Anti Dementors picnic at the Loch.

[TheGreatWave]

Starting a new one.

Lilac I am pleased to hear you finally made it to your country park.

This week we were told finally yes you can go fishing, last evening two fishermen got kicked off the beach by the police who said it was not exercise but a hobby. It is hard for the police to keep up with all the changes of mind the assembly keep coming up with. They did not even tell national resources wales, who were wrong footed again, when they were asked they said that you could not go fishing unless disabled using a vehicle.

*Just to add, she’s not going to Cambridge, but other unis are likely to do the same

I’m gutted for her.*

If lectures go online that's not a major loss as it's usually just a person talking at a room full of students. However, if there's no face-to-face interaction at all - tutorials, seminars etc - then that would be grim. I work in education myself and nobody can ever convince me that online teaching - while OK as a short-term measure - can ever replace the 'real thing'. And that's without even taking into account the social aspects of university life.

Kind of makes me glad - for once! - to be middle aged. If I was much older I'd fall into the at risk group and if I were much younger I'd feel my youth was passing me by. Even so, I'm getting increasingly desperate for all this to be over.

Dress thank you.

Purple even before this lockdown, I thought, I’m glad I’m the age I am. In fact older would have been better. But I would hate to be young now.

Glad that my LA has said whatevs, regarding reopening of schools while others in the NE are fair flapping. Both of mine are vulnerable so should be in, anyhow. Unfortunately, DS1, in year 11, has sworn off education, forever.

DH has ordered new decking, finally. Not a frivolous purchase as it bridges the 18"drop between out back door and garden and is rotten.

Morning all
I feel mixed today. HR said they still don't know when I'm going back to work. And a dementor on our local FB group is asking people to support schools who choose not to go back. "How about supporting them regardless you dickhead" is probably not an appropriate response from a school governor.

On the plus side, I had a lovely drink by the river with my friend. We talked random crap. I even lent her my corkscrew. Then we wobbled home in the dark on our bikes.

I had a uni catch up session yesterday (I’m nowhere near Cambridge) and all we got was that no one knows as of yet. We think August resits will still be online and it might be the year starts online (would suit me as the commute is shit and the trains are still erratic) but no one knows.

"No one knows" pretty much sums up life at the moment doesn't it @DominaShantotto?

Good idea on not feeding the trolls, think there is a word for it 'supply'.

Wishful thinking tips...I have a teen too and what i think is let them sleep, there are some studies saying they do tend to me night owls and sleep on in the morning naturally... maybe just try and stay calm...not easy is it. Oh and look after you as well...

On when things might open guide here

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/11/what-is-covered-in-the-uk-governments-lockdown-easing-plan

From the Times today some stuff on schools date to open...positive comment here..

"..last night it was reported that the British Medical Association has said that schools can reopen on June 1, or earlier, as long as it is “safe to do so”. The softening of the union’s stance comes as it admitted that there was “growing evidence that the risk to individual children is extremely small”

More on the university students today- Cambridge going online for the whole of next year, apart from student tutorials

"It seems that every other age group is addressed in one way or another — the furlough scheme for workers, education policies for GCSEs and A levels, prolonged isolation for the over-70s — but the future for students, who are more lonely, bored and stressed than any other demographic, and likely to be paying this off for the longest, seems to be ignored.

The government needs to acknowledge young people and support them in dealing with this crisis"

If we are meant to avoid public transport then, considering my uni vehement anti car stance I can’t get to campus anyway! I normally go in by train but they’re doing compulsory face covering and booking seats and everything

Last one- " those who live at beauty spots have been taking vigilante action to prevent tourists from arriving.

Residents in the Lake District have put up roadblocks in an attempt to deter walkers. Peter Edmondson, 65, and his wife Susan, 57, who live in the Borrowdale Valley, put plastic barriers across a road to deter walkers from crossing their yard, which is a right of way. Others have put logs in lay-bys to prevent people from parking and pinned signs to fences and gates warning people to stay away.

However, Mrs Edmondson said that the roadblock had been removed by the county council, which said that they were illegal.

“We’ve got no protection,” she said. “This weekend is the bank holiday. We can get up to 2,000 people up here and they are all going to walk through our yard. It is dreadful, and we have nobody to help us.”

Industry leaders, in contrast, have urged the government to allow holiday sites to be reopened. Nick Lomas, director-general of the Caravan and Motorhome Club, wrote in an open letter to health officials that sites should be reopened “at the earliest possible date”.

Front of the papers upset me as the times and the guardian (no surprise) were being negative on schools due to the council revolts and the lack of track and trace so glad to see the bma news. The mail in turn have gone full on attack on the unions which I think might people's backs up. Ds is year 3 so won't be back on 1st but dd's nursery were planning on opening so really hoping she can go back. We've been considering playing the key worker card but no one from work seems to have gone there (we are covered by the umbrella but we are not what you'd call classic key workers). Might have to if the government back tracks.

Not been a great week full stop, the neighbours have moved the car they barely use so it partly overhangs our drive. We might have to speak to them about it when I go back to work which I'm already dreading.

Can covid piss off now please

Wow! Had a massively long work day yesterday and a school governors meeting last night and already on a new thread.
I'll grab a coffee and get caught up soon....

The bit from the schools i posted was actually from the front page article the bit underneath, so yes not all bad. I too sighed as well at the headlines.

Guardian seems to have very little reporting on the suffering caused by lockdown which seems a bit strange thought they usually covered that kind of thing, much more in the Times on that...anyway not sure but thought that was a bit strange

And as I go to check the train current information there are disruption notices because someone has been hit by a train - so likely suicide- this morning. Mental health is going to be the next pandemic and they can’t lock us down against that one

From the front page of Times not Guardian (schools) yes where is the Guardian's support for the poor children during lockdown?

Sorry one more important one- dentists, know this has been mentioned on here.

MIL was right, I thought she was being dramatic but

"..because they have been advised not to use any spray-generating procedures or drills, most are offering only extractions. Dentists forced to stay at home have been instructed to follow a “triple A” procedure, offering advice, analgesics and antibiotics, which are often useless"

Ouch.

It seems there are plans to re-open but not until July..

"...Now the British Association of Private Dentistry has sent a letter to Matt Hancock, the health secretary, urging him to reconsider the decision to keep practices closed and calling for the resignation of the chief dental officer for England, Sara Hurley. They say that government guidelines have caused “unnecessary pain and suffering and even life-threatening situations” and that there is still no advice for dentists on how to operate when practices re-open. In Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland surgeries are fully booked and dentists and dental nurses have been provided with extra personal protective equipment"

Fingers crossed they can open soon. Mine sent me a text recently about it but nothing more yet.

where is the Guardian's support for the poor children during lockdown?

The Guardian lost my readership a couple of years ago over their appalling attitude to women's rights, but they have sunk to new lows with their reporting of this pandemic. They should be screaming from the rooftops about the damage being done to disadvantaged children.

I may be getting more right wing as I get older, but even in the months before the pandemic, I was finding the Guardian increasingly tiresome. So many of their columnists are just irritating. I do still love their Lifestyle pages though...

Bloody fantastic news about the BMA.

Can anyone give me a really hard hitting question to put yo our council re advising schools not to open?

I only read the headlines on the bbc, sometimes will squint to read the article but depends how blurry it is.

Just said this on another thread, but my dentist has said he is open for non aerosol generating procedures for low risk patients. Does this mean he has gone rogue? He was proper pissed off at having to close