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Purgatory

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Time for another Coronavirus update?

How are people doing?

Where I am (Ayrshire, Scotland) I can sense a real frustration with the ongoing lockdown. People are starting to really bend the rules and spending a lot of time outdoors (especially with the hot weather we had at the weekend there). Supermarkets now seem to be only showing lip service to distancing rules, with people flouting it quite a lot.

It’s understandable. Here the virus is a lot more invisible than in the big cities. People might know someone who knows someone who had it, but generally the virus itself hasn’t surfaced quite as dramatically as it was thought it might. Hospitals are coping and there are enough beds. I think that makes it harder – the success of social distancing is invisible and hard to quantify, which doesn’t really motivate people to stay indoors and keep up the isolation.

So yes, it feels like purgatory. The figures and official reports are starting to seem routine and meaningless. We’re getting used to seeing lines go up on graphs and it is hard to equate that to reality. I think fatigue will now start to kick in with a vengeance, so who knows what will happen next?

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Comments

  1. I’m on the same page as you Arthur. I’m fortunate enough to still be in full time work, which fills the days, but it’s the lack of variety in my life which is becoming such a chore. The Groundhog Day-ness of it all. I find myself wondering if this is the sort of life which people who move to the country actually seek out.

    What I miss most of all, more than shops and pubs, more than the hugs from friends and family which seem to be the gaps in most people’s lives, are gigs and shows and holidays. Not just going to them, but looking up which ones I might want to go to and having them in the calendar. Whenever possible I have deferred tickets rather than seeking a refund, not only to help out the venues but so I have something to look forward to, however far away.

  2. We’re just rocking on really. Mrs. T is a teaching assistant so has on line lessons to do every day and goes into school when it’s her turn. I wasn’t working before so for me I am less distanced than I used to be by having two people in the house all day. We have a big enough house and garden not to be tripping over each other and I feel for those in small flats who must be going bonkers. On my daily bike ride or walk I see lots of people who don’t look at all like family groups out walking, sitting sharing a spliff or a few cans who clearly think the lockdown doesn’t apply to them. My irritating retired neighbours over the back have their grandchildren over on a regular basis which I guess is some sort of child care help but they shouldn’t be doing it.

    Twang Jr has no work to do as he would have been taking his GCSEs right now. Some prep work for 6th form is creeping through but it’s more along the lines of “you might like to read this” (i.e. x Box wins) rather than “you must do this” and his mates have disappeared into What’s App chats – I find it odd that they never actually talk to each other. I have 3 or 4 natters a week with various mates/groups of people.

    I miss not being able to stroll into town for a coffee with Mrs. T, going down the pub or nipping over to my French bolt hole which will be so full of cobwebs by the time I get to it again I might get eaten by spiders.

    I’m staying busy writing and recording music and toying with a semi finished unpublishable novel, but I was doing that anyway.

    On a more exciting note I have a 2nd interview for a permie job at 12 so I’d better get back to preparing!

  3. Greetings from your Singapore corespondent…….

    We are still in our “circuit breaker” phase here, which basically means all non essential shops / entertainment / facilities etc are shut, non essential staff are working from home, kids are on home based learning (although they have just pulled the 4 week June holiday forward to May). You can go out to buy food, go supermarket, get exercise – but it’s compulsory to wear a mask (except for doing vigorous exercise).

    I wasn’t working (at the end of my year off after taking retrenchment – it may now be early retirement!) so that part doesn’t affect me. The main impact is that wife and younger boy are now at home (elder boy still in camp during the week for his National Service). So far, we are not getting irritable and have enough to do to keep us all occupied. The positive is that we are eating more home cooked food and sleeping more (as an aside I saw a article from Fitbit that they have seen resting heart rates go down – a good thing – even though people are doing less steps and they think it’s mainly due to better sleep).

    The main thing I miss is my daily swim as the local country club pool is closed.

    I do wonder about the future though and how things will change – for instance if this two week quarantine for all visitors is implemented, how will we be able to come back to the UK for a holiday / visit relatives ?

    • Rusty O Level Geog tells me that Singapore is an island – can you not go to the sea for a dip?

      My brother in law lives on another island – Lanzarote – and they have only just (yesterday) been allowed to go to the beach. The beach in question is huge, and its entirety is visible from their patio, less than a click down the hill from their gaff. They’ve been going bonkers staring at the thing. They’ve had the armed Spanish police strutting about the place for weeks, handing out 1000 euro fines for anyone outside their own place with no adequate* reason, even including “going for a stroll to stop myself from going postal”.

      *adequate = deemed acceptable by moustachioed Manuel and his humourless buddy in their Seat patrol car. With lights and stuff. And a siren.

