ADs don't want the greater good, give us our crusty jugglers!

[ISaySteadyOn]

Here you go all, thought it might be my turn again.

Oh god accidentally read the news. Wondered why DH who is a complete dementor twat was going on about our iow holiday being cancelled next week.
The bbc news article by Heath and science correspondent says "And I'm sorry to break it to parents, but the biggest question mark now is around the reopening of schools"
I think I will actually top myself if that happens. The thing is for me ( and presumably other primary school parents who are the main care providers) closing down schools is equivalent to locking us down again. No job again as no childcare. Can't take them anywhere as it is and in winter to boot.
I know that I am lucky that DH has a job and is earning well so we aren't in a financial crisis but I can't; I just can't go back to being a reluctant sahm - I can feel the fear and anger rising again. The only thing that has kept me going in the return of schools in sept

Oh it's a good one though, Wales

In the Bogroll bubble, it's felt like a normal day of summer holidays. DS2 was so excited about sports camp, he woke at 6... he was also so excited that he didn't sleep until 11, but hey, sleep is for the weak
DS1 and I have had a lovely 1:1 day dipping in and out of the house to go strolling around for pokemon. Bumped in to DS's friend who's newly started playing and had a good chat with his mum.

DH has been on site, so for the first time since early March, I've got the car turned on the drive and she's pointing the right way round
Funnily the "bad" news on reopenings was good for the venue he was in today because of their maintainance. It was planned anyway and under normal circumstances they would afford temporary infrastructure to remain viable... but social distancing didn't cover it. So they are happy to remain closed a bit longer.
Crap in the most part though.

On the schools, just reading this..

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/transmission-at-home-is-the-danger-3vl9xbks5
The northern lockdown is prompted by infected people visiting friends and family, not going to the pub

....ministers say that data from NHS Test and Trace did provide a clear rationale for restricting social life rather than economic activity. Contact tracing shows that the “vast majority” of infected people have mainly been seeing friends and extended family who live nearby..

The hope is that by taking this action ministers will avoid the need for a more extensive lockdown that would be economically devastating for many businesses who have only just been able to reopen.

If it is successful, senior government sources say, it could become a model for other regional — or even a national — lockdown in the winter when internal projections suggest there is likely to be another spike in cases.

In particular they say there is no evidence that children going to school are drivers of infection, or two people going for a socially distanced drink. They claim they want to be “smart” about further restrictions rather than taking a blanket approach.

@RobinHobb you’re not alone - I’m had fleeting thoughts about “opting out”. I can’t do this.

My dad has travelled from wales to Scotland this week and is now speaking Doric again - he should get away with it.

@Allflightscancelled
I had a proper job done on mine

Crazy

Got a lot of catching up to do.

Feel awful. Just shouted at DS. He's 17, he's a lovely lad really & generally very thoughtful but he doesn't see what the fuss is about over the restrictions. He was slightly arrogant about the latest news, which I've only just heard, & I shouted, "Some of us aren't finding this easy!"

I'm hiding upstairs, listening to thunder, a bit sulky, a bit angry, quite sad.

Trying not to think too deeply about too much.

Thanks for the support all :-)

I can't think at all atm.
@RobinHobb, I am a SAHM by choice but I made that decision under different circumstances. I feel similar. I was just starting to consider doing something else when this happened.

I consider myself to be a feminist and so many of these roolz impact mainly on mothers that I think it's important to note. But I am not sure what to do. Any thoughts?

Don't post very often but finally have some time alone this evening! Oldest dd at her dads, baby sleeping and dp our at some golf day/night.

Sitting enjoying my Chinese and a glass of wine as one does when I ventured onto another thread where some crackpot has wrote they think 2024 before we are back to normal?

What the actual fuck. I need some of the crack the poster is smoking to be able to put that in print. 2024? I won't make it that long!

It's 36 degrees here. House is south facing and trapping the sun - it's about 40 degrees inside. Partly why I'm struggling today - I don't like to when it's this hot.

