App is up and running – let’s hope it does its job
THE message kept popping up so often on my phone’s Facebook page, my laptop and during the TV commercial breaks that I felt I could no longer ignore it.
So, somewhat belatedly, I decided to take the plunge and download the Government’s much vaunted NHS Covid app.
I did so with a degree of trepidation which had nothing to do with being constantly checked Big Brother style or any sort of worry about covert snooping.
No, my concern was more about it being easily understood and that any of its predictions and pronouncements were accurate. Because a false virus alert would/ could massively screw things up with a fortnight’s isolation at best and at worst – well, that doesn’t bear thinking about.
Could it, would it, be more straightforward than the stream of contradictory and sometimes misinterpreted messages that have emanated from official Government sources over the past months?
Anyway, I touched my phone screen and set the app wheels in motion.
With an air of careless abandon I then proceeded to hit all the buttons giving it permission to do all it requested, infringe any personal liberties it wished and, effectively acquiesce to it being able to access all areas. I mean, what’s the point of downloading it if you then proceed to bar it from doing what it asks?
It switched on my phone’s Bluetooth and up came info telling me I was currently existing in a postcode situated within a “Local Covid Alert Level – Medium.”
Reassuringly, it remained constantly in “Active and scanning” mode seeking out any Covid dangers passing too close.
And although it has only been a couple of days since I first downloaded the app it has quickly made me develop a habit of constantly checking it is doing its work.
So far so good. Every time I do a screen check the app is still “scanning actively” and, thankfully, has so far not sent me any negative vibes and warning messages. Which, I guess, must be the most positive sign of all.
DAYLIGHT Saving ends at 2am on Sunday morning. I’m not going to wait up for it. I see this autumnal time-fiddling, putting our clocks and timepieces back 60 minutes, as no cause for celebration. In fact, its arrival fills me with dread. Losing an hour of daylight courtesy of a longstanding official decree is bad enough any year but, right now, in the tricky situation facing us all, it’s enough to send those, like me, who loathe the short dull days and long dark night-times of winter into a state of melancholy.
The adding and subtracting of an hour twice a year has been with us as a nation since 1916. Campaigns for its abolition have come and gone ever since, arguing permanent summer-time hours would save energy and give us all more time to enjoy our lighter evenings.
This year, however, there has been a slight change of tack with a request to cancel the coming weekend’s time change to help ease the bleakness facing everyone during a winter lockdown situation. Some extra evening daylight would also be a boost for businesses during the pandemic, they argue.
I’m all for it, but I won’t be holding my breath for any change of heart because it won’t benefit everyone, specifically those much further north where daybreak wouldn’t arrive until around 10am, apparently, which wouldn’t be fair on them either.
So how about the Chancellor launches another initiative and hands out Government vouchers to help us buy those expensive light therapy lamps which recreate daylight? Then we can all throw a switch and pretend it’s the middle of June again all the way to Christmas and on into the New Year.