Coronavirus.

Didn't they say the AZ works better with a larger gap in between doses?

proactive said:

As long as people get the second jab within 12 weeks it doesn't really matter does it?

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Well obviously no, not in the grand scheme of things.
I’m not know for my patience and I do like a certain orderliness about things.

To me, it’s a bit like you’ve been standing on the platform for what seems like ages waiting patiently for a train.
Along come a large group of people and the station master says “These people are boarding the train first”.

This happens a few times until you say “ Hang on a minute, we’ve all been waiting for ages, why are all these people getting on the train before us?”

The station master says “ Well as long as everyone gets there in the end, it doesn’t really matter does it?”

I do understand that, and I probably would have been like that a few years ago, but now I'm of the opinion that I don't care who gets it, lets just get it in the arms,

Lucy said:

I do understand that, and I probably would have been like that a few years ago, but now I'm of the opinion that I don't care who gets it, lets just get it in the arms,

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That is exactly what I was about to reply with. You've saved me the trouble.

I put this on Facebook earlier as I was pondering the last year. This last year has actually been really really good for me, and I wonder for how many others?

Thursday 19th March 2020 was my last working day in the office. I've learnt lots about myself this last year, not least that working from home actually really works for me, I've gone from never doing it to enjoying it immensely. Not having to sit in a car for an hour and a half every day has allowed me to get a lot fitter, enjoy where I live more and spend time with Robin. I know I'm very lucky to live in a rural village, and not everyone has the opportunity to set up a 2 offices at home, have places to go outside and enjoy or only have a cat to interrupt their working day. However, the narrative is that we have had to hate this last year, that spending time in our homes and local areas is prison-like, but that's not the case for everyone, and certainly not for me. We've been taught that being successful is to be in the office/commuting as many hours as we can, and to be stressed all the time. If that's what normal has to be then I really don't want to go back to normal!

Lucy said:

I do understand that, and I probably would have been like that a few years ago, but now I'm of the opinion that I don't care who gets it, lets just get it in the arms,

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It's certainly going in the arms at a rate today. Kingston was very busy, a queue of about 20 outside, although not taking long to get inside. Very well organised, cannot fault.

Cirrus said:

It's certainly going in the arms at a rate today. Kingston was very busy, a queue of about 20 outside, although not taking long to get inside. Very well organised, cannot fault.

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Yep, they're on 12 hour days for the next few weeks. My shift starts at 7.45 on Sunday. zzzzz

Lucy said:

I put this on Facebook earlier as I was pondering the last year. This last year has actually been really really good for me, and I wonder for how many others?

Thursday 19th March 2020 was my last working day in the office. I've learnt lots about myself this last year, not least that working from home actually really works for me, I've gone from never doing it to enjoying it immensely. Not having to sit in a car for an hour and a half every day has allowed me to get a lot fitter, enjoy where I live more and spend time with Robin. I know I'm very lucky to live in a rural village, and not everyone has the opportunity to set up a 2 offices at home, have places to go outside and enjoy or only have a cat to interrupt their working day. However, the narrative is that we have had to hate this last year, that spending time in our homes and local areas is prison-like, but that's not the case for everyone, and certainly not for me. We've been taught that being successful is to be in the office/commuting as many hours as we can, and to be stressed all the time. If that's what normal has to be then I really don't want to go back to normal!

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I'm one of the fortunate few who hasn't really had to change their life that much to accommodate lockdowns (self employed and work from home) but I have definitely noticed that my social anxiety has largely gone away due to, well... there being no "social" lives at the minute!

So, as an introvert, I've immensely enjoyed not having to come up with excuses for avoiding parties and meet-ups, or having to go to some so I feel better saying "no" the next time. I'm a bit anxious about lockdown lifting over the summer and facing all that again. I'm definitely someone who has had *less* anxiety during lockdown, though I know that's not the case for everyone.

It's great that the recent news reports on the Astra Zeneca vaccine doesn't seem to have put people off getting the jab. I can see why they might possibly get low on vaccine stock judging by the people in and out. Well done to all involved i say. ...Good luck on Sunday Lucy.

I'm an introvert but also have massive FOMO, however I would prefer to have friends round for meals or meet up in restaurants or nice pubs rather than go on a pub crawl or to a nightclub. I do think it's going to be really tiring for us introverts when we have to go back to some sort of socialising.

Carole said:

Well obviously no, not in the grand scheme of things.
I’m not know for my patience and I do like a certain orderliness about things.

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I'm also not known for my patience, and like everything planned and dates pre-booked for everything.
I hate the uncertainty of not having the 2nd jab booked in. Would much rather to have a date for it, rather than just hoping that I do get a call to go . GP receptionist said they would contact me , "most likely with a day or so notice" , about 11 weeks after 1st to go for it.

