Is it just me being cynical. or is the self isolation (I appreciate the need for it) going to be used by lots of people as a method of getting 2 weeks ( or more) off work??
My other problem with it is that, at only 14 days it will hardly make a dent in my lead pile. :)
Well you would only get SSP for that amount of time (unless you have a workplace scheme) which is bugger all from what I've heard. Even ESA is low if you have savings which are taken into account.
My son and I are self isolating as much as we reasonably can given that I have asthma and he is on immuno-suppressants for Crohn's. I'm more worried for him to be honest than me. At least I have plenty to kep me occupied until mid-June, which is when the period of isolation is due to finish...
Everyone at our workplace (150 persons) was sent off last monday to work remotely for at least two weeks. And it unfortunately means sitting in front of a computer, either in a telco or powerpointing or other worklike noodling stuff. At least at work I had an ergonomically decent electric table so I could either stand or sit. Now all this sitting is doing my back in. We were also told not to go to a cafe to work :/ And the pile of lead is looking at me from the shelves next to my PC. Aargh.
For us without kids it is OK, but I pity my colleagues who also have to cope with their teenage kids that are housebound since the schools are shut.
Anyway, keeping calm and carrying on with my trusty mug of tea to keep me company.
Cheers,
Aksu
I work a lot from home anyway - the firm has encouraged it for years - good for recruitment, good for reducing expensive offices etc.etc.etc - and a lot of my life is already spent on global conference calls - so I have developed a process whereby I can very often paint soldier and still be on calls ... although I did have a nasty incident a few months back where I stuck a brush loaded with varnish up my nose as I rushed to come off mute and also adjust my head-set microphone :D
I have been working like this for years - when I am not out travelling around the UK or in Europe, meeting clients and prospects (which has now stopped completely).
So my wife has the view that actually I am ideally suited for self isolation.
I am effective around the house - as I take structured regular breaks - to stretch my back/legs, relax my eyes, make a cup of coffee, put on/take out the washing, unload the dishwasher etc.
If I am not painting on conf-calls I have even been known to do some ironing (always good for domestic brownie points) - such is the beauty of blue-tooth wireless headsets these days.
The danger however is that my working day morphs into the evening - sometimes because I'll be on calls to the USA late UK time, but often because i'm working flexibly. Likewise I can be up really early for calls to India or Australia/Asia Pac. But I am pretty much in charge of my own time.
As my role is to sell large IT systems, regardless of what anybody says, you need a face to face meeting - people don't sign cheques for $200mn+ after a phone call or even a good quality conf/video call! So my life is going to be very challenging over the next few months. But it is what it is - we can only make the best of it.
I've done most of my obligatory on-line corporate training for the whole year already - boy it is good to know that is out of the way - no 31st Dec last minute catch-up panic.
I've also done my annual tax return - again ahead of the 31st Dec deadline - that's another big tick in the box personally.
I'm starting to book meetings face-to-face for September - yup you heard right - that is when a lot of my clients/prospects think life will settle back to some degree of normality. I have a few who are endeavouring to try to do business by Skype/Zoom/MeetMe/Circuit calls - and we'll see how we get on with that over the next few weeks.
However, my painting list is large and long and I also have an allotment - not that conf.calls work very well from there (although I must admit once the weather gets good it is really tempting to try). So on my painting bench I currently have the following:
1). a 28mm Wargames Foundry Early Carthaginian army
2). paint, base and flag (using LBM flags) a 15mm Zhou (Spring & Autumn) Chinese army for a competition in June (fingers crossed that will go ahead)
3). a host of painted 15mm Fantasy armies to base on 100mm x 50mm bases to be able to play Warband
4). a bare-metal 15mm HoTT army - to play in this years GBU competition - it's my American God's of the Plains army (to fitr into this year theme)
5). I need to paint up a few additional 28mm command bases for a couple of medieval armies
6). Paint & base a stand of 28mm Byzantine medium cavalry horse archers
7). rebase a host of 6mm Cold War East Germans and Soviet armour I bought off eBay cheaply a while back
8 ). paint & base my 10mm Pendraken Samurai Apes army - and add in a few extra appropriate monster tyoes to allow me to expand this to play in the new mass-battle fantasy rulews set I am working on
9). re-base my nicely painted 15mm Boer army and finish painting up the khaki British opposition - ready to play BBB
10). Finally finish off painting my 28mm Pictish army - I bought the bulk of the army beautifully painted and based - but now I am short of a few units (you know how it is) so I am having toi match the ones I am doing to the existing style ... it shows up how woefully inadequate my painting really is these days (*Note to self - maybe get your cataracts sorted if you can find a hospital to do it!)
Then there is a 10mm 2nd hand Pendraken late war Bristish and German, that I bought on Bring & Buy lasst year, that I need to get re-based and touched-up to play some BKCIV.
So much lead ... so little time!!!
Then there are all the new rules and revisions to existing rules and new Supplement PDFs and army lists I need to do for Leon ... lots to keep me busy.
It will be interesting to look back on the year and this period of isolation to see what i actually did get done in the end.
Cheers
Mark
Bout a weeks work Mark !
I am fully retired, have been for more than 10 years now.
