~~
Wednesday 1st December 36F, still very dark at 08.45. All day rain is forecast. With storm force winds later. Gusting to over 50mph tonight. Further north, heavy snow is forecast. Dividing the country into two. Strong, northerly winds are unusual. The trees have lost all their leaves. Which, hopefully reduces the risk of them being toppled.
There are some high trees [20m or 60'] on our northern boundary. I hope they don't drop any branches on the shed! They have always been well beyond reach for lopping. The soft, marshy ground outside the boundary isn't cultivated by the farmer. They get bogged down! A change of ownership of the surrounding land means no hedge [or tree] trimming has occurred for years. The branches are much too large for amateur lopping. The cost of hiring a professional tree surgeon completely prohibitive.
The Omicron variant is still spreading but with very mixed reports of the dangers. Or whether the existing vaccines are still effective. It seems unlikely that the virus will quickly mutate itself into being harmless. It also has a huge reservoir of potential hosts for further mutation.
There is talk of Danish GPs [local doctors] being used to vaccinate batches of people at their surgeries. This might bring the jab to a whole range of people without easy transport to the cities. Where the majority of vaccinations and testing has been carried out so far. Often leading to long queues.
Denmark has huge numbers of rural villages, homes and farms. With relatively few, large cities which are themselves, widely separated. Bus fares are horribly expensive and few want to risk the journey since the pandemic started.
Many elderly are blocked from bus use because they don't have a smart phone and payment app. Cash has been largely phased out. This is an increasing problem in Danish society. Denying service to many potential customers. Many products and services are now app controlled. I myself have only a very simple mobile phone for emergency use.
The lack of a smart phone is becoming increasingly limiting in everyday living. The entry level to smart phones with contact-less payment is horrendous! Then there is the upkeep and constant replacement as manufacturers deliberately make their products obsolete. By failing to update the OS, firmware or software beyond a certain point.
I couldn't even use a relatively new tablet to download the app for my new printer. Required after the last one was made obsolete when the driver no longer worked with the latest flavour of Windups. Much like the tablet. Where the manufacturer doesn't upgrade Android much beyond the sales date. You can fettle a 100-year-old, car if you have the skill. Few can fettle a 3-year-old old phone!
No printer means you can't print the return label for online goods. No matter how rarely I need to print these days it is still vital that I can do so occasionally. Rural hamlets don't have print shops ready to run off a single A4! I must count myself lucky that I remain fairly tech competent thanks to daily blogging and browsing. There must be huge numbers of the elderly. Who are completely unaware of. Let alone able to handle the latest technology.
~~
No comments:
Post a Comment