In Scotland, some target dates have been set - today shops can re-open (as long as they have a street front) and on Friday our current 5 mile travel restriction is removed. Outdoor drinking at pubs will be possible from next Monday (6th July) - and indoors too from 15th July. Schools go back at the usual post-holiday time of 11th August.
That's the good news - subject, of course, to continuing falls in new cases - but, on the negative side, Jo and I have finally bitten the bullet and cancelled our trip to USA this year. We were due to leave in just over 9 weeks but things are not looking good in USA just now and frankly, the prospect of spending 10+ hours on a plane wearing a face mask and with no/little food/drinks service doesn't really appeal, so, after chatting with Lucy yesterday, I got online and on the phone this morning and cancelled both our flights and our resort accommodation.
We had booked our flights using air miles (Avios) plus a Companion Voucher, and the points have now been returned to our account and the date of expiry of the Companion Voucher has been extended by 6 months to 9th July, 2021, so let's hope there's no 2nd/3rd outbreaks anywhere and we can use these before they expire.
That's about all I have to say this time, other than the fact that Jo and I took part in a CAMRA Zoom session on Saturday concerning the new beer styles to be used in future when The Great British Beer Festival (and other local ones) hands out the prizes for its Beers of the Year. Naturally, it involved some beer tasting as well as explanations in the 2 hour session. This is what Jo and I worked our way through:
These were reference points to explain why some new styles have been introduced - and some re-defined, so the new list is:
