Commando AD awareness for donut bum dogs

[InsaneInTheViralMembrane]

Phew!

@pollyhemlock

Can anyone enlighten me as to where the Zoe app gets their figures from? Our very rural area has suddenly shot up from around 500 cases per 100k to 1637 ( scary Very Dark Red on the map). Yet I have seen no evidence elsewhere of an increase except for a smallish number in our local seaside town. Is there a link to the Times article mentioned above?

Is it the fact that they’ve changed from reporting cases per 100k to cases per million? Cases per 100k were so low as to be fairly meaningless, so they changed their reporting methods.

@IAintentDead

Next thread title to maybe include

Crusty Jugglers

Absolutely! Or peace lily's

Crusty jugglers, definitely!

@Drivingdownthe101 I remember opening the Zoe App for the first time after the change and freaking out for a split second till I realised what they'd done

Popping in. At work still wearing the disp mask I put in at 7! Never had 2 minutes to change it its been full on constantly. Oh well less waste😄
Most people wearing them today but not always correctly!

@Drivingdownthe101 I thought that change to cases per million happened a while back though. This jump in figures was just over the last 48 hours. Very odd

[quote pollyhemlock]@Drivingdownthe101 I thought that change to cases per million happened a while back though. This jump in figures was just over the last 48 hours. Very odd[/quote]
Hmm yes that is odd. No local news of an outbreak or anything?

@wanderings totally with you on the withholding spending. It's a shame for the shops affected but it's the only little bit of power/control I have left. I was never into shipping centres etc but I used to spend a lot of money in cafes/garden centre/picking up bits in m&s. Not anymore. I have to take the kids to the optician so I guess we'll have to don our buffs then but I'm not doing anything non essential. No takeaways either.

How does the Dutch being healthy square with their love of chocolate spread on toast with chocolate sprinkles?? They are pretty active though with their lovely cycle lanes etc. so maybe it balances out?

I am feeling irrationally huffy today. Went for a run and then heard BoJo's instruction that we must not be fat. Now I feel like I was just doing what I was told and it's pissed me off!!

Muisjes (mouse droppings) 😂. Tbh I think it’s portion control and fewer convenience foods. There’s a lot of peer pressure and a lot more “omg I put on 3kg and everyone I’ve ever met has told me”. Otoh, someone 10 stone overweight is considered to have “personal hurt” to have got to that stage.

[quote PinkFondantFancy]@wanderings totally with you on the withholding spending. It's a shame for the shops affected but it's the only little bit of power/control I have left. I was never into shipping centres etc but I used to spend a lot of money in cafes/garden centre/picking up bits in m&s. Not anymore. I have to take the kids to the optician so I guess we'll have to don our buffs then but I'm not doing anything non essential. No takeaways either.

How does the Dutch being healthy square with their love of chocolate spread on toast with chocolate sprinkles?? They are pretty active though with their lovely cycle lanes etc. so maybe it balances out?

I am feeling irrationally huffy today. Went for a run and then heard BoJo's instruction that we must not be fat. Now I feel like I was just doing what I was told and it's pissed me off!![/quote]
I will not be withholding my spending because imo. that is a different kind of dementorish. I will continue to support, butchers, bakers, greengrocers, candlestick makers. Will also support our chippy, chinese, cafes, pubs, will visit our tourist attractions, I know people who work in Debenhams, Next, M&S, Tesco and Sainsburys as do we all. @PinkFondantFancy I suppose you will be buying food for your family so you are supporting some businesses.

Behind these businesses you despise are human beings perhaps who need to support their families ffs.

Behind these businesses you despise are human beings perhaps who need to support their families ffs

I'd support shops who follow "the rules" but don't go ott about it.

I wouldn't support a shop who only lets you in by appointment, or makes small children wear masks, or won't let you touch anything, or bark orders at you etc etc

My advice to small business owners is, if you're welcoming people will come. If you treat people like they're infected with the plague, they will not.

