ADs drinking al fresco at The Sleeping Swans

[BogRollBOGOF]

ADs, grab your thermals, long johns and winter woolies, we're finally off to drown our sorrows at the Sleeping Swan!

I've just seen one local rag paper stating that govt will be scrapping mandatory face coverings this summer.
Bloody hope so

@LivinLaVidaLoki

I've just seen one local rag paper stating that govt will be scrapping mandatory face coverings this summer. Bloody hope so

Bring on the bonfire!

@LivinLaVidaLoki

I've just seen one local rag paper stating that govt will be scrapping mandatory face coverings this summer. Bloody hope so

Bloody hope so too! So many people have got about a million of the damn things, coordinated with the season, Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day, to match their outfits etc (and no I'm not joking!) What are they going to do with them? I've got one scarf/ buff thing and an emergency spare one in my coat pocket. I refuse to get any more. One of the girls from work spent a fortune on material for masks, some of which she ordered from overseas.

@LivinLaVidaLoki

I've just seen one local rag paper stating that govt will be scrapping mandatory face coverings this summer. Bloody hope so

Oh please let it be so!

I don't usually like to bang a drum quite so openly, and I hope I don't offend anyone as this thread is such a support, but just for anyone in London who's not aware of it, there is another protest due at 1pm tomorrow either Hyde pk or possibly Oxford St.
Also a court case has been brought today against an academy trust in Sheffield relating to masks in schools. The statement of claim is posted on the Law or Fiction site for anyone interested.

That's useful information. I can't go but I wish I could. Fwiw, I think information is supportive. After all, no one is being harangued to go or not go (if you are haranguing us, it's well camouflaged).

Classrooms are often unpleasantly hot and humid in a warm bout of sunny weather. All those badly ventilated classrooms that were concerning teachers in the autumn easily get into the 30⁰Cs with little air movement for relief. Heat exhaustion, lethargy, fainting and nose bleeds would be a serious concern if schools continue enforcing masks in those conditions.

Thank you ISay!
I can barely harangue myself as I'm actually feeling ridiculously terrified of protesting, so I'm definitely not haranguing anyone else!

@BogRollBOGOF

Classrooms are often unpleasantly hot and humid in a warm bout of sunny weather. All those badly ventilated classrooms that were concerning teachers in the autumn easily get into the 30⁰Cs with little air movement for relief. Heat exhaustion, lethargy, fainting and nose bleeds would be a serious concern if schools continue enforcing masks in those conditions.

This is what the government say about work place temperatures.

"Employers must stick to health and safety at work law, including:

keeping the temperature at a comfortable level
providing clean and fresh air"

www.gov.uk/workplace-temperatures

The lack of ventilation in schools is abysmal.

A friend kindly gave DH and I homemade fabric masks the other day. And it genuinely was kind - she's a crafty person who makes all sorts of bits and bobs to give to people (DD has had the most beautiful things from her) - and we don't tend to be particularly vocal about disliking masks.

But they fit far too well - I can't wear mine! I can manage in the blue paper type. Don't like them, but I can manage. I'm going to have to hope I don't see the friend in any situation where I need a mask - I'll feel like I'm being really rude.

Seems im not the only one who has eaten her way through the pandemic. Joanna Lumley has put on four stone.

@MercyBooth

Seems im not the only one who has eaten her way through the pandemic. Joanna Lumley has put on four stone.

I don't believe that.

Went to dentist. I presume this is anxiety but he said "do you know your mouth is a dry as if you were on chemo or something?"

Now he mentions it, yes, but my stress level is too high for me to have noticed. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think I'm going to start watching ER. Is it gross? I was mostly okay with Grey's Anatomy.

My lovely MIL sent us some homemade masks months ago. I'm afraid I was not amused.

I had a lovely meal out with work colleagues today, I have pretty much one per week booked for the next month with a variety of friends and colleagues. We had to wear masks between arrival and sitting down (about 2m) as it was " classed as indoors " as the terrace had a roof. I don't see how it can be indoors for mask purposes but outdoors for being open now and not 17 May purposes??

Taswama someone sent my mum some home made masks.

