The best news in 18 months of the Corona Lockdown broke today, with the UK announcing that it will remove South Africa and 46 other countries from its Red List as of Monday 11 October. Only seven countries will remain on the UK Red List on Monday: Columbia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.
Vaccinated Visitors may enter the UK on the same conditions as those of UK residents, but may not have travelled in a Red List country in the ten days before arriving in the UK. South Africa has been on the Red List since December 2020.
A further positive step is that South Africans’ proof of vaccination will be accepted by the UK. South African travellers will have to show the results of a Covid Test. No hotel quarantine will be required from Monday onwards, a costly affair for travellers to the UK, having to stay in prescribed quarantine hotels at a cost of close to R50000.
Just over a week ago my school friend Jenny Stephens and I spent two days on the Wellington Wine Walk, a guiding service offered by our school friend Elaine Wegelin and her colleagues Katrin Steytler, and Carol-Ann Jeffrey.
Three weeks ago I was privileged to experience the new Homespun by Matt Secret Supper Club, which is offered on Monday nights, a dinner of 15 courses which I was blown away by, it being of an international standard, making Homespun one of our country’s top restaurants. Last week I returned with my friend Stuart Bailey, to experience the 7-course Tasting Menu which is served from Tuesday to Saturday evenings, finding it to be a dinner at an extremely generous cost, and to be another evening of Fun Dining Fine Dining.