Apologies in advance, I've just delurked to moan in a safe space

Second day of attempting some 'bemasked' shopping and I'm ready to claw my own face off!

I have sensory issues which are exacerbated when I'm mildly hungover tired. I am also 'blessed' with a large nose (thanks for that genetic gift Dad) and cant stand the feeling of a mask pressing on it. I also find that the bottom half of my field of vision is obscured - or do I just have a weird face?? If I pull the mask down enough to see properly it's tighter on my snout. Then I start hyperventilating because I'm so uncomfortable...

I've tried disposable masks, which I can just about fiddle into a tolerable position but they don't stay that way, so I'm fiddling with it the whole way round the supermarket. I've also tried cloth masks, which are too hot and too tight.

I'm going to have to suck it up as we're supposed to be flying on Wednesday, but maybe one of the expensive masks with a breathing valve would be less hideous? Does anyone know where I can get one from an actual shop? From what I've seen on Amazon it doesn't look like I'll get any online ones delivered in time now. I pity DP and DS having to sit next to me for 4 hours if I can't find a better solution

Behind these businesses you despise are human beings perhaps who need to support their families ffs

I don’t despise any businesses (except perhaps ones who treat their employees badly). However I won’t be choosing to spend my leisure time and disposable income doing something that I actively find miserable and uncomfortable, and at the moment sadly I do.

@Drivingdownthe101

Behind these businesses you despise are human beings perhaps who need to support their families ffs

I don’t despise any businesses (except perhaps ones who treat their employees badly). However I won’t be choosing to spend my leisure time and disposable income doing something that I actively find miserable and uncomfortable, and at the moment sadly I do.

Yeah I think this is the crux of it for me. I don't want to spend money or time doing something that makes me actively unhappy.

But we do have freedom to switch our custom to businesses that offer better service and to cut back to a minimum.

If a shopping trip is primarily for pleaure, it's a pretty pointless excercise if there is no pleàsure in the experience.

I've been to my local chip shop once because they decided to shut at 8pm which was too early. I'm using another one which shuts at 9.30 because it works better for me. It's a convenient location for my journey back from my fitness class.
I obviously want my local one to survive and bear them no ill will, but if they don't offer a practical service, I go elsewhere.

M&S, I'd probably buy the school uniform online anyway as they rarely have 7 double packs of the particular cut of polo shirt in stock in store anyway (similarly sized children)

Random stuff like Decathlon, I have a good idea of what I need to order online.

Random stuff in town, I'm not going through the discomfort of hours in INTU when there is no access to fresh air, and no joy in browsing for things I do not need.

I've been shopping since June, I've caught up on the latent demand of things I've needed for growing children. The shopping experience has been fine. But I'm not putting myself through the discomfort of feeling queasy on my own stale breath and risking panic attacks (I have form) for things that are non-essential and bring me no benefit.

So for example we went to the zoo last week. It was lovely, plenty of protective measures in place but in an unobtrusive way, staff were friendly, we had a fab day so we will return.
We went to a local farm park the same week which was the opposite... nonsensical one way system that caused more issues than it resolved, lots of staff shouting orders at people, rules that made it really difficult to actually relax and enjoy the day. I won’t choose to spend my money their again for the foreseeable as it wasn’t at all enjoyable. I think it would be an act of selflessness too far to spend my time and money doing things that we don’t enjoy in order to support their business.

@justasking111 That's why I said earlier that withholding spending is a moral dilemma; I don't like hurting business in this way, and the people who work in them. I agree that it is a different kind of dementorish, and it certainly would be if we were trying to persuade our fellow anti-dementors to make our existence even more miserable by not spending money at all.

However, it feels as if being selective with our spending is the only tool we have to make the government listen. Money talks louder than the muzzled public. The government won't listen to people concerned for their rights and freedoms (they've proved this many times), but they might listen to businesses complaining that their customers are deserting them.

