Monday, May 16th, 2021

De-Briefing

Today the Prom sub-committee met for the very last time to debrief on the event. After the rose trimming night it is only the second in person meeting. This one a happy one over food and wine outside, more of a celebration. The main activity post Prom is to ensure all pictures are uploaded and accessible to all participants and parents. We are still receiving several emails a day thinking the organizers for the Prom on the Mall, which is recognized a a once in a life-time event. So, I do hope everyone will find their photo on the site. The other outstanding issue is the National Park Police. We had booked two cars for three hours and they remainded entirely out of sight. Since they so far have not charged us, this should not be an issue.

Of course today, is a picture-perfect day; blue skies, sunny with a light breeze and at 18C. I can still not forgive the weather gods for Friday. As it is a virtual school week, I am back to swimming over lunch which I am now finding rather disruptive. This is a first. In the past I have rather enjoyed the break in my day, but I also liked to be done with my day by the time I headed to the pool. Well there are two more weeks of lunch / evening alternating and then school is over.

We still have no idea if we should head anywhere for Memorial Day weekend. In all likelihood it would be a Saturday to Monday or Tuesday stint and I am a little reluctant to cross the Bay Bridge as it will likely be packed on Monday Nothing like spontaneous planning. The USA seems to be turning the corner with only 25k new infections reported over the past twenty-four hours to bring the total to 33.5 million. Dr Fauci is expecting new cases, hospitalizations and deaths to fall significantly over the month of May as more people reach immunity through inoculation. A It is estimated that the US reaches herd immunity on once 70-85% have been vaccinated or have achieved immunity through infection. Even so, Dr Fauci believes masks may become a seasonal thing. Maybe hat way we can eradicate the flu, since this year the world hadalmost no flue cases, which is attributed to mask wearing, social distancing and of courese #stayhome. Personally, I have no issue wearing masks in shops, mall, theaters, and other public places. I am finding I actually quite like them.

Glad to read that the BioNTech shot is highly effective against the variants also, and that they are planning to expand production to Singapore to serve the Asian markets, bringing the world a step closer to normal.

Being fully vaccinated my world increasingly feels like normal, albeit smaller as many socail ties have been severed during the pandemic, apart from the work travel that is.