Anti Dementors Picnic on the Beach

[Mascotte]

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@Cattermole ahh the wee soul.

We've had 2 chippies and 2 Chinese takeaways. Delicious!

I’m hoping ( small) caravan sites like ours, will open soon.

We ate a lush indian meal, outside in the open air, after our walk in the woods near Durham on Thursday evening
Felt almost normal
And chippie at seaham on Tuesday..felt normal .
Burger King opened the other day, queues were horrendous

Went to Costco this evening. The joys of not having to queue I don't know if it's a different clientelle in the evening to afternoon, or fatigue setting in but there were far fewer masks to be seen. The staff looked to be wearing theirs more halfheartedly than on my last visit.

The local paper has gone extra dementory in the last 24 hours. Biker hell with a very dramatic eye witness account. Parking hell at one of the top 5 predictable beauty spots in the county. School scaremongering about walls devoid of artwork.

In the last few days, I've never spent so little time MNing in many years. I've only really followed these threads. Admittedly I've found a cheesy, addictive, escapist game to play on my phone in the name of time wasting

You didn't hear it from me (taps nose), but I have it on good authority that Argos is planning on reopening on 1st June. I know it's not that much to write home about as they've been delivering all through lockdown, but it means that you don't have to pay a delivery charge if you can go to the store.

I'm sick of hearing "it's not safe"

No shit Sherlock. Nothing is safe. Nowhere is safe. Ever!!

Death is always a very real possibility ffs! This is not a new thing.

I feel like banging my head against a brick wall.

Apparently if you want a Burger King but you're don't love in deliveroo area then you just need to park up around the corner and change your address on the app, put your car details in and then they'll deliver to your car. I've not tried it...

My bil works at a supermarket and he's been glad of the secure job. DN, who had to go home from university has been working at the same store.

No doubt at a lot more risk (there were a few threads about this particular store before lockdown, as it's a busy one) being in contact with hundreds of different strangers per day, as opposed to a primary teacher with their bubble of a few kids.

The fuss that's been made by teaching unions, now, over a manageable situation, is nothing compared to when secondary schools return. If ds1's specialist school is anything to go by, I suspect the model there will involve pupils staying in one room, as much as possible, and staff going to them. It'll take a fair few tantrums to get that far, mind. Clearly missing a trick that the arse holes who don't want to be there will probably be kept off.

I’m gutted , we never had our obligatory drive out today.
Came over all tired ( bloody toothache, I suspect)
Felt like I’ve let the side down.
Will do better tomorrow

It gets proper warm tomorrow @dowser.

Hooefully dentists open. Soon.

Saw someone having a masked driving lesson, this morning!

We have just booked a couple of caravan sites for July in the hopes that things open up again by then. We haven't booked anywhere in Wales however we're sticking to England because Wales doesn't seem to want anybody.

We are very close to Wales and usually go there a lot but we have discovered some really beautiful places in England that would never tried before because of the lockdown so we will definitely be returning to these places.

I think you’re only allowed driving lessons if you’re a key worker?

I was telling mum the only way we could save ourselves from not seeing each other in another lockdown is if I become the Lady in the Van on her street!

Honestly think they’d like us to sellotape our children to chairs, place the chairs in hoops, on a space marked with a cross.

When they don’t have an actual virus.

Absolute fucking madness.

It is absolute fucking madness. If any other generation was spoken about as super spreaders and given so much grief for things like wanting proper contact with their peers by people who were paid to care for them can you imagine the uproar? I hope that there’s some reflection about the way we think about children after this. (And honestly I have never even thought ‘won’t somebody think of the children?’ Before this, but their needs have been so easily dismissed and continue to be in wales where we won’t let people meet and keep moving the goalposts for when schools may reopen).

I’m on another thread where somebody is questioning why my DD11 has walked a dog with a friend in the last week.

Because her place us obviously sellotaped to a chair with her non virus because she’s seen nobody for months.

It’s fucking unbelievable.

Well if there’s a second peak we know who to blame... pre teen dog walkers! Ffs I wish they could calculate the actual risk of walking outside, no coughing. Bet it’s basically zero.

Of course it’s zero....also I’d like to clarify the difference between a peak and a wave. Cornwall should know, they are a surfing nation.

Honestly, about ten times a day I exclaim CHRIST ON A BIKE right now.

I didn’t realise people were so fucking moronic. It’s a shock, I’ve gotta tell ya!

I’m confused about peaks and waves too as so many areas claim the peak hasn’t come yet, but by every measure things have improved enormously in the community. I can understand concern that we could have a second peak and that it could be higher, but surely the first peak is done? It’s like I’m living in a parallel universe

Me too.

Apparently Cornwall is still waiting for their peak. This is presented as an argument why people must not visit there ‘until it’s fade.’

Do they think it’s lost in the post?

*safe

I booked a holiday to Cornwall ages ago for late July and I’m hoping they keep the park closed so we can get a refund. Although as wales will still probably be in full lockdown then I probably won’t be able to get there!

You poor bugger.

I’m such a fucking pariah, I cancelled France at Easter and booked Cornwall. They will be frothing.

(And honestly I have never even thought ‘won’t somebody think of the children?’ Before this

I'm fascinated by how this sexist joke has had such purchase on our culture for so long and even within the demographic it derides.

When the Simpson's first made it, it was what? Early 90s?

So OK middle aged women are ridiculous and nobody should ever listen to them. And they are always fretting about paedophiles on every corner, how ridiculous.

But after Savile, after Rochdale when the early whistleblowers were middle aged women who were ignored...

After the Catholic clerical abuse scandals, after Operation Ore, we KNOW that paedophiles don't just stand around corner but spend years gaining positions of trust around children...

How in 2020 are middle aged women STILL mocked for entirely legitimately asking society to consider the welfare of children?

We need to stop accepting this caricature.

Far too few people are thinking of the children here. They are people and their lives, their wellbeing, their mental health, their development, their education, and their happiness matter.

The way they (and those who attempt to speak up for them) have been dismissed and derided is monstrous.

All this sentimental nonsense about the value of the lives of the extremely elderly and frail while small children are being locked up for what already amounts to a significant period of their short lives to protect other people from a diseasethat poses virtually no risk to children.

The truth is that Maud Flanders and her mates were right. Why will nobody think of the children?

Because children are powerless and easy to coerce. The same reason as always.