Yeah I think this is the crux of it for me. I don't want to spend money or time doing something that makes me actively unhappy.

Ditto.

Plus, businesses are not charities. They can it expect money from people purely because they have bills (including wages) to pay. Many businesses are going beyond the government requirements in an effort to be seen as "safe" and "doing the right thing". Well, that's a choice they've made - if they find it is harming their business to do so, they have the choice to change back.

Equally, the government have a choice. The evidence for compulsory mask use is shaky, at best. They have made a choice to introduce masks, they can make a choice to scrap masks if they find people are not behaving as they wish them to, ie going out and spending money to get the economy going again. There is plenty of supporting science to use in support of dropping masks, if they wanted to do so.

The government has a choice. The businesses have a choice. I, as a consumer, have a choice. No-one is going to tell me to sacrifice my choice for the sake of the government & businesses' choices. (The greater good... Crusty jugglers... )

The farm park was somewhere we’ve been many times in the past by the way and enjoyed, but it is no longer enjoyable with its current measures.

@NoisyBrain

Apologies in advance, I've just delurked to moan in a safe space

Second day of attempting some 'bemasked' shopping and I'm ready to claw my own face off!

I have sensory issues which are exacerbated when I'm mildly hungover tired. I am also 'blessed' with a large nose (thanks for that genetic gift Dad) and cant stand the feeling of a mask pressing on it. I also find that the bottom half of my field of vision is obscured - or do I just have a weird face?? If I pull the mask down enough to see properly it's tighter on my snout. Then I start hyperventilating because I'm so uncomfortable...

I've tried disposable masks, which I can just about fiddle into a tolerable position but they don't stay that way, so I'm fiddling with it the whole way round the supermarket. I've also tried cloth masks, which are too hot and too tight.

I'm going to have to suck it up as we're supposed to be flying on Wednesday, but maybe one of the expensive masks with a breathing valve would be less hideous? Does anyone know where I can get one from an actual shop? From what I've seen on Amazon it doesn't look like I'll get any online ones delivered in time now. I pity DP and DS having to sit next to me for 4 hours if I can't find a better solution

I have the same nose issues. If it's far enough up my nose not to cause too much pressure, it's rubbing against my glasses and irritating the bags under my eyes.

But of course a doctor did a 26k walk in a mask just to prove how silly we all are.

I have a point lately of if they have a facebook page of thanking businesses who have provided a service to my family this week. Did three today. Ship Inn, Tinkers and Belles, Manorafon Park, take a bow you were outstanding.

It may be worth telling them what you think even the negatives if you think it will improve their business.

@justasking111

I have a point lately of if they have a facebook page of thanking businesses who have provided a service to my family this week. Did three today. Ship Inn, Tinkers and Belles, Manorafon Park, take a bow you were outstanding.

It may be worth telling them what you think even the negatives if you think it will improve their business.

I do provide feedback, both positive and negative.

With masks it is the fogging up of my specs. lady in chemist when speaking to me last week fogged up, it must be frustrating to work all day like that.

It's a shame for the shops affected but ...

No it's a shame for everyone, including you. The problem is that if everyone does this your quality of life in future will be negatively affected. The economy is a network and if one area suffers enough then eventually everyone does.

Some people won't be spending money in shops because they can't afford it and this will be a big enough problem without others doing it as a point of principle.

@GrumpiestOldWoman

It's a shame for the shops affected but ...

No it's a shame for everyone, including you. The problem is that if everyone does this your quality of life in future will be negatively affected. The economy is a network and if one area suffers enough then eventually everyone does.

Some people won't be spending money in shops because they can't afford it and this will be a big enough problem without others doing it as a point of principle.

So are you suggesting then that we spend our limited leisure time and disposable income doing something that we find uncomfortable and miserable? Unfortunately I am not willing to do that. I will spend my time and my money in places that provide a pleasant experience.