Early Risers.

[polybear]

7 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

People fought for freedom then that is being chucked away willy nilly for a virus that for the majority of the population is no worse than the flu

 

Rant over apologies for any offence 

Ps i have to self shield 

 

None taken, though I feel many do see the virus as not having a great chance of snuffing them out, based on official figures.  However, they often overlook the effects of "Long Covid", which is now seemingly affecting 1 in 10 people.  Not sure what the figure is for Bears though, as Bojo and his chronies have forgotten us - again.  Never fails to forget to charge me tax though

 

10 minutes ago, AndyB said:

I dream of a dentist bill that small. One child had to go private as the NHS would only treat a dental problem if it was 1mm worse. Take Chris' notional bill and move the decimal point to the right twice!

 

 

That beats mine - £1800 for a dental implant.

In other news:

Bear spent yesterday fixing one of the four sheets of EML to the wall.  At a guess I'd say about 100 holes drilled, plugged and nailed.  Almost finished it, but run out of wall plugs.  Another dozen or so should see the first sheet finished, which should please the neighbours greatly (I'll lay off now until Monday though - fair's fair)  So today will see a walk (or drive, if it's p1ssing down) to TP for more plugs (I know they're robbin' barstewards - despite being owned by Wickes - but the price difference on plugs is cancelled out by savings in petrol and aggro getting them).  Then an appointment to get my ears lowered - I'll be trying a new place a short walk from my house; they want 17 quid which is robbery (my usual charges 12) but seem to take better care against C-19 and also saves a car journey.  If they hoping for a chrimbo tip they'll be sadly disappointed though

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from The Charente.  Breakfast has been had and the loo in the new bathroom has been installed and is working. I will not go further about temporary arrangements except tosay that I will miss the sightbof the stars at 04.00.

 

We have now got a long wait for the furniture and other items that were collected  yesterday to ge delivered. Due to the chaos at the ports thay won't arrive till the end of January, at the earliest. Apparently , HMRC in their wisdom, have not created a customs code for domestic removals so the remover can't input a customs manifest. Joined up thinking. 

 

Anyway various bits of unspecified pottering will be done today.  Then wecare going to some friends innthe village for socially distanced carols in the garden with Beth providing the music on her guitar.  It has to be earlyish so that we can be home before curfew.  The morning will be brightened up soon by our weekly video chat with Emily and her mums.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[TheQ]

10 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

Are people still travelling through Heathrow and other UK airports at the moment? If so where are they ongoing to and  why? Business? Holidays?  Returning residents? Surely apart from the returnees the rest can be shut down while this is going on?

 

The Australian land mass is big enough and the major population centres far enough apart to make them the equivalent of different countries. The air route between Sydney and Melbourne is the third busiest in the world, it dwarfs anything in Europe (who dont even make the top 50) yet it got shut down overnight when the outbreak in Melbourne occurred over winter . Thats the only  way to stop this thing.

 

Annoyingly it turns out that  incoming international aircrew here have rules to follow during their turn around time which some airlines have taken to be less rules and more suggestions you don't need to worry about and a US strain (genome tested to find origin) has broken out in the northern beaches.

Melbourne - Sidney  9.24 million passengers last year.

Travelling within a country, with little or no virus, with practically no through flights just a tiny number from NZ.

 

One air route is not the problem, Heathrow, Gatwick and to a lesser extent, Manchester, Prestwick, Edinburgh  are international HUB airports.

LHR and LGW each have 150 to 180 flight destinations 95% of which are in other countries. Let alone little airports like Southend ( only  2 million passengers a year)  has 21 international destinations.

 

Melbourne 44 destinations of which 13 are international,

Sidney 66 destinations of which 16 are international.

There are 40 UK airports with international flights, 13 in AUS.

 

The point is the huge number of passengers through the UK before anyone knew what was happening meant it was well established in the UK before the first lockdown.

 

The number of flights to the UK has dropped tremendously, initially by 90% its come up a bit since but not by much.

 There are also about 2,500million tons of airfreight arriving in the UK each year. 

 

Meanwhile..

Mooring Awl inner Temple Hare.

Ben the I want out Collie wanted out 2 hours ago, he had a good shuffle around before charging back to the house leaving me down the garden.

