Teeth grinding

A cautionary examplar here. In our house Mrs S and I were careful to instruct our tradespeople that there were two rooms which required only disconnection and reconnection to electrical and water services. No other works were to be undertaken in these areas. Flanders and Swann comically outline the outcome as below.

Well, having given detailed plans of what was to go where, said trades have first trashed installations they were specifically told not to touch. Which has cost me sleep and a layer of enamel off my herkos odonton. Fortunately the fix is less than a grand, so we can cross it off the list. There’s just enough room in the cash supply. Just enough. Providing our tax bill isn’t too high.

Given the friction this creates I can see how easily some major refurbishment projects lead to divorce. However, Mrs S and I are too busy problem solving on the fly. We discuss, debate point by point. We involve. Okay, sometimes the process falls over but mostly we get by. Although just sometimes….. You know? I have to clench my teeth so hard it’s painful.

Fortunately the last floors go in tomorrow and the last of the internal insulation is going in today. I have an offer of bees this weekend, so things are coming together slowly. But oh too slowly, and everyone is on my case about it.

Methinks it’s time to move the last of our funds out of sterling, although all currencies appear to be nosediving, so we’re moving and spending our cash reserves while we can. The inflation trap, sprung by the COVID restrictions is on us. Not the virus you understand, but the fallout from government imposed restrictions and free money for the underemployed, that is going to hit hard. Very hard. It’s going to be worse than the hyperinflation of the late 1970’s, which I can remember well, even though I was only a student at the time.

I recall my Dad being issued a ‘fuel ration’ card, prices of everything skyrocketing, especially heating costs. Having to wear two jumpers indoors because the central heating was too expensive to switch on. Cold winters in which old people literally froze to death. But better than having a modest chance of catching a nasty flu type bug and dying of that now, hey? Now we have the chairman of Tesco and other food retail groups talking about food shortages. And news items have abounded about food banks being under more stress than ever. We never had that in the 70’s. We did have Disco however, and I’m not sure what was worse.

Just remember this; ‘following the science’ and rule by ‘experts’ caused this unfolding economic catastrophe. Doing what the media said did this. Paying people to stay at home did this. The bill for all those restrictions, mask mandates and vaccines that don’t work all that well is coming due and we’re all being stuck with the bill.

I truly believe, having read the stats and watched events unfold, that had we done nothing at all the body count would not have changed. Even the most optimistic studies say that the restrictions only ‘saved’ 0.2% of the potential casualties.

Apropos of what has already begun there is a book title I’d like to share with you; Der zug war pünktlich (The train was on time) by German Author Heinrich Böll about a WWII German soldier on his way to the meat grinding hell of the Eastern front. Well the inflation train is in the station and like it or not we’re all going to have to ride it. Courtesy of clueless politicians and their blockheaded advisers. Oh yes, and all those who censored well qualified people who had a better understanding of epidemiology than those grabbing at the reins of power, who didn’t want to listen to more sane and studied viewpoints. Literally ‘cancelling’ the voices who dared speak out against the chosen narrative.

From my position, it is so teeth grindingly obvious that what is coming at us will put the actual SARS/COV-2 virus deeply in the shade. So Mrs S and I will be hunkering down, doing the self sufficiency thing and in the words of Jack London, “living the Lord knows how.”

Think I’m exaggerating? All you will have to do is wait. The worst is yet to come. Despite that, I shall maintain an irreverent outlook. In the words of Noel Coward “There are bad times just around the corner”

Makers and breakers

Having listened to Dr Starkey’s little talk (See below) about Bojo’s fining for breaking the COVID rules. I am minded to think that Boris Johnson should not be fined. Nor any of his Staff, the Chancellor or any of his staff. Indeed I would like all COVID fines to be quashed and if need be repaid, no matter who they were issued to.

The restrictions have served no good purpose, and once the data is fully known, will be found to have been far more harmful than doing nothing but simple common sense (Stay at home if ill) precautions.

Off with their honours.

Because I can

Every day I go to our house to let the builders in while they demolish the ground floor ready for the concrete base which will form the base for the underfloor heating system. All the studding and framing upstairs is almost done, and the sparky has given us a temporary power supply.

Normally I have things to do in my workshop while being on site to answer questions like “Where d’ye want this then?” Unfortunately there’s no electricity so I can’t do much more than rescue materials and spend hours pulling nails. Using my electric saw and sander is not possible. So that slows things like building the raised beds. Fortunately I have made four panels and will have power to my workshop tomorrow.

