Marks And Spencer In Dalston Was On The Ball
This morning, I walked to Marks and Spencer in the Kingsland Road for essential supplies.
I got more than I needed and now have enough food in the fridge and my cupboards for the next ten days.
The hold-up in the store were the tills, but one of the assistants had taken control of the situation, by marshalling customers to spare self-service tills, scanning goods and helping to get the customers out of the store as fast as possible.
It was real East End spirit in action.
Remember that the BBC soap, was nearly shot in a real square close to Dalston and in some ways the chivvying and banter could have been transposed.
Is EastEnders dealing with COVID-19? I doubt it!
This Is My Second Lockdown
I can’t be the only person, but in the 1970s, I has locked myself away for nearly a year before. I did it to write the first version of the Project Management software; Artemis.
There are some differences between my situation then and my situation now.
- My wife was alive then and we saw each other for perhaps two days a week.
- I could drive and I occasionally went down the Clopton Crown for the odd pint and meal!
- I hadn’t been diagnosed as a coeliac, as that happened in 1997.
- There was no Internet or social media.
- There was no Radio 5 Live.
- I am a better cook now, than I was then.
- I am within walking distance of a Marks and Spencer Simply Food store.
I think the rules for surviving are as follows.
- Eat and drink enough.
- Have entertaining radio or television on.
- Break the day up with a bit of exercise.
- Get a good night’s sleep.
- Arrange good weather.
Let’s hope this lockdown turns out as well as the last.
Our Social Distancing Is Working, Says Sir Patrick Vallance
This is a headline on the front of today’s Times.
Sir Patrick is the government’s chief scientific adviser and I doubt he would use words like that lightly.
He noted these points.
- Hospital admissions are increasing by a stable amount each day.
- The NHS is coping as numbers have stopped accelerating.
- He felt that reductions in travel were working.
- Public transport usage has severely reduced.
He indicated that more of the same was needed.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see that by the end of this week, we’ll be able to make much better predictions on the progress of the COVID-19 virus through the UK population.
Here in the UK, we could be approaching the End of the Beginning!
Coronavirus: Mercedes F1 To Make Breathing Aid
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the introductory paragraph.
A breathing aid that can help keep coronavirus patients out of intensive care has been created in under a week.
From reading the article it appears that engineers from University College London, clinicians at University College Hospital and production engineers and specialists at Mercedes Formula One have combined to re-engineer and hopefully improve something called a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device, which is already used in hospitals and has been used in China and Italy to combat the virus.
The new design would appear to have advantages.
- It doesn’t need an expensive ventilator.
- It doesn’t need an intensive care bed.
- From the pictures and video on a BBC Breakfast report, it looks to be quick and easy to manufacturer.
- A production rate of a thousand a day is claimed by Mercedes.
- The BBC Breakfast report also says, that patients don’t need to be sedated.
- It also looks like the NHS is going to fast-rack the device into use.
Will this rethinking of standard treatment increase hospital capacity and save lives?
I can’t answer the question, but given those behind the device, it must have a better than even chance of being a success!
The Ipswich Lockdown
Around 1960, my parents bought a second home in Felixstowe, where they eventually retired some years later. This memory could have been earlier, as we were always going to Felixstowe, often staying in the Ordnance Hotel.
In those days, there was no Southern by-pass to the town, so you had to go around the old by-pass, which now passes the current Ipswich Hospital before taking the Felixstowe Road from St. Augustine’s roundabout.
We used to go to the house in Felixstowe most weekends and I can remember one trip, where instead of going around the town, we went through it past the old County Hall and up Spring Road.
I can remember looking out of the MG Magnette (registration number 676 RME) and seeing that the streets of Ipswich were completely deserted.
The reason was that the town had been hit by an outbreak of polio and people weren’t venturing out.
Strangely, I can’t find anything on the Internet about this polio outbreak!
My Daily Exercise
My father always said I was born lucky!
When I bought this house in Dalston after my stroke, I bought it because of the location.
- There are four London Overground stations within walking distance.
- Four bus stops are within a hundred metres, which are served by five bus routes, one of which goes to King’s Cross, St. Pancras and Euston
- There are more than ten bus routes within walking distance.
- I have three bus routes to and from the Angel for the shops and Chapel Market, where my paternal grandmother, used to shop before the First World War.
- If I walk the other way, there was the rather run down Kingsland Road with a Sainsbury’s and lots of unhealthy takeaways.
But then Marks and Spencer opened a Simply Food store in the Kingsland Road by Dalston Kingsland station.
- It is about a fifteen minute walk from my house.
- It has a full range of their gluten-free food.
- It stocks everything I need regularly.
It was certainly my luck, that they opened this store.
Today, I took my daily exercise by walking to the store and bringing home enough food for a couple of days.
- Is this killing two birds with one stone?
- The walk along the Balls Pond Road was notable because there was only little traffic and few pedestrians on one of East London’s main arteries.
- A sizeable proportion of the shops were shut.
It was also very breezy and was this good to protect me from COVID-19, by blowing it away?
Ventilators On Click
Click, the BBC’s technology program has just shown an item about ventilator development.
They showed a picture of the dyson machine and video of several others.
- One created its own oxygen.
- One was designed for developing countries.
- One was designed to be a minimal size.
- One was designed to be 3D printed.
- One cost around five hundred euros.
Developments were also from several countries in addition to the UK, including Canada, France and Spain,
I think the world is on a path to get enough ventilators.
The program will be repeated in BBC Breakfast tomorrow!
Boots March In To COVID-19 Testing
There has just been an item on BBC Breakfast, where the Managing Director of Boots claimed that the chemists were rolling out COVID-19 testing.
Only hundreds a day at the moment, but the plans seem impressive!
Lockdown ‘Is On Course To Reduce Total Death Rate’
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Britain is on course for an estimated 5,700 deaths from coronavirus, far lower than originally predicted, experts believe.
It’s all contained in a paper by Tom Pike at Imperial College,
Apparently, it is based on the premise that the UK follows the lockdown and social distancing.
Here’s hoping!
The story is also in the Mail and the Express.
The Anonymous Widower 