 

Dull overcast quite breezy but not chilly.

 

Plans for today,

workshop work,

Hopefully finish the ceiling battens.

unload the MDF and stack it in the garage,

  maybe make some doors for the shelving, 

Maybe extend the mains lighting wiring so I can see what I'm doing in the other parts of the garage.

 

But first... 

Time for breakfast..

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2020 by TheQ

[TheQ]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

People in the North have got fed up with being in "

Lockdown". When case numbers were dropping they were kept in lockdown.. london  didn't.  They are just weary.. and we can see that some of the NHS management are using "protect the NHS" as a way of covering the way they have mistreated patients.

 

Why are we different.. fed up with being regarded as "those people in the North"....

Baz

Because it's not just numbers but how the NHS is impacted, and London being the capital has more hospitals per person, especially critical care beds, eg 30% more than the south west, so it's not just those "up north,,," that have few facilities   this is because it's where the specialist hospitals were built in the past. That  started long before the NHS was invented.

Edited December 19, 2020 by TheQ

[Barry O]

1 minute ago, TheQ said:

Because it's not just numbers but how the NHS is impacted, and London being the capital has more hospitals per person, especially critical care beds, as that was where the specialist hospitals were built in the past. That  started long before the NHS was invented.

Our local nHS teaching hospitals trust doesn't even know how many beds it has.. either 1995 or 2500 depending on which bit of their website you read..  yes london has more hospitals but its beds per 1000 people that count. We have an unused Nightingale built ar considerable expense...

 

And, in Lockdown 1 test kits were focussed on Lindon and the South.. which is why the GP surgeries in Leeds had to  zero any appointmemts.. which is why my (and lots of other peoples) diabetic and other check ups went out the window.

 

Baz

[TheQ]

5 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Our local nHS teaching hospitals trust doesn't even know how many beds it has.. either 1995 or 2500 depending on which bit of their website you read..  yes london has more hospitals but its beds per 1000 people that count. We have an unused Nightingale built ar considerable expense...

 

And, in Lockdown 1 test kits were focussed on Lindon and the South.. which is why the GP surgeries in Leeds had to  zero any appointmemts.. which is why my (and lots of other peoples) diabetic and other check ups went out the window.

 

Baz

Not just up there, I've just had my first diabetic test in over a year, and that was blood only, no urine , no foot or hand testing, its two years since my eyes were tested..

 

London the biggest nightingale centre in Europe has never been used,  all seven nightingales have hardly had any custom . We in East Anglia didn't even get one, our nearest is London over 100 mile's away..

[TheQ]

Just investigated the company Christmas box.

SWMBO is doing well, all I'll get is the ginger biscuits, and a bottle of wine, she'll get, chocolates, fudge, chocolate biscuits a few other sweet things and...panettone...

[roundhouse]

Morning

 

Down South we even have a faster spreading variant, better than the one up North.

 

In our penultimate pub yesterday the bar attendant couldn't get her hair done in Reigate, apparently due to a number of hair salons being riddled with the virus although the ones we walked past later on all appeared to be open. Reigate was a low infection area last week but not now. Our rate has jumped from 100 to over 200 in 100k in just a few days. Croydon is well over 300.

 

Our final beers last night were at the brewery had a long queue 20 minutes before opening, most in the queue were socially distanced especially where we were standing but there were a few largish groups of younger people not doing so. We  had one of three tables inside that others didnt want so managed to stay there for a lot longer than those sitting outside could. All very safely done once in the brewery. There was still a queue when we departed. We had to chase our dessert to be able to make the bus home.

 

An annoucement on the TV this morning that further travel restrictions are likley to be imposed for us. May find out today.

 

GWR have reduced their services between here and Reading and Thameslink have also annouced a shortage of drivers.

Edited December 19, 2020 by roundhouse

[Barry O]

4 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Just investigated the company Christmas box.

SWMBO is doing well, all I'll get is the ginger biscuits, and a bottle of wine, she'll get, chocolates, fudge, chocolate biscuits a few other sweet things and...panettone...

We have been sent an M&S food hamper.. i can have the wine and... the hamper itself...could be a bit chewey methinks..

 

Baz

[jonny777]

Dry and clear here in North Somerset, but the wind has died down from yesterday's gales. 

