COVID-19

[Neil]

So, how are we all bearing up?

 

[Pumanick]

Why does the food run out so quickly ..... ?

 

[grogee]

Alright. Too many distractions to be able to work from home effectively. Including my Puma, my wife and my son (in that order). I am glad eBay and deliveries are still happening to allow car tinkering to continue so hats off to those guys and gals.

 

[red]

Bearing up pretty well. It's hit a bit financially for us but so far still managing.

Finding not socialising strange.

I didn't go out a whole lot to shops and stuff anyway, I had to go out to the supermarket just to validate that it was as bad as all the pictures were showing. I wasn't happy that it was the case.

 

[BenF]

There's no shortage of things to do in my house. I bought the paint to redecorate the house before Christmas. A fortnight before lockdown I bought the brushes and rollers I needed. A few weeks of this and I'll be finished!

 

[red]

And to add delay to the painting you resurfaced here :lol:

 

[gingerdave]

The only group of people who really financially gain in this situation is OAPs.So many spend a few days each week aimlessly wandering round garden nurseries buying limp looking plants and eating crappy cream cake and tea.One old fart I know reckons he’s saving £100 per week!
Then there are others like me who can’t go out with their grandchildren,or even see them!So spend hours every day servicing ,polishing and generally sodding about in the garage with cars that we aren’t supposed to drive.So I’m financially better off but beginning to get bored.

 

[CherryVimto]

This all feels really strange and far too quiet for my liking.

Kids came home from their last day of school with big packs of work. Getting them to concentrate on it isn't easy with distractions like consoles, tablets and TV! But considering they haven't actually 'been out' anywhere they are coping quite well.

Had plenty of DIY to do but now needing extra supplies and parts, have got about 4 different jobs I can't finish.

Can't tinker with the project car as that's in a garage nowhere near my home, so I guess charging/replacing the flat battery will be the first thing on the list... when I can get over there.
I've ordered a couple of parts for the car, but that will be a matter of whether they will arrive before the curfew ends! And even if they did arrive first, I can't fit them anyway!

 

[red]

So many families will now be entering times of hardship due to this situation.

With many businesses shut, many more looking at furloughing or worse, the average householder will begin if they aren't already finding it hard to make ends meet.

 

[Cherie]

I'm furloughed at the moment, as from yesterday. Luckily, they're making up the extra 20% at the moment, but might not if the restrictions drag out.

I work for a relatively small housing developer, and with the concerns over social distancing, the decision was made to close the sites we're currently on. With no active sites, I have no work, as I process and pay the invoices for materials and the weekly labourers.

I'm only on day 2 of not working (not counting the weekend), and already I'm finding it very weird.

 

[red]

That's interesting they got that setup so fast, my company opted for a different approach.

I hope that yours continues to make up the difference, that seems like a decent thing to be doing.

 

[Dal]

Working from home here. Moved out of work whilst there were social distancing rules just to get the number of contacts down. The rest of the company outside of Engineering (about 90 people) are on furlough though. Luckily my work is computer based so doesn't especially matter where I am to a large extent. The endless Skype calls are getting very boring though!

I do sometimes think it'd be nice to have more spare time but the routine of the 8am > 4.30pm "normal" work day is keeping the brain ticking over.

 

[yippeekiay]

Ack...just posted some of my views in random thread. I won't repeat :lol:

In short, it describes my disappointment in other people's response to it. My daughter works for the NHS so that's a big concern for her & my grandson who still has to go to school.

Hasn't affected me much personally thankfully. Luckily money isn't an issue so I feel for everyone affected. I'm now actually better off as I got a call from an old client only this February after 5 years or so of doing diddly squat so I'm now having to work for a change albeit with not much effort on my behalf hehe. Been working from home since 2007 so it's nothing new to me.

Only thing really affecting me is not seeing my kids & grandson - and being reluctant to even go shopping as I don't want to touch anything in the shops. Just hope my normal bulk buying habits last out as I did my last shop in October and the cupboards are getting pretty bare

Take care guys!!!

 

[mmc757]

I was working in NE England (Teeside) for January and February. I was supposed to leave in mid-march to come back home to the US but I ended up leaving at the end of February instead, just one week before the heavy travel restrictions started to hit.

Although I haven't been tested, I suspect myself and most of my colleagues may have had the virus in early February while we were there. The symptoms and the rapid spread of them through the jobsite fit everything we read about now.

Now I'm back home in the US and fortunate enough to be able to work from home so I'm in better shape than a lot of people. My biggest hardship is that I live in a motorhome full-time so storage space is extremely limited, which means I'm still having to go to the store quite frequently.

Our stores are slowly catching up after all the hoarding subsided, we can generally find most food items now, but toilet paper is still very difficult to find. Luckily, its just my wife and I in the motorhome so we dont use much.

Like Yippee, my biggest personal problem is the inability to go see my kids and grandkids. My car is also parked at my kids house in need of some repairs that arent getting done because I cant get to it. Thats not important because we still have my wife's vehicle, its just frustrating to be powerless to fix my car.

 

[yippeekiay]

:lol: That's where I live - Teesside. We currently have a relatively low case rate in my area (Stockton) so we must either be hardy people who simply brush this virus aside, battle through it without running to the doctor for any old reason or there is very little testing going on.

I'd like to say we're hard as nails and a bit of man flu is nothing compared to the crap we breathe in daily up here :lol:

There's a reason they call us smoggies hahaha.

Take care :thumbs:

 

[grogee]

I consider my situation lucky. Able to work from home (I'm a tech author). So money is still coming in and there's work to do. Not sure how long that can continue though as our client is a Midlands-based motor manufacturer, and they are turning off all the taps.

My wife is/was a childminder and has no longer got any work so she's managed to get work on the checkout at Tesco. In between work hours she's doing all the home schooling for our 6 yo boy.

Feel sorry for those on the front line with no PPE. There will be a public inquiry about this, no doubt.

There are also a million other unsung heroes like the bin men, utilities, delivery drivers, shelf stackers, police... The list is endless. And it's the difference between us being bored and being terrified.

 

[Neil]

I'm still travelling into work on a week on, week off basis. I'm fortunate that the base I work on is virtually dead, and I have contact with, at the most three people for that week. I'm fearing for my grandparents and older family members though, many of whom have been in and out of hospital over the past months.

 

[grogee]

The virus that just won't die! We are housebound having tested positive on Saturday. Both of us double jabbed but both feeling miserable. I'd say it's like a very persistent flu. Lost sense of taste, I'll report back on smell once my nose stops running. Ugh.

We've got 2 boys (7 & 14) who are obviously forced to isolate with us although they're persistently testing negative every day. Of course they need feeding and entertaining but we're not even allowed to go to shops to get them sweets & a comic. Got friends and neighbours helping out leaving supplies on doorstep which is lovely.

Got to be grateful of double jab otherwise this would be so much worse! But be prepared - the virus hasn't gone away and it turns your life upside down when it hits.

 

[red]

We've isolated the whole household twice for 10 days each time with 4 days allowed out in-between, tested regularly and not had a positive result.

Staying in for that amount of time, 4 people and a dog is draining.

Hope you recover soon.

 

[grogee]

Thanks. It is draining, to the point that we've "fast-tracked' 7yo's Xmas present of a Nintendo Switch to try and keep the peace! Poor kid, it must be pretty boring for him. Luckily he's continuing to test negative as is 14yo. What did we do before broadband?!