Listen to THIS clusterf@#*. The NHS (National Health Service) developed an app for tracking the virus. The app contacts you if you have been within 2-4 meters, for 15 minutes or more, of a person who has tested positive for COVID. Of course the infected person would ALSO have to have the app. They suggest but do not obligate the public to download the app. As G is working with the public, she got the app. She is, however, the ONLY employee at her shop who did so. Well a couple weeks ago she was contacted and told that she had been exposed to someone the previous day and needed to self-isolate. The notice came at 5:30 am as she was on her way to open the shop up for breakfast. She continued on to the shop, met up with her asst manager who then contacted the powers that be and then came home and stayed off work for the next 10 days. Tuesday morning her manager called and said that she was being "investigated" by HR in collaboration with the NHS, for having gone into work the morning she was notified. Let's consider this. The day she was "exposed" she was at work where customers are permitted to enter only to order and pay but then must exit and wait outside for their food and drink. So the 15 minute exposure to someone within 2-4 meters means either soemone she worked with or a customer who was standing OUTSIDE. As no one she works with has the NHS app and no one has tested positive, it MUST have been someone standing OUTSIDE of the shop but within 2-4 meters of the counter of the bakery. SHE was contacted because she followed the government's suggestion and downloaded the contact app, but her coworkers with whom she worked the day of exposure, were not contacted because they don't have the app, NOT because they weren't exposed. She was already near the shop when the notification came and ONLY stopped in to inform her boss(es) that she had been contacted by the app. BTW, the company has no protocol for this situation and are also "investigating" 7 other employees in similar situations. So yesterday was the inquisition and she has has her hand slapped and recieved a formal warning. Generally warning are given to employees who tell a customer to F@#* off or punch a co-worker. Really. So inept. On another note, I just got back from a walk in the park where I saw DAVID MITCHEL!! You may have no idea who he is but I am a big fan as I love British panel games shows and he's a regular on my favorite. So exciting! He's short and tubby and reminds me of a hobbit. xxoo me

The reasons I have always loved London are nonexistant these days. The museums, the theatres, the restaurants and pubs are all closed. Fortunately I've been able to get out. I have tromped through parks and wandered all around within walking distance. Being curious, (read nosey), I am drawn to hidden spaces. Fences, walls and hedges are there to peek over or through. Anything tucked away is meant to be investigated. The Secret Garden is one of my favorite books. A door hidden behind ivy, leading into a completely private, overgrown garden. Oh yes! This city is packed with just these things. There are teeny houses tucked into unimaginably small spaces. There are mews, little side streets where the houses are converted stables and sheds. Gated entrances that lead somewhere I can't see!! Narrow footpaths that meander between houses. And mini gardens everywhere.

Note the TINY gray house between the two larger ones.

I NEED to see what's at the end of this entrance. I love how cozy these places seem. I imagine the interiors to be something out of Beatrice Potter. Someplace to be cuddled up like in the corner of a sofa. Ah well. G won't let me peek in the windows so I'll never know. She's says it's WRONG. Geesh. xxoo me

It's COLD this morning! I woke up to frost on the rooftops and cars and low dark skies. Big flakes have just started coming down. I've been here 5 weeks now. I'll be heading back to Italy sometime the first week of February if nothing changes. A test 48 hours before leaving and within 48 upon arrival. Two weeks of quarantine. Gah! I've had a couple of interesting walks since last I wrote. Last week we took a cab up to Alexandra Palace north of the city. Ally Pally as it's affectionately known, is a huge arts/educational venue used for everything from concerts to circuses. It was built in the late 1800's and sits ontop of a hill surrounded by parkland with an incredible view of London to the south.

The "palace" is Victorian with enormous glass domes and all sorts of wings sticking out all over the place.

The little town center below the palace is called Crouch End. Something right out of Harry Potter.

A few days later I walked up to Highgate cemetery, resting place of George Elliot and many other famous folk. I just read a book set in and around Highgate and it stoked my interest. The cemetery is walled and gated and entrance costs a small fee to keep the place up. I went with the intention of finally going in and seeing the architecture and the famously interred behind those gates I've passed many times before. Alas I didn't bother to check opening times and arrived 40 minutes early and I hadn't bothered to book a time like requested on their sign and website (which I hadn't looked at..), so I went to the adjacent park and waited and walked around a bit and peeked at gardens and returned at 1 sharp. An official looking man was exiting just as I got there so I asked if I could enter without a reservation. He pointed to the BIG sign on the gate with the hours (which I hadn't checked), and the website for booking (which I hadn't looked at), and the days it was closed. Tuesdays. It was Tuesday. Of course it was Tuesday. So I will book a time for next week and go back. Igit. Yesterday we took another long walk around Notting Hill and back. We passed the Russian embassy where there were protests going on and a lot of police presence. We passed a couple cops who had cornered a guy with a bike and a big backpack. I thought bomb and we skedaddled off quickly. I had an obligatory pic taken at Abbey Road, humiliating G with my touristy ways.

Now we're off for a walk in the snow. xxoo me