 

A quiet day in prospect, as I've nothing planned. I see the knives are out for woodburning stoves, and heaven knows what they think of my open fire. There is never quite the outcry over car exhausts, probably because that is invisible and influential petrol heads rule the world. 

 

My childhood was spent in a house where coal fires were a regular occurrence, the water heater was a coal fired boiler and with both parents who smoked. Environmental health would have had a field day. 

 

Oh well, I suppose in future decades everyone will lived in sterile homes free from all traces of pollution; and then suffer anaphylactic shock every time they step out into the street. 

Edited December 19, 2020 by jonny777

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Not raining at the moment * although it was wet and windy in the night.  Sunny spells possible along with more showers and staying windy. 

* Strike that, it's just started pouring again.

Rugby watched last night and I believe there are 4 games available to watch today.  That might just cause a smidgeon of a problem here at GDB Towers!  

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

 

if it's p1ssing down) to TP for more plugs (I know they're robbin' barstewards - despite being owned by Wickes - 

 

PB I believe  it's the other way round, Travis Perkins Plc own Wickes and several others including  Toolstation and Keyline.

A brief walk to the baker is required shortly as bread has almost run out.  After that I may do some domestic stuff to help appease the gathering storm when the rugby is imminent!

Have a good one,
Bob.

Edited December 19, 2020 by grandadbob

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I forgot the milk when I visited Tess Coes yesterday so another trip will be necessary as there's only enough for breakfast tea. The trip into town tomorrow will probably be cancelled, what with the new strain of Covid-19 and the highest infection rate in the country. Tess Coes have decided to restore 24 hour opening, so I might be doing my shopping at midnight though I will have to go in a couple of days a week for things like bread. For those that are interested there is the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on Monday evening https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/great-jupiter-saturn-conjunction-dec-21-2020 sadly here in the east its predicted to be overcast but it should be visible in the west and the skies will be clear in Ireland. This only occurs every 400 years. IIRC this is thought to be the origin of the star of Bethlehem.

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.  after a reasonable nights sleep for the first time in months, Mrs NHN messed around for so long in the bathroom I wasn't showered in time to go out with her to go to Pilates, and me for my walk.  Grumpy about that for half an hour, then it has absolutely tipped it down, so I would have gotten soaked, much less grumpy now!

 

Grumpyness came back though, as I was thinking about the hip being a lot better this morning hence the better sleep, when walking into the kitchen produced a major owyabuqqeryeow moment, so its not right yet.  I feel this is heading towards the orthopaedic surgeons again, still I got 8 years out of it.

 

The days duties have not yet been posted, but after the job farce last week her Ladyship has spotted another post she's interested in but we don't know where one of the sites is (its a multi site role) so research on that is likely.  Her current department is being split in a rather foolish attempt at efficiency in IOM Govt services, (by doing the opposite to common sense and the opposite of economies of scale) and she's not keen where her part is going to.  

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Slightly damp but not really drizzle. It isn’t that cold though. I drove Aditi to the nearest cash machine early this morning. The last lot was sometime in the summer. We haven’t needed much but Aditi thought some may be useful. 
We had a nice phone chat with the younger niece yesterday. She started Reception class in September . They had a class nativity play (Nina was an angel) and a party. The special Christmas lunch was a roll filled  with chicken and gravy followed by a Rudolf Reindeer biscuit. The children made hats for the party. Nina was keen to tell us everything.  Nina also said that the Deputy Head said she was a “chatterbox”. Nina was very proud of this. Aditi told her she was called that at school too.

Tony

[polybear]

I see Big H is branching out:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hippo-H18511-310-Pro-Sealant/dp/B071XY6TG3/ref=asc_df_B071XY6TG3/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=446721410096&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6595909337096657398&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045903&hvtargid=pla-966256813914&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=105535120004&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=446721410096&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6595909337096657398&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045903&hvtargid=pla-966256813914

 

A visit to TP was enlightening - whilst prices are a bit higher than Wickes, Toolstation etc. it appears that they have dropped the "total robbin' barstewards" approach that has stopped me from using them in the past; they also now price everything on the shelves (in past visits you only discovered the price by asking - which was probably invented based on their profits for the month).  Bearing in mind I can be at the local branch of TP in about 3-4 minutes (the nearest Toolstation/SF is 12 miles away) then I've a feeling they'll start to get a lot more of my money.  I did ask the guy serving me about prices - it seems they have dropped considerably as TP had a £5M programme to sort the pricing a few months back.  Why it costs that amount to send out new price lists to the various branches is beyond the understanding of this little Bear, however....