I have been largely self isolating for a few weeks so spend a lot more time painting than I do nominally.
I am also getting older (70 next month), a cancer survivor and now having a spot of bother with a coronary artery so I go to bed earlier than before so end up painting less than I used to.
It's all swings and roundabouts.
The one thing I am missing at the moment is a target show.
I have missed Vapnartak already this year and Albanach was cancelled, reasons unknown. I would normally got to Carronade in May but I expect that is at high risk of cancellation now so Claymore is my best guess.
Guess I'll just keep on painting.
Quote from: Steve J on 18 March 2020, 09:54:55 AM
Well you would only get SSP for that amount of time (unless you have a workplace scheme) which is bugger all from what I've heard. Even ESA is low if you have savings which are taken into account.
My son and I are self isolating as much as we reasonably can given that I have asthma and he is on immuno-suppressants for Crohn's. I'm more worried for him to be honest than me. At least I have plenty to kep me occupied until mid-June, which is when the period of isolation is due to finish...
SSP is a whopping £94.25 a week IIRC. You could barely buy food on that, let alone pay leccy, gas, rent/mortgage. It's also not available for a lot of people on zero hours contracts or "self employed". So yeah. Turns out what's great for profits is very bad for society.
I don't want to back seat doctor Steve, but the dangerous bit of Corvid-19 appears to be the cytokine overreaction in bad cases - it's not the virus itself that's the dangerous part, but the bodies immune response going balls out crazy. The medical lit I read was suggested massive doses of immuno-suppressants and cortico-steroids to knock it back down.
So it might be swings and roundabouts - whilst your lad might be more likely to get it, he may be less likely to have a serious case or the dangerous reaction to it, fingers crossed for you both.
I am fortunate in my company pays you at full rate for 6 months :)
We'd get a week per year worked, and as they kept our contract terms rolling when taken over, that gives me the maximum twelve weeks.
With an awkward new born let alone Corvid-19 I'm tempted by a three month break ;)
Although unless I was actually in hospital our venture capital owned stats obsessed panic driven culture would demand I be "in" the home office as usual...
QuoteThe medical lit I read was suggested massive doses of immuno-suppressants and cortico-steroids to knock it back down.
I've heard the same as it moves from pneumonia to the body either getting sepsis of multiple organ failure due to the body attacking itself. So maybe our son is safer then...
Fingers crossed, Steve, preferably for not having to find out ofc!
I've been told to self isolate for 7 days by work, not 14.
That seems a little short, all the various advice I've seen is 14 days :-/
Quote from: Last Hussar on 20 March 2020, 01:57:42 AM
I've been told to self isolate for 7 days by work, not 14.
Quote from: paulr on 20 March 2020, 02:22:25 AM
That seems a little short, all the various advice I've seen is 14 days :-/
I've heard both, I think seven days is if you've cold/flu symptoms and 14 if you've got our suspected to have COVID-19. But there's a lot of much messages out there, at one point there was talk of being infectious for 21 days but not sure if that's still thought.
7 days for a single person, but if that person is in a 'household', then everyone for 14 days.
Quote from: Steve J on 20 March 2020, 07:19:27 AM
7 days for a single person, but if that person is in a 'household', then everyone for 14 days.
That's what we have been told at work as well
Quote from: Steve J on 20 March 2020, 07:19:27 AM
7 days for a single person, but if that person is in a 'household', then everyone for 14 days.
That was made pretty clear at on of the 5pm press conferences earlier this week when a moronic journalist asked "but you said 7 days last week and 14 days today, did you get it wrong?" So they had to spell it out to the simpleton the difference between "one person" and a "household". Watching these press conferences has reinforced my belief that you need to be a particularly brain-dead idiot to be a newspaper journalist.
Sometimes journos do that to get a simple straight forward answer. Its like when they ask what appears to be an aggressive question, but really its a soft pitch to allow the interviewee to lay out their position. Gorgeous George Galloway fouled this kind up after his trial acquittal. Instead of replying he chose to attack the BBC as government lackies engaged in a conspiracy against him.
Quote from: Last Hussar on 20 March 2020, 02:35:51 PM
Sometimes journos do that to get a simple straight forward answer. Its like when they ask what appears to be an aggressive question, but really its a soft pitch to allow the interviewee to lay out their position. Gorgeous George Galloway fouled this kind up after his trial acquittal. Instead of replying he chose to attack the BBC as government lackies engaged in a conspiracy against him.
I think I can spot the difference between a clever question intended to draw out the interviewee and a complete dickhead! I refer my learned friend to the Daily Heil dipstick asking an idiotic scaremongering question on today's daily waffling from Boris. I hate to say it, but some of these journalists make Boris look competent and vaguely intelligent!
Fair enough.
I'm painting Austrian hussars.
Quote from: sunjester on 20 March 2020, 06:41:51 PM
I think I can spot the difference between a clever question intended to draw out the interviewee and a complete dickhead! I refer my learned friend to the Daily Heil dipstick asking an idiotic scaremongering question on today's daily waffling from Boris. I hate to say it, but some of these journalists make Boris look competent and vaguely intelligent!
