Diary

The tournaments in China have been cancelled.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daniellerossingh/2020/07/24/cancellation-of-china-tennis-swing-huge-blow-for-fans-players-and-tours/

Face masks became mandatory in shops today. As there seems to be a lot of people against being “muzzled” I wasn’t sure how many people would have a mask on in the local Tesco. Most of the retail companies have said that they won’t enforce the wearing of face coverings and the police have also said that they don’t have the resource to patrol stores.

Twitter is rarely an accurate representation of what is happening. People often make big statements from the safety and anonymity of their keyboard or mobile phone. There were a few reports of shoppers in some stores not wearing them. I had some shopping to do before I picked Sue up from work. Whilst I was happy to wear a mask it felt a bit odd walking from the car. Everyone that I saw coming out had a mask on and everyone entering at the same time as me wore one. In fact I didn’t see a single shopper without a mask on. Even young kids had them on even though under 11’s are exempt.

Masks are not mandatory for shop workers and again the mighty Twitter was full of complaints of staff without masks on the shopfloor while picking the online shopping orders etc. Every member of staff that I saw on the shopfloor had a mask on. Only the checkout operators didn’t have one on.

There were just a couple of matches that looked like offering a decent trade. There were actually other good looking ones but not all of them were covered by Betfair.

The tournament I chose had 4 matches today. Three of them ended in retirement! Both the matches I put on the blog gave good chance of profit.

Sue’s ward is no longer a Covid ward. The bays are currently being deep cleaned. Any more Covid patients will be taken to the respiratory ward apparently. From a purely selfish point of view that is great news. She won’t be dealing with Covid positive patients any more.

During the lockdown I have been trying to decide whether I need 4 screens plus the 2 laptops. I didn’t think I did but one of the screens is not a widescreen one. I held off from replacing it as if I was going with 4 + 2 screens I would have got another twin monitor set like the one I already have. Those are 24 inch screens. I have replaced the old monitor with a 22 inch widescreen one. More than enough screen space as you can see.

All 5 screens use the same mouse which is handy.

Stay safe.

   

How long until the tennis starts up again? Just 11 sleeps!

I had a couple of emails yesterday saying that the dog insurance is up for renewal next month. As the dogs get older the insurance goes up. That makes sense as they are more likely to get ill later in life. Molly is 8 and Charlie is 7. They are not exactly ancient. I had intended that when they came up for renewal I was going to switch to “Bought by Many” insurance. Apparently their premiums don’t rise each year. Sounds good doesn’t it? In the last year I have paid £18 per month for Molly and £15 for Charlie. As a Trailhound Molly is classed as a pedigree breed. Charlie is a Collie cross and so is a bit cheaper.

Molly’s monthly renewal figure is set to go DOWN to £15. Thats the good news. The bad news is that because she is now over 8 years old I would have to pay 20% of the vet bill on top of the £100 excess. I had a look on the “Bought by Many” site and entered their details for a quote. Common sense tells you that if they don’t increase the premium each year that it isn’t going to be the cheapest. What I wasn’t expecting was to get a quote for both dogs of £139. Per month! I don’t pay that much for my car loan and insurance! I have never claimed on either dog’s insurance. Next year Charlie will be over 8 so his monthly amount will come down but I’ll have 20% of the bill to pay. I’ll stick with the current insurance company for now.

From tomorrow we have to wear masks in shops. Masks have been recommended for use in small shops where social distancing isn’t possible but from tomorrow it is a legal requirement in all shops. You can be fined £100 if you don’t wear one. Apparently the police and Tesco have both said that they won’t enforce the wearing of face coverings. As I have said in a previous post I have not worn a mask so far but have no problem wearing one. I just don’t think they are necessary in the large stores. If it makes someone else feel more comfortable to be out in public then I don’t mind.

I went shopping in Tesco yesterday. Very few masks were being worn. A lot of people still seem to be quite nervous about being around others. There are a lot of people on Twitter saying they won’t wear a “muzzle”. I forgot a couple of items yesterday so I will be going down there tomorrow. It will be interesting.

The local hospital is under the spotlight a little. I’m not sure if it is 3 or 4 members of staff that have committed suicide at work recently. The hospital management are pretty poor and don’t support their staff very well at all. Lots more staff are working their notice. I have been surprised over the 8 or 9 years that Sue has worked there how badly the place is run. The amount of money that is wasted by the NHS is staggering.

Not many matches of interest in the exhibitions today. It’s a pity that a lot of the better WTA players are taking part in events with wacky rule changes. No thank you.

I’ll make the most of the quiet days before the fun starts on the 3rd.

Stay safe.