17th December 2021
We are in a quandary at several levels over what we can safely do over the Christmas period. Lucy’s term ended today, and I’m going up to Liverpool tomorrow to bring her back in the car. We’re still not completely happy with using the train for such a long journey, even now that face masks are mandatory again. We’ve all had our booster vaccinations, so even if she does bring COVID with her (and it’s no more prevalent in Liverpool than in Oxford) we should be relatively safe from serious illness – we hope! Nevertheless, we won’t be letting her close-up and personal with Jonah for at least a week (and we’re all doing daily lateral flow tests) because his paralysis makes any kind of respiratory infection a lot more serious for him than for other people of his age.
Then. Once she’s home, there’s the question of how much we need to restrict what we do. I’m doing Stan and Sylvia’s shopping for them again, so that they don’t need to go out; but should they come round here for Christmas dinner or not? Should we go to church on Sunday and/or on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day? And Father Damien is worrying about whether he ought to cancel any of the services or have a booking system to keep numbers lower than normal. The carol service is going to be outside this year and he’s wondering whether it would be possible for midnight mass to be out-of-doors too.
Our Methodist church is still having its carol service on Sunday afternoon, but we’re thinking we’ll give it a miss and stick with the circuit online service. No point risking Lucy introducing a new Liverpudlian COVID strain to the congregation!