~{nilheadimage~=142040~}
Malaysia was the source of some pretty terrible covid news yesterday, with the highest number of deaths in a day so far (135), and the second highest number of new infections (8,868). The vaccination programme is firing on all cylinders (as of yesterday 9.3% of the population had received two doses), but unfortunately the virus is similarly going all out.

Below is an updated version of Nigel's ~{purplepost~=1262~;text~=chart~;target~=covidchart~}:

~{nilimage~=142038~;dir~=H~;alt~=chartto8july~}
The grey line at the bottom is Kuching; the orange line is Sarawak; the light blue line is Sarawak minus Kuching. As you can see, they're all trending downwards. But no-one's counting any chickens. The dark blue line is Malaysia as a whole, which has risen alarmingly.

The covid news is pretty grim from many places at the moment. ~{link~= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/07/global-experts-urge-boris-johnson-delay-covid-reopening ~;text~=Britain~;target~=uk~} (can this projected reopening REALLY be a good idea with figures like these...?); ~{link~= https://vietnamweekly.substack.com/p/lockdown-in-ho-chi-minh-city ~;text~=Ho Chi Minh City~;target~=hcmc~}; ~{link~= https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/Why-are-Indonesia-s-COVID-cases-surging-Five-things-to-know ~;text~=Indonesia~;target~=indonesia~}; ~{link~= https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2021/07/07/covid-19-dhaka-infection-rate-jumps-from-3-to-28-in-a-month ~;text~=Bangladesh~;target~=bangladesh~}... And the world passed the threshold of four million covid deaths this week.

Truly, this thing goes on and on...

Anyway, let's turn to cheerier news.

1. It was Tynwald Day on Monday, so we hung out our flag, drank to the land of my birth, and hoped it won't be too long before we see it in the flesh once more.

~{nilimage~=142041~;dir~=H~;alt~=iomflag1~;caption~=Hanging out the flag on the morning of 5 July~}
~{nilimage~=142039~;dir~=H~;alt~=iomflag2~}
~{nilimage~=142042~;dir~=V~;alt~=iomflag3~}
2. It's going to be our wedding anniversary on Sunday, and festivities kicked off yesterday with CAKE! (This was the first cake since Nigel's birthday, so we've been astonishingly good really).

~{nilimage~=142043~;dir~=H~;alt~=batikcake~;caption~=Indah's "jungle batik" cake... Heavenly...~}
3. Lots of media have picked up on the award-winning video by ~{link~= https://www.optionstheedge.com/topic/culture/alena-murang%E2%80%99s-award-winning-%E2%80%98warrior-spirit%E2%80%99-mv-brings-indigenous-bornean-creatives ~;text~=Sarawakian Alena Murang~;target~=alenamurang~}. (Catch it ~{link~= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qTxxtzlnSU ~;text~=here~;target~=amvidieo~} -- it is really beautiful.)

4. And, to close, miscellaneous photos from the daily round:

~{nilimage~=142047~;dir~=H~;alt~=catroofhouse~;caption~=The house opposite the ~{purplepost~=1263~;text~=roof cat's house~;target~=roofcathouse~}~}
~{nilimage~=142045~;dir~=H~;alt~=catonpipe~;caption~=Enjoying his pipe~}
~{nilimage~=142046~;dir~=H~;alt~=catbydrain~;caption~=Well, a cat has to sit somewhere, right?~}
~{nilimage~=142048~;dir~=H~;alt~=tilehouse~;caption~=The house with the tiles~}
~{nilimage~=142049~;dir~=V~;alt~=meimei~;caption~=Our nearest food court, which I've mentioned numerous times now, as it's really come into its own for us during lockdown. This is where, two or three times a week, we pick up porridge, or rats' tail noodles, or Sarawak laksa~}