Hello,

Well, it's bye bye to 2019 and hello to 2020... A new decade!... So what do you think will happen in 2020?...
NB: Since this is now a very long document, and difficult to read in the sidebar, it can be viewed as a full webpage by clicking Sidebar Full Page.

*UPDATE Nov09/2020
Well, we went in to another lockdown, a four week lockdown that started Thursday 5th Nov 2020 (what a stupid day to start it), apparently this was because of a leaked memo so everyone heard about it from the press and it was brought forward as people were going out partying and bulk buying. However, you wouldn't think there was a lockdown as schools, colleges, and Universities are still open and students are in their rooms etc, so personally I don't think this lockdown is going to be effective in reducing the number of cases, but there is no doubt that we can't continue to live like this forever, so it's all about little steps. Silly stories I've heard so far are a woman was arrested for checking on her horse (like animal organisations complain more horses are being abandoned then ever), so when you do get a caring owner they arrest and fine her. Yes she had to travel, but not many of us keep horses in the city these days eh? Another one was a husband and wife were sharing a meal, the restaurant called the cops because they were sharing food. It's not like they don't live together, breathe the same air indoors etc (and maybe kiss and/or sleep together, make love to each other etc), but you can't share a meal... So this one couple was picked on whilst the protestors in their hundreds of thousands, no masks, no social distancing etc all give the cops the run around and go home or back to school or offices or whatever they do... This is what many of the stories are like, the law punishes those they can handle, but lets of the ones that outnumber them. Another one is insurance companies are threatening to invalidate insurance claims if you are in a accident and can't prove you are out in/on your vehicle for a permitted reason. How dumb is that!? As I said, you wouldn't think there was a lockdown, kids and teens are still playing on the streets or hanging around the shops after school, often in groups of way more than six, and this isn't just at home time or start of school, this is still happening till at least 8pm in the evening as I'm returning from a legitimate cause, be it shopping or caring. Shops aren't so bad atm, depends where you go. Delivery slots or like gold dust in the Arctic. The USA has a new President-Elect, not in office yet, but he basically wants nothing to do with the UK or so it's reported, time will tell. It was quite a close race however. Not much else to write that isn't opinionated, so I'll end this here.

*UPDATE Sep21/2020
Well, well... What a year this has been... We are no longer in a full lockdown, having exited that in mid May, but it is very much a matter of remaining sensible and practicing safe social distancing. Shops are back up to capacity, pubs are open, schools have reopened, and apart from large fixtures such as sports and things like air-shows etc not being allowed, some sort of normality was returning. I say 'was' because this past week the number of cases have spiked and continue to increase. It is likely we are heading for another lockdown, or at least a partial lockdown. Some schools have already closed as cases have spread, those who don't isolate or break the Cov-ID laws have fines which are increasing. One individual visited our city this week and at the Guild Hall encouraged everyone there to hug! He's already received a £10,000 fine for breaching Cov-ID Laws. Is he loopy? Is he ill informed about the virus and its effects, I don't know, not for me to judge, maybe he's just made of money and doesn't give a shit. This virus will not kill everyone, but it is a virus that will kill those of a certain DNA makeup and make others very poorly, and that's why we need to reduce it's spread. I applaud freedom of speech and a personal choice. The BLM rally at the same location a few weeks earlier saw individuals stood observing social distancing, a very good display of making a point and keeping safe. But what some people don't seem to have yet grasped yet, in what feels like 7mths is that you can be a carrier and not suffer anything, you're a silent carrier, 'Asymptomatic', but you go see someone, and just talk to them and you can spread the virus, and if they are susceptible and contract the virus, they will suffer a drowning sensation as their lungs fill with fluid over the course of a few days to weeks, and eventually they could die, if they don't die the virus can still have devastating effects on their organs, and that angers me about society. It doesn't seem to be just one age range that's being irresponsible, you simply can't blame the children or teens in school, that's where the Govt has told them they must go, some parents are still keeping their children off school, and I totally understand that, but you can blame those teens and adults who are being irresponsible, I've seen one group of teen males who were sharing one mask between five of them and going into the same shop one after the other! Maybe they think they're invincible, or see themselves as having more rights (or smarter) than everyone else, but what they don't get is that others have the same rights and decided that they want to be responsible and protect themselves and others. I've seen shops displaying signs saying "Don't wear a mask as you will be asked to leave the store". If you're worried about things being pinched improve your security or shop layout, employ a store detective or only let one individual in at a time. Many stores have been actively enforcing the wearing of masks with the exception of young children and those with genuine medical reasons not to wear masks, but now everyone has got smart to that and simply tell the store person that they don't have to wear one, as it's only guidance, and so they risk infecting the whole store as they walk round it and touch things and they don't use the antibacterial station. Unfortunately the virus has evolved to go with the irresponsible ones and spread through their population, and if responsible individuals happen to be in it's path, it's not fussed, it'll take them as collateral damage! Society and the Govt need to wake up. I don't blame Boris, honestly, he was in the job a few weeks and this landed at his feet and in his body, he's not really had time to do anything else, but he needs advisors who actually know the facts and aren't 'guessing' the way they are now, I mean allowing travel abroad was always a stupid idea and allowing schools to return, both were always really bad ideas, but he listened to his advisors, now he wants office workers who are able to work from home to return to the confines of a office with bits of plastic between them when you still all have to walk the same routes in to and out of work, Brill, yeah, like that won't be the cause of the third spike! The only fortunate think is that we have better technology in mapping viruses and DNA etc, but even that isn't being put to use as well as it could be, and OMG, using mobile phones as 'Track & Trace"... Great in theory, !... Well, rant over...
 