On a short foray into town I was surprised by the number of people still wearing surgical masks. As I don’t follow the fear porn media, I’m not worried about what is now a moderate cold. No-one challenged me (Well, I’m a big guy) so I just got on with things, ran my errands etc.

Personal anecdote re masks; while the mask mandates were enforced, I regularly felt like I’d got a permanent case of strep throat. Now I no longer bother with a mask, the tightness and other symptoms have disappeared, while many of the the mask wearers seemed to have a cough or a permanent sniffle. Hmmm.

But today the wind has been howling in from the Atlantic, making sitting and sanding in the north facing doorway of my workshop uncomfortable. At our surrogate address, Mrs S is hunkered down and waiting for the winds to pass. Me, I have to make busy and wait until the guys finish at just before five.

However, I count ‘hunkered down’ to include the interior of my SUV (Yes, I drive an SUV, watch those emissions climb – Har, har, har!) So while in the cosy interior of my car, took a bimble around my two fields. It was tremendous fun, skidding and sliding across the damp grass doing broadslide turns and bumping over tussocky patches. Just enjoying myself burning up (almost) two euro a litre diesel. Wonder if I can get the SUV reclassified as a farm vehicle and use a cheaper grade?

Why? Because it’s my land and because I bloody well can.

A Sunday post

Re: the Ottawa truck convoy. The Liberal government of Canada has sent the dogs in (Armed RCMP) to arrest unarmed peaceful protesters at the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ontario, Canada and Detroit, USA.

Both Federal and Provincial authorities have threatened to fine, jail and take away licences. But who will deliver the goods and move mountains if the authorities reduce the amount of people moving the goods? The truckers, both self employed and otherwise, could easily starve the big cities by simply hanging up their keys, turning off their phones and taking a two week leave of absence. Or a fortnights sick leave by announcing they’d all caught the dreaded lurgi and had to self isolate.

Do the Turd-brains in their clown parliament and local legislatures think they can bring in enough unskilled labour to move Canada’s goods? The freight trains alone can’t do it, the support infrastructure just isn’t there any more and all the delivery points are in big retail stores far from the tracks. There’s also a shortage of new drivers. All the old boomers who formed the greatest demographic of drivers have been retiring. It’s the same all over the world. UK, Ireland, Europe, wherever.

And driving a big rig is a dangerous business. If you’d driven the trans Canada as I have, you’d understand. The broad roads of Canada have their own particular hazards, from wayward wildlife to rainstorms that can wash out even major highways in minutes, whiteout blizzards and windstorms that can blow even smaller vehicles halfway across the highway. That’s without factoring in the ignorance and eccentricity of the average Canadian car driver.

A truck isn’t like a car, it doesn’t manoeuvre like a car, it takes longer to stop for one. it handles differently. So some guy from just off the boat with no experience won’t be able to do the job.

Besides, to get your heavy goods ticket takes a great deal of time and money, not to mention that Canadian licence transfer legislation effectively downgrades your licence if you move countries. Been there, done that, passed my driving test in BC to boot. Lost my light goods certification in the process. Same for Ireland. I’m only just getting my old UK driver certifications back next week after months of writing letters to Service Canada and the DVLA.

So yes, by all means strip the livelihoods from people instead of having the guts to go and actually talk to them. Hobble the Canadian economy. Then whine about driver programmes not being ‘inclusive’ enough because there aren’t enough transgender or feminist drivers. Complain about CO2 emissions then wonder why there’s a lot less on the supermarket shelves and prices are skyrocketing.

The Pandemic is over. It’s been over for some considerable time and there’s no excuse for not lifting all the restrictions. Right now. People want their lives back. They want their civil rights and pre-COVID freedoms back and there is no good reason not to grant this simple request.

Not that there ever was.

Update: and now for a short word from someone who is definitely not our sponsor.

Another text

Another day and another message saying I should have a ‘booster’ jab. Another text message I will be ignoring, apart from writing about the experience here. Seriously people? Has no-one else got the memo that you get SARS/COV-2 regardless of whether you’ve been vaccinated or not? Or that the current iteration (The “OHMIGOD!” variant)is like a heavy cold? So what’s the point?

On the family side of things; ‘North’ was allowed to return to work on Monday after a second negative test, so she’s a lot happier. ‘South’ is happier now the fabled land of Oz is opening up once more and my Canadian Investment broker is getting twitchy over this ‘Freedom Convoy’.