Just worried I'm going to miss the phone call like last time ,with my phone playing up and not ringing occassionally , and them not ringing back or leaving a message as happened that time . Luckily (thanks to suggestions on here) I rang GP early the next day to check if they were the 'private number' that had tried calling the previous day. My appointment was still booked for me and I only had about 90 minutes to get to the showground.Good job hubby is still working from home so I had the car here .

Don't forget to let me know if you get your 2nd appt for the Pfizer up the showground please @Mudgie , as you went the same day as me. I'll check about mine then if you do .

One year yesterday since hubby started working from home. His boss has mentioned a couple of times lately about getting him back into the office at sometime , but looking like not until late June-July time at least.
Much as I hate it , I think I'll sort of miss him being here as well when he does go back to the office. Not the creeping quietly around and the mess in the house all the time. But I've been getting involved in a few phone conversations , been on phone duty when he nips to the loo, and taken an interest in his work .
Will miss having the car here as well whenever I want it , and if I do drop him off at work to have it for the day, having to make sure I pick him back up again in time. (Not easy when the motorway suddenly grinds to a halt , and my phones working overtime with "Where are you??? " texts and calls . )

I've got a few future lockdowns booked already. They've actually been quite handy.

I've enjoyed lockdown, for the only reason we haven't had any visitors on the ward. Yes that sounds cruel. we have 14 older adults, not all of them really understanding what is going on in the world, and they need to see family and friends.
From my point of view, there's no-one in our faces, demanding to know why Mum/Dad/Nan/Grandads Dementia isn't getting any better. Not believing us when we answer that question.
There's been no extra cleaning do, every chair,table, surface has to be wiped over where they have touched.
It sounds petty and trivial on my part, but it has been bliss.

I see the French are allowing the AZ jab again but this time only for the over 55s. Talk about indecisive, previously the Macron Muppet had declared that it was not to be used by older people as it was totally ineffective.

Meanwhile, cases, hospitalisations and deaths march ever upwards. You couldn't make this shit up

proactive said:

I see the French are allowing the AZ jab again but this time only for the over 55s. Talk about indecisive, previously the Macron Muppet had declared that it was not to be used by older people as it was totally ineffective.

Meanwhile, cases, hospitalisations and deaths march ever upwards. You couldn't make this shit up

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I thought exactly that when I heard the news.
Interesting to see that Paris goes into another lockdown today with other parts of France likely to follow.

Listening on the radio earlier to discussion about whether we're behind or ahead of places like France (as in, will the trend that we have a spike after Europe continue) and it was mentioned that we don't have enough people yet vaccinated to prevent a third wave if we were to bin all restrictions tomorrow.

Not to be a pessimist but I really can't see life being anything like "normal" this summer. Like last year, which was fine, sure. But I have pretty much written this year off, too, in my head.

SketchyMagpie said:

Listening on the radio earlier to discussion about whether we're behind or ahead of places like France (as in, will the trend that we have a spike after Europe continue) and it was mentioned that we don't have enough people yet vaccinated to prevent a third wave if we were to bin all restrictions tomorrow.

Not to be a pessimist but I really can't see life being anything like "normal" this summer. Like last year, which was fine, sure. But I have pretty much written this year off, too, in my head.

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Me too. Tho to be honest, you'd never know there was anything wrong if Morrisons in Stone is owt go by. Went in this morning and it was rammed. No-one appeared to be social distancing, that's customers and staff. I got what I went in for and came home. Won't be going back there for quite a while.

FooFighter said:

If you are at work with the general public, the recommendation is 2 tests per week.
Kingston is open 7 days a week

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@FooFighter or @Lucy is there any way of getting lateral test kits to do at home, a few a week like the secondary school children have? There are so many people off at the moment, it would be so much easier in my job if I could get them to do at home?

Also, what do you think about my daughter doing her tests at night instead of in the morning before school? Would she be safer doing it in the morning?

Many thanks.

To anyone shopping this weekend, please try to remember....

In most shops up to half of the staff are shielding, so the remaining staff are doing twice the work/hours.

Of the remaining working staff, many are off with covid, or isolating as someone in the family has covid.

Of the further remaining staff many are off on general sick leave.

There are also holidays to cover (yes, we have to keep our holiday time booked off to maintain our mental health, even if we don't want to).

Please, please, please be patient with us, we are doing the very best we can, in ever increasingly hard circumstances.

I used to work in retail and I reeeeeallllyyyy feel for those working in supermarkets. It must have been such a tough time when the pandemic began, I bumped into someone I used to work with and she said it had been the worst month of her life with the worry. I imagine things are easier now that there are established routines and measures (I remember the first few times I went in a supermarket last March, there was a definite air of nobody really having a clue what was going on and what was safe) but, yeah. dealing with "the general public" on top of this must be a nightmare.

I have also reeeeeally be grateful for how stress-free Sainsbury's has made shopping during the pandemic. I find going into town less anxiety-inducing now than I do last year, but I've found the system in there very effective.