ADs teach twisted lyrics to their pet tortoise

[BogRollBOGOF]

Crawling back to normality slightly slower than a tortoise taking the scenic route...

Previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4173705-ADs-picnic-in-the-park-with-Twinkle-the-Tortoise

BloodyStupidJ
Totally natural to be worried about that. ADs will be wishing good things in Yr direction!
The 2 tier society is something that worries me greatly. I suppose I'm hoping for now that if enough people don't take it they cant impose passports. I don't know. I'll probably end up giving in but I was trying to cut down on airmiles cos of being green so maybe I'll just go live in my mudhut, unvaccinated! Lucky in a sense too as I'm self employed so can't be forced by anyone. I can't believe that having been forced away from my Guardian-reading wokeness into full lockdown scepticism, I've now also been cured of life long hyperchondria!

I was veering towards vaccination because of the travel thing. Then we had several people off work for 2 to 3 days because of feeling crap after the vaccine. My colleagues are not work shy or skivers, our sickness rates are well below industry and society averages so I know my colleagues must have been feeling absolutely shit to call in sick. The oldies I know who had the jab didn’t seem to be as badly affected. I really don’t want to feel shot for 2 to 3 days having a vaccine I don’t need.

I had some proper anxiety during the night, woke up with a racing heart, & I'm partly blaming the lack of opportunity to do perfectly common, everyday activities. It's like I'm out of practise, & have lost confidence.

It's ridiculous, I go out of the house to work & have more contact with other humans than most people, but I felt dreadfully stressed about using public transport for the first time in months, which I used to use all the time quite happily.

I had this silly worry that nothing would be running on time, & I wouldn't know what to do.

It all went fine in the end. I also made myself buy a hot drink on the way back. That's another thing I find difficult, since being shouted at in Costa for standing on the wrong spot last year.

I was painfully shy as a teenager & had to work really hard to overcome it. It's like that bit of me has resurfaced.

I suppose some people would just say to get a grip, but I think that being able to do these things & get on with life would be more helpful.

Eve
It's all so disingenuous. I feel manipulated every time I venture into reading the news. As a pro-EU remainer I'm so sad that they seem to be fucking this up a bit. And as usual the government. will use this as a cover and distraction from things like human rights/animal welfare etc. A bit like the Police Crime Sentencing and Cts bill. Shit on freedom, intellect and logic for a year and then hope everyone's too scared of sadly dying of the deadly virus to care about anything so minor as freedom, protest, justice and the rule of law. Argh sorry I'm getting a bit political. Aubergine? Phallic carrot? Cute tortoises?!

@TheOrchidKiller. Don’t laugh, but I am also very shy and what helps me is pretending I am acting. Sort of ‘fake it til you make it’. I even do a director shot in my head for the really scary stuff such as walking into a restaurant, or hailing a cab .....

Orchid
I think we've all become institutionalised to an extent. It is natural to be anxious about things we're not used to. I know what you mean about shyness. I'm not a people person really and am feeling very de-skilled!!

I have imposter syndrome too & it's much more noticeable now (to me, anyway).

Definitely not laughing at you Worldgonecrazy.

Can anyone think of an argument for mandatory vaccines that wouldn't apply to mandatory blood donation (with suitable exceptions)?

I was trying to think of one the other day and couldn't. And yet, I think most if not all people would think mandatory blood donation was barbaric.

Regarding the vaccine, I was unsure about having it, due to the speed it's been developed and the fact that it's not been around long enough to see if there's any issues further down the line. A lot of my friends are of the same mind.
However, I have relatives and friends who live overseas and I can see that being vaccinated will be needed to travel. We also think that it won't be long before pubs, hotels, restaurants, holiday places etc requires it. Bugger me, in the paper yesterday it said several pubs are "trialing" a vaccine app. Mark my words, that "trial" will become permanent.

110A
Good question. I'll put my thinking cap on... I'm a nerd and like philosophical problems to get my teeth into!
Curlygirl
I know I know. I'll probably have to get off my high horse eventually if I want to be allowed a life!

Me neither. I used to write up scripts when I had to make a phonecall so I get it.

@SirSamuelVimes, here we are down to two libraries with the opening hours of Arthur Dent's planning offices. It's the inconsistency that gets to me. Either shut things for good or open up fully. Then I will know where I stand and can either grieve or rejoice. But right now, I can't do either.

@110APiccadilly

Can anyone think of an argument for mandatory vaccines that wouldn't apply to mandatory blood donation (with suitable exceptions)?

I was trying to think of one the other day and couldn't. And yet, I think most if not all people would think mandatory blood donation was barbaric.

I think most people would agree to mandatory blood donation.

I got my council tax bill today. The London increase part is more than 9%. We pay 9% more because they shut down our city unnecessarily.