To be honest I’d be more worried about what Trudeau is going to do. Rumours have been circulating of Police snipers deployed against unarmed demonstrators. Police have been arbitrarily confiscating fuel containers from supporters of the protests, and harassing people without obvious grounds, which is a bit dodgy, legally speaking. Nova Scotia declaring that supporting the truck convoys is a ‘crime’ punishable by jail time. The premier of Saskatchewan declaring that the restrictions will be over by this coming weekend. Alberta now making conciliatory noises after Jason Kenney’s outburst. The situation is fast moving, fluid, and events are on a hair trigger.

I think Trudeau has painted himself into a political corner and he will be forever damned if the Police take armed action against unarmed and peaceful (Albeit noisy) truck convoy protests. However, more trucks are coming. The point is coming where he needs to call a general election or double down. Personally I think he’ll do the latter because the Liberals will be trashed at the ballot box.

The worst case scenario for him will be if an armed policeman shoots one of the children of the demonstrators, or ironically hits a counter demonstrator. Then all hell will cut loose. Canadians may have the reputation of being overly polite, but there is a point past which even they will not go.

Not that I’m worried myself here in Auld Ireland. The earnings on our investments have slowed to a trickle over the last two years, but what we lost we made back with a little bit more into the bargain last year, so we’re keeping ahead of the game. However, through not panicking we still have a modest cash reserve even after the various market hiccups. Many others have not been so fortunate, I hear a lot have taken a cold bath over the last two years.

Anyway, it’s not a bad old day up here in Mayo, so I’m off out to shift some foliage while the rain holds off. The world will have to do what it does and I will adjust my actions accordingly.

Update: Alberta will lift all restrictions shortly and a number of other provinces are following suit.

The UK has dropped all restrictions. Ireland are going to drop theirs shortly. They think it’s all over.

I think it is now.

Well then.

So. Here it is. 2022. ‘North’ goes back to jolly old Londinium shortly to resume her frenetic pace of life. We hope we haven’t bored her while she’s been with us. She has been spending a good deal of her time asleep. Maybe she’s just playing catch up. I just keep the fires stoked and make sure everyone has a full glass available.

Happy to report that ‘South’ is out of restrictions and back out with her mates again in the fabled land of Oz. During this mornings video conference she looked much happier and not in the least bit snotty. Funny though, she did test positive for the dreaded lurgi despite being double jabbed with a top up.

I’m still on tenterhooks awaiting completion on our new domicile in the next few days. Which is getting far too close to the wire for my liking. If we have to reschedule moving and connections, which will cost me extra money, I will be looking for someone to sue for breach of contract. Or strangle and provide future archaeologists with a little mystery to solve. Either will do.

Anyway, despite all the hype I’m not very impressed with these vaccines. They only give you partial immunity for less than five months from what I can see, which doesn’t sound like they’re much good. And the ‘breakthrough infection’ rate (i.e. getting the disease even after the ‘vaccine’) is far too high for my liking, so what’s the point of these constant top ups? Israel, with one of the highest percentage of vaccinated has been talking about mandating a fourth or even fifth jab. Then there’s the adverse reactions, which though ‘rare’ are still significant.

Considering that Sarf Efrica only had at the last count only 24% of population vaccinated, they didn’t lock down or similar despite being the source for the heavy cold now masquerading as the Moronic Pandemic. Indeed, the chief medical honcho down there has repeatedly said that the Moronic variant is nothing to worry about.

Yet the powers that be this side of the equator and their pet media (or should that be the other way around?) are all losing their collective shit despite a relative lack of people snuffing it, and the complete failure of the Moronic Variant to overwhelm health services all around the world. But no, they keep mandating masks and lockdowns, then when that fails yet again, more masks and lockdowns. It’s like being on some sort of a dystopian merry go round. Frankly me deario’s I think they’d have done less harm if they’d done nothing. Or just issued standard colds and flu advice and put the Army medical corps on standby to staff overflow units like the ‘Nightingale’ hospitals that never really got used.

Across the pond, Florida man (to be more specific his press secretary) is having a giggle over all those privileged New Yawk hypocrites like Occasional Cortex who have left their home city with all it’s curfews and mandatory masks and been seen in various Floridian locations sipping the local beverages, pandering to the only demographic who believe in her.

Likewise a lot of ‘red’ states have simply dispensed with all the Hoo-Haw and simply got on with life as normal. Even that Brandon old fool masquerading as their illustrious leader has thrown up his hands and said that it’s all down to the individual states. Not that he’s really in charge. Any more than Bojo the clown in the UK is. Who they’re in hock to, no one’s quite sure, but they’re not doing sense and logic, that’s for sure. Don’t even mention the fop allegedly in charge of Canada, because it will call you an ‘ist’ if you disagree. There, that’s you told. So there!

Then there have been the protests against all the continual restrictions across Europe, where the politicians keep on doing more of the same to the point where their respective populations are kicking off at various protests. Even normally docile Germans are going off on one. Now they have around twenty million jab refuseniks. Smart people the Germans, pity about the 1930’s and 40’s. And the whole of the 19th and early 20th century. Who do they think they are? English?

Back over here in the Wilder West we’ve not been going out as much as we normally would because everywhere shuts down by gubbermint edict at eight pee em. As if any disease was that time sensitive. Even in daytime nowhere has been very crowded, except Dunnes, the local equivalent of Marcus Expensius in the week before Christmas. The hospitality business must be almost dead on it’s feet.

Strikes me that the lockdown lobby must be stuffed with the ‘no-one must have any fun at any time any where’ faction. I remember people like that from school. They were miserable bossy little tossers back then and I don’t think they’ve changed much since.

Anyway. Here’s hoping for a better year. The wind is howling outside and I hope to lessen my own inner howl by getting extra busy in the next couple of days. Good luck everyone, I have a feeling we’re going to need it.

Unclean! Unclean!

Ah, this is one of those “Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be” situations. Now we’re told that those who refuse a third, fourth or possibly fifth and sixth jab of vaccine against the fairly harmless Omicron variant of SARS/COV-2 are now going to be ‘unclean’ and their ‘vaccination certificates’ revoked until they submit to the next experimental vaccine booster.

Back in medieval times when Hansen’s Disease (Leprosy), which is a moderately rare condition now curable by a course of antibiotics was ‘treated’ by turning the sufferer into a pariah, an outcast, doomed to wander from hospice to hospice in search of shelter and food, forever denied the right of simple labour to fill their bellies, warning any who might get close to them with a bell or clapper and the cry of “Unclean!”

Now I’ve heard of old treatments being resurrected like maggots used to clean wounds and packing with honey or sugar, as opposed to the more modern practice of debridement (Removal of non-viable tissue) and packing with Magnesium Disulphate (Epsom salts) to kill an infection. Both work quite well, so I am informed, although I have never seen the former in action. But bringing back the practice of exiling, how very retro.

Yet this is the very thing modern politicians are proposing with their eternally upgrading ‘vaccine passports’. To be honest I’m not going to be pressured into getting a booster jab just to be allowed into some second class eatery. I did the first two vaccinations, had some minor reactions and there my participation in the current round of uncontrolled mass clinical trials ends. You can ban me from restaurants, clubs and pubs. Don’t care. Don’t go to mass sport events and my travel plans are restricted anyway because I have other things to spend my money on. Bitterly pissed off because family members are not able to come and visit, but when panic is the norm, as with Hansens, all logic and sense go out of the window.

“It’s only a little prick.” I can hear the compliant whining already. “It’s for everyone’s safety.” No it isn’t. The “OHMYGAWD!” variant has mutated into a bad cold, the hospitalisation and death rates do not lie. Indeed I would argue that the testing, vaccines, masks and lockdowns have extended SARS/COV-2 from a nasty one season bug into a multi-year phenomenon with no end in sight. Despite all the hype it has failed to live up to expectations.

If we were to do the same for any of the multiple other Corona, Adeno and Rhinoviruses out there, you know, the ones responsible for everyday colds and flu, the whole world would really grind to a complete halt. And it will never end. And it’s not just me saying this (See below).

We heartily endorse this message.

All for nothing

Today we wait with bated breath to see if ‘North’ will actually be able to get on the plane to come and see us. I have fresh veg, olive oil and balsamic vinegar (A 60/40 mix of Olive oil and balsamic makes a tasty dip for Ciabatta, add a pinch of chilli and garlic with a squidge of lemon juice and Worcester sauce for an excellent Italianate salad dressing) to purchase for her visit, and another case (or two) of wine.

‘South’ reports that she is feeling much better, despite testing positive for SARS/COV-2 and being forced by diktat to self isolate over the entire festive season. We’ll find a way to get her over this Summer and give her a swinging hammock, a book and some personal space to fully find herself again.

Yesterdays media revelations about Government data modelling that Governments only ask for bad news from the data modellers rankles. No wonder, the panic button has been pressed so hard and so often over the last two years that the public is terrified of it’s own shadows. And it’s all been for nothing.

Yes, nothing. The restrictions and vaccinations have saved no-one. I’ve said from April 2020 onwards that the scenarios / predictions we were all being presented with by government and media over COVID made no sense. But up until yesterday’s news I didn’t understand the actual process.