      • In Berlin (and most of Germany) there was also an order to generally “stay home & indoors”. But you were allowed to go out if you had “adequate reason” to do so. The very long list which defined “adequate” included (with proper German efficiency) “going to work”, “going for a stroll to relax”, “going shopping”, and “taking the dog out”.

      • Theoretically, yes I could swim in the sea but…..

        – a lot of the beaches are part of Parks which officially have been closed, so would have to seek out a remote location
        – my local pool was 5 mins away – the sea would be 30 mins away and no changing rooms, shower, lunch afterwards etc etc. Not worth the effort 😉

        The whole swimming every day is me getting fit again after years of working and having too many excuses to exercise. The man thing now is that I enjoy my daily swim – there’s a few of us regulars that put the world to rights afterwards and so it’s not a chore, and so I do it. It needs to be easy and enjoyable otherwise I will revert to my old ways (and the only thing keeping me doing anything at the moment is the incentive of maintaining my stats on the fitness tracker)

  4. I’m managing – my vulnerable status means I’m playing completely by the rules. Apart from the bins and the postbox over the road I haven’t been anywhere for weeks. My Google timeline tells me that I last got in the car and went somewhere on March 21, and that was to Dungeness nature reserve, where there were no people to speak of. I last went to a supermarket on March 9. Fascinating, eh?

    April 25 was both the twins’ 2nd birthday and my wedding anniversary. With the twins 70 miles away and Mrs thep 10,000 miles away, that hit me hard, but lots of FaceTiming got me through. Mostly I do the things detailed in Blogger Takeover, with occasional bouts of dilatory housework. I spend too much time on Twitter, Facebook etc. The days go by.

    I try not to think about when and how it’ll all end, because that way madness lies. Lockdown easing or ending will make no difference to me until something happens to convince me that I’m safer (physically or mentally) going out than staying in. When that happens I’ll be off to London and then on to a plane quick as a flash.

  5. My parents live in Ayrshire too and have said something similar – they’re not particularly enjoying it because my dad’s in the high-risk category.

    I’m in Edinburgh and it’s a bit different here. I know a few people wit the virus here; don’t know any back home. I’ve been out on furlough so I’m a bit out of the loop with everything!

  6. I’ve said this elsewhere, but we were retired anyway so this has really ‘only’ hit our social life – on decent pensions with a biggish house, nice gardens front and rear, stupidly large collections of entertainment in various formats, Sky, Netflix et al, no young kids at home, no elderly parents, lovely neighbours, living in a seaside town that has seen just 2 deaths, we are extraordinarily lucky and I can’t complain.

    Yes, I can’t play tennis, which is a drag, but as a previous correspondent says, the calendar is now meaningless and this feels like existing rather than living – I really, really miss gigs and socialising, and all the plans for this year have gone up in smoke. At 70, and this may sound morbid, but I want to fit a lot in before…well….before I can’t!

    The lockdown is definitely getting a bit approximate here too; I do wonder if the government aren’t actually too worried about this as it’s a way of gradually easing the restrictions unofficially…?

    • That pretty much sums our lives up as well (I think I live just up the coast from you in Exeter?). Daily walks are a necessity for us just for a change of scenery. We even have names for some of the walks, eg ‘Reverse Waitrose’ – a walk to, but not into, Waitrose but the reverse direction to normal. Most of our food is delivered. We went to the local independent shops the other day but it was a pretty soul-destroying experience with a lot of queueing. Most of the shops are about the size of a living room so it was one in/one out.
      Each day seems pretty much the same although we know it’s the weekend because of the papers being delivered and the pleasure of eggs for breakfast.
      People generally seem to observe the social distancing rules although the ones that don’t are either joggers or grumpy old males.
      Although they are supposed to be shut, a local garden centre has defiantly remained open from the start and resisted all moves to close them down. They are being pretty sensible about it with social distancing reminders everywhere and hand sanitisers.
      I think that, if anything, the lockdown has been observed far more than the government expected and that the long awaited ‘relaxation’ will just put us back to what they expected and wanted in the first place.

          • @NigelT I live just down the road in Torquay. I’ve got what’s euphemistically known as “llfe-limiting”. cancer so know exactly what you mean about fitting things in when I can. Irritatingly I’ve had a good run since early January and could see what was coming then. I tried gorging on gigs before the virus hit but there weren’t that many acts I wanted to see. From memory Stephen Fearing at Exeter Phoenix and some mediaeval music was all I saw of note – but manage to sit in at a gig with some old music friends during a trip up north. The last time I was out with friends socially was March 6th and as my boss ordered me to work from home I haven’t been out since then except for hospital trips.

