The Anti Dementors, danger-buffooning their way through life!

[Drivingdownthe101]

New thread!

YY to rules etc at school. Worked in a small primary and classes took turns on stuff in the playground due to fights and swarming it, also lots of lining up, spots on the carpet etc, waiting, due to sheer numbers. Children are used to all that. "Helicopter arms' etc will not be much different. Also they love being a 'monitor' in charge of it all

@AnotherEmma I wholeheartedly agree actually. It's a shame the government will probably never admit that children were needlessly punished though.

@orangeblossom78 - so true. Dd gets very enthused about school rules, while ignoring as much as she can at home!

I took DS to our friends' garden yesterday rather than playing at the nature reserve as usual. I'm afraid or not that we pretty much broke all the rulez.

Friend said it was lovely to have a group of small children in her kitchen clamouring for ice lollies. We even hugged.

Our school starts back today, though they don't have enough staff for DS's year. I'm so glad that some children are getting to go.

A horsey teacher friend with serious health issues has been fairly quiet on Facebook other than saying she misses her pupils and expressing sadness at some of the things they will miss. Today she posted "Life is short, enjoy the ride". I suspect she is an anti dementor😊. Thank goodness, I have so many people on 30 day snooze my feed is getting too quiet.

All these family meet-ups going on is heartwarming
I have a lovely story to tell
IVe been seeing most of my family throughout , and last week was invited to sit in the garden with dd and the three children.
When I left I left a tenner for ice creams as they were headed to the beach.
I swung by in the car a couple of days later To have a quick chat with my dd and the eldest came out, a 15 year old boy

Oh nana he said, I just wanted to thank you for the £4 you left. I’m sorry I didn’t thank you at the time but I was in the house doing something. I just wanted you to know I hadn’t forgotten. What an utter gent. I don’t know how I didn’t end up sobbing in a heap.

These Moments are what makes my life so worthwhile.
I’m so proud of him.

Have a lovely day everyone. I’m off for a family picnic .I’ve found my tribe here.
The voice of reasons.
I spoke to some disabled friends yesterday, where did you go now you can come out of lockdown.
The replies weren’t quite abuse but let’s say most of them were staying put.

I watched the neighbour taking their youngest out to nursery this morning. It was lovely to hear the excitement. Their DC1 is in the same class as my DC2 so he's probably not back in yet unless they've managed to do something about key worker provision. She's been working from home at night as there's just no concentration when the kids are up, even before husband RTW.

I have so many people on 30 day snooze my feed is getting too quiet

me too.

I snoozed so many people and unfollowed pretty much all the community groups that there’s fuck all on my FB these days.

I had a look at some of them last night. I’ve missed a couple of amazing arguments. I’m a bit gutted.

We’ve brought lots of our employees back this week. We’d been furloughed since 1st April so it’s nice to see more back. We did think we’d have to make loads of redundancies but so far so good, we’re really busy

I’m sure there will still be a few but it is looking more positive.

Had some friends over last night for a couple of beers in the garden. It was nice

Plus, both my DDs are out and about and meeting up with friends. They’ve both been good, making sure they respect social distancing with friends.

DD1 is going on a Black Lives Protest on Saturday

DD2’s riding instructor is back teaching again so they’ll be back to scaring the crap out of me.

I was so worried about both of them so I am so relieved they are getting back to some degree of normality

Feeling quite positive today - even MN dementors haven’t quashed it - yet

Morning all!

I'm also feeling more positive today- probably due to the fact that I slept much better last night. and to the fact that DP have made an agreement about potential rule-breaking

I also have my two best friends coming over for garden drinks tonight. I promised not to lick their glasses but they said they'd be fine with it if I did...

I've also had word that my karate instructor has contacted the halls etc to sound out how they feel about classes starting back (with modifications obviously) so I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about in general today.

Dementors are doing my head in today. They’re a totalitarian regime’s wet dream.

Things in general are starting to feel more positive, which is probably going to cause the hardcore dementors to start screeching louder about second waves.

I'm going to my mums house on Thursday. She's a keen gardener and is really proud of her garden, but she said that this year no one apart from her has seen it in its glory. I find that so sad, this is so tough for people who live alone.

School called this morning; it was the office, asking if I had any questions about my son’s return to school. My heart leapt, and then they mentioned the wrong child’s name and I realised they’d got the wrong number and had mistaken me for someone else. This morning we’ve had meltdowns about Roman numerals, negative numbers and ice lollies. DS is currently in the garden, curled up in a chair refusing to move or talk. I honestly don’t think I can do this for another 7 weeks.