*UPDATE Apr03/2020
Well, it's day 42 of the UK lock down, or 60,480 minutes, our current death and infections levels have stabilised, and indeed, have been going down slightly and our PM is considering relaxing some restrictions, but it's pretty obvious that once they are relaxed the UK will again suffer a rise in both cases and deaths, likely resulting from the fact that those who isolated fully (including the elderly and those with underlying conditions) will be exposed to the general public. We're watching Italy closely as they ended lock down a few days ago. In the UK it's reported that those over 50yrs old are to be told to locked down for much longer. The Govt want to get the economy back up and running, but given our PM was hospitalised and in intensive care for three days and nights, and then remained off work to recover further (although you can see he still hasn't recovered fully), it is a risk he may have to take for the sake of the country. But given he was only elected a few weeks before CovID-19 happened, he hadn't even gotten his feet wet before he was thrown in at the deep end as you might say. Personally (putting aside how I've felt throughout this), I've followed lock down rules as best as I could. Up to today I've spent 98.3% of the lock down at home, with the remaining 1.7% spent shopping or caring for family. That's 59,460 minutes on lock down. I've been surprised at how much travelling I've had to do for shopping and caring. 259.5miles. The longest was a urgent hospital appointment arranged by my mums GP for her. I did question the validity of the reasons and risks with the GP, but it was clear from that conversation that the risks of her contracting CovID-19 outweighed the risks of her attending this hospital appointment. So whilst that put myself at a higher risk (than say food shopping), as both her son, driver and carer, it wasn't something I had any second thoughts about not doing. The concerns of the GP were justified and we attended the appointment. But that aside, it's a 15ml round trip to my parents, then the side track to the food stores (often more than one to find a short queue) adds more travel time/distance as home delivery slots are just non existent, the supermarkets are just not geared up to the current climate, even the ones that say they are simply are not. So, much of the 1.7% I was out was inside my own vehicle rather than in a shop, and none of it was walking around in a public place for exercise or just to get out. So, that's this update done.

*UPDATE Mar23/2020
COVID-19 had made a serious impact in the UK, with Hampshire being hit hard. The Govt do not have a handle on it at all, delaying way too long and not managing essential supplied, some of the major supermarkets are allowing one hour early opening for all NHS staff, and three days a week allowing one hour early opening for OAP's, vulnerable and carers. We are likely one day away from total lockdown. Schools have already closed. Exams cancelled. We are about 2wks behind Italy in severity of death tolls. Many shops, restaurants, takeaways etc have closed. Even MacieD's are closing all branches from 7pm today, including the drive through, so even the police won't be able to have a shift break there. In the UK, MacieD's is to our police as doughnut shops are to American police (satire humour).