            I’m “shielded” and live alone in a block of flats and since I was furloughed after a couple of weeks I’ve struggled to keep doing constructive activities, rather than simply passively catching up on classic films I’ve missed out on Amazon Prime or Netflix.

            So I’m taking it one day at a time to quote Lens Martel. Some days are better than others, primarily on how motivated I’ve been to practice guitar, write a bit of a song, or study online. What I fear is that the cafe, pub, small music venue and to a lesser extent the cinema, theatre will be among the last things to re-open.

            The thing I miss most, of course, is social contact with friends and family. No amount of Zoom, WhatsApp or FaceTime can compensate for that.

            • Sorry to hear all that @Tom-Coffin – I had prostate cancer 2 years and, fingers crossed, I am now cancer free, but that and hitting 70 concentrates the mind. I fear you are right, at least about cinemas and theatres pubs etc. We have fairly hilarious Zoom type sessions with the family on a Sunday evening…starts at 5pm and we have us, my sister in Essex, our daughter in Leeds and our son and girlfriend elsewhere in Exmouth getting progressively more pissed for an hour or more….fun, but not the same!

            • Being shielded must be even more tough in a beautiful part of the world like Torquay. I hope you have magnificent views!

              Remember to post the products of your songwriting here first. 😀

    • I suspect the same as you about the “unofficial easing of restrictions”. But it seems a bit skew-whiff and unfair to me. Basically the bold and the rule breakers are rewarded by being “allowed” to push the limits, and the meek and law-abiding will still be hiding indoors until being told they can come out.

  7. Was thinking we might need another thread, thanks!

    The situation in the capital of Canada is begining to change with baby steps. Ontario is set to announce a gradual easing of the lockdown and neighbouring Quebec is allowing retail businesses outside Montreal (except in malls) to open today. Think younger children are imminently back at school in Quebec. Believe this is mainly so the parents are free to go back to work.

    Ottawa has not been hit particularly hard apart from care homes. We have had a total of 91 deaths in a million people, I think all but about 14 or 16 have sadly ocurred in care homes. This percentage is reflected throughout the province.

    In some ways it has been like an extension of winter in that it is often too cold to be outside anyway, temperatures finally reached 20 degrees on the weekend and many were outside in my locality, but observing physical distancing sensibly. A demonstration against the lockdown managed to attract a grand total of about 20 people!

    Only project I have done at home is to start to sort out my music, putting vinyl/box sets in better shape and optimising my music streaming setup. I have started running again after a medical scare and need to get in better condition, as it is pretty difficult right now. I was supposed to do a 10km race this month, it has been cancelled, which is probably just as well for me.

    Personally as mentioned elsewhere, I have not had all the time that others seem to have to binge watch, read, learn new languages etc. I have had my daughter with me 6 of the 8 weeks of lockdown, necessitating more cooking, clearing up, garbage etc. Am also working full time and doing the short commute to the office on empty roads 3 or 4 times a week. There is expected ot be a gradual return of most to the office starting in about a month, but as renovation is also planned for the summer most will stay home meaning I doubt we will have anything like a full office until late this year (if then).

    Finding some things fairly difficult, missing stuff I like to do like cinema visits, gigs, watching sport on TV. My daughter is beginning to find it harder as the weather improves missing (aspects of) school, her friends and not doing things that she had planned to do. Fully expecting our July visit to UK not to go ahead, even if it were allowed and I thought it would be safe to do so an almost certain 14 day quarantine on returning is not what I want to do.

  8. Surely the direction to look when noting that ‘the rules’ are invisible is New Zealand. It’s clearly not a good place to use as a reference for the whole of the UK but it must mirror some of the more less populated areas and they’ve shown that following the rules works.

    My experience here in a more densely populated area is that most people are obeying most of the rules and it annoys me when they don’t purely because the more that don’t the longer this’ll take. I’m working from home and quite enjoying many aspects of that and, however keen I am to get back in the convivial atmosphere of the office and labs I’m sure it’ll be a wrench on the first day back….. probably best to make that a Thursday or Friday! As I’m officially a key worker, I can go into work when I need to but, apart from the odd day, I’m not expecting daily trips to need to start again before the end of September.

    I’m in the category of liking looking forward to things like gigs and holidays. I only have four gigs still booked and I wonder if I’m actually going to want to go when the time comes. The next is Flat Worms in June and each time I listen to the new album I’m torn between thinking that it’ll sound great live and wondering if I ought go (assuming it hasn’t been cancelled).

    I started the pandemic period assuming that I’m likely to get it but I’ve now decided that I really don’t want it so may avoid large gatherings for a while yet.

