ADs deflower male cucumbers for the Greater Good. All phallic aubergines welcome .

[BogRollBOGOF]

Because bitter male cucumbers don't bring joy, but phallic aubergines can raise an irreverent smile.

AD chat continues about life, the universe and everything. We know the answer is 42 but what is the question?
6x7?
How many roads must a man walk down?
How many unsadly reincarnations have PHE put into the database?

@TheOrchidKiller
For what it's worth I think you are doing exactly the right thing.

At the peak the only people getting tested were those hospitalised. Even people dying at home didn't get tested unless they actually died and often not then, it was just 'diagnosed'. At that time there were many people ill but not tested and it is also likely that there were many who were mildly or asymptomatic. (Mild cases wouldn't have thought they had it at that stage as it was a killer, so a cold equivalent just wouldn't cut it).

Now we are testing lots of people, 1% ish of those tested are positive, of those 1% a further 1% are being hospitalised (not accurate figures). So 0.001% of those testing positive are hospitalised.

If it was straight figures we could say if there were a thousand deaths (and many more hospitalised,) then there must have been 10,000,000+ people infected. (It won't be that many because of the unprotected elderly that were dying).

I know those figures aren't correct but the principle is there. The reason we thought youngsters didn't get it was because for most of them it is a cold. But the people that did get it weren't, as far as I can see, getting it from youngsters. Mostly these youngsters don't spend huge amounts of time in close contact (eg giving personal care) with vulnerable people.

The more young people get it and recover from it the closer we get to herd immunity. Add to that lots of kids have already had it unknowingly AND in my view we should not be depriving them of any more of their life.

There is no guarantee they won't get it and be seriously ill but they are more likely to be ill with flu, meningitis, glandular fever or get knocked over on the road - all of which can have lifelong repercussions. All of them would be tragedies and Covid is just another one.

Being a parent is both the best and the worst thing in the world. And it doesn't stop - changes but I still worry and mine are in their 40s.

@MxEWeatherwax I feel better for knowing you let your teen go to a party too. We're talking small groups here, not raves in a field.

We also score more points on Bad Parenting Bingo for not knowing exactly when DS is due back in school. "First week of September sometime, not sure which day," is all we need to know for this week.

@MxEWeatherwax

I haven't seen anyone with a TP user name who doesn't belong with the ADs.

Perhaps another name for the Ds would be 'Auditors'

My kids have given me nits... surely covid is just part and parcel of parenting! 😁

@InsaneInTheViralMembrane

My kids have given me nits... surely covid is just part and parcel of parenting! 😁

Lol! That didn't take long, they've only been back at school 5 mins!

Teenagers need the freedom to go out with their peers. Heck, my 7yo misses his peers. I might have spent the last 4 years of my life playing Pokemon Go, but bloody hell he can mangle my brains with relentless talk about movesets. He needs other 7 year olds with relentless energy levels and encyclopedic knowledge of pokemon

Had a good one today. It involved a ferry trip. On the way back the avaliable seats not taped off for social distancing didn't match the passenger groupings. A family of 3 were struggling to find any seats. I had a spare next to me so offered it and pointed out that 25+ mph winds on an open deck is pretty low risk The other seats became avaliable then for the other two and I swapped round so they were by eachother across the aisle. Definitely safer to be sitting on a rough crossing and strong winds than standing and maintaining social distancing!

I've been doing a fair bit of loitering outside shops waiting for DH and the DCs to emerge. I did have to dig my buff out on the ferry, but gale force winds did make it easier with fresh air blasting through the fabric

@RealityExistsInTheHumanMind
Thank you! Wise words. My thoughts were that cases in the local community are low, & they could catch it from elsewhere, including me.

I will worry more about DD getting home safely tonight than covid.

Had a funny one at MacDonalds yesterday. Two out of the three outside tables were cordoned off, so we had another family asking us to budge up so they could share our table.

When I commented about how pointless it was to cordon off the other tables, they said seriously that they supposed it was for social distancing.

