Covid lockdown: Snow brings some light relief as we look forward to a return to normality – Christine Grahame MSP

Decades ago, I saw the film Dr Zhivago in wide cinema and wondered at the glorious sweeps of pristine snow and the swish of the sledge crossing the Russian steppes.
Amid the gloom of the Covid lockdown, the arrival of snow in Edinburgh has created a chance to have some fun (Picture: Lisa Ferguson)Amid the gloom of the Covid lockdown, the arrival of snow in Edinburgh has created a chance to have some fun (Picture: Lisa Ferguson)
Amid the gloom of the Covid lockdown, the arrival of snow in Edinburgh has created a chance to have some fun (Picture: Lisa Ferguson)

All of this to the haunting Lara’s Theme on the balalaika. This morning as I peek out of my Velux from where I type in my makeshift office, Edinburgh is draped in snowy glamour.

Yes, I know the car is stuck, it’s a bit dodgy on the pavements but my goodness it has cheered me up after all these drab grey days and miserable rain.

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On my way to Parly, Holyrood Park rang with the screams of red-faced children sledging, dogs running mad circles in the snow. Nature, having delivered us the virus, has redeemed itself.

Speaking of the virus, which I must of course, all our hard work, staying at home, distancing, is paying off although deaths are still far too high.

The vaccine roll-out proceeds at pace and I never had any doubt that folk would turn out to take it. I’ve had mine being in the over-75 age group.

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It was a phone call from the GP practice and an appointment two days later. Was it convenient, I was asked. You bet it was. Anyway a day or so feeling a bit ropey, nothing to fret about, and I am working away as usual.

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It’ll be at least two weeks before any immunisation kicks in and then there’s the second jab. Even with all that, I will be keeping to the rules as we don’t know yet whether we remain carriers and could infect others.

Speaking of which, did you know that while 40 per cent of new strains come from folk who have been abroad, 60 per cent come from the rest of the UK. Yes, the international travel restrictions and hotel quarantine extending to travel from any part of the world are welcome but we need to tackle that UK transmission.

For Westminster just to quarantine from “red zone” countries is daft with a ten-year possible sentence if you give fraudulent details of your journey. Of course, some might try an international hop, step and jump to conceal the true route so why not just make it a blanket provision? Covid as we know does not recognise national boundaries.

All this together – travel quarantine, vaccine roll-out, keeping to the rules – means we have a chance, like Australia and New Zealand, to return to something approaching normality.

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At the end of this month, if we keep going like this, some young children will be returning to schools. I know from my grandchildren the impact this is having on them.

The snow has been a blessing, schooling is packed in for an hour or so and fun returns, away from the iPad and Netflix. It will melt in a few days, as will the novelty, and it’s back to the desk in the bedroom or on the kitchen table and Zoom time with friends.

I see the snow is slipping off the window, a wee thaw but the birds have their brown bread in beef dripping, seeds, fat balls and meal worm and I’m off to tackle more constituency cases. Stay safe.

Christine Grahame is the SNP MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale

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