[polybear]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

London the biggest nightingale centre in Europe has never been used,  all seven nightingales have hardly had any custom . We in East Anglia didn't even get one, our nearest is London over 100 mile's away..

 

I'm pretty sure the Nightingale centre at Docklands was used, though not to it's full capacity by any means

[Coombe Barton]

Two years ago today Sandy started Chemo, and I had a very quick learning curve on giving complex medication and remembering timings. The fridge door became the control centre with checklists. I also became adept at keeping things separate, as chemo is, essentially, controlled poison.

[Barry O]

been to the Post Office.. Zombies are already here!

 

" why won't this parcel get to America/France/anywhere outside of the UK by Christmas if I post it today? Not even by First class?"

 

The counter staff are angels!

 

Not raining here so a stroll was taken.. looks like it will rain though as her indoors has hung some washing out...PAH!

 

Baz

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

A bit late on parade today, but I've not been idle, I've already prepared tonight's tea, a steak and ale stew, which is currently in the oven and will be well worth the wait. I've just got to the workshop and I'll spend the rest of the day working on the turntable control panel wiring. 

 

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

 

Brian 

[Simon G]

Morning all,

Todays walk has been walked, but can only be described as an unmitigated disaster!  It was fine when we set off and remained that way for about 40 minutes.  Then the rain started and got heavier and heavier.  As it had seemed OK on the BBC weather website, we hadn’t even worn full waterproofs!  We got absolutely drenched.  To make matters worse, we both got wet feet, and my wet shoes started to rub at the back of the heel, with the result that ai now have an uncomfortable blister.  More annoyingly, we rain more or less stopped 10 minutes before we got home, so we have had the worst of it.  I shall not be venturing outside again today!  Hopefully there will be some good rugby to watch this afternoon.

 

Now sitting with a cup of coffee trying to warm up and dry out.

 

 

[Winslow Boy]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

 

None taken, though I feel many do see the virus as not having a great chance of snuffing them out, based on official figures.  However, they often overlook the effects of "Long Covid", which is now seemingly affecting 1 in 10 people.  Not sure what the figure is for Bears though, as Bojo and his chronies have forgotten us - again.  Never fails to forget to charge me tax though

 

 

That beats mine - £1800 for a dental implant.

In other news:

Bear spent yesterday fixing one of the four sheets of EML to the wall.  At a guess I'd say about 100 holes drilled, plugged and nailed.  Almost finished it, but run out of wall plugs.  Another dozen or so should see the first sheet finished, which should please the neighbours greatly (I'll lay off now until Monday though - fair's fair)  So today will see a walk (or drive, if it's p1ssing down) to TP for more plugs (I know they're robbin' barstewards - despite being owned by Wickes - but the price difference on plugs is cancelled out by savings in petrol and aggro getting them).  Then an appointment to get my ears lowered - I'll be trying a new place a short walk from my house; they want 17 quid which is robbery (my usual charges 12) but seem to take better care against C-19 and also saves a car journey.  If they hoping for a chrimbo tip they'll be sadly disappointed though

Good heavens Mr Bear even taking into the fact that you have u more hair than the rest of us combined I do detect the definite whiff discrimination there. I would report them immediately to the Protection of Underprivileged Bear league or PUB for short. Unless there are more services being undertaken here that are unsuitable for disclosure on this family orientated forum such as nubile young female bears in scantily glad uniforms offering 'other' services for the discerning clientele.

[grandadbob]

As Rick is not posting here at the moment I thought I might mention that today is the anniversary of the 1981 Penlee Lifeboat disaster.  The  8 crew members from the Solomon Browne and the 5 crew along with the captain's wife and 2 daughters they were trying to rescue from the MV Union Star all lost their lives.  I know that Rick knew and was friends with some of the lifeboat crew and maybe, just maybe we could all stop and think for a moment about them and everybody else a lot less fortunate than ourselves.  I'm as guilty as anybody about whingeing about Lockdowns and tiers and restrictions etc but at least we're all still alive.