They are too scared to go out so hopefully I'll never see them again and won't have to hide my irritation. My mother was okay with it...but she wasn't okay with them saying that I shouldn't take her for a walk at 11am on a Saturday because it's too busy, in their view. 🙄

On the subject of masks, I went into London on the train to the office today. Haven't got a problem with the requirement for masks on public transport per se. However coming home this evening it was quite warm and sunny and I felt really stuffy. The train was really quiet so I could drop my mask and have a drink but it made me realise just how bad it will be if it gets really hot in the summer. Hopefully they will see sense and drop the mask requirement.

London itself was still quiet, but it was still nice to see people having Friday night drinks outside the bars on the way to the station. I said to one of the girls that it was like that quiet period between Christmas and New Year when you go to work to escape from the in-laws

I didnt believe it either but she gave an interview saying so. Its very unlike her which shows how badly lockdown has affected people.

Need they introduced it in June last year, people did wear them on the Tube on heatwave days.

St Georges Day today/tonight so there might be a few more people outside pubs.

@MercyBooth

St Georges Day today/tonight so there might be a few more people outside pubs.

When I was checking out the pub we went to last week, they were doing a St George's event and sold out which is good. They were supposed to open up this time last year after a year or two of closure and refurbishment, but opened in August. It's kept the local feel too. When we were inside last autumn, in the bar there was an old man at each table nursing a pint which bodes well.

A cafe in a village in the opposite direction is similarly doing well. I suspect that they did better on takeaway hot drinks at weekends in the winter than they would have on the standard cafe model. Lots more walking around there as there's a good multi-use trail nearby.

@SloeSummer

Need they introduced it in June last year, people did wear them on the Tube on heatwave days.

I can't speak for London, but in the midlands/ north, by the time the rule came in in mid-June, it had cooled down substantially and didn't spend much time being particularly warm after that.

I did wonder by late summer if there was a weather factor in the growing north/ south split in cases as the weather was more condiucive to outdoor socialising in the south than the north.
We went to the south coast in early August, wasn't brilliant, but we dodged the washout at home

OH had the weirdest medical practice appointment, yesterday he tried to get through to the surgery many times. His phone said he had spent £7. This morning he went to surgery spoke into intercom, said he needed an appointment, they said nope, he had to phone in. Well he went a bit ballistic, said he was not spending another £7 and wanted to see practice manager. They then relented and said he would get a phone call.

Late this afternoon he gave up waiting and decided to go for a bike ride, got to top of hill and yes his phone rang, so there he was parked up against the pavement giving a nurse his symptoms. At the end of the consultation he was told to go to in house pharmacy and pick up a prescription.

The world really has gone bloody mad. All my consultations in the last week have been by text not even by phone, I did get bloods done by the nurse and the next day had a call back from reception asking me to take another urine sample in next Thursday.

Do you suppose aliens have whisked all our doctors away, my friend a GP said her practice in the same town is operating normally again.

www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/england-wales-office-for-national-statistics-marie-curie-university-of-southampton-b923059.html

More than 50,000 extra deaths have taken place in private homes in England and Wales since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, new analysis shows.

Extra deaths – known as “excess deaths” – are the number of deaths above the average for the corresponding period in the non-pandemic years of 2015-19.

A total of 50,810 excess deaths in homes in England and Wales were registered between March 7 2020 and February 26 2021, according to an analysis by the PA news agency of data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Of this number, just 7,056 – or 14% – were deaths directly involving Covid-19.

I've fortunately only needed to get hold of my GP for DS2's inhaler prescription in the autumn (seasonal) in the past 15 months.
No idea how they're operating at present.
They have used call-backs for years, and it's generally worked out.
DM's was completely online only... great for an 82yo luddite.

14% ???

What I've never been able to reconcile is all this upheaval and damage to life for an illness that is frequently accelerating the inevitable and raises the unforunate reality that people in poor health are more vulnerable to poor health and death.

I was born into a household of 7... of that household, one died when I was 11 at 53, and another died when I was 28 at 48. He was severely disabled. His life was not worth less for it, but his life was more fragile for it. We gave and facilitated the best quality of life we could for 48 years, but the ending was no tragedy. It was just a different path to average and none of us is entitled to a long healthy life until 100 (but are entitled to a functional healthcare system that meets our needs and avoids unnecessary suffering).