    As for holidays, we’ve paid the deposit on a flat for the Edinburgh Fringe and I guess we’ll need to decide if we’re still going just for a break. Not much point if half the places of interest and all the pubs and restaurants are still closed. Other than that, I’m just hoping that things will be back to some sort of normality next year, before this all kicked off we had pencilled in a US break for September but fortunately didn’t book anything so we’ll effectively have double the budget for next year!… that maybe needed just for the airfare!

  9. Official easing of the lockdown in Italy begins today. Into phase 2, “lockdown lite”. (Basically the same as UK’s “lockdown”, I think.) We can finally go out for exercise as long as we stay fairly local, and parks are open, and restaurants can sell takeaways. What I really want is a swim, a haircut and a pizza. In that order. But pools aren’t due to open till 18th and barbers not until June.

    Generally people here have handled the lockdown very responsibly, but I’m interested to see what’s going to happen once beach weather starts. The vast majority of Italians live in apartments, very often with three generations living together, and aren’t very interested in pubs or parks. So being cooped up during March and April wasn’t a big hardship for them. But come the end of May everybody and their goat will be wanting to go to the beach. The beaches here always get really packed at weekends, and this year, with schools and many businesses closed, I can’t imagine how social distancing is going to be enforced.

    One lasting effect of all this on Italians will surely be an end to all the social kissing. I can’t say I’ll miss it, but I’m sure Italians will. They tended to greet friends, family and colleagues with a kiss on both cheeks even if they saw them just the day before.

    Incidentally, I came across an interesting statistic today:
    Deaths in March 2020 vs March 2015-19
    Northern Italy + 94.9%
    Southern Italy + 2%
    Two different countries!

  10. By an (un)comfortable distance, the worst offenders at distancing are males, aged anywhere between about 20 and 65.

    I’ve a pet theory … this is exactly the gender and age group who think Beckham and Rooney were worth their 35,000 combined caps for England.
    No wonder, they know nothing about spatial awareness!

  11. Here in rural north Norfolk I’m filling my days walking around the garden with my dogs (fortunately we have a large garden), riding my bike, cooking and trying not to get on the GLW’s nerves.

    Prior to retiring in 2016 I was developments director for a group of 30 care homes, not elderly homes but filled with vulnerable people nonetheless, my heart goes out to all who are involved in that sector, friends and strangers alike. I don’t go out to make a noise for them every Thursday night, it’d be pretty pointless as our nearest neighbours are about half a mile away.

    Four miles north of us is the seaside town of Wells-next-the-Sea, the Facebook page of the town’s “forum for locals and visitors” has been a pit of spite and vitriol, photos of people who have driven there to walk on the beach, holiday home users being named-and-shamed, there was even talk of 3 or 4 of them making a rota to stand outside the local Co-op to turn away non-locals (ie people they don’t recognise), so watching that page has been fun!

      • Burnham Market is a ghost town, I think over half the properties are second homes or holiday lets, only the grocery store, wet fish shop, butchers and post office are open (all the other shops being designer clothing), only the GP surgery car park is full. It’s weird cycling through and not having to dodge the hooray-Henries who think it is a pedestrianised area specifically for them!

  12. Sharon and I are doing well. She’s missing the ability to go out backpacking, and I miss rugby, but that to one side, we’re perfectly happy with how things are for us personally.

    She’s learning German and I’m learning Spanish; the dog gets walked. We watch TV – sometimes together, sometime on headphones on the laptop. We’re both reading a lot, and I’m getting deeper into restructuring USA Rugby.

    We’re busy in as much as that we’re filling our time with activities we want to do. We’re both realizing that this bodes well for us being able to retire together.

  13. I’m quite enjoying it actually. Good weather and relentless work help I suppose. I certainly don’t miss all that time spent on trains and in pointless meetings. We’ve learned very quickly to cope without face-to-face in business and I can’t see us ever going back to where we were. I’m doing a bike ride or walk every day (okay, sometimes both, Officer) and expanding my cooking and cocktail repertoires significantly. We’ve found socialising by Zoom pretty easy, plus you can leave when you want and neither of you has to drive.

    I’ve managed to record a play in lockdown – two actors 30 miles apart in homemade sound booths, and then the sound engineer and director went though every single line of dialogue to remove the lag. It was bloody hard work but the result is pro quality. It’s not what I had planned, which was fringe festivals throughout the summer and three weeks at Edinburgh, but the actors deserve an income and it’s getting good reviews. I also wrote a series of monologues which are being recorded now.

    I guess most of us here are lucky that we have space to move around and probably green fields within walking distance. For those that don’t this must be purgatory indeed, but they’re also the ones who most need to keep safe. I think we’re a long, long way off re-opening the pubs yet.

  14. We’re a bit like Twang’s house really – we’re just rocking on really.

    It’s definitely not ideal but we’re pretty lucky. We can walk (with dog) to relatively unpopulated woods (with an abundance of bluebells and spring springing) or cycle (for exercise) to some pretty unpopulated common land trails.