I'm taking a deep breath. I want to go back to work; and I'm going to sit down with a large cold drink, take a deep breath and polish up my CV and look at reasonable job opportunities in whatever field I can get them in. I was in finance and have been in the middle of a career change but will put that on hold if I have to I guess.

Doing a part time or a full time job doing whatever, will get me out of the house and will mean DH will have to get off his arse and do some childcare and house work too - I will make sure he does because the skivvy role I seem to have fallen into won't continue if I am also bringing income. Importantly, income hopefully will cover childcare/nanny, if schools are gone. I'm thinking live in nanny as it's cheaper. Girls can share a room and we aren't having any guests as it is.

My youngest is in nursery. Will all nurseries close too? OMG how can this even be happening, its like a nightmare.

But first: deep breaths. I need to find a job, all else will come after.

Anyone else in this boat??

Throw a kitkat or something at him, @theorchidkiller. He'll probably forgive you, after that.

Thanks PickaChew. It'll take 4 kitkats, a proper dinner & a toast & jam chaser. That child is like a whippet but eats for England.

It's the arrogance of youth, they know it all, don't they?

Heard a bit of Radio 4 on the way to work. Really sensible man on there from Oxford Uni (sorry, forgot his name but he's the one saying that they counted people as dying from covid long after they'd recovered from it). He thinks the local lockdowns are a knee-jerk reaction. He says that ITU admissions are actually down, & that we shouldn't be looking at cases going up & panicking in response, without also considering ITU admissions & deaths from actual covid.

Why isn't he in charge?

I was trying to make this point to DS when it kicked off. Boris & Chris Twitty saying we'll just have to put up with this tipped me over the edge.

I cannot accept that this is it.

@RobinHobb

It's 36 degrees here. House is south facing and trapping the sun - it's about 40 degrees inside. Partly why I'm struggling today - I don't like to when it's this hot.

I'm taking a deep breath. I want to go back to work; and I'm going to sit down with a large cold drink, take a deep breath and polish up my CV and look at reasonable job opportunities in whatever field I can get them in. I was in finance and have been in the middle of a career change but will put that on hold if I have to I guess.

Doing a part time or a full time job doing whatever, will get me out of the house and will mean DH will have to get off his arse and do some childcare and house work too - I will make sure he does because the skivvy role I seem to have fallen into won't continue if I am also bringing income. Importantly, income hopefully will cover childcare/nanny, if schools are gone. I'm thinking live in nanny as it's cheaper. Girls can share a room and we aren't having any guests as it is.

My youngest is in nursery. Will all nurseries close too? OMG how can this even be happening, its like a nightmare.

But first: deep breaths. I need to find a job, all else will come after.

Anyone else in this boat??

Yes, very similar boat. My freelance work, which has already gone to shit, will disappear completely if schools don’t go back. Why would my clients hold our indefinitely for me when they can just use someone in the same field who isn’t having to homeschool 2 kids and look after a toddler at the same time? If schools don’t go back I’ll try and get myself a keyworker job in a supermarket or something. A couple of years ago I was earning a lot of money, I will happily take minimum wage if it gets my kids into school in some capacity and gets me out of the house for at least a few days.

Just in case anyone's thinking of going to a theme park, I went to Chessington World of Adventures yesterday with my daughter and her friend.

Masks were mandatory on some rides (Tomb Blaster, scary rides where people shout - fair enough) and in the shops. Otherwise they are just "strongly recommended". I'd say that only about 5% of people were wearing them while just outside walking about/queueing. They didn't leave rows empty on most of the rides so that's the trade-off for having to wear a mask.

People were queueing about 1m apart. This meant that some of the timings were off. The sign would say 30 minute wait, but it would turn out to be 10 minutes. Some of them were more correct.

The soft play/climbing equipment/treehouse type areas for toddlers were closed so probably not the best time to go with pre-schoolers. The zoo and younger children rides were open though. There was no entertainment on the stage obviously.