@ISaySteadyOn

Me neither. I used to write up scripts when I had to make a phonecall so I get it.

@SirSamuelVimes, here we are down to two libraries with the opening hours of Arthur Dent's planning offices. It's the inconsistency that gets to me. Either shut things for good or open up fully. Then I will know where I stand and can either grieve or rejoice. But right now, I can't do either.

I cancelled all my library reservations, initially because there was a 2 hour window to collect, once a week.

I have now given up on reading. Takes all my concentration to do other stuff.

thefallthroughtheair same here - I keep myself fit and healthy, use vitamins and complementary products for minor stuff so only need to see a doctor for the serious stuff! After having a nasty cold two years ago and being told to "go to the doctor you've had it for four days now" my belief that people are really scared of and unused to being ill these days was enforced.

Not having the vaccine shouldn't impact my life hugely for the moment - I'm not going abroad or to theatres or cinemas or festivals or anything crowded. But I do think it will become compulsory by peer pressure over the coming months to avoid becoming a social pariah. Although I'm really not bothered about that either right now for myself, I think my OH might like us to go out together somewhere so I expect I will end up having the bloody thing eventually

I am going to make a point at work that if we need to ask for COVID vaccine we should also ask for rubella vaccine as we have pregnant women ......

@Worldgonecrazy I'm frightened of the vaccine making me really ill for a few days and it was part of my reason for refusing. There's genuinely no one who could have my son for an extended length of time at the moment and I'd lose pay (I was stung with this when DS had his flu spray so that'll be declined this year too). If I think about it too much I get upset.

I'm much less afraid of covid making me ill. It's been in work 3 times since September, twice with people I work closely with and as far as I'm aware I haven't had it. We don't have to isolate because we wear magic masks. I'm actually a lot more afraid of being in an accident in the car driving to work than sickness. I used to get the train but the reduced timetable doesn't fit in with the school run.

Acorn. Really interesting...why do you think people would agree to mandatory blood donation? (if you don't mind me asking. I like hearing views which challenge my own). I would hate it.

@HangingOverTheEdge Thank you, that was really helpful to hear. Had a chat with the GP this morning and I’m having my vaccine at the surgery which I’m comfortable with. Still don’t think I need to be vaccinated but I have a horrible feeling many activities will be seriously curtailed if I don’t. Compulsory through the back door!

I don’t think our library will reopen at all which is such a shame. There is a smaller one locally but it’s nowhere near as nice.

Good question 110A but was above my limited brain power.

@thefallthroughtheair

Acorn. Really interesting...why do you think people would agree to mandatory blood donation? (if you don't mind me asking. I like hearing views which challenge my own). I would hate it.

Because of the way they've behaved through all of this.

Before this, there's always people promoting the blood donor vans outside offices...people with a badge after they've done it.

So compulsory might not have been a big stretch even before we saw how they behaved in lockdown - they didn't just comply, they love it!

It'll be "it's just a few moments discomfort to SAVE LIVES".

@flower11

Bog are your DC not allowed bags because of shared cloak rooms? My youngest in foundation isn't allowed a bag, but eldest is, they just keep their rucksacks under the desk. She would be losing everything without it.

Each classroom has its own cloakroom so it's not breaking bubbles in a communal space, but most of them are a bit cosy and lined in fallen jumpers/ cardigans and PE kits

I've lost the plot on vaccine politics/ supply. There's a lot of political shift in the world anyway without any Covid opportunism thrown in.

Does anyone know if there was much outcry when they changed organ donation to opt out? I’ve carried a donor card for years so didn’t really pay much attention at the time. Just a random thought after the interesting question on donating blood.

@Iheartmysmart

Does anyone know if there was much outcry when they changed organ donation to opt out? I’ve carried a donor card for years so didn’t really pay much attention at the time. Just a random thought after the interesting question on donating blood.

No one seems to care about that either. I am against it - assumes state power over your body unless you opt out.

Then I was advised by an NHS contact that opting out leads to a flood of "think again" comms.

Let's just hope no one wants anything from someone my age and health.

I suspect a lot more people would go Tony Hancock over blood donation. Needles plus blood would bother more people, plus it's taking rather than giving. It's an interesting point though as organ donation is now opt-out. I was supportive of that as people's wishes were often over-ridden by shocked relatives, but then me and my family were already on the register. I have family that would have opted out of that (and certainly don't do blood donation on either side of it).

I gave blood 3x in my student days and went faint each time so was told not to return. I wasn't much above the minimum size then, and while I am bigger now, it's only by a couple of BMI points on a small person so there's not that much spare blood swooshing around me

Cross-posting on the organ donation!

ADs donating kidneys to get back to normal... good job we're only on p10