    My daughter and I sanded and waxed a table this weekend which was really nice thing to do (and one we probably wouldn’t have done normally). My bread making skills are improving (unlike my cinder toffee making skills which started strongly but has dropped of late). My commute time (around 12 hours a week) is being used wisely.

    Shopping is a combination of a click and collect at Sainsbury’s and a regular trip to Costco (which is preferable because of size (warehouse aisles are good for social distancing). We are pretty good at not going out unless it is essential (I admit to going out to a small shop for soured cream when I made chilli though).

    Work is still full on but its changing from a getting everyone to be effective in the new ways to actually coming to terms with this for the long haul. I really miss my weekly walking football sessions. The kids are missing sport (but we are cycling and walking more).

    It could be so much worse. Living on my own in an apartment (which I used to do) would be much harder so I am counting blessings as much as I can.

  15. Exhausted! The psychological draining of doing all consults either on the phone or on phone vids is wearing: the novelty has worn off as there are a number of people who need seeing face to face, to touch, feel and examine but that we can’t given the risks. These are the folk on a slow simmer rather than needing ICU. A few we do see, gowned up and masked. Plus all those who have been putting off their new cancer diagnoses and worsening heart failures. And, yeah, I know loads of people who died with or of it, and a fair few who are surviving. And loads more who probably have had it. So, yes, I am more than a tad pissed off with those citizens who disbelieve, deny and disregard. If it were safe I would invite them to the undertaker next door, bodies crammed two to a shelf and tucked away in every available space, all newly air conditioned to make up for fridge space, praying against warmer weather.
    Sorry to be so shockingly frank but it is out there and real.
    Special shopping at Tesco on Sunday early is nice, tho. As was the Beerbohm selling takeaway beer on Saturday afternoon.

      • Please give the bigger and biggest respect to ICU, A/E and paramedics, to care home staff: these are the people whose dedication and devotion palls my, mostly, hands off management into pissing in the wind. A local care home has had 11 deaths attributable to and accelerated by Covid. Out of 33 beds, many of whom have been long term residents that become family to their staff. “Tell me, Dr, do you think any of our patients will survive?” Heartbreaking. One local hospital is overwhelmed and nearly everyone who goes in: with anything, comes out, if they do, with Covid. Many get sent out stat, where possible, to die a day or two later. Don’t let the ambulance take me there…….

  16. Lockdown? Schmockdown! I’m out every day delivering your mail and parcels full of stuff that you lot keep ordering. Plastic Herons, parts for an Alfa Romeo restoration, Dog toys and all the other essentials that people need and can’t survive without.

    Actually I am quite enjoying it. I don’t mind what people order if it means they don’t go out. And I’m really lucky to be out and about when so many people shouldn’t be. The streets are sometimes eerily quiet and driving around the South Downs is a pleasure at the moment. Occasionally it seems a bit too busy than it should be but mostly people seem to be behaving.

    My wife struggled a bit at first but has really taken to lockdown life. Yes, lots of virtual meetings, reports, emails but the garden has never looked better and has even started bread making.

    We are both very lucky that we are working and earning but we both realise that things probably will never be the same again.

  17. God our neighbours are annoying! If the young lady who lives there isn’t screaming (and she does, quite a bit) then they’re playing appalling music at a volume where we can clearly make out what they’re listening to. I question if anyone wants to hear Peter Andre singing one of his fabulous hits, but being played at you through the wall is fairly trifling. I also forgot how tedious UB40 could be.

    The only respite from this comes when they all trudge out of the house and head off somewhere. We’re pretty sure that they don’t all live there and the amount of traffic going to their house might raise the odd eyebrow, but we’re not about to dob them in to the local police. Firstly, I don’t believe in that sort of thing but secondly it is a lot less stressful when they do all bugger off (although they leave their yapping dog behind, the sound of ‘Princess’ is somewhat preferable to Andre). Mrs. Paws and I are tearing our hair out, as well as finding ways to explain to Mini Paws (aged 8) why the lady next door has to scream so much. I suspect that it’s probably a result of nitrous oxide, but the consumption of such a thing at 2.30 on a Wednesday afternoon must surely feel wrong to most of humanity.

    Aside from our jolly neighbours we are doing OK. We are both working from home, the little one still goes to school (so gets some company) and working over the telephone or zoom as an NHS psychotherapist has worked out OK so far. In some ways I have to keep things fairly simple and this focuses the mind/keeps me on my toes etc. I did volunteer to go back and do some nursing, but so far I have only had to do a couple of shifts (did get to give my first injection in 15 years).

