On Friday we had Paul, Carolyn, Tony and Sue over for socially distanced drinks in the garden. If had originally been planned for Saturday but that's when we move into tier 3 and such gatherings are not allowed so we pulled it back a day. Carolyn thinks she's had covid although she tested negative. Thinks she caught it at the opticians. Tony and Sue are being tested weekly as part of an ONS survey. The mulled wine, sausage rolls and mince pies were well recieved. Meant to take a photo but forgot. On Saturday I got a couple phone calls from an unknown number that I didn't answer but a message was left on the second. I was my cousin Phillip telling me his mum, my aunty Phil had passed away. She was 92, the last of her siblings and last one of my mum's and her siblings and partners. She had dementia and was in a care home. She also broke her hip a few weeks ago. Philllip has only been able to 'visit' through the care home window. She died in her sleep. Watched URZ on iFollow they were 3 0 down at half time but did pull one back in the second half. At 4 Boris announced that tier 3 areas in London and the South East will be moved to tier 4. No household mixing, all but essential things closed. This will also apply over Christmas to those areas. Elsewhere the Christmas easing has been reduced to just Christmas day. This is mainly down to the new faster spreading variant of the virus. This means Tom and Sally cant come. They'll be stuck in Greenwich without any presents as they are all here. We spoke to them and also James and Amy as Christmas in Scotland has also been reduced to one day. Sally in particular was understandably very upset. I contacted Ocado to see if we can change our massive shop due to arrive on Monday. A good start to the day on Sunday. Finished the Everyman crossword. Then heard from Ocado we cant change our shop. Decided to walk into town to get a sympathy card for Phil. Bumped into Sarah down the street who told us the gory details of their burglary. Her son and his friend were held at knife point. She was similarly threatened with a screw driver and Nigel was hit with a machete and left for dead. Sounds truly horrific. They think they were targeted but don't know why. Town was quiet considering it's the weekend before Christmas but not as quiet as the first lockdown though. MnS was open as it sells food as was WH Smiths presumably because they have a post office. Watched the TV series of Smiley's People but fell asleep during the last one.

I used say wallet, glasses, phone, keys to myself when I went out to remind me to take those items. I lost my wallet a couple of years ago and just used my phone cover so it kind of went out of use. I've decided to reintroduce it though as mask, glasses, phone, keys. It was announced tgat the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has been approved in the UK. The roll out will probably start next week. On Wednesday afternoon I had the Skype call with Mike. He seems like a nice bloke, about my age and it was very productive. The lockdown has now ended so we are now in tier 2. Had a goolie chat in the evening. On Thursday decided to start repainting the utility room as the weather is mot looking too good fir the next few days. Went for a swim now lockdown has been lifted. It was a bit colder than usual.You now need to wear a mask in the sports centre except when exercising. Went to the Fox and Hounds for first Thursday drinks and a substantial meal. They only had these beers on, a lot of pubs put there beers on Untapped as its table service.Had 3 Yulus, a Lumina and fimished off with a Just Stout. Pizzas were good too but we only had small ones.
We sat in the big tent which counts as outside. Wore 2 T shirts, 2 jumpers, 2 pairs of socks, thermals and a jacket. They just had one heater. There was a bit of a delay getting in but after that it was quite well organised. They are doing 3 hour slots. We had 7 30 to 10 30. Only opening Thursday to Sunday so today was the first day they have been reopened. It was weird going out at night. Good lights from the footbridge which looks pretty good itself.