Anti Dementors picnic at the Loch.

[TheGreatWave]

Starting a new one.

The clap here was rather lovely. I like it. But there's no one to tell me off if I don't take part as my house is private. And tbh I'd be a bit embarrassed to be on the receiving end of it if I was a nurse in one of the increasingly empty COVID wards. At some point it does need to wind down.

I watched a Q&A with senior management at the uni where I work today. Obviously they’re going for the blended learning business in semester one but they kept adding dementory statements like ‘and who knows how far into next year?’ And talking about PPE for staff into next year. I’m sorry but fuck off. We’re all going to be cutting about in PPE on campus in May 2021? Is that really going to be necessary?

I spoke to DH earlier and we agreed that if the uni do decide that non-essential admin staff such as me will wfh well into next year (when everyone else is back at work ffs) then I jack it in and look for something else that allows me to get out of the house and see other adults. And of course they gave a big spiel about how mental health support is available to staff. Is it fuck.

And then sign off with all the ‘look after yourselves and your families’ shite. It’s a good thing they couldn’t see me giving them the finger and telling them to get it up them. I think Scotland seems especially bad for dementing masquerading as public service right now.

Just “ I thought Spain handled things as well as they could under the circumstances. And are still doing so”

I thought they were worse than us. Same care home problems or worse. Children not permitted outdoors for weeks. Inhuman.

Agent “ I watched a Q&A with senior management at the uni where I work today. Obviously they’re going for the blended learning business in semester one but they kept adding dementory statements like ‘and who knows how far into next year?’ And talking about PPE for staff into next year. I’m sorry but fuck off. We’re all going to be cutting about in PPE on campus in May 2021? Is that really going to be necessary?”

I am starting to think the government carry less blame for this than I thought....I’m not sure.

@Shodan have you ever seen Trolls?

I am minded of the Bergens

I think Spain not allowing children out of their house for 6 weeks particularly when huge numbers live in flats, was borderline child abuse!

I spoke to DH earlier and we agreed that if the uni do decide that non-essential admin staff such as me will wfh well into next year (when everyone else is back at work ffs) then I jack it in and look for something else that allows me to get out of the house and see other adults.

I also work at a uni and will likely be WFH for several months at least. I hate it. Home is home and work is work. A world where everyone sits in their little pod and interacts with everyone via computer screens seems miserable to me.

Not to mention, if it's decided there's no longer any need to be physically present in the office, what's stopping employers hiring someone from Warsaw or Bangalore for a fraction of the cost of an employee in Manchester or London?

101- agree re child abuse

Purple - oh shit, yes, more outsourcing.

Has anyone noticed there is no 'deaths with covid' anymore, they don't say that now. Although at the daily briefing I think it says something like deaths with covid mentioned on the certificate or something.

It said something tonight about 17% in London and 5% elsewhere had antibodies on random tests. But as mentioned some might not have them..

I also agree re: child abuse

Dogs in Spain were treated better than children.

Starting to feel really scared that my 3 kids wont get back to full time education at least by september.

I have one going into high school, one going to yr 3 & one into yr5. I havent been able to homeschool as DH and I both have massively full on, seriously busy full time jobs.

What kind of future will our kids have with a half arsed education! Why are more people not up in arms about this? I hope the "not till september" dementors will get on board if it seems our kids wont get an education they're entitled to.

I'm ok with the virus, I feel like it's all going the right direction. I'm even ok with working from home for the foreseeable. But the huge question marks over my childrens education haunt me and lay mum guilt on me at massive levels because I can't homeschool.

Yeah we've had posters here going on about locking children in their homes in Spain as though it were a good thing, and the British just too stupid to buckle up and do the same. I'll bet some of these were the same people tut-tutting at the Chinese for taping over doors in Wuhan just 3 months ago.

Locking up children for weeks on end, mostly in small apartments, is cruel.

