ADs trying to stay upright in a muddy park

[BogRollBOGOF]

Another thousand posts filled and we're ploughing on through another weekend of squelching through parks before we hit the Long Dark Teatime of the Soul.

The AD chat continues...

AD hugs @TrustTheDreamGenie

What we've said all along, it's quality of life that matters. Too much of that has been stolen this year. It's always hard when someone seems to have years of potential ahead of them and that doesn't come to fruition, doubly so that he didn't get to fully enjoy his short retirement.

@110APiccadilly

Just to say, little Piccadilly is here, she is tiny and very cute. Did end up arriving by C-section but that was the best thing for her so it's fine.

Yay! Congratulations xxx

Congratulations @110APiccadilly 🎉🎉🎉 Hope you get home to your DH, own bed and decent tea bags asap. I'm really pleased the midwives bent the rules for you. They will have been frustrated by them just as much, because despite what MN says, most of them are in that job because they do care about the welfare of the mums and babies, including the experience of birth and not just the safety.
Enjoy the squeaks and cuddles!

 @TrustTheGeneGenie The loss of quality and experience is what is important here, not just number of years.

I'm sorry about your friend @TrustTheGeneGenie It's very sad that his last months were wasted on covid. I used to live a long way from where I am now and I've lost touch with a lot of people from that time. The other day I spoke to a friend I'm still in touch with and he told me one of the friends we drank with a lot has died and another has had a massive stroke. They were both sixties age so older than us but not really old. I still like to think of them all being the same down there even though I know they can't be. I also wonder about the quality of care they received as everything is so centred on covid now it's as though no other illnesses exist.

@TrustTheGeneGenie that is so sad, we don’t know how long we have, and to live the last part of it in this half life without doing the things you had looked forward to seems very cruel 💐

@110APiccadilly congratulation, glad to hear the hospital were a bit flexible.
@TrustTheGeneGenie so sorry. His poor wife too. This is what frustrates me so much, older people don't have a lot of time left and they shouldn't be spending it shut away unless they choose to.

I'm another desperate force hair cut. I cancelled an appointment in October when dad was I'll but got frustrated with my fringe and hacked it a bit so I made an appointment for last weekend to give it a chance to grow first. I can't get hold of my hairdresser to make an appointment for December. Luckily I have a few days leave to take so I can be flexible.

Congratulations on your little one @110APiccadilly! Hope you are getting some rest and recovery, and enjoying getting to know little Piccadilly.

And very sorry to hear about your friend @TrustTheGeneGenie. My mum's oldest friend (and "aunty" to me) died suddenly at the start of lockdown. She had a huge heart attack when out shopping, aged 74. I'm sure she would have absolutely hated the last 7 months. She had been a dedicated social worker who worked long after she could have retired and would have had huge concerns about the effects of this all on the kind of young people who were on her radar. She would have hated being told she couldn't head off to the hills to go walking too.

🎉 Congratulations Piccadilly, hope you and Piccadillette are both doing well.

@TrustTheGeneGenie So sorry to hear about your friend. No words, just hugs and and know that we are all here for you.

So sorry to hear about your friend Trust. It's events like this that rightly have us raging against the myriad cruelties of this year's lockdowns and associated effects.

@110APiccadilly congratulations!! Hope you are all well. I recommend taking Arnica for a few weeks after a c section - worked wonders for me and the hospital staff couldn't believe I didn't need pain killers

@TrustTheGeneGenie So sorry to hear about your friend. Its seems such a waste when someone has worked hard all their life then don't get chance to experience the bliss of retirement . Hope you and your friend's wife and family find solace in the happy times you both shared with him.

@MercyBooth

Wasnt sure about posting this but here goes. Mass testing will be taken to areas that are going into tier 3. How likely are they to throw up false positives? Christmas lockdown by the back door?

Or conversely showing massive reduction in cases like in Liverpool. I'm really hoping it will be good news for the tier 3 places.

You ADs are amazing. In two pages we have the joy of a new arrival and the sadness of the sudden loss of a friend, both responded to with dignity and love.

Hugs to all of you and extra hugs to those that need them.

Love to new baby and those missing loved ones

On the vaccine I did note Boris said it will not be mandatory as 'that is not the type of country we are'.

So sorry to hear about your friend @TrustTheGeneGenie

And congratulations on the new arrival @110APiccadilly - is a mini-picadilly a Piccalilli ?

Thank you all you're all fab. I've got a tear in my eye reading all these ❤️

Morning all

Trust I am so so sorry.

Hugs to you

Domina I was going to ask that about Piccalilli!

Mercy I think most areas will be Tier 3 yes.

Back in March, when Johnson originally talked about things being better by Easter, I was at mum’s and looked and her and said “which Easter?”

Here is a map with share token from The Times suggesting tiers, my area is as I expected, if this is correct, which leaks tend to be, going from 1 to 2 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ad4c9c64-2da9-11eb-8bd6-64d3c9126a9b?shareToken=3775df749344a6d7a7ed664eee006442

Sorry for your loss GeneGenie, life can be terribly unfair. Take things easy.

At the other end of life, congratulations Piccadilly! Enjoy your baby, and I'm glad that the hospital was pragmatic about letting your DH in, it is shocking that women have to labour alone, and another of those things that surely is counter-productive in terms of outcomes for mother and baby.

Just caught up with thread.

Congratulations @110APiccadilly! My top tip is to get some nice big comfy pants (if you haven't already got some) so the elastic doesn't rub against your scar.

Sorry about your friend @TrustTheGeneGenie. One thing that bugs me about the 'it's only a few months, just suck it up' brigade is the lack of empathy for older and younger people, for whom time works differently, for different reasons.

I was hoping there’d be a little Piccadilly off Piccadilly but it’s not the case.

I haven’t read any Sayers - I know, I know - so I can’t think of a related name.

Ickle Baby Pickle!

Congratulations Piccadilly, a brand new baby! I am sorry about the loss of your friend Trust, that is sad to hear.
I am really looking forward to lockdown #2 ending and can't wait to do my Christmas shopping in actual shops- I am a stay at home mum and other than the school run I don't really see people other than my children so don't want everything to be virtual. I actually want/need to see other people face to face, even with a mask on!

@smallandimperfectlyformed

Congratulations Piccadilly, a brand new baby! I am sorry about the loss of your friend Trust, that is sad to hear. I am really looking forward to lockdown #2 ending and can't wait to do my Christmas shopping in actual shops- I am a stay at home mum and other than the school run I don't really see people other than my children so don't want everything to be virtual. I actually want/need to see other people face to face, even with a mask on!

Same here. My life is largely through organised groups/ events. Hence squandering my life on MN because it's that or cleanjng

I can talk on the morning school drop off because the pkayground is quiet wuth y5s and 6s. Most drop and run and the children cluster off and chat.
I struggle in the afternoons because of all the background noise of younger childre playing more noisily and shrilly, and I can't decipher the muffled speech or cope with reading the tiny bits of people's faces left, so I stare at the playground.

Plus life being quieter for months, my ability to process busy places has atrophied. Add in trying to be sensible about distancing.
One of the reasons why I shop at night. I refuse to give it up entirely, but it's too much hassel to face in the daytime.

I shop at night

Queues are back in this area.

Prompted by another thread, I’d love a Black Books anti Christmas special. It’s doable. Fran and Manny would be all over the Christmas booze and Bernard would be...Bernard.

He’d need to eat. Christmas coaster this time though.