It’s the 26th of March today and on the 23rd it was exactly 12 months since Boris announced the first lockdown. A lot has happened since then. Manchester and many other places in the north west have only been free from restrictions for 25 days of the last year. We took our first steps onto the roadmap out of lockdown on the 8th of March and will be taking a few more after the weekend.

Changes on 29 March (taken from gov.uk)

Social contact

The evidence shows that it is safer for people to meet outdoors rather than indoors. And this is why from 29 March, when most schools start to break up for the Easter holidays, outdoor gatherings (including in private gardens) of either 6 people (the Rule of 6) or 2 households will also be allowed, making it easier for friends and families to meet outside.

Business and activities

Outdoor sports facilities such as tennis and basketball courts, and open-air swimming pools, will also be allowed to reopen, and people will be able to take part in formally organised outdoor sports.

Travel

The ‘stay at home’ rule will end on 29 March but many restrictions will remain in place. People should continue to work from home where they can and minimise the number of journeys they make where possible, avoiding travel at the busiest times and routes. Travel abroad will continue to be prohibited, other than for a small number of permitted reasons. Holidays abroad will not be allowed, given it will remain important to manage the risk of imported variants and protect the vaccination programme. The government has launched a new taskforce to review global travel which will report on 12 April.

Back to knitting group news:

We were very impressed by Sheila’s latest creations –

How cute are these? Sheila is so talented! She was on a roll today because she also came first in our quiz. Agnes and I were in hot pursuit 🙂

Liz has been busy needle felting. Here’s her lovely hedgehog:

Interesting question from today’s quiz: Which country produces Saab cars and missiles?

A Norway B Finland C Sweden D Denmark?

The answer is C Sweden but the interesting point about it is that Saab produce missiles. Now, I thought this was interesting as I hadn’t known it and neither had the quizzers. But my other half was not at all surprised about this fact and said he thought everyone knew Saab made aeroplanes and missiles. For anyone who, like me, was unaware of this, and wants to appear knowledgeable in future:- Svenska Aero AB was founded in 1937 to manufacture combat aircraft and a subsidiary, Saab Automobile AB, was founded in 1945 to produce cars.

We won’t be zooming next week as it’s Good Friday, so best wishes for a happy and peaceful Easter to everyone.

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