Oh yes I suspected, but suspicion is not proof. And proof is needed. Evidence is needed. But now we have the evidence in the words of the chairman of the data modellers that they are only asked to model for worst case scenarios. No wonder we’re in a mess.

There is a solidifying body of opinion, but not yet fact, that the restrictions and disruptions have cost tens of thousands of worthwhile lives. All on the back of over-pessimistic worst case scenarios. And all for nothing. All those untreated people who could have been saved. All those who lost everything and were forced onto the breadline and worse. For nothing.

This is not ‘disinformation’ it is the simple truth and anyone complicit in suppressing that truth or censoring conflicting real world evidence is guilty of crimes against humanity. We’re looking at the tech giants here and the big media outfits, with very few exceptions. They’re all guilty as hell of the deaths and economic damage based on nothing but the justification of worst case scenarios produced by uncaring academics for self justifying bureaucrats.

And it’s all been for nothing. The pandemic has gone. The virus has mutated into a relatively benign form. Panic over. Let’s just dump these nonsensical restrictions and try to rebuild society. Said task of rebuilding should be left to the people on the ground, not their governments, who will only get in the way and cock things up.

Like they have been doing for the last two years.

By George I’ve got it!

I’ve done the whole reductio ad absurdam thing and arrived at the only possible conclusion; all these nonsensical restrictions, the bad science, the control freakery.

There’s only one thing it can be;

Vogons.

Look, it makes perfect sense. They’re the most unpleasant race in the galaxy, mean, officious and bureaucratic, it has to be them behind all these irrational restrictions, overblown tests and nonsensical political shenanigans. There’s nothing else that makes sense.

All our political leaders, SAGE, NPHET and the like must be absolutely crowded with the slimy green sods. I think the whole Dial is infected, as is the UK cabinet. They’re all under the thrall of Vogons. I mean you only have to look at Boris Johnsons lack of a hairdo. Who else in the galaxy would be that untidy on purpose?

Am I right? Have we been invaded and our institutions undermined? Comments below please..

Update: In the dear old Speccie, Fraser Nelson may have just busted the whole thing wide open. Longrider discusses in more detail and provides the link. This twitter exchange between Professor Medley and Fraser shows why policy happens as it does and why the worst case scenario is always the model most touted. (If the Spectator link doesn’t work, try this one for the Daily Sceptic)

If you can’t be bothered to pick your way through the twitter thread, have a listen to Mahyar Tousi’s examination in the video below.

The worst case scenario’s on anything appear to be the only ones the ‘policy directors’ ask for. Ergo that’s what SAGE modellers deliver and what gets into the mainstream. I completely agree with (corrected, my bad) Fraser Reg@ratboy101203. It is ‘fucking scandalous’.

This isn’t to say that there isn’t a Vogon in there somewhere though.

Causality is a harsh mistress

Difficult news day. Down in the fabled prison camp of Oz, ‘South’ has just been diagnosed with a SARS/COV-2 infection. She will miss Christmas as she now has to stay indoors for two weeks poor lamb. However, she’s young, fit and otherwise healthy, so she’ll be a bit rough over the weekend and be drumming her heels for the whole of Yule.

For our part we will try to keep her entertained via various video sharing platforms, and all her aunts and uncles will be likewise checking in from their quarantines. We have agreed to all work together to ensure she doesn’t feel isolated and alone. She’s got a good social circle too, so they will be pitching in to help where they can, but Christmas dinner for her will be a sad little sparkler in a glass of orange juice with the culinary horror of a TV dinner. We’ll make it up to her when she finally gets out. You can take that to the bank.

This side of the world it’s a bit touch and go whether ‘North’ will make it across the Irish sea next week. We’re paying for all her extra tests to satisfy the authorities that she is ‘clean’, but honestly I’m kept up nights worrying about the closing window of opportunity. At any time the regulators can slam the door on her leaving and there’s nothing we can do short of smuggling her out to Blackpool and hijacking or bribing a fishing boat or helicopter under the radar to bring her across.

I think I’ve made this point before, but this is abuse by Government diktat. The disease isn’t that bad, the “OHMYGAWD!” variant being more akin to a common cold at this stage if the data coming out of Sarf Efrika is to be taken at face value.

I am only heartened by watching the Tories getting drubbed in their supposedly ‘safe’ seat of Shropshire North, with the potential for another kicking at the ballot box at David Amess’s old seat of Southend West. Pity that not enough protest votes are going to Reform or Reclaim, but that’s for the conscience of the individual voter. They seem to think that keeping on voting for the same mainstream parties will make a change for the better. They will find that this decision will not help, because the legacy political classes are all heavily biased in favour of return to the tentacular grasp of the EU and yet more restrictions.

