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...

@flower11 I bought DS something called gloves in a bottle for his hands when they were like that. It forms a protective layer on the skin. Seemed to help.
Is anyone else feeling like the tiny, tiny glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off?

DM phoned because she's fed up, & I cried. She is really worried about meeting for Christmas. I respect her worries but what can you do when someone is that scared, other than be kind?

DD is at work but business is so slow & she's texted a very gloomy message about job losses.

Those poor hands look sore. That very thick Norwegian hand cream (Nutrogena?) is good.

Is anyone else feeling like the tiny, tiny glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off?
Yep.

[quote Iheartmysmart]@flower11 I bought DS something called gloves in a bottle for his hands when they were like that. It forms a protective layer on the skin. Seemed to help.
Is anyone else feeling like the tiny, tiny glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off?[/quote]
According to Terry Pratchett - the light at the end of the tunnel is a flame thrower

Thanks for all the hands suggestions. I smothered them in sudo cream last night. I will instruct her to thoroughly dry them at school, and put some moisturizer in her school bag to use. I will look up those gloves in bottle!

I’m not sure I could be trusted with a flame thrower at the moment. My hit list is very long...

I've just been watching our local news and I could cry. I just feel like this is relentless, nothing to look forward to and I can't see a any way out. DH is being very philosophical about it, saying at least now we can shop, I can have my hair and nails done etc, but I just feel so sad. My mum is in Tier 2 and we've gone into 3, and I've got the obvious concerns about seeing her, even though we are her support bubble.

Ignore me, I'm just letting it all get on top of me. Zumba in 20 mins - I'll pretend I'm grinding Wanksock's face under my trainer.

@Iheartmysmart one into the middle of the Houses of Parliaments should do it.

Urgh. I’ve had a cry today as well. Depressed beyond tablets. And I burned some braised red cabbage. It honks, and I’ve ruined a pan. Fab-fucking-ulous.

for everyone having a shit day.

@DrDiva Don’t bloody tempt me. So pissed off with this now!

I-HEART!
I-HEART!
I-HEART!

I’ll contribute to the whip-round for the biggest flame thrower possible

Well I made a complete tit of myself today. I had a meeting and had to present to two directors, one of which is my boss. I worked myself into a right state before the meeting but sort of pulled myself together until my boss asked if I was ok. At that point I burst into tears just as the other director joined the call.

My boss was lovely, told the director we had a crisis we needed to discuss and sent him on his way and then spent the next half hour making me feel better. I'm glad they know I'm struggling but I wish I'd been able to say it in a rational way, rather than bawling my eyes out!

I'm not even upset, or angry, or anything at the tiers... I'm just numb and highly fucked off that they've pulled off basically a lockdown on anywhere but London by stealth basically.

My attention is somewhat taken up by the damned teacher from hell situation and the impact it's having on DD2 really.

Wish we could help, Domina. That sounds so hard!

And I burned some braised red cabbage. It honks, and I’ve ruined a pan. Fab-fucking-ulous.
Sympathy. I burned tinned spaghetti tonight. That's about all I could face cooking.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat
Your boss sounds lovely. There is nothing wrong about crying in public.

I've just filled in a medical form for some volunteering DS does, except no one is allowed to do any of the volunteering because of covid. So I've basically filled in a form which has asked for the name of his GP & requested consent for the administration of emergency anaesthesia so that DS can sit in on zoom meetings. One of the questions was, "Has your child been in contact with any infectious diseases in the last week?"
The options were yes or no, no option for, "how the hell do I know?/ Possibly, there's a pandemic on, dontchaknow."

Gloves in a bottle sound great, I will have a look for mum.

flower this is the germolene, sorry mad long link

www.amazon.co.uk/Germolene-Skin-Liquid-Plaster-20ml/dp/B001PMPXT0/ref=sr_1_1?hvlocphy=9045954&hvnetw=g&keywords=germolene+new+skin&hvadid=259077806563&qid=1606422165&dchild=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAwf39BRCCARIsALXWETy2pHwCLUl06WCKmOS_Ufum5tKL84TfrJ1L75RFOb135bQpMf2_7dEaAkMHEALw_wcB&hydadcr=28153_1821061&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=kwd-295927293253&adgrpid=58734637332&hvrand=8776051177336043949&sr=8-1

I normally have issues with low blood pressure

I can literally feel it’s gone up today.

@TheOrchidKiller

Is anyone else feeling like the tiny, tiny glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off? Yep.

I'm not, mainly because I hit that point about 3-4 weeks ago.

