NB: With Russia's unprovoked murderous assault on Ukraine, I am actively looking at alternative hosts for this journal, preferably those which will retain as much content as possible. I am very uncomfortable with being part of the Russian economic system at present, in however small a way. In the meantime ( Read more... )

So, I am in the USA, for the first time since the pandemic started, having been to Gallifrey One last weekend and now staying in Seattle with one of my oldest friends after a couple of extra days in DTLA (downtown Los Angeles, as the locals abbreviate it ( Read more... )

The end may be in sight. Other countries have moved a bit quicker than Belgium; I don't really begrudge the authorities here their caution, but I'm very glad that restrictions are going to be drastically reduced from Friday ( Read more... )

Here we still are, twenty-three months in. But I think (and I know I've said this before) the end is in sight. The peak for infections in Belgium seems to have been passed about the time of my last ten-day update; hopitalisations, ICU numbers and deaths are still rising, but I think the first two at least are likely to peak next week. Even the most ( Read more... )

A bit gloomier today than I had hoped to be. The numbers in Belgium continue to soar - more than 3% of the country's population had a positive diagnosis last week - and there is no immediate prospect of further relaxations of the restrictions. I had been considering a work trip to the UK next week, but I've decided to postpone that for the time ( Read more... )

So, as I expected, infection rates in Belgium have continued to soar, now almost 50% higher than the previous record; but the other numbers remain fairly stable, hospitalisations drifting slowly upwards at 10% ish a week, ICU numbers slowly decreasing, deaths likewise - the death rate reported for 14 January was the lowest since 30 October. And ( Read more... )

No ill effects yet, though I am braced for an uncomfortable night and morning ( Read more... )

So. Enjoying a much quieter Christmas than usual; though still a bit more convivial than last year; for Christmas dinner, we invited our old Cambridge friend P, who normally goes to his family in England but couldn’t this year. I’m happily blogging away (most of my book blog posts are written at least a week in advance). We took B out for a walk ( Read more... )

I've continued to feel more and more like my normal self. My blood oxidation is back up to a healthy 97%-98%, and I also seem to have lost a couple of kilos (down to 78 from 80, from 176 pounds/12 stone 8, to 172 pounds/12 stone 4). Most excitingly, the booster jabs are being rolled out in our area earlier next year and I immediately signed up for ( Read more... )

Well, I'm basically better. I woke up on Saturday feeling a lot more like myself, had a normal weekend (writiing blog posts, cooking the family dinner twice) and worked the whole day yesterday and today, mainly catching up on a thousand emails but with a fair number of meetings too. Still working from home, and not being very adventurous as yet. On ( Read more... )