    Meanwhile I have started doing a ‘couch to 5K’ which I’m enjoying so far, and the batch of homebrew we knocked together (from a Wilko own brand kit) is ready to go. @blue-boy it tastes OK, hopefully it’ll improve with age.

  18. The novelty of the video meetings has definitely worn off and I find them quite draining. Short meetings with groups of three or four are more effective I think than one very large meeting involving 30 people. Someone said the other day that they actually are more physically demanding than a personal meeting because you are in a state of high alert the entire time. A bit like being court, perhaps.

    Otherwise, lockdown life in Auckland NZ has been OK. Despite the “go hard, go early” method adopted, we are still relatively free to move within our own area and in my case, the local beach is a very pretty place and that’s about 10 minutes walk away. It’s incredible to see Spanish families with small kids literally unable to leave their apartments for weeks at a time. We have had nothing like that.

    One of my daughters was 17 yesterday. As takeaways are now allowed, she drove off for a McDonalds breakfast and all of her meals yesterday were takeaways. In the middle of the afternoon, a car appeared down our cul de sac blasting out Stevie Wonder’s Happy Birthday – it was one of her friends. The car stayed at the end of the drive for a couple of minutes while my daughter waved and whooped at her from about two metres away. They left a package and drove off. My daughter walked over to pick it up and happily took it back into the house. She was a bit emotional though.

  19. We have also done a 17th for son this week @black-celebration – all his list was procured by home delivery, birthday breakfast (pancakes or waffles), carrot cake and his favourite Lebanese for takeaway dinner, plus film choice. Social stuff is on snapchat and insta for him, so not a clue, but seems ok. Daughter is now delivering food from the foodbank operating out of the Station pub. Lots of zooms for me and partner, allotment has never looked better and rhubarb, chard coming, runner beans going in and spuds doing their thing underground. The running is going good – 100k in April. But every day does sort of feel the same, just has to remind ourselves that we have it so much luckier than an awful lot of people.

  20. We have had to organise a pre Zoom meeting before all the family meet up as one brother has tended to dominate the last four weeks meetings, which is very draining. Our niece is expecting in the next few weeks and we were unable to ask how she was coping.
    Son’s birthday today 31 he came over and we met on the grassed area down from the house at a safe distance, good to see him at least.
    Don’t know when I shall return to work as I’m not sure when weddings will be allowed.
    Done plenty of reading,gardening, allotmenting etc.

  21. I think the shine of working at home has now gone.
    Today was a really frustrating, annoying day with work. Just spent most oh the day staring at the laptop silently asking others what is going on. It all seems a bit disjointed now, and it’s not easy to pull everything together and all get going again. And Skype is not a replacement for face to face.

    When not working, life remains much the same as before, but without pubs or restaurants for the break from these 4 walls.
    Still miss the going for a walk and finishing off with a pint and a bowl of chips in a pub garden.

    I’m also noticing an increase in vehicle and people traffic. Also have a fear of swathes of the great British public interpreting a roadmap for lifting restrictions as a complete lifting of lockdown. I know most won’t act in that way, but more than a few will – that can’t help.
    Parachute analogy is my favourite at the moment:
    I’m falling, parachute has opened and the descent is slowing. Right, I don’t need this parachute anymore.

  22. Most days are spent delivering for Amazon. I’ve pretty much got the hang of it now and it’s……ok. I spend half an hour on the cross trainer every morning and watch something on Netflix or Prime while I exercise. I like to get out of the house and feel a bit twitchy on days off. My wife is gardening like crazy while the kids are, um, being teenagers.
    I’m seriously wondering if we’ll ever reopen our business. It feels as though, what with the trend for Zoom meetings, it’s drifting away. Time will tell but at some point, we’ll have to decide whether to keep paying rent on the warehouse. As a bar/restaurant owner said on the news today, if we can only do stuff with social distancing, will it be financially viable? It’s still early days and while I don’t believe these changes in attitude will be permanent, it’s going to take a long time to get any where near back to what things were like last year.

    • I’m afraid events and exhibitions may be the last thing to recover, Dave, if it does at all. I had a conference booked for June which we moved to October and then again to February, and our 800-guest dinner at the end of November’s looking dodgy too. As you say, the finances of these things don’t allow you to go ahead half full, so if some form of social distancing is still in place – which it will be for the rest of the year – we’re better off cutting our losses before the cancellation costs get too high

      • The £10k from the government will allow us to pay the warehouse rent for about 18 months and we have reserves but if we decide to continue, we’ll be a zombie company for a year or so and that’s if our client base returns. As it is, one of the main ones is considering a merger so it’s by no means certain we would retain the work. Selling the equipment isn’t really an option at the moment so we’ll just sit tight and see what happens in September. I’ve got a couple of things pencilled in but I’m all too aware that they could get moved again. One of my concerns is that furlough pay will just stop with no consideration of how individual sectors are affected and able to reopen or not.

