No update as no site visit. 1st January 2022

2021 exited on a wet, dreary, soggy though mild note. 2022 didn't so much roar in, as slink in with the same dreary, wet, soggy and mild weather.

Having had a near normal Christmas and New Year (unlike the poor Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish where their political leaders are in the thrall of the lockdown experts), and a year of Pingdemics,  it looks like we will have to endure chaos brought about by Isodemic. People having to self isolate for up to seven days should they test positive for Sars Cov 2 i.e. Covid-19.  Even though the omicron variant is not much worse than a nasty flu. Bear in mind that admissions to hospital for flu in a normal year is roughly 1000 per day. The UK is still below this figure. Which begs the question - why the need to self isolate, particularly as over 90% of the UK population has been vaccinated?

Against this barmy backdrop, coupled with the usual 'dead' period between Christmas and New Year's day (I always worked this period as the office was so quiet - you could get work done), I decided to forgo a soggy, muddy trudge across Manor farm to see what Inert and co might or might not have been up to.

Progress could be painfully slow, over the next few weeks, if Inert and haulage staff have to self isolate due to catching the Omicron variant of Sars Cov 2. Rainfall is also not showing much signs of easing up - we are still in a La Nina event. Ground conditions are pretty sodden.

One ray of good news to brighten up the doom and gloom: James Web Space Telescope wends its way through its commissioning process. The deployment team is taking its time, not risking anything. They have deployed the comms aerial, momentum shield, sun shield booms and DTA tower. Their team lead has decided to halt deployment to allow scientists and engineers study how the telescope is reacting to space.

Apparently, this is quite normal. However, there is a huge amount riding on JWST, and the deployment team do not want to screw things up by rushing into actions.