*UPDATE Feb15/2020
The Coronavirus labelled as COVID-19 that has it's origins in China has, due to faster methods of travel, arrived on the south coast of the UK.
Interesting historical fact.

During the first major plague outbreak, 1346AD, which we now know as being spread mostly by fleas who bite humans, it took 8yrs to travel from it's origins in Asia through the middle east into Europe and England. Contributing factors to this slow rate of transmission were our much slower method of travel, mostly walking, horse and cart, and sailing ships. The continent we call America wasn't yet discovered and is believed to have escaped the plague right up to the 1900's!
Also, the method of infection was much more physical, with most transmission cases being caused by a flea bite.

The flu epidemic of 1918, considered to be the first time the human body was exposed to the H1N1 virus (2% death rate of those infected), it travelled from it's suspected origins  of field medical camps in France back to the home countries with the surviving and injured troops at the end of WW1. It spread much quicker, both in person to person transmission, being airborne such as a cough or sneeze (and to a lesser extent surface contact), in less than 1yr due to huge numbers of troops being brought home by large ships with engines and ran it's main course in just 2yrs.

We've had other outbreaks of various descriptions, Ebola, Smallpox, HIV etc, which have damaged the human population, and I encourage you to research these, it's interesting to realise how vulnerable our huge human body is when compared to the size of a virus or bacterium, as well as how the human race has fought back.

The COVID-19 virus, whilst the WHO haven't designated it a Pandemic (yet, because it's not been seen in 190 countries, even though it is a close cousin to SARS, if they want to contain it, they should class it as a Pandemic. My opinion is I think they are being foolish), it is spread the same way as the 1918 flu epidemic, airborne as well as surface contact, but being a more virile new virus to its human host, it appears to be more infectious, and since the first case on 1st December 2019, and because we now have air travel it has spread over halfway around the globe in just 2mths and currently has a death rate of just under 3% of those infected.

There is much inaccurate information on the web, and much important information is being tucked away in obscure websites so as not to create panic.

We shouldn't panic. These outbreaks always run their course and the outcome is somewhat already in your own DNA. You can take some precautions, don't be in crowded places, wear a mask to remove some risk from airborne droplets, wash your hands, fist pump or elbow bump rather than shaking hands.
How you can help. An infected neighbour, friend or relative should stay in isolation. Offer to shop for them. Buy new carrier bags, don't use bags from the infected person. Ask for payment via online banking, or wait till they are better. If they need electric or gas and use a 'key/card', ask them to pass the key through the letterbox and catch it in a small plastic bag, then spray inside the bag with disinfectant, shake the bag and leave for 1 minute, this will not harm the key or card. Then insert a tissue and rub dry the key/card, then, if their meter is outside, ask if you can keep the key/card until they are better, or repeat this process each time if they have a indoor meter.
Photograph all receipts, knock their door, confirm they know your there, then leave the shopping outside for them and walk at least 10ft away so they can open the door and collect the shopping.

What's important is if you feel you have a cold or flu is to initially isolate yourself. Phone NHS on 111 (in the UK) or phone your GP and inform them you have symptoms. Take rest and fluids, and if you experience breathlessness or trouble breathing, then dial 999 (in the UK), inform them of your suspicions and your breathing distress. Do not attend your GP surgery in person. Do not attend your local A&E or NHS Treatment Ctr unless you have phoned them in advance to ensure they have set up a inspection quarantine area to deal with this virus, and request instructions on how to attend. It is safer to drive your own car if you are well enough, but do not use public transport. The NHS should by now have in place transport designed for quarantine conditions for both the protection of the public and front line medical staff.

Some reading sources, from the references you can follow other links to further information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_Wuhan_coronavirus_outbreak

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Many thanks,

Maffysdad