        • Right on cue today, having barely banked the first furlough cheque, the government are saying they can’t pay furlough indefinitely and people from sectors that can’t reopen will have to do something else. I’ll refrain from any further comment until the government intentions are announced but I’m not optimistic.

  23. The wife had a C-19 scare, she works as part of an NHS Team at HM’s Prisons. Her role is a counsellor but no sessions taking place at the moment so she’s been assisting the nurses. She came home ill and was advised to self-isolate 3 weeks ago, was in bed for 9 days and is now recovered. I’m considered vulnerable (asthma and COPD) and was advised by my GP that if the wife had C-19 then I probably had it. It was hard to tell with myself because my condition hasn’t been good for almost 2 months.
    We managed to get out of the house last Wednesday and go for a ride to the local C-19 testing centre. Spent 2 hours breathing in carbon monoxide because the crowd/car management team were insisting cars go almost bumper to bumper. Results arrived 40 hours later, both negative. Good for the wife but for me not good. Why? Well if I tested positive I would know that despite my condition, I would be strong enough to fight C-19.
    So it’s no pubs or gigs for me, even if they open/start again until a vaccine is discovered.
    However the glass is half-full around here. Due to filling in gaps in my collection via Discogs I’ve been listening to lots of Doug Sahm, Horselips, Willie Nile and Arlo Guthrie and it’s been a joy. Reading lots of high quality Sci-Fi and watching good stuff on TV – Vikings, Harry Bosch and documentaries.
    The wife is now back at work and I may try that bread making lark. I must also start to get regular exercise instead of making excuses to myself. Stay safe AWers.

  24. I’m still going into work 3 days a week in a Nursing and Dementia Home. We have managed to remain free of Covid so far and today everyone, both residents and staff, were being tested. The reaction of some dementia residents to having swaps shoved up their nose was as you might expect. However, they have managed to accept all staff wandering around in masks all the time. We still smile at them to put them at their ease and then realise they can’t see our expression.

    No visitors have been allowed since mid-March and this has had a noticeable effect. Even though many residents can’t remember when they last had visitors and will swear blind that nobody has visited for years, we can see that they are less active, smiling and engaged. Resumption of visiting would bring more life; unfortunately it may well also bring the virus and that could be disastrous. (I am aware of one Home that has lost nearly 20 residents and a staff member has died in Home about 30 miles away.)

    I am not looking forward to the easing of the lockdown. I will still have to keep away from people and public spaces because I don’t want to be the one to take it into the Home. The thought of being in concert or theatre, sitting so close to strangers is almost frightening. Me getting I’ll is one thing, but passing it on to a 101 year old with a bad chest is something I don’t want to live with.

        • You have my utmost admiration and sympathy, David.

          I hope your home is prepared with good PPE and zoning procedures for when the first case is introduced. The home we are connected to, like retro’s, has suffered a dozen deaths. The first was someone discharged from hospital carrying the virus in mid-March when Care Homes were largely ignored, without PPE and without any kind of training on how to manage an outbreak.

          The sequence of events is: a person catches the virus, a week or so later they get symptoms, a week or so later they get more ill and admitted to hospital, a week or more later some die, a couple or more weeks later some can be discharged but, maybe, not to own home, then they are sent to a Care Home where they infect someone else and the sequence restarts. This time the next person isn’t admitted but stay in the Home and die there. This is, broadly speaking, why Care Home deaths lag behind hospitals’ and are still rising.

          You are wise to take extra precautions. If you stay away as soon as you develop symptoms, you can be confident you are unlikely to infect anyone you care for. My fingers and toes are crossed for you.

          • Testing arrived in the Home this week. We should get the first results tomorrow, including mine. We have had a couple of people who have been barrier nursed because of a temperature or visit to A&E after a fall. Even though no further symptoms were detected, the barrier nursing (gloves, aprons, masks, goggles) was kept up for two weeks.
            We did tried to isolate a new arrival but as they were fully mobile and have dementia they forgot that they shouldn’t wander and did. They have not brought the virus in. We might get a second new arrival tomorrow but the family is known to us and we can be sure that they have been in isolation for many weeks.
            So we carry on.

  26. Like most here Im just getting on with it. Im feeling a bit ‘institutionalised’ tbh – the first couple of weeks I found harder than I do now. Yes its rather dull and the same old dog walking route is becoming almost a chore (except that it is a lovely walk). But it has given me time to think and I’ve decided that I am finally retiring and will be handing in my notice this week. I only do 12 hrs a week now (Im 66 tomorrow – eek!) but my wife is a teacher and has also decided to chuck in the towel at the end of this academic year (the challenges of remote teaching are driving us both mad). I guess the last couple of months has been good practice for retirement. I was fearing how it would work being together all day and every day (not to mention 20yr old daughter) but its been ok.

