Coronavirus

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by jonbxx

We had our team 2020 close out call today and, as it is 'the season to be jolly', we had to reflect on the non-work positives personally of the pandemic.

Here are mine;

• We spent a lot more time in the garden early summer as there was nowhere else to go
• Getting to know our neighbours
• Exercising more (thanks Joe Wicks)
• I really upped my cooking game this year. Even now I am curing some salt beef and getting ready to sous vide some duck breasts in chinese spices
• Cheap steaks in the supermarket due to restaurants being closed
• Really concentrating on supporting small businesses when they were open (we are now good friends with our local microbrewery)
• Wearing masks on a cold day is great!
• Saving a hell of a lot of money from not going out

What are your upsides?

Our household is lucky as we could work from home (never been busier to be honest) and the kids could go to school when they wanted as were are officially 'essential'. We are a lot better off than many to be honest

I'm sure you didn't mean it in a gloating way, but that's rather like saying the family next door perished in a house fire, but on the upside we were able to turn the heating off to save money and we were as warm as toast!!!

---------- Post added at 02:25 ---------- Previous post was at 02:22 ----------

Originally Posted by papa smurf

My son is isolating because his partner tested positive neither of them have left the house since, they had the shopping delivered and no one was allowed into or out of the house, earlier they ordered a takeaway and told the delivery chap to put it in the front garden, every thing was fine until 10 min later when there was a knock on the door, it was the police, someone had reported a covid breach, they asked is there a Garry here my son replied we don't know a Garry, the police said he just walked in here with some bags, my son replied we just had a takeaway delivered this is a bit malicious isn't it, the police just turned around and left.

And this is the country we now live in one where nosey curtain twitcher's report you for eating fish and chips.

In my experience it's rare for the police to acknowledge, let alone apologise, for any mistakes they make. Despite this arrogant rudeness, they go on to expect the public to help them with future incidents.

---------- Post added at 02:34 ---------- Previous post was at 02:25 ----------

On breakfast TV a doctor explained that having the vaccine doesn't stop you from catching the coronavirus, but if you do, it should mean that you don't get any serious symptoms from it. It might also mean that a vaccinated person can still pass it on, so it's still important to wear masks, socially distance, ventilate in open spaces and adhere to regular hand washing.

They need to make this clear to people as they are vaccinated so that infections aren't transmitted because people believe that the vaccine itself made them become invincible.

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

I'm sure you didn't mean it in a gloating way, but that's rather like saying the family next door perished in a house fire, but on the upside we were able to turn the heating off to save money and we were as warm as toast!!!

---------- Post added at 02:25 ---------- Previous post was at 02:22 ----------



In my experience it's rare for the police to acknowledge, let alone apologise, for any mistakes they make. Despite this arrogant rudeness, they go on to expect the public to help them with future incidents.

---------- Post added at 02:34 ---------- Previous post was at 02:25 ----------

On breakfast TV a doctor explained that having the vaccine doesn't stop you from catching the coronavirus, but if you do, it should mean that you don't get any serious symptoms from it. It might also mean that a vaccinated person can still pass it on, so it's still important to wear masks, socially distance, ventilate in open spaces and adhere to regular hand washing.

They need to make this clear to people as they are vaccinated so that infections aren't transmitted because people believe that the vaccine itself made them become invincible.

Richard, only you could have read it that way.

Congratulations, once more you have lived up (down) to your first name contraction...

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Richard, only you could have read it that way.

Congratulations, once more you have lived up (down) to your first name contraction...

I'd like you to read this:

https://www.headway.org.uk/about-bra...itive-effects/

If I have read it in a different way to non disabled people, this is likely to be the cause.

I really hope you start to at least try and be more understanding of those with neuro diverse conditions. As an example, things like dementia are expected to sky rocket over the next few years and all of us are at risk. If any of your loved ones are affected please, please don't react with rude belittlement as it will be the last thing they will need whilst confused, frightened and looking to you for support.

For the record, I don't think the post was done with any malice, but was trying to look on the bright side of things, but I do think it was unintentionally insensitive to those who have suffered because of this virus, up to and including permanent disablement and death.

---------- Post added at 08:58 ---------- Previous post was at 08:54 ----------

This morning's news has said that there is yet another strain of this virus from South Africa:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/c...entified-in-uk

I had high hopes that the vaccine could give us all some hope that we could get back to normality, but it now looks like it's playing cat & mouse with us.

[jonbxx]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

For the record, I don't think the post was done with any malice, but was trying to look on the bright side of things, but I do think it was unintentionally insensitive to those who have suffered because of this virus, up to and including permanent disablement and death.

It certainly wasn’t meant with any malice and I am sorry if it came across that way. 2020 has been a rubbish year in our household on the whole not just with COVID but other things including the death of a close relative and my kid being sick in hospital. However, over the course of a whole year, there will always be upsides.

On the call were colleagues in Belgium, France and. Germany, some of who had much more stringent lockdowns than me in the UK and struggled a lot with those. We had weekly support calls and ad hoc calls at other times. We were all very, very busy with work with little outside to compensate for this due to lockdowns.

I guess it depends on the individual outlook on how you would summarise the year. On the whole, it was rubbish for me and I wouldn’t want to repeat it but there will always be good things over the many days. It’s not black and white.

[jfman]

Who would have thought giving the virus more opportunities to mutate was a bad idea?

Another further nail in the coffin for the achieving herd immunity through widespread transmission brigade. I suppose we are long past nailing the coffin and now lowering it into the pits of the earth.

