Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Went out like a light last night and slept through until eight, this morning the sore foot was not sore but the itching under the dressing is driving me mad. Can't complain though as it's preferable to the soreness. Now off to run a bath.

[Barry O]

Loads of cricket being watched.

 

Baz now a happier bunny. Mugsadecaff helping too.

 

@BoD yes they shut where her indoors used to volunteer but she has been well received at another shop for that charity.

 

Bas

[jonny777]

Dull, wet and windy here in North Somerset; but very mild out. 

 

Yesterday I managed to saw a couple of old dry tree branches for logs over the festive period. As usual, I started with best of intentions and used my trusty sharp handsaw, but after a short while the shoulder began to object and strange muscles on the opposite side of my back began to 'twinge' so I resorted to the electric saw. 

 

I found this to be much faster than my physical efforts and now have about 20 logs and no broken saw blades. I was so elated that I threw caution to the winds and shuffled off to the corner shop to pay my paper bill.

 

More present wrapping followed and our daughter is due to pick them up today. A walk was planned but given the state of play outside, that may be postponed until better weather arrives. 

 

Hooray, we have been put down into Tier 2. It doesn't make too much difference except that restaurants can open, and alcohol can be consumed with a scotch egg (eaten as slowly as possible to allow more drinks to be consumed), and we can meet in private gardens when the weather cheers up. But it helps to know our efforts to keep infection rates down are being noticed on high. 

 

On the subject of intolerances, I have one with dairy - cheese and cream being the main culprits. I could go into graphic detail of how the intolerance manifests itself, but many of you might be eating and would not wish to read it. My daughter who was diagnosed coeliac many years ago, has a similar reaction to gluten. I do understand that there are a significant number of people who like to invent intolerances as a lifestyle choice, but I hope that they don't ruin the subject for those of us with a real problem.  

 

Stay safe everyone. 

Edited December 18, 2020 by jonny777

[tigerburnie]

Morning all, dry but dull and very cloudy, so more precipitation may well occur, deliveries expected today, beginning with the coal man, so won't be straying far today, take care all.

[roundhouse]

Morning

 

We enter tier 3 tomorrow.

 

last night we went out. The landlady at our new 'local' (as the Harveys pub hasn't reopened since lockdown2) said that her telephone line went down on Monday so she had delayed ordering more barrels and now glad that she did so. We are back there today as she is opening a new barrel of a BrewYork festive beer. Spoons still has old peculiar on so that meal number 1 then meal 2 in the aforementioned pub before heading for evening meal at the brewery in Reigate. We may have a final meal out back at the local to help finish off the BrewYork barrel as we have her mobile number to check if there is room at the inn.

 

Boxing day xmas meal with MIL cancelled as she is now panicking with us being in tier 3. Mum is still happy for us to do xmas day with her. Govt says yes we can meet up then says maybe we shouldnt. I see huge food wastage where people have already stocked up. What a mess.

 

Xmas evening pub visit now off and also cancelled our trip away after xmas, luckily nothing paid out. My other half has cancelled her leave so we can hopefully take some time before end of Feb.

 

Yesterday I had chest pains for first time since packing up work in 2018 as its really getting  me down. However we are far better off than many families who have lost loved ones, jobs, been in a higher lockdown for longer etc. The beer last night did help.

 

Roll on Summer 2021.

 

More beer ordered from Dartmoor brewery as our supplies hadn't been restocked recently.

Edited December 18, 2020 by roundhouse

[BSW01]

Goodnight Good morning everyone 

 

Another dull and wet start to the day, although thankfully it isn’t raining at the moment. Once Sheila has finished her breakfast my first task is to clean the washing machine, that should earn me a few more brownie points. I also need to go and retrieve the recycling bin from wherever the bin have decide to leave it. After that the day is mine to do as I want, so I’ll head downstairs and continue making the delay start circuit boards I began last week.

 

As for families, I have a brother in Canada, who I speak to every month, a half sister also in Canada who I regularly email throughout the year. 5 cousins also in Canada and 1 in America who I never hear from, a cousin who lives in Malvern with her husband, we email and speak regularly and another cousin who lives locally I occasionally bump into when I’m out shopping. I also have a brother and 2 sisters who live within 2 miles from me who I never see or hear from, but that is another story. 

 

Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. 

 

Brian 

Edited December 18, 2020 by BSW01

[PeterBB]

13 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

... nearly forgot that it’s Christmas Day a week tomorrow ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/12/17/sounds-of-the-season-19/

There is also another party leader telling us one thing and his MPs telling him another ... the conclusion?  It would have been the same whatever 'party' had the misfortune to be in place with the Covid pandemic and, it seems, to be the same with other countries as well with one possible exception and their finances are not that good either.  

