Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Ok what are people doing to stop going stir crazy, during the lockdown?

I'm doing odd jobs around the house, playing catch up on my TiVo and DVD/Blu-Ray collection.

As a family my Dad, myself, sister and her family are going to do a Skype quiz night on Wednesday.


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What about putting simple food recipies, like Jamie Olivier has done.

As I need a quick and simple recipe for Pork Belly Slices.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Not really getting bored to be honest as there are plenty of interests to keep me busy.

Reading , watching some films and TV series , Video messaging quite a bit with family and friends , Gaming , etc , etc.

It will be nice when some live sport comes back though on TV whenever its safe to do so.

2 simple recipes here Hom3r for Pork Belly Slices.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pork-belly-slices

https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/...barbecue-sauce

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Heard of search engines? 161m articles for cooking pork belly on Google.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

I have been doing odd repairs and cleaning tasks in the home and garden. The missus is convalescing with a broken arm, and are twins are on the internet more than they are off it.

I have to collect prescriptions and some food about every 10 days so far. No problems with stock or queues.

Thankfully I stocked up on booze before the introduction of Minimum Unit Pricing for alcohol here in Wales. Most of what I normally drink is now at stupidly high prices. :mad::mad::mad::mad:

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Don't forget the many US sites for investing in them.:D

Me, I'm on my own so continue with what I normally do at home. I have some friends on Twitter and Admin a website (http://uncovered.name/forum/portal.php]

I also assist on the BT and EE customer forums and design my own covers and labels. Here's my latest.

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...0&d=1587930111

All in all I've enough to keep me busy.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

I find it important to have a routine, so on the 4 days a week my wife works, I get up with her at 7am, and walk the dog for an hour at 7:30am (she gives him a second walk when she gets in from work around 4pm), and on the other 3 days we lay in until 8am, then as normal - I have set myself a rotation of tasks that need done weekly/fortnightly (such as cleaning rooms on a rota, window washing, gardening), so try to do one of those a day, to vary things.

I divide the rest of my day between some time on here, and I allow myself an hour or two a day just following interesting looking links on the web, two hours a day (or more) reading (news, fiction, magazine), general tidying up and cooking, and I deliver food from the local church/parish council to retired people who can't get out their houses, and have registered with the local RAFA branch to do some more voluntary work (nothing has come from that yet), and also just (I was sent some info from a ex-military FB page I follow) enrolled with Team Rubicon, an organisation for veterans to do volunteering in their local areas.

I manage to keep occupied, but occasionally just have a lazy day and watch some films.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Sparring with Seph on here. :)

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Have you ever thought about getting your prescriptions delivered Taf?

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161m, that's why I'm asking here.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Well that's answered the questions about a sense of humour in another thread, in fact I'd probably give it 'post of the day' :D :D

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

My university studies continue .... Zoom lectures two days a week, plus other occasional meetings. Term has been informally extended two weeks because everyone has now claimed their two weeks essay deadline extension for every outstanding assignment so the lecturers decided they might as well remain available and keep doing open door Zoom sessions. So I still have much reading and writing to do.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

No real bordom here.

I am working Monday to Friday, as normal (just from home instead of the office).

I do actually go outside more atm (i.e. for a walk every day before work).

I would normally go out once a week for a meal, which obviously I cannot do atm, so more meals at home (my BBQ has been busy these last few weeks !).

Other than that, my usual entertainment of Internet & TV.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Apart from missing the pub and my favourite cafe my days are pretty much the same being as I'm retired. A regular routine is the best way to cope. However my OH has to contend with less sport as well as no pub and as a consequence our garden has never looked so good.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

I worked from home before all this and work from home now so there's no major difference there!

I have really upped my game in the cooking department though, doing lots of experiments and slow and low cooking including;

Sous vide pulled lamb
36 hour pork ribs
3 different types of chicken wings as a tasting test
Optimising my steak recipes
Slow cooked whole duck
Sous vide seared duck breast

The wife and kids are loving this!

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Life pretty much the same as usual, as apart from overseas business trips I worked from home.

I miss being able to take the motorbike out for a blast at the weekend out into the dales or down to whitby.