Jassy that’s shocking of your DC’s school. And I agree that in general the UK really dislike children. I would have argued against it until I spent 3 years living abroad and it really opened my eyes. When I first saw the news of research that suggested that children may not be vectors for COVID I thought “Brilliant! Surely that will be a priority for further research, because if it’s true they can all go back to school and won’t have their lives unnecessarily disrupted anymore!” But apparently it’s somehow more convenient to carry on with the assumption that they’re “superspreaders” because if adults have to suffer, why shouldn’t they?

@SudokuBook I know, right? See the sex with non-resident partner being illegal thread? They are LOVING this.

It almost makes me want to go out and chat up the builders next door despite being very much married

I'm having such a bad day. Hardly any friends will meet me even though its allowed now because they're so scared. My kids are so unhappy. I can't home school them properly as I have a very grumpy, clingy new baby. DH is acting more dementory by the day which isn't helping. I wish I wasn't on maternity leave as then I'd be a keyworker and I'd be allowed to send the kids to school.

The other day there were 68 new cases in northumberland and I'm sure the dementors were actually happy about it because they were all posting about the second wave on the village Facebook group. The next day there were no new cases again and I noticed no one posted about that!

@SudokuBook

Dementors are doing my head in today. They’re a totalitarian regime’s wet dream.

That's what has shaken me the most about all of this I think. I read a lot of dystopian fiction and have a bit of a fascination with how totalitarian regimes work (hey my first degree was politics - it was a bit of a legitimate interest!) and seeing in action Government adverts ordering us not to leave our houses, and then the willingness to dob in and judge and condemn anyone, and how to invent ever more draconian "rules" among the general public has been awful to watch.

Kids are at school - I've done a little bit of uni work (I'm just sorting out lecture notes from last year for something to do really) and apart from DH in the corner working so I can't watch anything good on telly as he witters on over it all - it feels OK.

It bothers me how quickly people have started reporting neighbours etc. People wanting troops on the streets and so forth.

It's horrific I can't understand that mindset at all.

My hayfever is horrendous at the moment, and I'm coughing and sneezing all over the place.

the Dementors LOVE me.

School and arms - I remember having to line up with your arms outstretched and your hands on the person in front shoulders, standing sideways with arms stretched to the side is surely just a variant of this.

MrsFumble hang in there, how old is your DS?

TheGreatWave Thanks! DS is 9. He has ASD, but no EHCP so no school place. He’s missing school so desperately, and having the boundary between school and home disappear is really affecting him. He’s very bright and aware of everything going on around him and his anxiety is manifesting itself in demand avoidance and his diet becoming even more limited. I also have 7yo DD who is having lots of tantrums and whose reading and handwriting have deteriorated, which makes me feel crap.

Apologies for the pity party. It’s genuinely lovely and heartwarming to hear about children returning to school and nursery and being so happy and excited.

Found a great post on the village Facebook page this morning. An `outsider' dared to ask permission to visit our village. The comments were something else! Luckily someone had the guts to tell her to do whatever she wanted and that called out the hypocrites that shopped and visited other villages and towns nearby. Brilliant.

MrsFrumble Richard Scarry fan?

I'd love someone to report me for having DM in my house. As she potters up the road with her 3-wheeled walker, for the only cooked meal she has all week because she struggled with her all mod cons cooker. Or me in hers, because if the local snout wants to take her bags of incontinence pads out every day they can be my guest...

The way they keep on about sacrifices does my head in. I wonder exactly how much any of them have sacrificed? I’ve lost my job directly due to the pandemic, my means of providing for my family, what the fuck do these idiots know about what other people have sacrificed?

I forgot to take my hay fever pill this morning so I’m coughing sneezing all over the place. I want to rip my own eyeballs out of my head

I’m holed up in my office with the door closed as I am trying to sort out our VAT return so no one has said anything to me about it yet.

Cupcakes that sounds so tough I saw a lady with a new baby out walking today and thought how difficult that must be with older children

I am finding it hard enough without a baby in the mix, in fact DS is going on Minecraft again when meant to be doing school work...

i just read that the Gov might be thinking of doing some summer camps in schools- not with teachers but other staff- to help children ease back in with crafts, outdoor activities and a bit of education too

i thought that was a good plan, will await more news on this.

@Cattermole DS was when I last bothered to name change, many years ago!