Unfortunately this will lead to causality writ large. Vote for a rejoiner party, even in protest, and this is what you will get. More pointless regulation of the minutiae of your lives. More masks, more lockdowns, and don’t you dare miss your scheduled jab citizen or it’s off to the COVID gulag with you. No, not them, you. Just because it is someone else’s turn this week does not mean that it won’t be yours next. No matter how far you bend the knee. It will never be enough. This is what giving your life over to doctors looks like. Cause, meet effect. Happy now?

Because those voting for ‘safety’ will only find out that causality is a very harsh mistress. Very harsh indeed.

But I repeat myself

Watching the frenetic fulminations of the mainstream media today. I took a look back in my blog archives about the madness we are now enveloped in. Eleven months ago.

Despite all the masks and lockdowns we are no further forward in getting out of this so-called pandemic. And I use the term ‘so-called’ very carefully because it is, and then again most definitely isn’t.

Because what is a pandemic? The dictionary definition is this;

Pandemic

pandemic/panˈdɛmɪk/Learn to pronounceadjective

1. (of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world.

Okay, tick that box. The spread of Omicron variant of SARS/COV-2 is worldwide. It’s everywhere and if you do not have natural immunity from a similar infection, you are going to get it. No question. It’s already endemic.

However, trying to avoid this bug by hiding behind a worthless mask (Read the wrapper) in a sink of infection (an enclosed space like your home) is an exercise in futility.

Thinking about all the fuss, there is a body of opinion that states “if rape is inevitable you might as well lie back and enjoy it”. Unless of course you can spit in the would be rapists eyes and twist their balls off, or bite their dick in two while their legs are tangled up trying to get their trousers off (Which is what I advised my two stepdaughters to do if so assaulted).

However, catching what is effectively a bad cold and having a rough forty eight hours isn’t comparable to rape. True rape is a nasty, brutalising experience and more akin to the enforced wearing of masks, lockdowns and mandatory vaccinations the politicians are trying to foist upon us all.

Our social mechanisms are being raped by the constant media drumbeat of fear, our basic human interactions damaged by gleeful haters and the perennially petrified. Like with the psychological damage inflicted by a brutal rape, our basic humanity is affected and will take years to heal, if they ever do.

At this point in the war of words over the restrictions, we who believe that ordinary people know better how to live their lives than some Ivory tower ‘expert’ lost in the clouds of academe, are on the back foot. We are in the minority. Berated and abused as tin foil hat conspiracy theorists. Threatened with the loss of liberty and employment should we not comply with the demands of the panicky and woefully ill advised.

The evidence is there for all to see. The “OHMYGAWD!” virus variant is in the wild. We will all get it regardless of restrictions and a very few, already sick with serious and life threatening conditions, will die. Many others will die (and have already died) precisely because the very restrictions meant to prevent infection with one arguably minor infection prevent them getting timely medical treatment by the very institutions our tax dollars pay for..

The only way to mitigate the Omicron variants worst effects is, as I have said so many times before about previous variants of SARS/COV-2, is a healthy diet full of vitamins and minerals (Add Vitamins D3, K2, and C if you think you need them), fresh air, moderate exercise and a healthy attitude to risk. Wash your hands properly and regularly with warm soapy water (Not hand ‘sanitiser’) and you’ll wonder what all the fuss is about.

Works for me.

Marketing

Driving into LocalTown just after nine this morning, I passed a two hundred metre queue of people waiting for their ‘booster’ jab. I will not, as I have stated before, be joining them, even if it becomes compulsory.

When I got back home I popped over to Head Rambles and read Grandad’s observations about the constantly changing metrics the mainstream use to report the “OHMYGAWD!” figures. Which tweaked a random memory from over twenty five years gone (Jaysus! is it that long ago?) when I did a stint in marketing.

Then it struck me. This is the drug companies chief marketing tactic isn’t it? Get your pet academics to feed the MSM sockpuppets and politicians the scariest possible data to give interviews to a breathless clickbait hunting media, if they haven’t already done so. Alternatively apply a little editorial pressure, perhaps from an editor who has just been taken for a very nice lunch by a drug company rep, upon the promise that as long as the scary stories continue, so will the very nice lunches and visits to watch young ladies cavort about in very little clothing. Or boys, or whatever, hell, I don’t judge.

So all the panicmongering is no more than product promotion writ large? It’s certainly has all the hallmarks of such a campaign, even if the details are slightly different. Scary stories, even when there’s little or no real risk, sell not only clicks but vaccine doses as well. The marketing and advertising companies make money, dead tree media gets a boost, and so do the drug companies. Hey, it’s only taxpayer dollar, and who cares about them?

