COVID hasn't gone away, you know. Though it seems too many people here think it has. Tell that to the families of the nearly 2,800 people who have lost their lives to the virus; tell it to the doctors and nurses struggling to cope as the health service is overwhelmed.
Craigavon Area Hospital was forced to divert ambulances away for the second time in 24 hours because of extreme pressure on hospital wards. The vast majority of those who have been exceptionally unwell with Covid-19 had not been vaccinated.
For the life of me, I can't understand how some health workers who have seen this crisis up close can still decide not to take the jab.
Other countries are taking a tougher line. Austria is placing its two million unvaccinated residents in lockdown following a surge in Covid cases. Those who won't get the jab are already barred from visiting restaurants and cinemas.
Singapore went a step further, announcing people who are unvaccinated by choice will have to pay for their own health care. The Netherlands has declared three weeks of restrictions in Western Europe's first partial lockdown of the winter.
Over here, the DUP's Sammy Wilson says any attempt top bring in mandatory Covid vaccine certificates would be a "bad policy" and an infringement on people's freedoms.
This from the party that opposed same-sex marriage, a woman's right to choose, blood donations and adoptions by gay men.
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JIM Allister is pretty ubiquitous on radio normally.
Hardly a day goes past without hearing his familiar rasping tones. But in the week that David Tweed's daughters bravely spoke out about the years of sexual abuse he inflicted on them during their childhood, as of yesterday afternoon he had been strangely absent.
Is he perhaps reluctant to talk about the warm tribute he paid to Tweed, a former rugby star who had also been a DUP and TUV councillor, following his death in a road accident last month?
Tweed's stepdaughter Amanda Brown said she wanted to set the record straight as Tweed was "a predatory paedophile and a violent thug who smashed our mother's face to a pulp".
Jimbo described him as "larger than life".
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I HAVE been a waitress in my time, so I do know that working with the public is not always easy, and people can be unpleasant, impatient and just downright rude.
The customer is definitely not always right either. Anyone who believes that has never dealt with the public in the real world. But I do think service should generally come with a smile, even when provoked.
So I was a bit miffed on Saturday night when I decided to spend my £100 voucher in a local restaurant on a family meal out.
The service was good and the food was excellent. It was only when we came to the bill that it got a bit frosty. I mistakenly thought the voucher was for food only, so asked if we could get the drinks on a separate bill.
The waitress brought the bill - with everything totalled together. When we asked if she could take the drinks off, she sighed and asked why we couldn't do that ourselves if we had a calculator on our phone. A bit much when there is a service charge already added to the bill, I thought.
But a friend had a worse experience sourcing what was claimed to be the best Ulster fry in Belfast. He waited in a long queue at the city centre café and was about to be shown to a table when a member of staff brushed past him and sat down at it.
He was told she was "on her break" so he would have to wait for another table to become free. Really?
It was like when I once tried to close the door in a café as there was a gale blowing through the premises. A manageress appeared and opened it again. "The staff are a bit warm," she explained.
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I COULD never have imagined that bunions could spark a romantic re-union, until I recently met a couple who proved the course of true love cannot be second-guessed.
They had been divorced for 10 years, but maintained an amicable relationship. When she had to have an operation to remove her troublesome bunions, she was unable to drive for a time.
Her ex-husband stepped in to help her as she had horses to look after. He stayed over at her home, then lockdown happened and he stayed on. Months later they were back together.
Wonder if it would make a rom-com? Too corny maybe?
