ADs crave hotel breakfasts garnished with phallic strawberries

[BogRollBOGOF]

Oh for the good old days of a breakfast buffet.

Back when you could make plans and reasonably expect them to happen. When you could turn up spontaneously and browse or linger at your leisure. When you could meet whoever you like and give them a hug

But until those days return, here's some more AD chat about life, the universe and phallic fruits...

@Reedwarbler

Re Boris's hair falling out - how long before they say that, too, is a possible effect of covid? We don't posess hand sanitiser at all. There was none available when all this started, but we had loads of ordinary bar soap at home, so that's what we use. I don't use sanitiser out unless I am requested to (like the dentists). I don't go round fiddling with my face or sucking my fingers, just wash when I get back in. Must say, I haven't even had a cold this year! Feeling really fed up at the moment. I could just about put up with this until the spring, and emerge into the April sunlight like a glorious butterfly (like all you other butterflies!), but the thought of it going on for another year is beyond depressing. I still think we are being gaslighted (gaslit?) to a certain extent. Yes, students are putting up the numbers, but where are all these other people getting it? Is it mostly a case of hospital and institutional transmission? Fortunately, the numbers here are still very low. We should be low risk, but, in order to ramp up the fear, there is no 'low risk'.

Reedwarbler, I'm sorry to tell you that hair falling out has been known as a side effect of Covid for some time!

One of the few people I know who had it (confirmed) in March is in contact with a Covid nurse, whose job it seems to be to work with Covid recoverers. When my friend's hair started coming out in chunks, the nurse confirmed that this was indeed a well-known side effect.

I don't know if it's known to be an effect of other illnesses, but it happened to me after I had each of my DC, so it seems to be one of the body's responses to a considerable event.

Please don't throw me off the AD thread for sharing this!

BTW, this friend is otherwise in fine fettle.

Yep leaf swooshing is only ever really fun for the first day when they're crisp and crunchy. Couple of days of British rain and they become a sludgy slippery as hell mess, hiding dog turds and then you're risking concussion by falling conkers.

So fuck Autumn lovely overly bullshitted walks.

I think Boris is defying SAGE to keep the schools open and I am grateful for that.
I would happily lock myself in the garage for a fortnight with a litter tray and 3 cans of Pringles, if it kept my girls at school!

It is tricky to know what plans to make for half term I agree. Might be going to the coast but it is a mobile home owned by someone in DHs family so guess that would be Ok as just now we are in one of the lower areas. But that might change. Lots of new cases at the uni.

I don't understand some on another thread calling for lockdown saying they want one to help with mental health. It is the opposite for me. But some say they are scared to go out. I have always learnt that it is better to try and tackle and deal with problems rather than hide from them as that can make things worse.

I wonder about the hair loss thing. My hair was coming out in chunks over summer but that was definitely due to low ferritin and anxiety. I do wonder if some conditions might be missed if written off as long Covid.

And I tried to do autumn crafts with my 3 year old tried sticking leaves on a wreath but they kept breaking and now it looks like something from the Wicker Man.

They have been an absolute lifeline for me. Thank you all.

Also, I am trying to teach DS place value. Anyone have any recommendations on good strategies for this?

Morning all.

Thanks @TheOrchidKiller, very wise words on personal boundaries. I know I can be guilty of not putting them in place and then needing them further down the line.

@Orangeblossom7777 I saw that stat about long-covid somewhere too, I think it was in the Economist (who are normally pretty reliable on this kind of thing). 2%. And no one has much idea how this compares to any other virus, because no one's ever really measured it at scale.

I think everyone's struggling this week. We humans are very Pavlovian creatures in some ways. We've been trained by the media: Numbers go up = sadfaces. Regardless of what those numbers actually mean, or how they compare to other numbers.

I can see the headlines for December now: CALLOUS SUPERSPREADERS WRECK XMAS etc. There are going to be lots of sadface sob stories: family festive pain, Christmas on ICU, and so on. I shall be avoiding. (I have already put myself on a self-imposed Guardian ban, they can be properly scaremongery when they want to.)

Hormones and stress would also impact a middle aged male's hair though as well. It must be pretty stressful being PM right now and he has a new baby as well. Poor old Boris

I'm finding that with the Guardian too and also avoiding it, but think the BBC seemed to have turned a little. Well, they had, but now they seem to have that dementory reporter back and less of the other one. If you know what I mean. A few weeks ago it was all shall we learn to live with it now it is a bit back to doom and dementing again

I'm on a day out. Just nipped to the loo - two other women in there, none of us wearing masks and one lovely older lady (70s I'd guess) actually started a conversation! Lovely. And the sun is shining.