  27. Janet is over her episode with Coronavirus and just dealing with the chest pains from the inflammation that the bastard has left behind. She had a phone-consult with our GP this morning which has put her mind at rest about a lot of stuff, so she is a lot happier. I went into self-imposed lockdown on 13th March so I’m well into the swing of it now. I’ve put some weight on – we’re drinking a bit more wine but not really eating more than we normally would, and we eat really well because Jan is a brilliant cook – so I suspect I’m going to have to push myself to get out for a walk every day, rather than the current 2 or 3 times a week.

    I had a bit of a scare with my depression a couple of weeks ago. It really crept up on me and I wasn’t as alert to it as usual, so it had a pretty good hold before I recognised it. I told Jan straight away and we dug out the exercises from my therapy, 2 years ago, and re-did them. After a couple of days, it began to recede and I’m much better now, but wary of any fleeting symptom returning.

    Our 20th wedding anniversary is coming up, at the end of May, and we will wish we were in Kerry, Ireland, looking out over “our lake” at the mountains, and settling down to dinner in our honeymoon hotel, with Frank Slattery’s amazing wine cellar, and a bottle of his 2012 St Emilion Grand Cru for 49 euros, and the bottle of champagne he will leave in our room, and Tricia’s delicious food and a huge gin & tonic with Frank’s wife, Mary, catching up on all the Killorglin gossip. We go back every year so it will be tough celebrating at home. But Janet will cook an amazing meal and I still have the bottle of Grand Cru that Frank put in my suitcase last year so, it’s not all bad.

    Good luck everyone,

    Niall x

    • @niallb I’m very glad to hear that you are steering a decent path through all of this chaos!
      We have been gorging on DVD boxed sets, and are currently a long way (series 4) through the run of fun that is the Lovejoy set. Last night’s episode saw the team having adventures in Wickford, and we looked at each other and said “We’ll be back over there the first chance we get”. We had to cancel last year’s Irish jaunt for health reasons, so were looking forward to a blarney boost in Connemara* this year. Sadly it now looks like it will have to be next year, but it gives us something to look forward to!

      Best wishes to you both.

      *that little icon pic of me was taken in the bar at the splendid Connemara golf club.

      • Excellent! Yes, we can’t wait to get back to the mountains and lakes (“pining for the fjords” I think,) the seafood and the Guinness.
        Hope all is well with you, my friend.

  28. All fine here in the wilds of South Cambs, apart from my guts seem to have developed their latest intolerance to… baked potato. So yet more white bleedin’ rice.

    The two teens in our house tore strips off each other over dinner the night before last. Mrs F and I retreated to safety. I loaded the dishwasher just before bedtime.

    I have my four-monthly blood test booked for tomorrow morning. I am considering going in black tie, just because it is so long since I dressed in anything posher than a work-branded polo shirt. It is getting on for three weeks since I wore any shoes.

    My employer is preparing for how they can reopen the office. In the cases of me and my team colleague (a type-II diabetic with a partner undergoing chemo) it looks like we’ll be WFH for a few more months yet.

  29. We’re OK. The good weather is helping, and instead of the usual hurried Coop meal deal, it’s nice to spend my lunch break in the garden with Mrs BB and one of our daughters who is back with us and also working from home. Exercise is the odd run, or cycle, and walking the dog, and some online mobility classes a local physio has started doing for 50+ blokes who all think we still have the bodies of our 30 year old selves, but really don’t.

    Work is still full on, but has settled down a bit. But I’m really missing the contact and the buzz of the workplace, and the fact that we can’t do anything at the moment – we’re just waiting for lockdown to end for us, and unfortunately we’ll be right at the end. We’re holding up OK but I really don’t know what state the company will be in by the end of the year.

    For pretty much the first time in my life I’m working Monday to Friday 9 to 5 (more or less) which would be brilliant if we could go out to pubs, restaurants, theatres, cinemas, gigs – you know, all that.

  30. Self isolating in a village in South Somerset, caring for my elderly mother who is very high risk, so a fortnightly shop down the local town with all the necessary precautions eg FFP3 maske etc. Other than that, doing a lot of work on the house decorating wise as selling/moving is not going to happen this year/soon. Reading lots, new sounds, cleared overdraft, guitar hunting online, greying hair growing, japa meditating, taoist exercises, counting my blessings…. This is one heck of situation that really should bring us all to focusing on what’s between us. Love and Light all.

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