While it's very, very far from a normal Christmas, just that variety of the lights going up rapidly changing the scenery is boosting me. Mine are up about 3 weeks earlier than usual. Other than a bit of an amnesty over Christmas, this is the way it is. As much as I'd love to get back into the nearby village pub for breaking up another bloody walk, at least the DCs should get two sports back which will help. I'm better at wading through shit than anticipating it.

New Year could be a flashpoint for my mood (must stock up on oat milk for Christmas/ the inevitable shortage in "Veganuary"), but at least I have RED January to focus on through the month as a bit of self motivation. Then Feb is short, the days not as dark and the bulbs creep in (in a parallel universe I'd be getting excited about a big birthday... but as I'm not expecting anything more exciting than another fucking walk and a take-away, there's not much risk of disappointment)

It's also helped that my friends are creeping out of the woodwork. A walk here, an un-,parkrun there, my social life has been better this month than it has since March!

In my head, Easter is the turning point and has been for long time. That seems a lot more attainable at the end of November (with rasonable weather) than it did in Sept/ Oct.

I just need my hormones to behave!

@DominaShantotto

I'm not even upset, or angry, or anything at the tiers... I'm just numb and highly fucked off that they've pulled off basically a lockdown on anywhere but London by stealth basically.

My attention is somewhat taken up by the damned teacher from hell situation and the impact it's having on DD2 really.

All I can offer is an AD hug xx

I just don't know how teaching/ support staff can bahave like that.

I never bother with decorating the flat but I might pinch some of mum’s decorations for here.

Latest on the teacher saga - got her SEN "provision" planning through - a rumpled page of A4 with "my targets" and lots about how DD2 is going to try really hard with her handwriting.

They stopped her using her fiddle toys so she picked her skin again (I've explained this is what will happen and she'll end up with impetigo) - DD2 very very clear she was being told she was NOT allowed to use them (DD2 is cheeky natured but not a natural liar) and we queried this - really really snotty comment back from the teacher that she's watched and she does not WANT to use them at all and basically calling DD2 a total liar.

Teacher has sat DD2 right near the kid who has bullied her for years and who she was told had this situation going on - so poor DD2 is getting it in the neck from this little shite. We had tears and tears the other day as it all came up. SENCO has told us that DD2 is allowed to use a school laptop to type any longer work... DD2 is adamant that is not happening at all and she is never allowed to type any work - her handwriting is almost illegible and she gets in a right state about it all.

I'm just out of the strength to argue - this teacher is obviously very pro-school closure - she tends to heavily run the school twitter account along with one other staff member - and very very much spends a lot of time retweeting and liking comments about how hard done by teachers have been over this... it just gets worse and there's no real alternative - the other two local schools are part of the big academy chain here - one is so crap we moved the kids out of it, and the other does not want children with SEN that might require input and effort to get to achieve.

So we're fucked basically.

And I am sick of video lectures, seminars where the video calling technology doesn't work and we have to waste 20 minutes while someone tries to share their screen, randomly allocated breakout rooms with groups who share a house and are right bitches to others on the course, last minute timetabling changes because timetabling think we have nothing else to do... and fucking internet vigilantees who just swallow all the blame game - look, if the virus was going to be defeated by sharing shitty memes, appalling NHS hero fan art and posting shite like "to the man in the fish aisle in Asda who had his nose out of his mask" on social media - we would have this fucking licked by now.

My sister who has been, not exactly dementory but quite accepting up to now has finally changed her tune. Millionaire, early retired in a posh village on the outskirts of Bristol, she has been well cushioned (although denied at least 3 multi thou holidays and numerous weekends).

She asked how they had ended up in tier 3 and London in 2. I told her they played around with different combinations of infections, age (and other) factors, deaths etc, until they managed to find a combination that worked for London - and she finally agreed with me.

@NannyGythaOgg

My sister who has been, not exactly dementory but quite accepting up to now has finally changed her tune. Millionaire, early retired in a posh village on the outskirts of Bristol, she has been well cushioned (although denied at least 3 multi thou holidays and numerous weekends).

She asked how they had ended up in tier 3 and London in 2. I told her they played around with different combinations of infections, age (and other) factors, deaths etc, until they managed to find a combination that worked for London - and she finally agreed with me.

Is this true?

I thought London infections were lower because they were sky high in March. I reckon we’ve got herd immunity here.

I am from London, but right on the borders of London/Kent. About half a mile away from me people are in tier 3! It's ridiculous. I am so sorry for so many people who have been messed about. I am particularly sorry for my brother in Lancashire, they have been in tier 3 for so long! It's so shit.

@TheOrchidKiller

Is anyone else feeling like the tiny, tiny glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off? Yep.

Yep. I am. Fed up. Completely and utterly fed up.