System admin

Okay. Contacts signed. Movers booked. And then there’s Christmas and a brand new business venture, including web sites, business accounts, registrations and suchlike. All the fun of systems admin. Then Mrs S got to badgering me about menu’s for Christmas fortnight when ‘North’ is hopefully going to arrive.

All the fuss and bother is driving yours truly ever so slightly bwanas, so I got a bit grumpy and told her to sort out the menu’s and leave the cook (Me) alone to get on with all his other jobs. Like doing all the other stuff she wants me to do. If I stuck a broom up my arse I could probably clean the floor as I go.

Whether ‘North’ will get here or not will be in the hands of the most blitheringly incompetent bunch of brain dead bozo’s (A.K.A. the collective Governments of the UK, Europe and much of the English speaking world, Yes this especially means you Australia), busy panicking about a bad head cold first identified in Sarf Efrika.

The doctors who identified this new bug are all openly wondering what the fuss is about, as all the data says this ‘variant’ is about as harmful as a six week old kitten.

The brain dead bozo’s, who don’t like to be blamed for anything, even if it is demonstrably their fault, are running around like headless chickens shutting down travel or imposing draconian measures like putting people who might have been close to someone else who had a sniffle in what are, to all intents and purposes, prison camps.

Australian brother and sister in law have gone home to their pleasant little place in Queensland, but as he is now forbidden to go back to work across the territorial border, his company will have to find someone with his very rare (and expensive) skill set already close to their offices, and find them inside a week. Which frankly isn’t going to happen without some serious laws being broken. Brother in law is a key person in the import / export supply chain, and without him or people like him, important things will not happen.

Also in Oz, ‘South’ was hoping to get out for Christmas, which at the moment seems unlikely. Personally I think she’s a bit desperate like so many others, poor lamb. All we can do from our end is send gifts and keep her talking with the promise of better times and a break in the Irish countryside with all her aunts, uncles and sister, all of whom she is missing terribly. It is our turn to host the gathering of the clan and we hope to be ready for it mid 2022.

As for prison camps. Oh boy, that’s going to (and probably has already) make for some serious discontent, and I’m sitting here waiting to see when the first bombs go off. Because unless these restrictions are walked back, that is what is eventually going to happen.

I can see it coming in like an Atlantic rainstorm towards a western beach. Some hothead, sick of being demonised and spat on by politicians, media and other boneheads, will start chucking home made explosives about, mark my words. And I predict said hothead will be that security operatives nightmare, the intelligent ‘clean skin’ with no affiliations or history who has not made an out of line comment on the Interweb but has the nous to use all those clever ‘how to’ video’s on various platforms and effectively cover their tracks.

The only way out of course is for the panicking politicians (as well as everybody else) to calm the f*ck down and take a chill pill. The virus will finish running it’s course regardless of them repeating the same old mistakes in the same old way. So let people have their festive season and civil liberties back or be prepared for trouble.

But then that’s just me stating the bleedin’ obvious. I cite as my example the repeated clamping down on civil rights of Catholics as the main trigger for firstly the 1916 Irish uprising and war of independence, also in the 1960’s the ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland resulting in decades of murders and counter-murders, including the assassination of politicians.

Notwithstanding the aforementioned, I’m simply going to plunge on regardless with plans for Christmas in the hopes that sanity will prevail and we can ditch all the worthless masks, travel restrictions and lockdowns to just enjoy what should be a happy time of year. If ‘North’s’ visit happens it will be nice. If not, I’m going to remain very, very angry. Like so many others.

In the meantime. While I’m busy moving multiple domains, creating new e-commerce websites, getting ready to move house and negotiating bustling crowds of Christmas shoppers, here’s a few great oldies from the Moody Blues.

All very apposite, if you care to think about it. Enjoy.

Resurrecting an old joke

There is a joke so old that my father taught it to me. “The floggings will continue until morale improves. Signed, the Captain.” A real life variant of which was recorded in the 1960’s as “All liberty is cancelled until morale improves.” A more modern (and pertinent) variant might be “The restrictions will continue until our share prices drop.”

But there’s a study (From Harvard, if that impresses you) just out that demonstrates what some of us have been maintaining all along, that natural immunity is far better than the experimental vaccines alone. See below. Dr Syed discusses the study below.

