Dear Regular Newsletter Readers (and those not so regular),
I hope this week’s edition of our weekly newsletter finds you double jabbed and feeling much more confident about getting back to doing some of the things you used to do pre Covid.
It seems inevitable that we will be living with Covid, as we do with the influenza viruses, from here on in so we have to fit it into our lives and adapt ourselves and our environments around it accordingly. Covid has taken the lives of more people than was ever thought imaginable and it has universally affected the way we all look at life and how best to lead it. Even for those of us that live in the first world adapting to our new lives living with Covid is challenging to say the least, but for those people that are living in the less developed countries around the world Covid is just another in a long list of disasters (poverty, famine, climate change, internal wars just to name a few) that make their lives just that bit more difficult to lead, when it really doesn’t need to be made any more difficult.
There is however, one good bit of news, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recently announced that for the first time it has recommended the widespread use of an anti-malarial vaccine called Mosquirix for children; apparently this drug has been under development for about 30 years and in the clinical trials that have been carried out it has prevented about 40% of malaria cases and 30% of the more severe cases. When compared to early childhood diseases, such as measles (the measles vaccine has an efficacy rate of about 97%) and the chickenpox vaccine (which prevents about 85% of cases), the anti-malarial drug has a lower efficacy rate, but it is still a very positive move in the right direction. As we have seen with the vaccines developed for Covid, there are different efficacy rates that exist, right from about 60% up to about 95%, and like the Covid vaccines I believe with more research and development the efficacy rates for the malaria vaccines will eventually be on a par with those quoted for measles and chickenpox.
This week I’ve penned a poem about shoes. Very recently, I’ve had to remove a pair of unbelievably comfortable shoes from the front line (front line meaning that I wear them every day for work) and basically relegate them to shoes that I only wear in the office sitting with my feet tucked under my desk. I generally do take care of my shoes, I have other pairs that I’ve had for 30 years or more, but in the case of the shoes in question they have been worn regularly every day for the past 8 years in all weathers for work and as they have covered lots and lots of ground (I’m a sales person) they have definitely seen better days. Anyway, I hope you like the poem and until next week, keep safe and enjoy the weekend ahead.
We are the shoes we wear
We are the shoes we wear and we choose the shoes we are.
In some shoes we can walk all day and in others we cannot walk so far.
From the off some shoes we try on fit just right.
Despite continual wear some shoes always remain painfully tight.
Some of us have a left foot that is bigger or smaller than our right.
Some of us have big toes that fall short of the one next door in terms of height.
Some of us have feet that are too narrow or too wide.
Some of us walk with a longer or shorter stride.
Very few of us can afford shoes made to measure.
Some of us just collect shoes for pleasure.
Some of us buy shoes for comfort and some of us for the way they look.
For those that wear stilettos there is always a danger that the heel will get stuck.
Wearing shoes without socks has never appealed to me.
Perhaps with socks on your feet feel trapped and without them on they feel free.
Some people walk with collision feet which means their insteps and heels sometimes meet.
The evidence is in the scuff marks which their owners generally leave for others to see.
You can see abused shoes everywhere you go.
Backs kicked down, heels and soles worn to one side with scuffs from heel to toe.
Shoes come in twos and they walk in pairs.
Outdoor shoes are never meant to be worn indoors.
Shoes worn outside pick up dirt and the doings of dogs and make their statements on floors.
Shoes should be taken off at the entrance door.
Shoes need to be cared for, they need a polish from time to time.
In my book, never polishing shoes comes very close to committing a crime.
The fashion conscious amongst us choose shoes to match the clothes we wear.
Many of us wear black shoes with everything indicating that we really don’t care.
Some of us are shoeaholics we have to buy them to feel a high.
Some of us wear shoes to look taller when there are better approaches we could try.
Shoe trees help to keep the shape of our shoes and protect them from knocks.
Whether your feet feel trapped or free inside shoes they should never go in to them without socks.
A poem by Stephen Austwick