True, but don't forget that Boris is essentially a journalist who got lucky and is possibly the ultimate example of the Peter Principle in action - he was utterly incompetent as Foreign Secretary and he's somehow managed to get promoted even higher :'(
I think both the floods and this have shown the true mettle of both the man and his closest allies >:(
Anyway, stay safe guys and remember: keep that one, last lead figure unpainted a just in case ;)
Regardless of what the MSM say, the infectiousness of someone with the virus lasts up to 33 days (the Chinese found 1 example of that). But there is a high probability that victims are infectious up to 7 days only, with a significant proportion up to 14 days, a small proportion up to 21 days, and with lower probabilities of 24 days, 29 days, and the 1 in 7.7 billion of 33 days. The actual figures were on Youtube somewhere yesterday, but can't find it now.
It's a numbers game, so roll your dice and take your chance.
Quote from: sunjester on 20 March 2020, 06:41:51 PM
I think I can spot the difference between a clever question intended to draw out the interviewee and a complete dickhead!
And then there are seemingly simple questions, which you'd think deserve a measured response, and you get this: youtube link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu5NLIOsXlk). (Question is asked at about 2:10 in).
Quote from: sultanbev on 21 March 2020, 10:56:31 AM
It's a numbers game, so roll your dice and take your chance.
What's the saving throw ? ;)
We can each only be as sensible as we can, I suppose.
I KNOW this will sound 'barkingly' stupid X_X.....But, in a way, I'm 'sort of envious' of those who have already contracted the virus.....and recovered.
I
assume that they don't need worry from now on.......
Maybe. :-\
Who knows....The 'bug' Von & I picked up 10-12 weeks ago (which seems to have
finally given in...
Huzzah !! :-bd)....
Might have been the dreaded virus.....Though I think the chances of that are SO remote, as to be next to 'b*gger all'.
Again....Stay safe, Chums.
Cheers - Phil
The saving roll is, rather than 'flattening the curve' which is pious neo-liberal spin, we can all push the probability curve sideways.
At the moment, 60-80% of the population will be infected, but of those, 80% will show no or very little symptoms, 20% will be hospitalised to varying degrees. What I reckon we can do individually is push that 80% to say 85%-90% by reinforcing our immune systems. Even if you feel healthy now, that is actually the best time to do it, rather than waiting to get sick.
So, this is my "sending in off-table reinforcements" regime
gargle with tcp in the morning (as I've had a cold for a week or so with mild sore throat), diluted 4 parts water, 1 part TCP (just use the cap off the bottle to measure into a small cup)
dessert spoon of honey, teaspoon of ground ginger, teaspoon of ground termeric on my cereal at breakfast (been doing this anyway for last couple of years)
vitamin D3 tablet after one meal
elderberry syrup, 2 teaspoons three times a day after meals
random snacking on a few Brazil nuts (boosts selenium levels apparently one whole Brazil nut had daily RDA of Se)
piece of fruit after every meal
one cup of green tea a day
other times drink hot elderflower cordial, with teaspoon of honey and squirt of lemon juice added
Now you've all got a stash of long-shelf life goods, go out and get fresh vegetables, of which most shops still have loads.
And if you do run out of loo roll, the Murdoch empire does a fascinating range of coloured toilet paper, although I think they mislabel them as newspapers. :)
And if you've "recovered" don't get complacent, there is a probabiity that we'll end up with an ME epidemic:
https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2020/03/15/the-other-potential-coronavirus-catastrophe-no-one-is-talking-about/
and don't forget, there is another 10,000-600,000 of these viruses waiting to cross infect as we tear down what's left of nature to feed a population in gross overshoot:
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2020-03-18/coronavirus-degrowth-and-self-isolation/
Mark
QuoteIt's a numbers game, so roll your dice and take your chance.
I'm screwed.
Sunjester will live for ever.
Orcs will cheat.
Quote from: sultanbev on 21 March 2020, 11:57:09 AM
And if you do run out of loo roll, the Murdoch empire does a fascinating range of coloured toilet paper, although I think they mislabel them as newspapers. :)
Not to be advised actually https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-51980820
UUUURGH !!! :-&
Did you have to link to that, Graham ! ;D ;D
Mark....Save your money...You don't have to use TCP....Half a teaspoon of ordinary 'cooking salt' dissolved in a glass of warm water works even better, as far as gargling is concerned.....That's what I've found, anyway.
Worked a treat, for me.....Try it. :)
Cheers - Dr Phil
Quote from: Techno on 21 March 2020, 11:27:59 AM
Who knows....The 'bug' Von & I picked up 10-12 weeks ago (which seems to have finally given in...Huzzah !! :-bd)....Might have been the dreaded virus.....Though I think the chances of that are SO remote, as to be next to 'b*gger all'.
Both me and the daughter were terribly ill pretty much all through February. Recently thought "maybe we've already had it?", but are pretty sure we didn't - no breathing problems.
Quote from: Techno on 21 March 2020, 11:27:59 AM
What's the saving throw ? ;)
In the absence of comprehensive testing and tracing we simply don't know.
Quote from: sunjester on 21 March 2020, 12:14:32 PM
Not to be advised actually https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-51980820
1st floor flat, so I'm reasonably safe.
