I woke up at half past six this morning. The sun was already shining and I couldn't doze off again without first posting to WhatsApp today's YouTube link to Morning Prayer. Eventually, I dozed off again listening to the news, and got up late, just as Clare was off to her study group in Penarth. After breakfast, I spent an hour writing next week's biblical reflection before driving to Penarth to collect Clare for an early lunch, as she had an eye hospital appointment at two. We had just enough time to cook and eat together before I drove her to UHW.
Then I went for my daily walk and bumped into Fran and Mark, just as they were entering the park for an afternoon stroll, so we walked and chatted together. We then bumped into Mike, a mutual acquaintance who kept us at a distance, as he said was nearly at the end of a spell of self-isolation, having caught covid, most likely on a family trip to Sweden. Just as I was leaving the park, I bumped into eye surgeon Andrew, masked up and keeping me at a distance. He caught covid at work last week. By co-incidence I have been in the vicinity of three different people with covid in the past five days, having got through the last two years with hardly any encounter with a covid infected person. Is this what the virus becoming endemic means now?
It's not life threatening, no worse to get over than ordinary 'flu, so no need to be so vigilant and worried about catching it. Can't say I'm comfortable with this casualness. To our social and economic benefit winter covid restrictions have helped to bring about a reduction in 'flu illnesses and related deaths. I'd be in favour of maintaining social habits which help maintain reduction in contagious sicknesses of any kind. Already the number of people wearing masks on public transport and in indoor entertainment and retail settings, not to mention churches, diminished remarkably even before it became optional. I don't see how this is publicly beneficial. Why tolerate contagion of any kind when it could be reduced?
President Zelensky of Ukraine gave a speech in Kyiv broadcasted live to members of Parliament and relayed by the BBC on the PM programme at five this afternoon. The first time this has ever happened. It was a powerful account of the war on a day by day basis. Ukrainians are still begging for a no-fly zone over their territory, but the risk of this escalating into a world war is too great for NATO or any other country to take. Western nations are pouring 'lethal military aid' into Ukraine to make up for this, to equip the people to keep fighting for themselves. The number of refugees is now over two million. Early estimates of the number rising to four million have now been revised upwardly to seven million, though the basis on which such a prediction is made is not explained.
It seems two Russian army generals may have been casualties of the invasion as well as several thousand troops. Remarkably, the innovative use of state-of the-art smartphone technology is helping to make a difference. With thousands of people able to take geo-located photos of conflict zones and post them to website aggregators, real time military intelligence can be harvested and applied to defending the country in an unexpected new way. The skilful use of drone weaponry is in the hands of a generation that grew up honing its skills on computer games and flight simulators. This is something the invaders can't have bargained for. The Russian army still has a frightening amount of fire-power, and it's using it ruthlessly to empty and conquer targeted cities. They have underestimated those they expected to overwhelm. The anti-war tide of protest in Russia is rising in the absence of success. Already this is undermining Putin's hold on power. How much more damage will his army do to Ukraine before the army turns against him and scapegoats his failure of leadership? We can but watch and pray.
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