC news and other media to be a slower roll-out of the covid vaccination programme. It now turned out that Wales has reached the target of vaccinating for the first time 20% of the population most at risk a few days ahead of the date set. The logistics of distribution and inoculation were thoughtfully worked out at the outset, even surviving a few days of setback due to snow closing some of the vaccination centres. Tonight's news now reports a planned reduction in first time injections to allow for re-stocking so that second injections and first timers can be continued in March. But will the newshounds apologise for unwarranted criticism of First Minister Mark Drakeford? He's done us proud.