A Becket Day

Sunset yesterday

 The weather is freezing cold even though it's supposed to be 14 degrees. Feels more like 5 degrees. Everyone is in thick winter clothes, with hoods or woollen caps. And how would I know if there's a lockdown now? I went out of course! Much as  didn't want to, I had to go to our Finance Office to get money to pay a stipend to Sr. Laura who works as a volunteer in our library. She's leaving for Italy next week so I need to pay her stipend for the past 3 weeks. Out in the streets, food and electric shops are opened. People are out buying veggies and bread. Police don't seem to be enforcing the lockdown.

At our headquarters, everything was closed. Even our Finance office. Lucky the head was in his office, so I managed to get the stipend from him. I watered the plants in my office and then walked home. And luckily my plantar fasciitis didn't play up so I could avoid the crowds in the main streets by climbing up the hill behind my house through the alleys and side streets. And they were very quiet and empty of people. 

Sr. Sarita's birthday

Israeli inoculation programme is going full steam ahead. But priorities is for israelis of course. Infection rate was 5800 yesterday. Compulsory hotel quarantine is being scrapped because no one is observing the rules, people are escaping from hotels and police and security are not enforcing the lockin at all. The govt has given up. It is a wild land here ... everyone does whatever he wants. No wonder the corona infection is always in the thousands. It's a hardheaded people. Everything here is such a joke ... it could never happen in Asia. Over here no solution will be easy to implement.   https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-u-turn-government-cancels-forced-hotel-quarantine-for-arrivals-from-abroad/

Sr. Sarita, one of our Indian sisters, celebrated her birthday. Georgette our cook baked a really soft butter cake and we feted her during lunch. It was nice as it added to the Christmas cheer .... which under lockdown wasn't very much. And it's the feast of St. Thomas a Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was killed at the altar for challenging the king. My tradition is to read T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral. Maybe today I'll watch the movie instead.