I'm ignoring the news as much as possible. BBC app went in the bin back in April. Sky mildly less dementoring but I only check it rarely.

Thank goodness the WHO is giving two messages: Firstly schools should stay open if at all possible Second lockdowns are a last resort and not a solution. I'm going to try and avoid news too now. Looks like a sunny day here today. Going to go swimming if I can get a slot, it has been busier recently.

@Orangeblossom7777

I'm finding that with the Guardian too and also avoiding it, but think the BBC seemed to have turned a little. Well, they had, but now they seem to have that dementory reporter back and less of the other one. If you know what I mean. A few weeks ago it was all shall we learn to live with it now it is a bit back to doom and dementing again

Hello all, I haven't posted on this thread before but I have been lurking for several threads - thank you ADs for helping to save my sanity.

Just wanted to reply as I agree with you re the BBC. The non dementory chap is Nick Triggle, I follow him on Twitter, he's v.g.

twitter.com/NickTriggle?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

I am also thinking of cancelling my Guardian sub. I've been very disappointed with the standard of reporting.

The only reason I stick with the Guardian is Marina Hyde. She is the most magnificent writer.

Shelling that is right, Nick Triggle. He is better and more factual and calm than some of the others!

Also, I am trying to teach DS place value. Anyone have any recommendations on good strategies for this?

We resorted to mathsfactor but DD1 got to end of Yr 2 without understanding place value but apparently did well in her yr2 stats . When she got it she stopped making all the transposing errors she'd been doing before so 14 becoming 41.

Otherwise written columns and numicon or other actual objects above - visually showing what’s happening with the columns and then lots of repetition practise breaking down numbers – so 14 being one group of ten and 4 units and 114 one group of a hundred, 1 group of ten and 4 units.

checking in. I think it's only a matter of time until Boris caves and we lock down again. Really looking forward to working FT and home schooling Ds. Cannot fucking wait. It's going to be nigh on impossible. I do feel lucky that this time i can actually WFH and am not at risk of losing my job, though.

I don't believe for a minute that it will only be two weeks, it will be the whole winter.

I know that i have said this a million times and you're all probably sick to death of hearing it, but what are they trying to do?! We lockdown..... We release..... cases go up because thats what they do.... and then what? Lockdown again next summer? and then what... carry on until we actually have no NHS at all and the majority of the country are unemployed and every family knows someone who has commited suicide?

I seriously don't understand what the end game is here. Sweden had it right, imo. All the other threads re how swedes are so wise and no it wouldn't have worked here... i think it would have worked better because everyone's lost their patience with it now, and barely anyone has any charitable feeling left. I certainly don't.

@Orangeblossom7777

Hormones and stress would also impact a middle aged male's hair though as well. It must be pretty stressful being PM right now and he has a new baby as well. Poor old Boris

Prime ministers always age quickly. Even Theresa May's short term took its toll. That's without ending up in intensive care (and I do wonder about Long Covid with him) Plus his personal life.

John Major looks younger now than he did nearly 30 years ago!

@110APiccadilly Wed 14-Oct-20 07:00:14
Well, here's interesting: www.facebook.com/welshgovernment/photos/a.287087867998975/4496396503734736/?type=3

Tests like this have a specificity and a sensitivity. So which one, or if neither, what, is this 99.91% referring to?

I suspect she's referring to the specificity - and that level of accuracy sounds brilliant but really really isn't. When you are testing 100,000 people a day

90 false positives might be pretty good when there is a high infection level. but 90 false positives when the real positive are down in the low hundreds is very bad.

My friend has just cancelled our walk. Was meant to be Monday. Rescheduled to today, now rescheduled to next week. Good reasons both times but no understanding that a lunchtime walk might be the highlight of my day. Both times cancelled on same day so no time to find someone else.

Love your definition of crafty @BogRollBOGOF .

don't false positives realistically mean that we will never ever get to zero cases even if we had eradicated the damn thing?

@TrustTheGeneGenie Of course Boris will cave into pressure, he’s denied things in the past then surprise surprise guess what happens!
Like you rightly say, we need clarity on what the aim is for the virus. We can’t eradicate it so what’s the plan to return to normal living. There is currently no logical forward planning being discussed and we are being treated as children who shouldn’t be asking questions of the grown ups!

Sorry to hear that about the walk. Small things matter.

We need consistently don;t we not this stopping and starting business. I read that somewhere, why Italy and Sweden, although seeming quite different, were managing well was because they were being consistent and not tooing and fro-ing.

So in my diary, the half term is one week, would they extend that to the one after do you think? I hope not.