I have found the lockdown very very easy compared to a lot of people I would think

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Still working as normal, helping keep VM online though a bit more indirectly. I was getting out for brisk walk but have pulled something in ankle making walking more difficult.
Running a men's theology group at church - now online rather than in pub but does mean we can have people from further afield (e..g Canada) still join us.
Kids are doing school/college work and additionally learning languages.
I've picked up guitar again, but still not getting to practice enough. I will be making a set of arrows hopefully to restart later in the year and to repair son's arrows.
As with a few others it's made things more inconvenient than hugely disruptive.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

VR is good escapism.

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That service was withdrawn by all the local pharmacies, except for those who are totally bed-ridden. :(

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Ohh yeah, no international travel has been a bonus!

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I am hoping to have my meds delivered today as arranged by my doctor.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Well, depends or not if you think being asked to jump into a video conference at 10 or 11pm as a suitable replacement :D

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

I have reluctantly taken up the passive smoking of weed, i can't get away from it, the number of people smoking it around me is alarming, i'm worried that i might start wearing flared trousers and calling everyone man:devsmoke:

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

The Independent chemist based in my GP surgery doesn't normally operate a delivery service but now anyone over 70, or people with isolation conditions can now receive their meds courtesy of a band of volunteers. Seems to be working well and they are even coping with my meds which have to be delivered in a freezer box.

Our son bought us an air fryer for Christmas so I have been playing around with that. Loads of recipes on line and it appeals to the gadget geek in me.

On a healthier front our courtyard and gravel garden have never had so much attention and I am doing my bit for the horticultural industry by ordering lots of red geraniums and alpine plants.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

I'm lucky as almost all of my customers and colleagues are based in Europe. Get the occasional 7:30am start but that's it :tu:

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Working as normal here, in fact working alot of overtime only 2 days off a month.

When I am at home it's PS4 time or i watch something on the CinemaHD app and a bit of house cleaning and garden.

So no lockdown here, just visit Tesco once a week and work.

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I have some "C" coding work to do but the client's factory is closed at the moment and the staff are furloughed.

I will need the target hardware module, part of a colour information sign, to test the code on but when that's going to be able to be made who knows?

It's a new design and needs new PCB's to be made and then the surface mount components assembled including 960 miniature RGB LEDs. That all needs a number of industries to be up and running.

There's always some gardening that needs doing. Seem to have plenty of paint so maybe some decorating is in order as well.

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Fortunately my GP has renewed my viagra prescription today. Said it was important that I keep my pecker up in these troubled times.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

One has to smile at that Henk.:)

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Working from home in the week as per usual

Managed to get 2 rooms decorated here including laying new floors.

Started to make a dent in my stash of models: Finished a Jet Provost and have a Spitfire 1a and a Mosquito Night Fighter on the go

Done a bit on the family tree and got back a bit further on my Ma's side

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Are you social-distancing?

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Just finished a 91.5 hour week, it's funny how people working safely from home and in our firms case doing nothing means more work and more risk for the rest of us mugs still going in. I've seen how many other people are relieving the boredom recently though, by going out, left to these berks the lockdown will never be lifted

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

As for relieving the boredom peeps, how about volunteering for the NHS, or asking elderly neighbours if they are ok?

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I am but the smoke isn't.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

It's just extreme retirement as opposed to normal retirement for me. We miss the pub.He misses the sport as well.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

This is the longest I’ve been without going to the gym in 4 years which is driving me nuts so I bought some dumbbells and press-up bars but I’ve been worried my reduced movement will show up around my waistline so I’ve been out running twice this week. My half marathon days are well behind me and managed only a flatulent 2.5 miles twice this week but it’s certainly helped clear my mind.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

I have been knitting at night for my sister's granddaughter while watching films on Netflix as the TV has been awful. Watch videos of friends and singers from my club on the net,
Housework is always up to date. Sometimes we wake up and do not know what day it is . But we have to carry on. take care folks

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

My brother was going to the gym 4 times a week but he has been doing some calisthenic exercises each day since it was closed , he is thinking about getting some dumbells as well as his view is he thinks gyms will be the last places to open when things start to improve significantly so he needs to do something to tie him over until then.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Demolishing my home-made desk in my home Office followed (unfortunately) by some re-plastering, decoration and installing the IKEA furniture I bought 7 years ago! (I like to plan carefully ��)

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

I hope no bits are missing then, might be a bit hard to return after 7 years.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

I checked it all when it was delivered fortunately 😂

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Last night I did a family quiz over skype,it went really great and we plan to do another next thursday.