Its also likely that whatever is stated, apart from one party state countries, that the main complainers will be those who will still do 'what they want' - politicians of whatever hue just cannot win.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

It is rather overcast and breezy here. No idea of temperature I have not been outside. Aditi seems convinced it will rain later. 
We are not going anywhere except for perhaps a walk round some of the nearby roads. It is only busy here at school drop off and collect time. That doesn’t seem as busy as usual either. I think today is the last day of term for local schools. Secondary schools will have a staggered return after the New Year. 
Looking at local Covid rates,I suspect that ours are not quite as high as some nearby areas as Benfleet doesn’t really have a significant shopping centre. People are not likely to the local shops. Benfleet is one of those places where people live but shop and work elsewhere.  
Relatives. We do talk to Aditi’s Mum twice a day. My brother mainly converses by text or other messaging services. Aditi’s brother is  the most likely to ring us for a chat, often while he is waiting to collect the children from school. He was the first person in the family to get a Covid vaccine yesterday. 
Tony
 

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

While drinking my mugatea I read a BBC report about Covid in Switzerland. Looks like the Cantons have taken Dithering to almost as high a level as the UK.....

Indeed. I suppose even the most disciplined and well educated people will eventually succumb to "CoVID Fatigue" and the Swiss are no exception.

 

To be brutally frank: the problem is that CoVID 19 is really not lethal enough to create even a medium term reset of most people's mindsets. Let face it a huge number of the fatalities were in elderly (70+) people and in too many countries the elderly are shunted off and are "out of sight, out of mind"; other vulnerable groups include the morbidly obese, uncontrolled hypertensives and similar individuals and they are essentially invisible. Furthermore, to make things even more complicated, it is estimated that 80% of CoVID-19 infections are asymptomatic. And again, if it's not visible then no-one cares.

 

I reckon the only things that would make most people sit up and take notice (apart from a real Zombie Apocalypse*) would be if something really, really nasty - like Ebola - became airborne transmissable.

 

I, for one, can't wait for Q1 2021 - when I should be in line for the CoVID19 Vaccine. After that, the selfish, mouth-breathing, cockwombles can do what they like (and maybe between their inconsiderate and asocial behaviour and the anti-vaxxers refusing the vaccine [more for us] there will be a decrease in the "stupid" subpopulation around theb world.....)

 

iD

 

*p.s. The world is now so screwed up, that in the event of a zombie apocalypse, it wouldn't be long before there would be zombie rights activists

Edited December 18, 2020 by iL Dottore

[PhilJ W]

Back again. I've replaced the dressings on my sore foot. Well its not so sore now but still a bit itchy but not as bad as it was. A visit to Tess Coes is in order shortly as I'm out of almost everything. Also I'll be checking the sell by dates on things needed for Christmas dinner, the more perishable stuff such as fruit and veg. Such items tend to disappear a few days before the festivities so it serves to get in asap. There has been mention here about contact with relatives. When I was a nipper there were plenty of relatives around, mostly from my mothers side of the family. Not surprising when my mothers mother was one of fourteen children (same dad, two different mothers). The house always seemed to be full of cousins especially during the school holidays. I have had occasional contact with some of those cousins through social media and my family research. Nowadays though its down to my brother and sister and my niece and nephew. I'm used to spending Christmas on my own, to be quite honest I prefer it. Its great to be able to eat what you like, drink what you like or watch what you like on TV or not as the case maybe. I will probably spend some time in front of the computer screen but generally the internet is something to avoid on Christmas day.

[PhilJ W]

34 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Indeed. I suppose even the most disciplined and well educated people will eventually succumb to "Covid Fatigue" and the Swiss are no exception.

 

To be brutally frank: the problem is that Covid 19 is really not lethal enough to create even a medium term reset of most people's mindsets. Let face it a huge number of the fatalities were in elderly (70+) people and in too many countries the elderly are shunted off and are "out of sight, out of mind"; other vulnerable groups include the morbidly obese, uncontrolled hypertensives and similar individuals and they are essentially invisible. Furthermore, to make things even more complicated, it is estimated that 80% of CoVID-19 infections are asymptomatic. And again, if it's not visible then no-one cares.

iD

 

*p.s. The world is now so screwed up, that in the event of a zombie apocalypse, it wouldn't be long before there would be zombie rights activists

As Peter BB said its difficult for the politicians to get a handle on this. Its not only one party states that have largely overcome the Covid19 but single democratic states such as New Zealand and nearer home Fraggle Rock are virtually free from the disease. The reason why is not hard to see, a single government for the whole territory whereas in the UK we have the devolved parliaments all doing their own thing. A prime example is the USA with fifty different states doing their own thing compounded by a leader who was dismissive of the whole thing but paid the price with his presidency. What is needed is a single cohesive policy for areas such as the UK but I can't see that happening any time soon. 