Originally Posted by jfman

Play with nature like this and you play with fire.
Is that the immunity a mere few posts ago you were unconvinced by?

I think you should take the next lockdown as an opportunity to take a few weeks away from the thread and think about what valid contributions you actually want to make to it. Thus far it's just been contradiction after contradiction.

The only consistent point you've made throughout it is that you care more about reopening the economy than you do public health. Your hypothetical decision to let the virus rip throughout the world at the cost of millions of lives, tens of millions of people developing debilitating contditions - it'd have to be the world or else we'd simply re-import these hypothetical mutated strains - is to give the virus billions of opportunities to mutate. Another contradiction.

The sum total of human existence to date has been to try and fight against nature. Take your "play with fire" rhetoric elsewhere

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

For the record, I don't think the post was done with any malice, but was trying to look on the bright side of things, but I do think it was unintentionally insensitive to those who have suffered because of this virus, up to and including permanent disablement and death.

Anger is an aspect of grief. Grief may be at the loss of freedom caused by disablement, and not just at the death of a loved one. And it may manifest itself as anger at the world for going on as normal while the one grieving is in pain. How can they carry on as if nothing has happened? How insensitive are they? I’ve experienced this, as I’m sure many here have, both in the death of a loved one and also in dealing with major, life-changing tragedy. The world can seem an especially cold place when grief is raw.

I don’t intend this as criticism, but rather as advice for your own mental well-being: please stop looking for examples of insensitivity. The whole world is insensitive by the measure you’re using, and it is unfair of you to expect others not to attend to their own mental well-being by focusing on the positive aspects of their lives. Their positive decision to be thankful for good things is not a slight against those who have suffered. It doesn’t imply indifference and it should not be taken that way.

At its best, this is a forum for mutual help and support as well as a place where we have our rough edges smoothed off by having our ideas and prejudices challenged. I’m convinced Jon’s post was absolutely in that spirit and I commend his suggestion as something we should all have a go at over the next few days. I certainly will do.

[jfman]

I'm also 100% convinced Jon's post is well spirited and as someone working from home throughout the pandemic can equally relate to teams trying to find out what to talk about in these end of year meetings in lieu of Christmas lunches. An obvious part is to focus on what went well, than what went badly. I can also relate to much of his post.

There are obviously things that haven't went well - many people are clearly isolated, struggling with childcare, perhaps even struggling spending time with their families as there's little/no escape or balance to their lives any more. They work and live in the same space, with no commute to clearly delineate personal life from work life. However to sit and mull these over at what is a challenging time of year for many, as we go into ever greater restrictions, adds to value.

I lost weight in lockdown 1 but put it all back on in the brief spell the pubs were open.

[mrmistoffelees]

Originally Posted by jonbxx

We had our team 2020 close out call today and, as it is 'the season to be jolly', we had to reflect on the non-work positives personally of the pandemic.

Here are mine;

• We spent a lot more time in the garden early summer as there was nowhere else to go
• Getting to know our neighbours
• Exercising more (thanks Joe Wicks)
• I really upped my cooking game this year. Even now I am curing some salt beef and getting ready to sous vide some duck breasts in chinese spices
• Cheap steaks in the supermarket due to restaurants being closed
• Really concentrating on supporting small businesses when they were open (we are now good friends with our local microbrewery)
• Wearing masks on a cold day is great!
• Saving a hell of a lot of money from not going out

What are your upsides?

Our household is lucky as we could work from home (never been busier to be honest) and the kids could go to school when they wanted as were are officially 'essential'. We are a lot better off than many to be honest

Spent more on toilet roll though......

Very lucky here too, I’d worked from home the previous 12 months before this all started so no real change, if anything my workload increased. SWMBO was furloughed from late March till early September so she had a lovely time.

Only thing that’s really changed is my overseas business travel has stopped. Which is a shame as I love spending time with colleagues in the US and Far East

[denphone]

Personally l think Jon's post was a good and interesting read.

[jonbxx]

Originally Posted by mrmistoffelees

Only thing that’s really changed is my overseas business travel has stopped. Which is a shame as I love spending time with colleagues in the US and Far East

It’s got to the point now where I do want to travel again! I was getting a bit sick of travelling to various airports and industrial estates across Europe and beyond but I think I am ready to restart this now after a year or so off..

Thanks everyone for the support of my post BTW!

[Hom3r]

Originally Posted by jonbxx

It’s got to the point now where I do want to travel again! I was getting a bit sick of travelling to various airports and industrial estates across Europe and beyond, but I think I am ready to restart this now after a year or so off.

Thanks everyone for the support of my post BTW!

Sadly Travel will be buggered for at least two years if not longer.


Also, I expect unless you've had a coronavirus vaccine and any boosters you ain't going anywhere outside your country.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Hom3r

Sadly Travel will be buggered for at least two years if not longer.


Also, I expect unless you've had a coronavirus vaccine and any boosters you ain't going anywhere outside your country.

My retired parents always went on a foreign cruise generally once a year with 2 of my younger brothers but l think its going to be fair while before they ever do another if ever.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by denphone

Personally l think Jon's post was a good and interesting read.

A cracking read!

[jonbxx]

Originally Posted by Hom3r

Sadly Travel will be buggered for at least two years if not longer.


Also, I expect unless you've had a coronavirus vaccine and any boosters you ain't going anywhere outside your country.

Yep, I think you're right I'm afraid

I hope there will be some kind of agreed 'vaccine passport' for those who want/need it along the lines of the Yellow Fever Yellow Card

[Sephiroth]

A Stempel in my nice new blue passport would do.