Quote from: Raider4 on 21 March 2020, 01:00:14 PM
Both me and the daughter were terribly ill pretty much all through February. Recently thought "maybe we've already had it?", but are pretty sure we didn't - no breathing problems.
I wonder, with
SO many folk having succumbed to the 'normal' cold early this year, how many didn't realise that they were actually carrying around the covid-virus and were unwittingly passing it on.
I mean, if some folk
barely suffer from the C-19, they quite probably thought "Oh....It's nothing, just a cold.".....Though, obviously, we have been warned now not to take that for granted, and self isolate.
Quote from: steve_holmes_11 on 21 March 2020, 02:22:39 PM
In the absence of comprehensive testing and tracing we simply don't know.
Very true.
Cheers - Phil
I'm wondering how long the isolation bit is going to go on. I live alone, and while I'm getting phone calls (inc Sunjester - thanks mate) I do want to have a beer and a laugh.
Also, why is it considered OK to sit in a 4m x 4m office with two other people?
Quote from: Last Hussar on 22 March 2020, 07:41:43 AM
I'm wondering how long the isolation bit is going to go on. I live alone, and while I'm getting phone calls (inc Sunjester - thanks mate) I do want to have a beer and a laugh.
I DO hope it's not for
too long....Though I guess we'll have be guided by circumstances. :(.....End of April, at the earliest ??
At the moment, if I do pop out (and I'm doing this as infrequently as poss), there's a definite feeling of tension 'in the air'.
Only to be expected, I suppose. :(
Cheers - Phil
Quote from: Last Hussar on 22 March 2020, 07:41:43 AM
I'm wondering how long the isolation bit is going to go on. I live alone, and while I'm getting phone calls (inc Sunjester - thanks mate) I do want to have a beer and a laugh.
Also, why is it considered OK to sit in a 4m x 4m office with two other people?
It's not - pretty much every company that can has gone to home working. We already did in our team but start of last week the rest of the company switched overnight.
Huge chunks of our support requests this week were "set us up on Cloud" or "install on sixty laptops for remote working three minutes ago!".
It's a bit sh*t for social contact (I missed the last meet of my wargames club, now this!), it'll hopefully slow up the spread enough we're not all collapsed dying at the same time :/
Should be extensive promotion opportunities for the survivors, if the economy can still support employment afterwards. ;)
A short war and a bloody battle there Kitty ! I'll drink to that !
Looking at the Chinese curve on this, who are now being able to return to their parks and gardens, strong / strict isolation does seem to be the only way of coming out early at the other end.
Sadly, the way the UK population has had fairly large scale disregard for isolation, especially with city centres being chocker on a Friday / Saturday night, I suspect the past 2 - 3 weeks have given us a ticking time-bomb going forward for the next 2 - 3 weeks. The crucial question for the nation is whether we will have reached demand saturation on ventilator availability before we can get the new kit proposed installed.
The real question is of course whether all this will delay the launch of the new Japanese line....
Quote from: Last Hussar on 22 March 2020, 07:41:43 AM
Also, why is it considered OK to sit in a 4m x 4m office with two other people?
Most of our normal day staff are working from home as are those at risk. The rest of us have spaced ourselves out as best we can so we are 3-5 metres apart.
Due to the secure nature of some of the stuff we work on we will have to have some people in all the time. If my shift partner is "at risk". I am looking at working the next 14 nights (12 hours each) on the trot.
Yeah, Britain's gone nuts. It's like a huge chunk of the populace thought "what's the worst thing we could do? Do it!" And thronged the supermarkets panic buying in sardine like hordes, or just go "I'm alright jack, off to the pub!". Queue Italy style deaths in two weeks...
Ofc our laughable political non-leadership hasn't helped, although I detect a bit of the Whitehall putsch a week ago with the disappearance of some of the most odiously incompetent venalities from view, the greasy eminences sidelined and their herd immunity take it on the chin lunacy deprecated and airbrushed out, and Johnson forced to actually surface and say something (mostly useless waffle but better than his usual, small mercies - that he makes a City junk bond wideboy look good is testament to his lack of quality as opposed to theirs!), and the appearance of competent scientists and actual medical professionals in public view!
I had a mad thought last night ... a theme for a sci-fi book in a world of mass viral pandemics - where they had brought back national service ... but into the Health Service and Caring professions.
Not a bad idea anyway I thought ...
You heard it here first ... BRING BACK NATIONAL SERVICE ;D ;D ;D ;D
There was already mutterings of that for a "peasant agriculture penal brigade", to pick all the crops and fruit that we couldn't harvest due to Brexit. After all of everyone's lost their jobs due to the virus they can be agrarianised and put to use!
Quote from: Big Insect on 22 March 2020, 09:54:46 AM
I had a mad thought last night ... a theme for a sci-fi book in a world of mass viral pandemics - where they had brought back national service ... but into the Health Service and Caring professions.
Not a bad idea anyway I thought ...
You heard it here first ... BRING BACK NATIONAL SERVICE ;D ;D ;D ;D
Our economy is now de facto nationalised in a manner that way exceeds 1948. When the Blue Birds come back over the White Cliffs of Dover, it will be a different world in terms of values and economics. A National Service Corps as you suggest may well be an option. The con is the training time to provide competent care.
