Cut the infection rate.. then I’LI go to the barber’s

MRS R and I have both had our second jabs, eleven weeks after the first.

As members of the Zenecan tribe, we were called over the border to a health clinic in Silsden, West Yorkshire.

Most people I know round here had to shlep up to Long Lee, t’other side of Keighley, and one I know is going to Leeds, 30 miles away.

If you have to rely on public transport, this is a quite a logistical problem. There seems no rhyme or reason in the system, but we’re grateful anyway. We should now be immune from coronavirus, or from the worst effects of it should we catch it at any rate, by the end of the week.

As we slowly ease out of lockdown, it’s hard to shake off the habits of more than a year of self-imposed discipline. There is no temptation to abandon all restraint, not in this household anyway.

The incidence of infection is falling locally, but it hasn’t gone away.

In the week to April 13, the rolling rate for Sutton and Cross Hill is 49.6 per 100,000, which is just below the national average.

Across Craven district, centred on Skipton, there was a 26.7% rise in positive test results, although that’s from a low base. Hospitalisation rates have halved, and the death rate has fallen to zero.

These are encouraging figures, but I shan’t be joining the queue outside the barbers just yet. I’ve had the Mrs R Number One cut, which is just short of the convict crop.

Not to worry. I don’t have to look at it, except once in the morning while shaving. And it doesn’t really need combing.

There are consolations in lockdown-lite, and I’m grateful for them.