So if what he’s saying is the unvarnished truth, if you’ve had the dreaded lurgi and recovered, then got vaccinated, congratters! Like me, you likely won’t get it again, regardless of ‘variant’. Unlike having the mRNA vaccines alone, where ‘breakthrough infections’ do happen and there is also a documented elevated heart and reinfection risk. Which is why I’m reluctant to get a ‘booster’. The risk / reward equation at this stage of the game does not seem favourable. I’m already immune, with brass knobs on and no returns, so why bother? I can’t catch it and am therefore unlikely to pass it on, Huzzah! World saved, half hols for everyone. Home for tea and medals.

So no more need for tests, masks, or vaccine passports or whatever. We’re all golden. South African sniffles notwithstanding. Herd immunity has been reached. If only the PCR test, which detects both live and dead virus, were replaced with antibody tests, then we would have a clearer picture of how the virus has propagated through the population and who is now immune. But maybe that would have been too easy.

Yet the UK is imposing even more restrictions, fining people two hundred smackers for getting on a bus without a mask. Which makes no sense. As does cancelling the vaccine passports of those who, like me, won’t bother with a vaccine booster. Especially as having the booster will entail entering a known sink of infection. A.k.a. a hospital.

We are immune. Unlike those who have been vaccinated without having caught the dreaded lurgi first, now they may get a dose, but will probably get the milder version, which is what the “OhmyGod” variant will give you anyway. Which is what the South Africans are saying.

Which sends us, in a circuitous manner, back to the beginning of this post. The punishments, because that’s what mask mandates and lockdowns are, will continue until the infections go away. Which will be never at this rate. Even if the measures to mitigate the outbreak don’t really work in the wider population. Because they have obviously failed to do so on the new strain in Scotland. As on the previous bugaboo delta ‘variant’, prompting the comment below;

‘The Scottish and English approach to masking, although formally different since July, has made no meaningful difference to Delta.’

     – Professor James Naismith FRS FRSE FMedSci FRSC FRSB. Professor of Structural Biology, Oxford University on England’s new mask rules

In hospitals, or in other natural reservoirs of infection, yes masks and elevated hygiene measures have a mitigating effect, but not outside in the wider world. There you might as well write a cheque to ward off double pneumonia, and continually beating people over the head with these restrictions will do nothing but breed further resentment.

Oh well, I have to pay the deposit on the new place today. The money has been waiting for weeks, so I might as well put it to work.

We’ve done all our Christmas shopping already. There’s only the fresh stuff and some Port and Sherry to get. Christmas cards go winging their way to UK family by Friday, so there’s not much else to do but wait around.

After that we’re packing. It’s going to be another one of those oddball Christmases.

Oh nooooooo!

So the next scare story is the “OH MY GOD!” mutation of the COVID bogeyman. The ‘Scientists fear’ lie is being pumped out by the politicians and mainstream media and we’re all going to DIE!!!! Allegedly.

And other such bolleaux. Like forbidding the unvaccinated from even going out of their houses to go food shopping, as mooted by some fruitcase in the Irish Senate and other such dickheads. We must all go into panic mode NOW! or else we’re all dooooomed!!! Despite the description by one doctor treating this new variant as ‘a storm in a teacup’.

What a bunch of morons. Like those cretins of ‘Extinction Rebellion’ who were reportedly blocking Amazon’s UK depot. So if your Amazon bought chrissy pressies are late, you know who to blame. If one of your neighbours is a supporter or member, some cascara in their festive glass of mulled wine might be a good idea. Or exclude them from any parties you might be throwing, because their brand of crazy might be catching. And, one pandemic at a time, okay?

My major worry is that the perennially petrified in power will decide that we need to lose another Christmas (But not Eid or Diwali, funny that) and ‘North’ will be forbidden entry to Ireland. Which would screw up our plans for a family get together. ‘South’ is planning to visit sunnier climes because she can’t quite afford the ticket to Eire, and besides, she prefers places with a bit more noise than the tranquillity of the wilder west. She says she’ll try and break out of the great prison state of Australia sometime mid 2022. Maybe. Australian brother and sister in law are stuck in Queensland, but hopefully brother in law has a contact or two who can help him out. He’s like that.

Re the new place, we’re signing contracts at long last, and hopefully there will be no more hangups because there’s work to do, and we’re already two months behind our original schedule. There are things that I’m going to have to do in sub-zero temperatures, like fixing shed roofs and fitting a new woodburner.

Anyway, we will see what we will see. It’s all part of life’s rich tapestry he sighed theatrically. Wish it wasn’t but it is. The nutcases are in the driving seat and the great vehicle of state in which we all ride is swerving all over the place like a drunk in a tractor. Fortunately Mrs S has bought me a bottle of Black Barrel which should take the edge off things.