But no-one admits to panic buying :'( :'( :'(
Quote from: ianrs54 on 22 March 2020, 10:07:10 AM
But no-one admits to panic buying :'( :'( :'(
Yeah this is it... I've not actually spoken to anyone who would admit to panic buying. Lots of people I know are buying a little extra just in case, but not going mad. Which makes me wonder if everyone is doing that it only takes a handful of stockpilers to set the whole thing off. There are definitely maniacs out there being selfish and stockpiling, but I suspect part of it is everyone just buying "a little extra just in case".
The problem is when you make 3 or 4 trips to the shops and the shelves are bare, it's natural for normal people to pick up and extra pack/can or two "just in case" when they do finally do find a shop with stock.
Hmmm. I suspect our great and good government has fifty plans to keep Bangkok fed, and has given no thought to the rest of the country.
Quote from: ianrs54 on 22 March 2020, 10:07:10 AM
But no-one admits to panic buying :'( :'( :'(
I'll hold my hand up here - last week I bought a 9-pack of toilet rolls instead of the normal 4-pack.
"My name is Raider4 and I am a panic buyer" /sobs.
Having seen them stripping the shelves (as in, a literal trolley full of UHT milk or bags of rice & pasta or loo roll or nappies - seen all the above), there's a fair whack of hoarding/profiteering going on even if it's not just people stocking up a bit. Doubly so as I've seen all the above online at vastly inflated costs.
Quote from: sunjester on 22 March 2020, 10:38:22 AM
The problem is when you make 3 or 4 trips to the shops and the shelves are bare, it's natural for normal people to pick up and extra pack/can or two "just in case" when they do finally do find a shop with stock.
Yeah of course, it's natural to want to. And not entirely unreasonable. Just exacerbates the situation.
Quote from: toxicpixie on 22 March 2020, 10:51:47 AM
Having seen them stripping the shelves (as in, a literal trolley full of UHT milk or bags of rice & pasta or loo roll or nappies - seen all the above), there's a fair whack of hoarding/profiteering going on even if it's not just people stocking up a bit. Doubly so as I've seen all the above online at vastly inflated costs.
Yeah 100% that's just pure selfishness and unpleasantness.
The ironic thing is that barring Size 1 nappies and some specialist diet stuff (gluten free bread), all the small shops have the "scare" items. Local hardware store even has hand sanitizer!
And I know a couple of friends who've done their food shop at local garden centres :D
Quote from: toxicpixie on 22 March 2020, 11:14:34 AM
And I know a couple of friends who've done their food shop at local garden centres :D
No doubt fresh veg and sunflower seed only !! :d
Artisanal pasta and wierd posh seasonal gift food, I think :D
Quote from: ianrs54 on 22 March 2020, 10:07:10 AM
But no-one admits to panic buying :'( :'( :'(
This is a classical oxymoron in British government policy. First they want people to self isolate as much as possible - then they get annoyed if people take their advice and stock up to avoid going out.
Interestingly enough we ventured out to the garden centre yesterday having walked our (very elderly) dog to get a few tomato plants etc. We found the farm shop there had all sorts of things - including big bags of rice and pasta. As my wife needs gluten free we did not want the pasta but did buy a bag of rice (as well as a small amount of fresh veg) but our daughter in law who was nearby came over and - though she did not need any herself asked her neighbours via a neighbourhood WhatsApp group and picked up a bag of rice and a bag of pasta for them as they apparently could not find pasta locally.
Meanwhile we are ordering food for our neighbours (both couples in their 80s). Our son and daughter in law are aiming to do volunteering for neighbours. We're waiting to find out if my wife is considered high risk ie will he asked to self isolate for 12 weeks.
My job is full time from home and if anything busier than usual (and includes a number of early and late conference calls) so I am trying to avoid being on the office laptop all the time and making sure we do some things as a couple (eg reading my wife chapters of a new book) as well as making time to paint! If I can set up a schedule to paint an hour a day I will be happy.
Regards
Edward
Quote from: Sunray on 22 March 2020, 12:11:07 PM
This is a classical oxymoron in British government policy. First they want people to self isolate as much as possible - then they get annoyed if people take their advice and stock up to avoid going out.
My partner is both gluten free AND mildly lactose intolerant, as well as being picky. With rationing now in effect actually getting enough milk for her is a bloody nightmare and would have me in the supermarket three-four times a week >_<
Quote from: FierceKitty on 22 March 2020, 10:43:59 AM
Hmmm. I suspect our great and good government has fifty plans to keep Bangkok fed, and has given no thought to the rest of the country.
You could always eat the cats if you get desperate ;D
Or they could eat us. I hope I'd go that route first.
Had a wonderful day in the garden with the sun shining and a fresh Easterly breeze. Quite happy with self-isolation at the moment. Will have to break it on Tuesday to go and pick daughter up from Edinburgh.
Quote from: FierceKitty on 22 March 2020, 09:25:52 AM
The real question is of course whether all this will delay the launch of the new Japanese line....
Only a little but not by too much. I'm cleaning up figures today so we shouldn't be far away.
