To go to England

After Pilates last night, my mum and I had a heated discussion with my sister about the COVID situation here. My sister is putting a lot of pressure on us to use the ticket we had on Ethiopian airways to go to the UK for my mum's birthday in May, to go over to the UK now and sit out the COVID pandemic over there. Her reasoning is that she feels that if we were to get sick, there aren't adequate health facilities here to cope with mass infection. We understand her worry and that she is feeling helpless at a distance, but getting on an aeroplane and abandoning ship here is not straightforward. To start, sitting on an aeroplane for many hours surrounded by people you don't know is one of the most riskiest things you can do. Then there's our jobs here and my dogs (Very Important). It is also a financial burden on my sister and brother-in-law to go squat it out in their tiny house for who knows how long. The health facilities here are not geared to a massive onslaught but we wouldn't qualify to be treated on the NHS if we were in England and would have to pay a fortune for private treatment. Well this is our argument for the moment. If Zim really does go into pandemic crisis we may not be allowed into the UK. My sister may not talk to us for a couple of days after last night.

Have given myself a day off today (my first proper one since we've been on break, excluding weekends) Edit that: I lie, I actually did grade 7 references for the schools they are applying to for form one this morning, so actually I did do some work today, it wasn't a complete holiday. Read, did exercise in the garden with my dogs and then WhatsApp video called one of my best friends, Heather in the UK. We had a lovely long chat and giggles and Louis her baby made appearances which were special. Also heard from my other best friends Nina and Gail.

Spoke to our gardner this evening and said to see how things go the rest of this week for next week. If the police clamp down more it might be best if he stays in Epworth next week as coming into town from the high density areas with the big MDC planned anti-government demonstration on Friday the 31st might prove dangerous. Zimbabwe doesn't do things in half measures, we have a flailing political and economic situation, intimidation and abductions and then what looks like a threatening COVID catastrophe. Can't complain that it ever gets dull.