 

35 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

 

 

I reckon the only things that would make most people sit up and take notice (apart from a real Zombie Apocalypse*) would be if something really, really nasty - like Ebola - became airborne transmissable.

 

I, for one, can't wait for Q1 2021 - when I should be in line for the CoVID19 Vaccine. After that, the selfish, mouth-breathing, cockwombles can do what they like (and maybe between their inconsiderate and asocial behaviour and the anti-vaxxers refusing the vaccine [more for us] there will be a decrease in the "stupid" subpopulation around the world.....)

 

iD

 

*p.s. The world is now so screwed up, that in the event of a zombie apocalypse, it wouldn't be long before there would be zombie rights activists

Unfortunately they breed, probably at a faster rate than Covid, or even Ebola can get rid of them.

[TheQ]

The company seems to have spent more money on the Christmas boxes this year, it's a stack of 6 foil coloured boxes in different colours + plus a bottle of wine. Investigations will happen tonight once home..

 

Has anyone got any spare submarines.. I think according to the weather radar south Wales needs them..

 

[TheQ]

9 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

As Peter BB said its difficult for the politicians to get a handle on this. Its not only one party states that have largely overcome the Covid19 but single democratic states such as New Zealand and nearer home Fraggle Rock are virtually free from the disease..

It's nothing to do with that , it's everything to do with traffic, New Zealands population is less than 5 million, Heathrow on it's own has nearly 7 million travel through it each month (pre covid) then add all the other international airports in the UK  and there is a massive through put of people travelling in aluminum recycled air virus spreading tubes. 

 It was well into the population long before anyone knew what was happening.

 

NZ and AUS plus Fraggle rock for that matter are Destinations, no throughput of people just visitors (and not that many), stop the visitors.. easy no covid or very little...

 

The big hot spots in the USA (initially) were New York and other international airport cities on the west coast.. 

[Simon G]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

 

I, for one, can't wait for Q1 2021 - when I should be in line for the CoVID19 Vaccine. After that, the selfish, mouth-breathing, cockwombles can do what they like (and maybe between their inconsiderate and asocial behaviour and the anti-vaxxers refusing the vaccine [more for us] there will be a decrease in the "stupid" subpopulation around theb world.....)

 

iD

 

 

I entirely agree.  It has angered me all year when I have taken every reasonable precaution to protect myself (as I am still classed as extremely vulnerable), and I hear and see others who are either too stupid or too selfish doing things which will clearly help spread Covid.  Now it just seems that a significant number of people have lockdown fatigue, and so carry on as they normally would.

 

Weather here today is carp - wet and windy with more of the same forecast for the next couple of days.  The morning has been spent on track realignment on the layout, along with design of the platforms to be constructed next.

[Barry O]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Indeed. I suppose even the most disciplined and well educated people will eventually succumb to "CoVID Fatigue" and the Swiss are no exception.

 

To be brutally frank: the problem is that CoVID 19 is really not lethal enough to create even a medium term reset of most people's mindsets. Let face it a huge number of the fatalities were in elderly (70+) people and in too many countries the elderly are shunted off and are "out of sight, out of mind"; other vulnerable groups include the morbidly obese, uncontrolled hypertensives and similar individuals and they are essentially invisible. Furthermore, to make things even more complicated, it is estimated that 80% of CoVID-19 infections are asymptomatic. And again, if it's not visible then no-one cares.

 

I reckon the only things that would make most people sit up and take notice (apart from a real Zombie Apocalypse*) would be if something really, really nasty - like Ebola - became airborne transmissable.

 

I, for one, can't wait for Q1 2021 - when I should be in line for the CoVID19 Vaccine. After that, the selfish, mouth-breathing, cockwombles can do what they like (and maybe between their inconsiderate and asocial behaviour and the anti-vaxxers refusing the vaccine [more for us] there will be a decrease in the "stupid" subpopulation around theb world.....)