Quote from: Steve J on 22 March 2020, 03:47:26 PM
Will have to break it on Tuesday to go and pick daughter up from Edinburgh.
That's a hell of a drive from where you are!
Quote from: Leon on 22 March 2020, 04:36:31 PM
That's a hell of a drive from where you are!
Father/ daughter road trip through a
zombie infested virus infected wasteland. :)
Remember Steve, never go in the back room of the diner/ gas station/ pharmacist's it's always full of
zombies sick people.
In better times I'd have asked if you had time to meet up for a coffee but what with the
zombies virus better not.
Take care, stay safe and make sure you have plenty of
shotgun shells hand sanitiser.
:D :D :D :D
Well it is roughly an 8 hours drive with breaks, but maybe more if I have to fend off zombie attacks etc. I'm hoping the roads will be quieter than normal to make the Birmingham to Liverpool stretch easier to bear. At least the weather is looking good so for once I might get to see the Lake District rather than driving through torrential rain or low cloud...
I might leave some toilet rolls in the back in full view to see if I can get a convoy following me desperate to get their dirty hands on my goods ;) :D. Keep an eye on the news Tuesday night ;).
Quote from: toxicpixie on 22 March 2020, 01:09:49 PM
My partner is both gluten free AND mildly lactose intolerant, as well as being picky. With rationing now in effect actually getting enough milk for her is a bloody nightmare and would have me in the supermarket three-four times a week >_<
My wife has lactose-free milk. They will only sell me 1 litre a visit when normally I would buy 3 litres. So now I am going to have visit two or three times every week instead of once a fortnight and stand in a queue behind 20 other people, so enforcing regular close proximity. It is hardly a surprise that everywhere is crowded out with everyone going so frequently; a weeks demand every day for product.
Spot on Hammurabi. Although we think we've sourced a delivery service so fingers crossed... now about the bread?!
Quote from: Steve J on 22 March 2020, 06:20:51 PM
I'm hoping the roads will be quieter than normal to make the Birmingham to Liverpool stretch easier to bear.
Roads were even quiet on Thursday and Friday. I suspect that will be more so this week .
Walked past a music shop today. Only two guitars per customer. ;)
Quote from: Steve J on 22 March 2020, 06:20:51 PM
I might leave some toilet rolls in the back in full view to see if I can get a convoy following me desperate to get their dirty hands on my goods ;) :D. Keep an eye on the news Tuesday night ;).
You might need them to bribe your way across the border Steve - in both directions!
Quote from: Leon on 22 March 2020, 04:36:31 PM
Only a little but not by too much. I'm cleaning up figures today so we shouldn't be far away.
Great news on the Japanese Leon ... there is fevered interest in a release date in Gloucestershire :D
Quote from: Westmarcher on 22 March 2020, 09:16:20 PM
Walked past a music shop today. Only two guitars per customer. ;)
This makes Steve Howe sad;
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e4/de/a3/e4dea3a4ffc22a4a255cccd6240c86d3.jpg)
Quote from: Steve J on 22 March 2020, 06:20:51 PM
...see if I can get a convoy following me desperate to get their dirty hands on my goods ...
Hmmm...
That's a very old photo of Steve Howe, Steve ;)......I wonder how many more he's got now. :)
Cheers - Phil
I tried to buy all the rap music artists, but I was only allowed a Tupac.
GET OUT - that were terrible ;)
Quote from: Steve J on 22 March 2020, 03:47:26 PM
Had a wonderful day in the garden with the sun shining and a fresh Easterly breeze.
Spent the day finishing off the back-bedroom, so that I can set up a semi-permanent WFH environment. Got distracted when putting up the curtain poles by the two young ladies a few doors down who were doing yoga in their back garden, wearing leggings & a sports bra, so it took longer than it should have . . .
Quote from: ianrs54 on 22 March 2020, 10:07:10 AM
But no-one admits to panic buying :'( :'( :'(
Accidentally panic bought pasta! Managed to get two small bags of white (and a brown) from the campus' shop because we were down to our last handful, then we managed to get a Sainsbury's delivery and a large bag of pasta... :-[
Quote from: Raider4 on 23 March 2020, 01:32:09 PM
Spent the day finishing off the back-bedroom, so that I can set up a semi-permanent WFH environment. Got distracted when putting up the curtain poles by the two young ladies a few doors down who were doing yoga in their back garden, wearing leggings & a sports bra, so it took longer than it should have . . .
Yeah, I can imagine handling a pole under those circumstances could get quite tricky in a tight environment :-\
Quote from: Raider4 on 22 March 2020, 10:49:58 AM
I'll hold my hand up here - last week I bought a 9-pack of toilet rolls instead of the normal 4-pack.
"My name is Raider4 and I am a panic buyer" /sobs.
Me too :-[
Campus shop had a limited supply so bought two four-packs :o
There are six of us at home though ;)
Why did you fondling a pole upright make their yoga take longer?!
Quote from: Raider4 on 23 March 2020, 01:32:09 PM
Spent the day finishing off the back-bedroom, so that I can set up a semi-permanent WFH environment. Got distracted when putting up the curtain poles by the two young ladies a few doors down who were doing yoga in their back garden, wearing leggings & a sports bra, so it took longer than it should have . . .
