ADs picnic in the park with Twinkle the Tortoise

[ISaySteadyOn]

Thought it was my turn to start a thread.

@ISaySteadyOn

Thought it was my turn to start a thread.

My tortoise is so proud! She says hi.

@DWPmisery1972 Good luck. As someone who has given evidence (ex-BF's fraud case was heard at the Old Bailey and I was called for the prosecution) my advice is try and block out the rest of the court, focus on what you are being asked, deep breath and take it slowly. Remember you're not the one who's in the wrong

@DWPmisery1972 best of luck. Smile from Indie (though in my heart she's still Twinkle !)

I'm a bit late but really hope it goes well today @DWPmisery1972.

I am trying to drum up the motivation to start the day. Kids are currently sorting coins into money boxes in their room (no idea why, they've decided it's fun) and I am hiding in bed. Need to get dressed and do breakfast and start homeschool but cannot be bothered! I thought "back to school soon" would spur me on, but actually I find myself thinking, well, if she doesn't do much for the next two weeks it won't matter much, it's only two weeks" which isn't very good of me!

Oh bugger, the temporary coin induced peace has broken. Off to parent I go.

SirSamuelVimes sorting coins sounds like a perfect maths class already completed! The best lessons are never the structured ones

I can’t imagine Boris being terribly good value for money as an after dinner speaker. If you take out all the alas and alacking it’ll work out a good few grand per word.

Morning Indie, that’s a lovely tortoise smile.

‘Blair cabal’ not ‘Blair canal’. I think it was a Freudian mis type.

I need to avoid the other place. Lots of people really happy to see the back of the restrictions but there is still a significant crowd who really really don't want it to happen.

Me too. I don’t know how many times people need to read ‘evidence for masks having any benefit is weak’ before they get it?

Maybe instead I’d Stockholm syndrome we now have Covid syndrome? Those who are finding security in being told what to do in all aspects of their lives, not wanting the responsibility of making decisions? I can see why it is attractive to some.

After my morning team meeting, I am now seriously worried about people being able to get back into "normal" life.

My team is mostly young women in their 20s. All of them were extremely worried about the thought of going back into the office in August/September, even though they should have all been vaccinated by then.

The amount of anxiety they have is really concerning

@Worldgonecrazy

The school masks thread shows the absolute level of intelligence in this country. No evidence they work but at least the teachers willl ‘feel safer, as will those parents who have wound themselves and their kids into an anxious tizzy.

There's an easy test for whether masks help at all. You get 10 people to sneeze in your face without a mask on and 10 people with and report back here which you enjoyed most.

Whether they help a lot is a different matter, but any decent human being would be willing to make a tiny effort to safeguard the lives of others.

@lasttraineast I seriously cannot remember a time in any of my five decades, when anyone has sneezed in my face. That is definitely the most ridiculous pro-mask argument I have ever read so well done for raising a smile on a grey day, Thank you 😀

My 5yo would sneeze into the mask, take it off, wipe mask across table and hands, then hold hands with her friends, drop mask in puddle, use mask as a hat etc etc.

Wow, so people are now incapable of covering their nose and mouth when they sneeze without a piece of cloth to do it for them?

ISaySteadyOn, "I'd rather have the perfumed posy."

Why not have it both ways?!

Oh, better credit Magritte.

TBH, people were always incapable of covering their nose and mouth when they sneeze. Nowadays some pull down their mask to sneeze freely into the air.

Well, I preferred Catch It, Bin It, Kill It and I cover my nose and mouth when I sneeze.

But I love the Magritte.

Back in what is clearly some long-forgotten time, when I was a child, there were these things called handkerchiefs. My mum used to iron them, which is possibly over the top. Or there is this modern invention, the paper tissue.

I remember handkerchiefs! And still own a couple.

“Whether they help a lot is a different matter, but any decent human being would be willing to make a tiny effort to safeguard the lives of others.“

Actually this is the crux of the societal manipulation. Dementors can fool themselves that they are ‘decent’ human beings. The negative behaviours are marked as ‘good’ and those with different opinions are ‘bad’. We all know where ‘othering’ leads.

Snitch on your neighbours? Good person.
Vandalise a car you think not local? Good person.
Phone the police because elderly lady had visit from son? Good person.
Phone The Sun because celeb popped in to see their dad? Good.
Harrased person without mask? Good person.

Lockdown has enabled the ‘bosom hoisters’ to feel good about themselves. **

In a world where media and companies spend a fortune to make us feel bad about ourselves, some people have found a way to make themselves feel better.

I’m sure in years to come, students of society and psychology will have a wealth of information about behavioural drivers in a media driven world. Fascinating stuff!

** giving my age away but I imagine the dementors to be like Les Dawson in his bosom hoisting housewife sketches.

This is the plan I remember more focus on personal responsibility from the Spring...

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/23/hancock-says-its-on-all-of-us-to-help-ease-covid-lockdown-in-england

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/films/1945to1951/filmpage_cas.htm

Coughs and sneezes public info ad

I am so relieved the schools are going back. It will do my children a lot of good.

Nice sunny day here. It almost feels like spring. A friend and I are talking about going to Israel and Petra when this is all finished. I’m really looking forward to seeing other people - only seen my immediate family for weeks and my brain is rotting. Yesterday I forgot what a watering can was called, it was a bit frightening.