10 questions each, it lasted nearly 2 hours, we looked like we where on Gogglebox :D

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

I managed to get some hand weights and a sandbag but care because some are pushing up prices (or were). Still waiting on ankle to heal up so I can resume walking. Reduced alcohol intake - saves money and calories.

Lots of videos on line to use weights for CV but all have lots of bends which I don't do very well. Used to be able to hop around but now - ouch!.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Managed my first 5k in about 4 years this morning.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

I managed to get out of bed and do nothing!!!

That is extremely important to me seeing i get a full weekend off of not working my ass off, although the lawn mower is staring at me!

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

I retired from work just before the lockdown began. I hoped to go out and do loads of outdoor stuff but I've stuck indoors ever since. However, to my eternal surprise I find that I am actually coping well. I am working on my blog and watching loads of tv. I never got time to watch TV while I worked so I am certainly making up for lost time. However I think the key to getting through this period is to have a structure to your day

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

The entire garden fence has had two coats of wood preserver (been doing a panel a night over the past three to four weeks Still another coat to do.

The garden table and chairs have had three coats of wood preserver.

Fishpond has been emptied and refilled with all of the detritus removed.

Next job big job will be to valet both of the cars. Then my and SWMBOs motorbikes will be wheels off and cleaned within an inch of their lives.

Driveway and rear patios to be cleaned, filled and sealed (hating this job)

Considering trying to build myself a new office desk (living edge, epoxy)

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Still going in to work here providing PPE, consumables and equipment to care homes, surgeries and carers.

We got our first allocation of PPE from the PHE network last monday - 5 pallets of aprons and 1 pallet of gloves. That didn't go very far and I had to ration it.

Fortunately I have 11 pallets of gloves ( over half a million ) coming on Monday along with 3 more pallets of aprons. This will hopefully restock our regulars and enable us to serve other enquiries.

My service guys are even managing to do some service work on hoists etc. by erecting a gazebo outside the homes and working outside.

My wife is doing some part time work at Asda and it's good to have my son home from his RAF base - he's been home 5 weeks now.

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Good to hear - where is your son based?

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Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

All jobs I’ve prior been putting off doing on the evenings (where possible) & weekends

I’d normally be out on the bike but of course that’s not happening at the moment.

The living edge desk will be an interesting challenge

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Leeming - up the road from you :)

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Still writing university essays for a couple more weeks, but once that's out of the way I suspect my days will come to resemble yours ... so many domestic DIY chores that have been building up and now, fewer excuses not to do them. :D

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

If you need to call upon my expertise at finding good excuses not to do DIY i'm right here:)

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

On a nice Bank Holiday we would go to somewhere in Devon and Cornwall for the day although we do have a liking for Weymouth and Bournemouth as well.:)

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Think we are all feeling the strain of being locked up. I pass the time after the housework is up to date, by listening to country music on the FB page as some of the artists are putting their music on line that used to play around the Glasgow Area. Night time I watch any good drama that I like on T V or watch Netflix. I knit a lot so that keeps me going too. Really miss going out, like everyone else

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Loads of gardening until to-day when the weather changed.

Unfortunately I have found a new pass time to-day. Learning to whistle through the very large gap between my 2 front teeth and spending hours on the phone trying to track down a dentist who can mend/replace the half of the crown that fell off this morning.. John is finding my lisp most amusing. I may hide his dentures if he doesn't stop laughing.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Sorry to hear of your crown falling off jo as l hope you can get a appointment with a dentist as this was the advice from the British Dental association regarding dental treatments and care during Covid 19.

https://bda.org/advice/Coronavirus/Pages/patients.aspx

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Thanks for the link Den. Spent most of the afternoon trying to sort something out but as it is not classed as an emergency and is regarded as a cosmetic treatment it looks like I will have to wait until Dentist can return to normal. If I was in pain or had an infection the Dentist could give me a prescription but nothing else can be done for the foreseeable future until routine dental treatments are available.

snippet from Den's linkTo be honest I would rather the PPE be used to save lives. Just hoped that it could have been sorted with a spot of glue.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

If only we were, tonight I've been to Tottenham, Kings Cross, Swiss Cottage, Shepards Bush, Camberwell and will be going to Wapping, the amount of people out in all those places was disgusting especially the first two, was like nothing was going on and it was a normal day, we will never get out of lockdown at this rate and all the hard work and sacrifices people like you have made will be for nothing.