Pervert!!!
Did you take any photos? ;)
Some good advice in these times ... from a while ago. ;)
Very good
The small bore rifle practice might yet come in handy - a bloke over the back of me is starting to drive me nuts with his music blaring out as he suns himself in the garden.
And it is only day 2!
Quote from: Big Insect on 25 March 2020, 08:31:03 AM
Very good
The small bore rifle practice might yet come in handy - a bloke over the back of me is starting to drive me nuts with his music blaring out as he suns himself in the garden.
And it is only day 2!
I await next doors teenage daughter opening her window and cranking the volume up to eleven. Makes the garden unusable.
That said her parents are also home ofc and last time they came back and found her with the volume ranked up they had an even louder shouting match and it stopped, so maybe I'm getting pre-annoyed over nothing :D
Wondering if my fence panel will appear. We have a gaping hole in a fence, which would be fine if a/ the dog escaping wasn't a worry, and b/ we're (well me) am quarantined and if my wee one mixes with the other (much more pleasant) next door kids we're blowing a huge hole in that. Hard to explain to a six year old she can't see her friends, or go in the garden, or if she does they have to stand at opposite ends of the garden and can't kick a ball about/run around/do stuff together :(
On the plus side the sudden drop in air pollution has left us some lovely weather!
Noisy neighbours with amplification - ugh. SARS, AIDS, corvid-19, and the Black Death together are a piece of angel cake by comparison.
If you lived a bit (a lot) closer Nathan, I could lend you an old amp...and the speakers, to go with it... That you could probably 'pee off' an area of a square mile.
Von would almost certainly kill me, if I wound up my system to 11.....11 ?..... Nah...it would be more like 30....And there wouldn't be any distortion. ;).....Probably do some structural damage to the house, though.
Cheers - Phil (I'll just stick with the tiny system I've got sitting on the desk.....It's safer.) ;D ;D ;D
You got a licence for that system Phil ? Sounds like it should be a prohibited weapon under the firearms act !
Nice, must be handy for blasting across the road when you have to sheep wrangling Phil :D
Neighbour-daughter restrained on music. Neighbour-actual has got what sounds like a squadron of lump hammers demolishing the crap he's accumulated in the garden. So... progress?!
Sheep wrangling......BOG OFF ! they weigh more than I do...;D......I haven't got a chance of shifting them, when they drop dead, anymore.....I have to wait until the foxes, raptors and the corvids have had a good munch.....and then go and pick up what's left.....Last time, I couldn't find any remains at all, after a couple of days. :-bd (That saved a tenner.)
Lump hammers ?....Not sure that that's progress, Nathan.....But I hope it is ! ;)
Cheers - Phil :)
Sadly it wasn't really progress - my wee one had gone out to have breakfast in the sunshine and a nice play in the quiet, then next door started the demolition work and she had to come back in. They'd also kicked of a very stinky fire to dispose of the carp he was demolishing!
Can you help the carrion collectors along, Phil? Carve off a couple of legs of mutton for the freezer quick ;)
Quote from: ianrs54 on 25 March 2020, 11:57:51 AM
You got a licence for that system Phil ? Sounds like it should be a prohibited weapon under the firearms act !
Isn't repeat playing of Witney Houston singing The Bodyguard theme tune ("I Will Always Love You") classified as GBH ... sure I read that somewhere ...mutter, mutter, mutter, growl!
Quote from: toxicpixie on 25 March 2020, 01:58:30 PM
They'd also kicked of a very stinky fire to dispose of the carp he was demolishing!
Can you help the carrion collectors along, Phil? Carve off a couple of legs of mutton for the freezer quick ;)
Did he do any chips, to go with that !......I
love predictive texting. ;)
Oh, Nathan....I'd probably need your lump hammer to tenderise our sheep. X_X....They're so ancient. ;D
Odd....I'm not a vegetarian....But there's no way I could eat any of our sheep.......(Yet !)
Cheers - Phil
I have never managed to find a cook or a recipe that could render carp worth eating. Even in a country which regards it as a Christmas treat and served me some with a garlic and saffron sauce (normally an assured three Michelin star combination).
Out to Aldi for the 1st time since 1800 last Tuesday. Thanks to Sunjester for the phone calls to make sure I was ok- sorry I'm socially crap on the phone (Look, I've got an actual medical diagnosis that says I'm allowed to be).
Spent £44 in Aldi, but £26 of that was wine, beer and gin. Remembered the bread, forgot toilet rolls and coffee.
Yes.....But you got the important stuff, LH. :)
Cheers - Phil
I'd say that coffee was a vital item....got plenty, and before it hit !!
The Gin is Harrisons. Sunjester is going to be annoyed when he opens the drinks cabinet this evening...
Quote from: Last Hussar on 25 March 2020, 03:04:06 PM
Spent £44 in Aldi, but £26 of that was wine, beer and gin. Remembered the bread, forgot toilet rolls and coffee.
Nice to see that off-licences have added to the list of "essential" businesses (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52033260) . . .