 

iD

 

*p.s. The world is now so screwed up, that in the event of a zombie apocalypse, it wouldn't be long before there would be zombie rights activists

 You mean that fortress Switzerland is ... vulnerable... wow!  God help you if they have panicked already.. as deaths rise (and it does actually affect all ages  then Switzerland may go into complete melt down.  It is lethal enough to have killed a lot of people across the globe  if you mean that the public are not convinced it is lethal.. I would agree but we see a lot of deaths above our 5 year averages.

 

Baz

 

 

[iL Dottore]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

 You mean that fortress Switzerland is ... vulnerable... wow!  God help you if they have panicked already.. as deaths rise (and it does actually affect all ages  then Switzerland may go into complete melt down.  It is lethal enough to have killed a lot of people across the globe  if you mean that the public are not convinced it is lethal.. I would agree but we see a lot of deaths above our 5 year averages.

 

Baz

 

 

Of course Switzerland is vulnerable (we are - believe it or not - only human) and some kantons are better than others in local management (Suisse Romandie I don't think is a particularly shining example of good CoVID management). Whilst I am more than well aware (being in the biz) of the lethality and distribution across the ages of CoVID-19, the fact remains that the majority of people who become infected will have no or minimal symptoms (that they are a [biological] menace to others is another matter). And in the absence of a really noticeable tranche of society popping their clogs rapidly (a sudden decimation of the 18-30 age group would make people sit up and take notice - they are the most noisily visible), most people think they can safely ignore the situation (out of sight, out of mind, as I have posted).

 

The excess mortality above the 5 year average should be taken with a (large) pinch of salt. It is well documented that many hospitals and clinics have shut down all services bar CoVID treatment (sometimes justified, more often not) and people who would have otherwise had effective treatment for lethal-if-left-untreated conditions have not been treated and are thus dying and contributing to the excess mortality numbers.

Edited December 18, 2020 by iL Dottore
Spelling

[Coombe Barton]

The latest R number - whatever they decide to do it'll be akin to horse and stable door.

[Andrew P]

4 hours ago, PeterBB said:

There is also another party leader telling us one thing and his MPs telling him another ... the conclusion?  It would have been the same whatever 'party' had the misfortune to be in place with the Covid pandemic and, it seems, to be the same with other countries as well with one possible exception and their finances are not that good either.  

Its also likely that whatever is stated, apart from one party state countries, that the main complainers will be those who will still do 'what they want' - politicians of whatever hue just cannot win.

Well said young Man.

[simontaylor484]

Good afternoon all 

 

There are some comments above from Baz,flavio , John(cb) and Peter that deserve more agree ticks than this forum will allow me to give you 

[simontaylor484]

I may have missed some other posters with very pertinent comments.

 

Just thinking of the zombie rights

 

We would have zombie lives matter 

Linekar would have a couple in his house 

The Bbc would employ a load to meet diversity targets.

We could have the Undead discrimination act.

 

Back to normality 

By this time next week it will all be over

[BoD]

1 minute ago, simontaylor484 said:

We would have zombie lives matter 

 

You wouldn't have to take the knee .....

you could take a whole leg.

[tigerburnie]

When I started to get involved in local politics in the late 1960's, politicians were drawn from many walks of life, each bringing their own skills and experience to the scenario, whatever their colour of rosette, they also seemed to have a desire to make things better for the whole, within their various party lines. When I left political life behind in the 1990's most politicians were kids from university with a degree in politics, no experience of life in the world of work, choosing their party on a whim listening to some of them and none seemed to give a hoot about the electorate, it was a career and all that seemed to motivate them was being in the limelight and that was before twitter, I can only guess what they would be like now.

[BoD]

There’s no need to guess at all.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Went down to Tess Coes and now have enough dinners for the weekend. The local pub which before the Covid-19 crisis seemed to be doing well is still open for business doing take away meals so I might try them in the next few days. The sore foot was playing up again when I got back but another change of dressing has sorted it. Now to decide on whats for dinner tonight, be back later.

[Ian Abel]

POETS, sure, whatever...

 

Nothing notable yesterday.

Whitney here for the day, always fun, then dropped her back home and obtained a take-out from our favorite Mexican establishment.

Continued with our watching of a slew of Christmas movies, this time "The Santa Clause". As with all Christmas movies, no judgements required, it's all personal choice and what you like

 

That done, and a couple of glasses of a very suitable red Bordeaux consumed, nothing left but to go to bed.

 

Nothing much planned for the weekend, baking mince pies and a Zoom with friends fills the busy social whirl!  

 

-4 and overcast, +4 the expected high.

 

Enjoy the start to the weekend...