[Anonymouse]

Does anyone else here feel we've reached the stage where you can't help but think "Stop the world, I wanna get off"? I know I have. I reached it this morning.

To explain:

I happen to be a Key Worker; I even have a letter to that effect in case I'm stopped en route to work by the police (and yes, this is happening; at least two of our lads I know of have been stopped). This is because I work for a very large online electrical retailer, and someone has to load the delivery vans. That's us.

We receive trailers from Crewe stuffed with fridge freezers, washers, cookers and the like; we then truck these off each trailer as it arrives, sort out which item is going on which van, and load them accordingly. We don't have any stock on hand; we're what's known as an outbase, in Heywood. There are similar outbases in Spennymoor, Yaxley, Croydon and a few others - nine in total, I think.

All well and good so far, but here's where sense takes a left turn: last night we were shown a notice from Rochdale Borough Council, requiring our workplace to practice social distancing at work. Among other things, this means that only one person can be on a trailer at one time...so every time someone goes on there, the other two or three unloaders (tippers, we call 'em) have to wait until he's off, instead of at least two taking an item simultaneously. This is adding upwards of half an hour to the job of tipping each trailer.

I recall reading somewhere that the virus doesn't do well outdoors...and we practically are, because the loading bays are usually always open to the external yard and there is no internal heating. In fact it often feels colder in the warehouse than it does outside. So I'm not sure we're really that much at risk, to be honest. I may be wrong, I'm no expert, but that's the way it seems to me.

However, this possibly unnecessary measure wasn't what made me think the world's slipped a gear. That came when I caught the bus (now an hourly service, aaarrggghhh!!!) - and several of the seats were taped off, so you couldn't use them. In effect, the buses can't carry more than maybe a quarter of capacity, even though they're virtually empty anyway when I travel (late at night to work, and early in the morning from work).

So yeah, stop the world, I wanna get off!