Firstly, congratulations to Sarah & Lucy for reaching the finals of the Middlesex Ladies O55 Pairs yesterday playing 40 ends 4 shots each in that heat! Wow. Not many of us could have done that and still be standing. They won by 2 shots in the semi-final but lost by 2 shots in the final against North London. Lucy also injured her ankle in the final trial ends, so she deserves another medal for sheer gutsy determination to keep playing.
We’re very proud of you two and your achievements this season.
Secondly, Steve G stepped into Kevin L’s shoes early yesterday morning as Kevin was unwell and unable to play in the Home Counties match v Hampshire. Middlesex lost by 18 shots overall. Steve’s rink lost by just one shot. Considering he’d never seen any of his team before, let alone played with them. He did an excellent job. We hope Kevin is feeling better today.
Yesterday afternoon we played Mid-Surrey in the Richmond & Barnes league, taking a win of 54-46 and 2-1 in rinks. Top rink was Stella K, Corale, Steve P & Dawn.
Today’s South MIddlesex match v Teddington has been cancelled. To be realistic about this, today will be hotter than yesterday, so it’s probably not a bad thing.
So on to the weather. Get your windows open and the curtains drawn during the day, opening them in early evening. Stay cool and drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.
More restrictions are due to be lifted tomorrow. It would appear to be very debatable as to whether it’s a good idea or not.
Some of us will continue to wear face coverings in the shops and on transport. You must do what you feel is right for you.
Since the start of the summer term, children and teachers were taking Lateral Flow Tests at home every 3 days. Many businesses request their staff to do tests so that any positive results mean not travelling to work, booking a PCR test and staying at home for 10 days to avoid spreading the new variant(s).
You can order a pack of 7 Lateral Flow Tests for free via this link https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests I also picked up a pack at a local pharmacy, so that would be a good place to ask if they have one, especially if you know the pharmacist.
With the number of cases going up daily and, if the Health Minister is now isolating after testing positive, it would definitely be worth getting some test packs and doing your test at home. These are used only if you don’t have symptoms and involves you swabbing your nose and throat, dipping the swab in the solution given in a vial and putting drops on a testing strip. Once you’ve done one, it’s not an onerous or difficult task and you can log your results online showing a negative (hopefully) result. It’s definitely something to do at home as the swab can make you gag or sneeze – very undignified! You get the results almost instantly but within 30 minutes for sure. If you have limited access to the internet or a smartphone, you can ring the results in. All details and instructions are included with each pack. If you do a test every 3 days, the pack will last for 3 weeks and it’s free thanks to the NHS.
It’s something every person can do to help stop the spread. No one wants to be stuck indoors for 10 days but it’s preferable to passing the virus on to anyone else and risk putting them into hospital. Some venues are looking for evidence of (a) vaccination status and (b) negative LFT results. Both of these are visible if you have a smart phone and /or email. If you have neither, you can ring the NHS number to get a vaccination certificate posted out. We had to show our vaccination status via the NHS app on our phones last Sunday when we entered Hampton Court Flower Show. This is the standard NHS app, not the pinging covid one!!
We needed to take one of the cats to the vet on Friday. The practice we used was closed as all the vets had been ‘pinged’, then we tried the vets at Pets at Home and they were shut for the same reason! Fortunately the 24 hour Medivet was open and Tiger is now on antibiotics for an ear infection. Thanks to those at the club on Friday suggesting various vets who might be open! What a nightmare for our usual vets’ practice though.
Anyway, on a more uplifting note, enjoy your Sunday. Ice cream anyone?!