Looking at Spains cases just now thousands of new cases every day it was relentless. It was awful for the children. What made it worse as in Italy was people fleeing the cities and spreading it into areas with poor healthcare. I saw a programme on spanish paramedics it was horrifying, they came to see elderly people who were gravely ill knew they would die but just saw to it that they were comfortable as they could make them. These paramedics many drafted in from a St. Johns ambulance like organisation were, behind closed doors so distressed by this. One said we are volunteers who never expected to see scenes like this ever. It was a very distressing programme, one that you would expect to see about a third world country.

I feel like Nicola Sturgeon is dementor in chief at the moment

Orange I haven’t watched the daily briefing for ages

So they’ve changed from “deaths with Covid”? I’d like deaths OF Covid but then we’d be in single digits ages ago - seen the nhs figures lately - and they can’t justify lockdown.

My sister reminded me of the official steps - which might mean hospitality in July....I don’t know if I’ve lost any sense of realism but I’d forgotten that.

The WFH thing is utterly depressing. I like the office environment, it suits me and I know it suits the vast proportion of my colleagues too. Because they've told me. And most people don't have the space to WFH properly - i.e. with all the kit - desk, proper office chair, dual monitors, etc. I see so many people on Zoom on dining tables or squashed into the corner of bedrooms. It's unsustainable.

I'm still hopeful for going back into the office at least one day a week from mid-June, though mindful that could slip if the unions get involved. I've also jumped at the chance a new project has given me to arrange a couple of days of socially distanced fieldwork out on site for a group of us. Something which would normally lead to a couple of beers in the pub afterwards, but you can't have anything at the moment everything.

The WFH thing is nice occasionally but not daily. DS is doing uni. work the dining room is just a mess the table has disappeared under a pile of papers, the office is scattered with reference books and folders. It makes my teeth itch to see it through our glass doors. I cannot get into the office to do my own filing until his last project is in the bag.

DH has worked from home for 3 years apart from one day a week when he commutes to London. It’s hard on us both actually! He struggles to have boundaries between work and home, and I struggle with him still being holed up in the office until 8pm while I’m feeding 3 young kids and wrestling them all to bed.

I don't want to live like this any more. I've seriously hit the wall. I'm lonely, stressed, anxious, and tearful. I want my children to have their life back and to go back to work where someone actually talks to me. DH isn't a talker and I cannot do it any more. I'm already back on medication and am really drifting towards some dark places.

Just checking in.

Swerved the 8pm clap on the basis that a) the NHS has had 8 hours out of me already today and b) was putting DD to bed. Have got in myself as feeling ropey and have a small fear I have mastitis. If I get a fever with it I'm not fucking isolating. I shall scream for antibiotics and wave my sore tit at them.

@NothingIsWrong I'm so sorry you're having such an awful time. That sounds just absolutely shit. Is there anyone you can talk to apart from DH?

I don't know who I can talk to without being judged. If I say I'm not coping will people tell me I'm being selfish and I just have to suck it up? Which friend can I pick that won't tell me off for finding it hard?

Nothingwrong do your work have anything you can access? Mine has an employee assist program which has helplines but my employer is large. You'll probably find many friends will understand.

You are not alone in this, lots of us are struggling

@NothingIsWrong I know I'm not a RL friend or acquaintance so I don't really count, but I don't think it is selfish to find things hard. And admitting it is a sign of strength, not weakness.

The WFH thing is utterly depressing.

I agree. I hate it. I like the 'buzz' of the workplace, I like the banter with my colleagues, I like the division between work and home and I like the sense of achievement from coming home and turning the key in my front door in the evening.

I get that WFH is great for many , esp if they have long commutes and/or a lot of other responsibilities. But I hate it and really hope it doesn't become the norm. However, if employers realise they can save tons of money on rent, maintance, equipment etc. then it will likely happen. And of course a lot of jobs which depend on office workers - cleaners, taxi drivers, cafes etc - will go to the wall.