[St Charles Owl]

Starmer looks like his image was superimposed on that picture  

I don't even know for sure which one is Starmer!! If its the guy on the left, then the best thing about this photo is the longing and loving gaze the woman opposite is giving him!! You could turn that book into a Mills & Boone novel or a Murder, Mystery depending on her state of mind!!

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With all that going on in pubs etc with no masks, we still have to wear masks in church and are not allowed to sing.
But when it's Café Church, we can sit baht masks because we've got a cup of tea.
There's no sense to any of it.

I get the singing one, but not the rest. The problem we have is everything we have done through this pandemic has been reactionary, simply because we didn't know what to expect or what would happen next. We were advised over here early on to not wear masks, but this was the advice based on not being able to get PPE for healthcare workers due to everyone buying it, so the CDC prioritized the nurses and doctors simply because they knew if it was rampant amongst them then the rest of us had no chance!!

We opened up on June 15th here is California but in reality we never really shutdown after the first lockdown in April 2020. Our restaurants didn't close at all, they just moved outside and cities were quick to pass laws to allow restaurants to set up on sidewalks, car parks or in the road itself. Bars closed, but if you were serving food you were allowed to open outdoors. Of course we have the weather to do this all year, most states don't and there you did see restaurants closed.

Since opening up masks are now no longer mandatory as they were if you are fully vaccinated. Masks are still required if you haven't taken the jab but its an honor system so who knows who is abiding by these rules. Shops etc can impose their own rules as they see fit but most are simply applying the State rules anyway.

There is a sort of belief here now that if you haven't had the vaccine then you are on your own, its your risk to take. The Government has recognized that some people will simply never get it due to politics and the difference is numbers between red and blue states is startling!! Missouri has a surge going on due to the Delta variant and the fact they are only 30% vaccinated, Mississippi is only 29% whereas California is approaching 60% and Vermont is approaching 70%. Most states with high vaccine rates are not seeing a rise in cases, the ones without it are seeing a rise. The vaccine is probably the best protection we have but for some that might as well be like signing a deal with the devil!!