[PhilJ W]

Back again. Will have to call in to the newsagents as well when I go out shortly. My papers were delivered this morning but the TV magazine was absent. He has put one aside for me to collect. I don't watch a great deal of TV but I like to peruse the listings to find anything of interest to me.

[tigerburnie]

Afternoon all, had a short drive into Montrose as SWMBO "had" to deliver a gift for her mates Grand Daughters first birthday(knitting), so a trundle was had back round the lanes in the sunshine, my car is now filthy as the farmers have been on the fields, so the roads a re swamps just now, oh well it will protect the car from the salt as there's frost forecast and possibly snaw as well.

I do what I can to support the lifeboats, I know one lad on one of our local ones, we have two stations one each in Arbroath and Montrose, which is handy as I do get in some daft spots fishing some times and you never know I might need them, so I always put some money in the pot. Their bravery is something beyond words at times, thankfully because the politicians are not involved, they seem to run the show rather well.

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all,

 

Well it seems the debate about Covid Tiers and lockdowns or not downs has arrived in some force.

 

Firstly as far as GPs are concerned I think what does or doesn't happen anywhere is mainly down to the competence of your own GP and practice manager.  ours kept going all though blood tests were moved outside the building into a tent.  The practice were the ones who decided to clean the whole place including walls and floors with bleach 'just in case' anyone had brought in the virus;  the practice arranged its PPE (better than the GD got on the hospital ward where she works); and the practice arranged twice weekly Covid testing for its patient facing staff following an offer from a local company to carry out the tests.  If you want to carry on you can do so as a GP without hand holding and arrangements being made by those on high - wherever you are based be it north, soith, east, or west.

 

Now as far as Govt is concerned the politicos of today - like the vast majority of their kind are -a amateurs and many of them have no experience of anything at all outside some level or other of politics.  They are only as good as their Civil Service advisors and  lot of them don't know much about pandemics (although  Chris Whitty has a good international track record of dealing with them).  Equally the politicians are really between the devil and the deep blue sea and they are going to be wrong whatever they do, or don't do, because whatever happens someone won't be happy.  

 

The other thing is that the Coivid death rate - if it really is 0.5% - only applies to you or anybody else if it takes away one of your loved ones;  For most people it will always involve 'someone else so it doesn't apply to me' (how often have we heard that this year?).  But if it really is 'only' 0.5% that still means that Covid could kill 350,000 people in the UK - and that would be one heck of a death toll for anyone to have on their hands.  Covid has already killed more people (c,60,000+) in Britain in a not much different timescale from the number of civilians killed (40,000) in the worst period of the blitz in the seven months between September 1940 and May 1941.  And it increasingly looks like it might well kill more in a far shorter time than the 70,000 civilians killed in Britain in the whole of WWII.  So yes - we're in fatality levels on a par with the last real shooting war that killed people in Britain although I doubt many folk  even realise that is the case.  And it can indeed be said that 'we kept going during the war' because we did - it's just that Covid is killing more people more quickly than that war did.

 

Then we come to the social situation where I think we all know and recognise that the level of idiocy and selfishness among the wider population is pretty high in Britain and we see it every day around us in people not following the simplest and most basic rules about avoiding, and avoiding spreading, infection.  Any Govt policy has to accept that as a starting premise,  The British people (whoever they are nowadays) aren't at all keen on being told what to do.  So policy walks a tightrope between the devil and the deep blue sea of economic ills and a high death toll (the Govt will be blamed for both of course) while at the same time walking another tight rope of trying to implement containment policies which people will actually take any notice of and knowing full well that a certain percentage of the population will ignore whatever rules they put in place.  While others of course will criticise them for inaction and failing to act in a timely manner but to be hnest they are in a totally new situation and I think are probably doing the best that the narrow range of options open to them allows.  

 

The best personal policy I am sure remains one of taking great care and following the various procedures that mitigate risk while doing ones best to avoid the  idiots.  We are still in Tier 2 and to be honest I think that at the very least our end of the county should have been moved into Tier 3.

 

On which note I'll say have a good day in so far as weather and tiers allo=w and stay safe.