Rainbows and other news
The dust cloud and other shady weather passed over us on Tuesday, turning the sky a mysterious colour and, where the sun broke through, giving us some interesting lighting. There was a little rain in the afternoon, enough to produce a double rainbow over the harbour entrance.
You can’t really see the second one, but it was there.
In other news, the country continues to struggle with more cases and fatalities. There are stories of this opening, and that not opening, tourism being promoted from this date but only from that country, and maybe restrictions will be lifted then but only when… And it’s all still in a state of flux around here. The mayor has advised people not to travel by boat unless absolutely necessary, and the island remains mainly quiet and cautious. The Ministry of Health has announced that the platform for scheduling vaccination appointments for people aged 70 to 75 will open on Friday. In early April, the platform will open for those in the 56 to 69 age group, and there’s hope that more vaccination centres will open from April 1st onwards to speed the programme. I turn 58 on Friday, and so must wait a while longer, but some friends in their early 60s have received jab #1 and have an appointment for jab #2 in a couple of weeks; others in various groups have already had both.
So, we’re keeping an eye on all of that. The only trip I must make is later in April, and that’s to start the process of my biometric residency card, which can only be done in Rhodes. So, thanks for putting me in danger, Brexit, and double-thanks as it will involve at least one more trip after that, possibly two, a few weeks later. If I don’t or can’t keep the appointment, then the alternative is to take pot-luck one day after June 1st, turn up in Rhodes and wait in the hope I will be seen that day. If not, I’d have to stay in Rhodes and try again each day until I can be seen, and then repeat the journey twice more to complete the process. Again, thanks, Brexit. The fine details of what this disastrous move will entail are only now beginning to show. Things like people having to pay twice the value of a package from the UK because of customs rules, people with properties here not able to stay more than three months out of six (roughly), and other personally hurtful scenarios that no-one bothered to think about before. No-one other than those who could see such things coming. But let’s not get me started on all that. Let’s just remember that there’s still a land that I dreamed of somewhere over the rainbow.