Wonder how amusing he'll find your new found skill for whistling after many, many hours of listening to you practice :scratch: :ninja: :spin:

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

I was furloughed for a week, i got called back in and didn't really want to go back. Best thing i did, feels more normal now.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Well, it seems like we might be coming out of lockdown later this month - fingers crossed. It will feel weird to be living a 'normal' life again.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Not for every one

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

John went into self preservation mode and turned off his hearing aids.

On again now but having just sneaked up behind him, whilst he snaffled one of my freshly baked biscuits, I tried out my much amplified two finger whistle and he now appears to have developed a nervous twitch whenever he goes near the biscuit tin. :D

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We miss so many thinks we are used too, 2020 will never be forgotten ,

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If it's back to normal, just watch the number of cases rising exponentially again.

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I'm not sure how that works considering legally you have to be furloughed for a minimum of three weeks.....

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I dont think it will be exactly "normal" for a long time yet. :erm:

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I feel that we will never be able to return to our 'old' normal.

I just hope that the world's new normal will encompass the lessons that we have all had to learn during the harrowing times we have experienced.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

I disagree. No doubt it won’t be for a while yet but we will return to normal and I for one cannot wait.

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Until we get a vaccination, I can't see people behaving in the same way as they did before the lockdown. The fact that the likes of BA recently made 12,000 people redundant suggests others concur.

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And tested , workable and approved vaccinations are not just plucked out of thin air as the average timeline can range from anything from 5 to 15 years as you have to go through many phases before it gets to be used on the public.

https://www.ifpma.org/wp-content/upl...2019_FINAL.pdf


The Ebola vaccination took about 5 years.

https://www.who.int/immunization/dis...final.pdf?ua=1

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom
 

Why? Once we have a vaccine and people have been vaccinated, the need for social distancing will disappear.

It won't be back to complete normality for a while, though, because the measures that have been in place will lead to widespread unemployment. Look at BA and Virgin Atlantic, for a start. There will be many more companies, large and small, that will go under, I'm afraid, taking a huge number of jobs with them.

That is but one reason why we need to get people back to work asap.

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I think you have misunderstood my hope for the future. Eventually this time will pass. Money will again be the driving force in the world but....

I have seem so many kind acts, so many people doing what they can, even if it is just stepping back from being with their families so that the vulnerable can be safe. Volunteers stepping forward in their thousands to work where self preservation would have many running for safety. Yes there have been many selfish acts but my hope for the future is one where people may just remember the results of those selfish acts and just pause before they commit to returning to the days before this pandemic killed so many innocent people.

A future that is different to the past.

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Tell me OB do you think a vaccine is suddenly appear overnight because the clear fact is we are just at the start of the road to to a vaccine and that road is hard and long with many bumps along that road.

Of course all of us want a vaccine but social distancing is likely to be needed in some form for for a long time to come whether one likes it or not.

---------- Post added at 16:35 ---------- Previous post was at 16:32 ----------

The chancellor had no choice pure and simple as he is one politician who has come out of this with a enhanced reputation imo.

---------- Post added at 16:36 ---------- Previous post was at 16:35 ----------

As Winston Churchill said in 1942 after El Alamein: It won’t be the end – not even the beginning of the end, but it will hopefully be the end of the beginning.

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If only it were that simple.

First of all, vaccines are never 100% effective, the flu vaccines, for example, are estimated to be around 30 to 50% effective each year.

Secondly, the media and government have successfully managed to instill complete fear of the virus.
People are now paranoid about contact with anything. That fear and paranoia is not just going to vanish overnight.

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No I don't, but eventually we will get one, and that's when things will return to normal, minus the damage that has been caused by the measures that have been taken by the government.

Joglynne said we will 'never get back to normal'. That was the basis of my comment.

As for the chancellor having no choice, I agree, given the government's decision to impose the lockdown. The government had two main choices. Either let the virus take its course, risking the collapse of the NHS, or impose a temporary lockdown and slow the virus down. What concerns me is that relaxing these measures will allow the virus to get to the people it has missed, sparking demands for a second lockdown, which this country cannot afford.

However, one thing the measures would have succeeded in doing is avoiding the huge peak that was originally feared. The number of deaths overall, however, will probably be about the same. Thus, the original objective of achieving herd immunity will have been achieved, but over a longer period.

Re: Relieving COVID-19 lockdown boredom