We would never normally go during the school holidays, but due to the restricted numbers allowed in it was like an inset day in terms of crowds. Obviously anyone very anxious about Covid wouldn't go to a theme park so there were no dirty looks/comments about not wearing masks. It was nice to be out and about with people enjoying themselves.

I know about the whippet types. Tiny twig of a 7yo sent off with a packed lunch of cheese and pickle sandwich, peperami, crisps, apple and two crepes and only one crepe came back so it was about the right amount. Plus a can of Rio with lunch. Plus 2x 0.75l bottles of water. There's reasons why I let school cater...

I've just been looking up swimming... Lessons not on until Sept... they do "family bubble" swim. Basically £20 to hire half a pool in the evening for an hour including changing. 4 slots avaliable per day... most days. The timetable looks like swiss cheese. There are 3 pools, the main one for lanes, the training pool separated off in a different space and a splash pool permanently divided off from the main pool which is the one we tend to use now. One hour avaliability for the splash and training pool. Why so few opportunities for families to swim???

@TheOrchidKiller that sounds like Carl Heneghan, if you're on twitter he is worth following, writes for the Spectator too. A cool blast of sanity.

@TheYellowOfTheEgg that sounds good :) ... dh took the kids to Legoland on Tuesday - it sounds pretty similar - they had a wonderful day, we're going to try and go again before the autumn.

I'm so tired, dragging myself through the week. Not sleeping at all, again.

@TheOrchidKiller

I wish this didn’t keep going round and round in my head

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing
Edward burke

Can’t get rid of the blummin thing

@BogRollBOGOF "Why so few opportunities for families to swim???"

Yes! there's nothing at all here - only over 16 lane swimming - I've looked at neighbouring LAs too. Nothing. Even tried to d=suggest private hire (like you do for parties!) - non starter. So miserable.

Is anyone else getting a big blue advert coming down the side of the screen saying to make your own mask

The Government should be ashamed

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/31/pandemic-has-ruined-mothers-now-need-fight-back/

Funny how they expect children to wear them at school though... hmm
Then, it is all 'precious' parents

Yes. I saw a poster refer to reception age children who might struggle with a mask as “snowflakes”, which is a new low, even for a dementor. Do they even realise they’re adopting the language of the alt-right?

I think I'm in for a cracker of a storm. Thunder has been grumbling for the last half hour, The world has gone that weird 3d colour effect and the rain has just started.

Looking forward to a stunner (crash of thunder and first lightening)

@TheOrchidKiller

Got a lot of catching up to do.

Feel awful. Just shouted at DS. He's 17, he's a lovely lad really & generally very thoughtful but he doesn't see what the fuss is about over the restrictions. He was slightly arrogant about the latest news, which I've only just heard, & I shouted, "Some of us aren't finding this easy!"

I'm hiding upstairs, listening to thunder, a bit sulky, a bit angry, quite sad.

Trying not to think too deeply about too much.

Mine is much the same. He is unemployed and being 'zoomed' by UC people to do interview practice etc to help him get a job. But he has so many adhd traits he is not geared up to face a work environment but he will have to (and covid is a good excuse not to look too hard for a job, I am not stupid altogether😉) He rarely leaves his room consequently all the restrictions have no impact on him unless on the rare days he comes out with me to shop. Its a bit annoying explaining how this crap affects people daily and how the 'roolz' are mental at times. He has no frame of reference so it needs spelling out as he just shrugs and says 'it is what it is there's no choice" Yes there fecking is or we will still be like this next year!

Just been for quick food shop and needed to put £ on gas card. Masks and one way system which stupidly means passing people queueing within inches of them meant I got crap and left asap. DS2 is exempt but was wearing one to avoid 'Looks' which gave me the rage as well.

0 deaths in 10 days in Scotland cop on NS!

Well I have finally finished work for the day. Its been an absolute sweaty bollock of a day I've had one crisis after another since 7am (foolishly thought if I started earlier I could finish earlier).

My out of office is now on. I should be happy but I just feel bloody irritable. Had a stressful day and because I've no space between work and home I still feel like I'm running on stress.

Pass me the wine.