Talking to my friend today about the changes in embryology from when I worked in it. Ahhh. Made me feel like a dinosaur.

Me stomping into the laboratory with reptilian frilly back. Can you control the muscles on those frills? Or is it like the last, pinky toe on human feet. Where some people can wiggle it and some people cant?

The dinosaur asks, ‘Where are the freezing machines?’

The sleek mammal answers, ‘We dont use them anymore. We just plunge the embryos and eggs straight into liquid nitrogen. With a higher concentration of cryoprotectant, no ice crystals are even formed.’

Reptilian recoil. What is this? How did this technology get more simple? I thought this stuff always got more complicated. Time to flick the tail around. Mind the test tubes. What kind of progress is that?

Does anyone else feel like a dinosaur at the moment?

Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley spoke to the BBC a few days ago. They asked her when she thinks it’ll be safe to open up the island again? Since around 50% of the region’s GDP effectively comes from tourism.

The Prime Minister, with earthy, straight-talking tone, replied that the whole region is in very close talks with airlines and the cruise industry to ensure travel can be done with as little risk as possible. She said she knows it is hard for the people of Barbados relying so heavily on tourism – but their health and well-being has to come first.

Other Caribbean islands – such as Antigua and St Lucia, are on the verge of opening to new arrivals. I imagine Barbados is watching to see what happens to them. These islands have completely contained the virus, whereas Barbados is still experiencing an upward trickle. Five cases have emerged from a church in Bridgetown. Even though my understanding is that churches are still closed here.

Confused dinosaur look. And there is no immediate vaccine for Covid-19. The scientists had warned us though. There is no mainstream reliable test for coronavirus antibodies either. The test too for coronavirus antigens has a high false negative result – I heard. This would mean many more people have it than we think.

Meanwhile, a lady in Speightstown has set up a stall and is selling face masks. Everyone in Barbados wears them now, out and about. The face masks have natty prints – some tropical, some tribal, and all are soft. Two loops fit around your ears. The lady in Speightstown is selling them for the bargain price of $10 each.

This is as low-tech as it comes. And yet wearing face masks brings air-borne viral transmission down by a reported 90%. I think I may always wear a face mask when I shop – even when this is all over. Only thing visible: reptilian eyes. And a frilly back.