Just back from Edinburgh to pick up daughter. So little traffic it was hard to believe, but lots of trucks delivering stuff that could not be called critical to the economy etc, like fence panels. Our son received his NHS letter so now he is in total lock down and by default, we are also. My wife is still at work at school so will check whether she can stay at home to minimise risk to him. Bless him he's taking it well but it is hard for him (and us).
My youngest daughter, who works for the Widows on 'essential business' had her part-time hours (3 days a week) changed to 5 evenings a week in an empty office as she couldn't work during the day as her son needs looked after as they have closed the nursery and grand parents are not allowed to help. She worked yesterday evening but has since had her works building completely closed. So much for essential work.
We've suddenly flipped to so quiet we've cleared our call queue for the first time in two and a half years.
Government knows its people...
Coronavirus: Off-licences added to list of 'essential' retailers
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52033260 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52033260)
Pretty much closed work today, furloughed the staff. Nearly all orders cancelled, supply chain fractured all around the world. Grim :'(
:(
Cheers - Phil
ASDA would only allow me to buy 3 bottles of wine per visit yesterday. Well it's only 15 minute walk, and I need the exercise.
On the plus side of hardware stores being considered essential (to be fair, if your plumbing goes or your isolating fences blow in...) is that my replacement fence panel arrived fine yesterday. And in a stunning display of quarantine breaking I had to get the neighbour to help put it up. Six foot apart at least, as that's the length of it.
And now the elder wee, partner and new wee one can actually go into the garden and not worry about being licked by neighbour kids... which is good as a mere couple of weeks of lockdown (we started early!) have driven them insane already.
I'm fine of course.
OI !!!
Why has 'Comfortably numb' been linked to the cover of 'Dark side of the moon' ?
Cheers - Outraged of Wales. ;)
I have no idea, I must admit I was confused as well, but given current circumstances it's unsurprising as I'm basically confused about everything :D
;D ;D ;D ;D
Never mind, Nathan. :)
Cheers - Phil
We're now on day two of our full on self isolation (as much as is humanly possible) due to our son being one of the 1.5 million who is at heightened risk from the virus. A few thoughts on the situation so far for us and in general:
- Trying to maintain social distancing from your nearest and dearest in a normal sized house is very tricky. We have 12 weeks of this to go based upon current guidance.
- The info in the letter we received is very clear and unambiguous, so hats off to those responsible for this.
- My wife did the weekly shop ( I normally do it but she's off work due to our situation and fancied a change ) and was surprised/shocked at the behaviour of the over 70's people in ASDA who were barging past and not maintaining social distancing. Have they not seen the news?
- Where we are on the outskirts of Bristol, it is now so tranquil that we hardly hear any traffic in the morning. Absolute bliss!
- The air seems so clean with the reduced traffic and you can really smell the difference. My daily bike ride to keep fit as advised is a pleasure, where normally I'm having to be careful of bad drivers and the pollution.
- I can hear children playing outside with their families, which you normally don't hear.
- With hardly an planes in the sky it seems clearer and certainly quieter (we are near the approach route to Bristol airport).
So there are a few upsides to what is a serious situation. I hope everyone stays safe and follows the government advice.
I've been quite enjoying watching and listening to all the birds* out the window while working.
Might have to have a game of Wingspan this weekend.
*Cue vulgar jokes.
Quote from: Steve J on 27 March 2020, 03:44:59 PMI hope everyone stays safe and follows the government advice.
And the same to you and your family, Steve. :)
Take care.
All the best - Phil.
Quote from: Steve J on 27 March 2020, 03:44:59 PM
. . . and was surprised/shocked at the behaviour of the over 70's people . . .
Sadly, I'm not surprised at this.
We've been doing the self-isolation shielding thing for 10 days now - as we expect my wife to be on the 1.5m extremely vulnerable list - not that she has had a letter yet.
We've barely been out beyond the garden in that time. I did one Tesco trip last Friday for a prescription and some bits of food. Daughter has been out a few times for exercise - which in her case is sprinting up the street for a short distance, walking back and repeating. I'm sure this amuses / confuses the neighbours. She has been able to borrow some training hurdles and has been doing drills in the garden, but there isn't enough space to do full runs - we might take then down to the football fields at the bottom of the street at the weekend.
We haven't thought about doing social distancing within the house, as we have just avoided contacted with the outside world to try to reduce the risk as much as possible.
We have an online shop due on Sunday - and will be interested to see what comes. A neighbour got us some loo roll (hurrah) and milk during the week, but before then (without any panic buying) we have been fine with the normal weekly shop levels of food in the house. The whole panic buying thing is strange - I just don't think people have any idea how much of certain things they use or need. And once you see other people getting stuff, and bare shelves, then survival instinct kicks in and you feel you must get stuff. We will see what comes on Sunday and then decide if being good and not panic buying was fine, or we will just feel stupid for not grabbing stuff when everyone else did.
QuoteWe haven't thought about doing social distancing within the house
Fred, the advice in the letter is for family to social distance in the home and if possible, sleep in seperate beds, hence my sleeping downstairs for the foreseable future. A small sacrifice but an important one.
Looking for something to cheer you up during self isolation? If you are on Facebook, search for Readers Wives (particularly 24 March 2020). ;D