ADs may have buggered boilers but we haven't got the clap

[BogRollBOGOF]

The saga continues to continue with more sequels than a trilogy of trilogies...

If anyone doesn’t want their snow can I have it please? Nothing but rain here.

DF had his first vaccine this morning. DM said it was badly organised, she wasn’t allowed to park anywhere near the entrance to drop him off and they wouldn’t let him use his mobility scooter! He is on constant oxygen via a portable cylinder so obviously couldn’t walk in. They had to send someone out in full PPE with a wheelchair to get him from a car park 10 minutes away.

Bumped into a couple of dog walkers this morning who are both self employed and haven’t been able to earn a living for almost a year now. Both absolutely fuming and would fit in well in this thread.

@Iheartmysmart take mine!! I loathe the stuff

Also, can anyone help me figure out what to tell school about DD2 who doesn't warrant a school place but finds Teams too distressing? She hates the half and half nature of seeing into a place she is not allowed to go but that she loves. And she can't concentrate on her lessons because of it.

Ooh thanks @WouldBeGood send it my way. The dog loves it too and will happily play in it for hours.

TheOrchidKiller and Tabbystar thank you. If it was the Oxford vaccine I’d just go for it as it’s similar to previous vaccines used but with the Pfizer one I’m not sure.
www.bmj.com/content/372/BMJ.n18

I’m really overthinking this one.

We have miserable crap sleety snow, crap day, crap uni marks, crap lecturer who doesn't possibly believe the FUCKING PANDEMIC AND EVERYWHERE BEING SHUT might have affected the marks of the ENTIRE BLOODY COHORT going through the floor. I'm in a shit mood - the kids are back soon and tomorrow DD1 has to stay at home when DD2 can go into school so she's bound to kick off like mad.

How many more months of this shit.

@Iheartmysmart that’s funny, my wee dog hates this weather, and has made me come home from her walks the past two days 😂

Aztec - it's that classic absence of evidence doesn't mean evidence of absence - there's a difference. I think it should be done as tested, but I also think they'll have weighed up what normally happens with vaccines and longevity and it's probably going to be fine.

@WouldBeGood The first time mine saw snow he did major zoomies around the field and accidentally knocked a small child over in his excitement! Fortunately he’s not a big dog but it was one of those moments when you want the ground to swallow you up.

@Iheartmysmart 😂

I've just had to put wellies and a rain coat on to go switch the heating on. Bloody old houses.

@Reedwarbler 'Oh, it's not quite as infectious as we thought' new variant stuff
I've had my bingo card ready for this: there's every likelihood that the "deadly variant" was talked up just in time to scare the plebs before Christmas.

Oh wow, that running video is from my neck of the woods! I recognise the bridge in the background.

Battle Royale with DD2 this morning over the wearing of her raincoat. "Oh my daaaayyyyyz, it's just NOT COOL", she stropped. I used to have similar arguments with my mum, but she just smacked me... lol.

Rainy lockdown is shit, tbh. Worse than non rainy lockdown.

[quote wanderings]**@Reedwarbler* 'Oh, it's not quite as infectious as we thought' new variant stuff*
I've had my bingo card ready for this: there's every likelihood that the "deadly variant" was talked up just in time to scare the plebs before Christmas.[/quote]
The deadly variant had a distinct whiff of the Halloween Dodgy Data to me... let's see!

[quote TabbyStar]It's called a cytokine storm Blobby www.uhs.nhs.uk/ClinicalResearchinSouthampton/Research/News-and-updates/Articles/Blood-test-could-identify-COVID-19-patients-at-risk-of-'cytokine-storm'-hyperinflammation.aspx[/quote]
Thank you @TabbyStar that's really interesting - I wish it would say the demographic of those patients it encountered with this though 😀

The deadly variant had a distinct whiff of the Halloween Dodgy Data to me... let's see!

My main complaint at the time was that they were implying there was normal covid and then one scary mutant variant, when actually there are multiple variants anywsy but they had concerns about this specific one.

I couldn't tell whether it was the media not understanding the science or just useful scaremongering. Probably both.

Anyway, I'll gladly ship some snow off, we've had nearly half a foot and still going so plenty to spare. Chunky cat does seem to enjoy playing in it though so that's an upside.

@Jourdain11 H&F council seem to be fully paid-up Ds

Ds and I used to have major differences of opinion over what constituted appropriate winter clothing and eventually I decided to pick my battles - if he got wet and cold, then tough! I got some very hard stares from other parents at the playground who were convinced I was a cruel mother ..

Well, I thought the same. It wasn't THE new variant, it was A new variant. I felt it was willful misunderstanding on part of the media - they can't possibly be that dumb...

And it was actually reported as 50-70% more infectious from the beginning, but somehow only the higher figure got mentioned. Hmmm...

Will also say that the UK has form for being more diligent about reporting than its neighbours. It was pretty well known in the 90s that BSE was present in cattle in almost every European country, but only the UK reported it. It only mutated to V-CJD in the UK, but there was no reason why it couldn't also have happened elsewhere. (At least, as far as my limited scientific understanding stretches.)

Leeds this morning it's much worse now DS says thicker and faster I'm jealous, more rain here 😪

[quote Pleasedontdothat]@Jourdain11 H&F council seem to be fully paid-up Ds

Ds and I used to have major differences of opinion over what constituted appropriate winter clothing and eventually I decided to pick my battles - if he got wet and cold, then tough! I got some very hard stares from other parents at the playground who were convinced I was a cruel mother ..[/quote]
Our MP is a D too. He was banging on in PMQs about there being too many kids in schools. I was a bit like, well, there are 2 very large general hospitals in H&F, a maternity hospital, and another 3 hospitals very close by; it's kind of inevitable that there will be a lot of kids whose parents work in those hospitals and therefore need keyworker places! I muttered to DH that he won't be getting my vote any time soon, to which DH replied that this probably won't be of too much concern to him, since A. There is unlikely to be a GE any time soon; and B. I am ineligible to vote in a GE anyway 😂

Delurking again. My sympathies to everyone having a shit time.

I now have a family member actively testing the protective qualities of only having the first vaccine dose. My 86 year old aunt fell & broke her wrist at home on Monday. Admitted to a London hospital. The depressingly inevitable news today is that she’s now she tested positive for Covid. I do realise she could have caught it from the warden who called the ambulance for her, the paramedic, or even in a shop (where she has to go because she lives alone and has no internet access and no relatives nearby to shop for her) but ffs, aside from her wrist she was fine when she went in!! I am very cross.

Update from Comedy Bent Copper.

twitter.com/andrewlawrence/status/1347822973873487878?s=20

Sorry to hear that NoisyBrain.

@NoisyBrain I hope that your aunt manages to beat covid. I am sorry that this has happened. Am miserable today, I think a lot of us feel that way right now. I hate homeschooling and my kids do not listen to me!!

@Aztectrousers I've declined the vaccine (eligible through work) and now think I might have made a mistake as everyone else is doing it. No one could tell me which one it would be when we were asked if we wanted it. For some reason I'm more comfortable with the idea of the Oxford one. I've been thinking about it all day. Fuck knows why as I've declined so it's too late anyway. I feel a little bit like I'm being judged for saying no. And thought of as a denier or an idiot. I'm also uncomfortable about having it because my parents haven't been offered and neither has my CEV friend and I do believe their need is greater than mine...not that my declining gets them theirs any quicker but if we run out of vaccine I s'pose I might have helped by saying no!