I still haven’t finished the last book, would love to hear the great TP’s thoughts on masks etc. Because I think he was definitely anti establishment.

@InsaneInTheViralMembrane Nits! Oh no! I don't miss nit comb nights.

Mine gave their father chicken pox, which was memorable. He really was poorly with it.

Bogroll rather you than me on a ferry today!

My teen grandson aged 15 gets the bus or train each week to socialise With his home edded pals. He will wear a mask as he believes that was the only way he was going to get his life back.

The other teen grandson works in Mac Donald’s, Goes to gym, meets pals for footy etc

I’d have put money on it that bojo would have joined Stanley, his dad at his pied a terre in Croatia or was it Bulgaria.

I thought they would’ve wanted a catch up on how to cull the population,

Bloody hell managed to accidently hide the thread! Stupid page jumps around sometimes.

[quote TheOrchidKiller]@InsaneInTheViralMembrane Nits! Oh no! I don't miss nit comb nights.

Mine gave their father chicken pox, which was memorable. He really was poorly with it.

Bogroll rather you than me on a ferry today![/quote]
They were only operating within a relatively sheltered harbour area. Nothing into open sea today. It wasn't too bad and the abundance of fresh air even through a face covering helped with not feeling queasy.

Not happening this year, but I like getting a cabin for the 4 hour crossing to Ireland. Last time we did that one, we lurched down and a wave came up to us on deck 6. The car on the open deck was slathered on salt by the time we got to Dublin!

@MxEWeatherwax

I still haven’t finished the last book, would love to hear the great TP’s thoughts on masks etc. Because I think he was definitely anti establishment.

Hmm - I think he would have had a field day but even he didn't predict this kind of removal of human rights.

I've just reread Monstrous Regiments - I think that would feed your username.

*Sorry - that should be 'being rights' rather than 'human rights'

Brilliant news Magda. I'm feeling a bit desperate to secure such a test, because Australians are about to have a 'warp speed' vaccine imposed on us by government mandate. I'm sure DH and I (and most importantly DS) had the virus in March. How will a rapidly produced vaccine be able to integrate emerging discoveries about how the immune system actually responds to infection with the wild virus? (Its the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine which is looking likely here.)

And given that the apes used in the expedited Oxford animal trials still managed to he infected by the virus in a challenge (but did not develop pneumonia or other severe symptoms), what is the point of mandating a vaccine that is only for personal protection? Surely herd immunity isn't even possible via this vaccine, if the vaccine is only capable of suppressing severe symptoms. Vaccinated people could still spread it.

The media here is openly calling people who express any concern about 'warp speed' or mandates 'idiots' and 'anti-science'. It's gone the full despot in Australia.

@110APiccadilly

Taking of mothers not seeing anyone - Welsh Government put up a Facebook post a few days ago saying maternity services are still there to support you, though some of it might be over the phone, etc, etc. Anyway, there's a lot of comments on there making it clear that new and expectant mothers do not feel supported at all - key theme is no or very limited health visitor visits. How long is it going to take before we end up with dead babies because breast feeding was going poorly and no one was checking whether they were actually putting on weight, for instance? And unsupported new mothers with PND, some of whom might be ill enough to harm themselves or their babies?

I saw this. Awful. So many people feel forgotten about. I can plod on for a few weeks and then it all hits me and I just cry and cry. Then I'm ok for another few weeks.

@InsaneInTheViralMembrane

My kids have given me nits... surely covid is just part and parcel of parenting! 😁

One bright spark in lockdown for us was we finally got rid of the damn things. No reinfection at school helped a lot. Individual desks for lice prevention please!

@chocolatesweets, . I know the feeling. You are not forgotten. Not on this thread. I wish I could set up an underground toddler group for you.

@chocolatesweets not forgotten by me either. I have an almost two year old but am lucky that her big sister helps keep her entertained. Still feeling the loss of library story time and had been hoping to start childcare / job hunting in Autumn.

I just feel angry with it all today.

I think that is an entirely reasonable feeling and you are not alone.