To feel like we are just existing now

[Ghostlyglow]

In a miserable, joyless world of queues and masks. A couple of friends have lost their jobs this week. Where are we going with this?When will it end?

The vast majority of people do not die of Covid if they catch it.

This is true but a sizeable percentage, roughly 20%, require hospital admission and treatment and 5% need ITU.

Had the UK not locked down and not suspended all non urgent treatment there simply would not have been the beds available to treat the 20% who needed them.

Many of those people were younger, fit people - they didn't die but they did need hospital treatment. Are you suggesting that the better way would have been to have refused them the hospital treatment they needed and to have made them stay at home and let nature take its course? Because that's what you're saying is your preferred response.

If we get a second wave are you saying the country should just ignore it?

The weather here on the south coast of Ireland has been stormy for the last week . With severe wind and rain. So it is not possible to go for a walk.

So what on earth are you saying - it is my choice to stay at home?

well... yes. If you don't want to go out in the rain, no one is saying you should, but it's your choice. Life doesn't stop for most of us and for months because it's a bit stormy.

There are hundreds of places I"d rather be right now and I can't, but I cannot pretend I am locked home either.

@notalwaysalondoner

I’ve actually personally had a good lockdown - got to spend the time with my parents, sister and grandmother as we all moved in together, not having to commute, no face time at the office etc. But I just CANNOT understand the justification for its continuation. It was supposed to be to let the NHS prepare to avoid it being overwhelmed. Then suddenly it shifted into protecting people from Covid at all costs, even if that means delaying cancer treatment, destroying the economy, destroying people’s mental health, and disrupting the education of an entire generation. I just don’t think the small risk which is almost entirely to people over 65 is worth this destruction. I’m very angry and can’t believe there aren’t more protests about this. I feel like governments all vowed to pressure to copy each other regardless of risk or impact or efficacy of lockdown, and are then doggedly sticking to their guns to save face.

These are really good points. The lockdown was about allowing the NHS to build capacity and cope. We all agreed. The NHS built capacity and coped admirably. Is coping. So why are we all still in lockdown? Don't tell me if they release the majority of lockdown but retain a ban on Eg festival and concerts, keep nightclubs shut and ask restaurants to operate at Eg a max of 80% that the numbers would shoot up.

@marshabradyo no we are still not allowed to travel more than 20km in Ireland and my family live more than 20km away.

Yanbu it's completely shite.

From next week I can go and queue for Primark, or look around a furniture store, but my dc can't go to school, can't even play on the swings, can't sit in their grandparents house.

I wake up everyday and remember no it's not a bad dream, this is really happening.

There was a little bit on the news the other day waiting for an ear operation. It had been cancelled due to Covid. His parents were saying that the older he gets the less successful it will be. It's a disgrace.

@Homemadeandfromscratch a bit stormy! I went for a small walk to a shop and my umbrella was broken by the gusts of wind. Do you really expect me to sit outside in pelting rain? And everywhere is still closed. You are talking rubbish . Ffs

The NHS built capacity and coped admirably. Is coping.

It's not coping at all. Waiting lists are rising. People needing urgent treatment for other conditions aren't getting it. A second wave will probably finish the NHS for good.

@homemadefromscratch where are you suggesting I should go? Everywhere is shut. And it is gale force winds and very strong rain outside.

You said i am "pretending i am locked up at home". Where are you suggesting I should go then, out of interest

Annamaria14

you don't like the rain, we get it. If you chose to refuse any outdoor physical activity because of the weather, it's your choice.

You are not the only ones, at least half the country refuse to walk the kids to schools and roads are paralysed by traffic especially when it rains.

As long as I am not stuck in a hospital bed, I find it a great pity to self-isolate and lock yourself at home because of the weather, it's up to you.

Annamaria14
Where are you suggesting I should go then, out of interest

I don't know your area, if you are not sure, join your local groups, local people will have all the knowledge and info you need.

@Sugarplumfairy65

I think they should lift the lockdown and anyone who’s elderly or shielding should stay at home. Honestly what is the point in the whole country suffering to protect a tiny number of people who wouldn’t have died in the next few months anyway.

I'm in the shielding group. I'm not going to die in the next few months or even years unless I catch covid, then there's a very good chance that I will. Is my life worth less than yours?
Before lockdown I ran my own business, was very sociable, enjoyed eating out, visiting family, traveling all over the world. Yesterday was the first time I left the house for 83 days. I had to go for my blood tests.
I've lost my business and income, haven't seen my family for months, have stuck to the rules. But my life doesn't matter?
I'm sick of people saying that those who are vulnerable should just stay at home. I'm sick of the government saying that those shielding are being looked after. They aren't, its bullshit. I still haven't got guaranteed supermarket deliveries, I had 4 government crappy food boxes. No 80% of my self employed income because the years they took into account I earned more through page than I did self employment, No grant because I don't pay business rates, I can't get the guaranteed business loan because I can't re open my business while I'm shielding and no one knows how long I have to shield.
But you know what? That's life. I'm not depressed, I'm happy to be alive, I know I'll see my children again, I know life will get back to a new normal. I can live with the current situation because I know its not permanent.

I wish there was a like button.

Im shielding and like you still can't get a delivery slot and have had absolutely no other help or support. We aren't being looked after, we've simply been locked away, out if sight out of mind lest we take up s hospital bed.

I too have a chronic health condition but I'm not going to die from it. Normally I work, go to the gym, volunteer, support my children and elderly parents - in short I have an active and productive life. I've had medical treatments cancelled due to Covid too but I can't see there was any other choice. Government haven't handled this well - they were too slow to act and haven't put in place systems we need to lift lockdown but then they've underfunded the NHS and education for years and that's on those who've voted Tory. It's no wonder that chronically underfunded organisations haven't been able to maintain normal service throughout that.

Oh, and maybe those moaning about how boring their lives are now could spare a thought for everyone shielding. Your lives are improving, ours aren't and no prospect of that changing anytime soon.

@Homemadeandfromscratch there are no groups. Everywhere is closed!

Are you alright?

It’s all a bit grim. I’m kind of worried that I won’t be going back to normal as each stage is lifted either.

Queue for hours to go into non essential shops on Monday but can’t see my mum innher house and kids can’t go to school? No thank you.

Buy clothes with no where to go and no one to see? No thank you.

Think about holidays in 2021 when school is saying don’t waste money on uniform or shoes as they are uncertain of a September return. No thank you.

We are all guaranteed to die. Death is the only certainty I have right now. Everything else is on pause until I see other people doing stuff and enjoying it feeling safe.

The only things that matter right now is finding joy where you can. Getting back to normal I have parked realistically for the foreseeable.

I honestly cannot bear to be in Ireland anymore. Other countries are opening up. Not here . I am going to try to leave

But then I am not sure if flights are running either. Fucking trapped every way

I am struggling. Work is getting increasingly pressured. All the understanding about home schooling and trying to work is out of the window and I am now just being told I need to deliver. i'm exhausted.

I've tried wearing masks - I find a mask affects how my varifocals sit and I can't see properly (probably something to do with the fact I struggle to get glasses to fit at the best of times). I'm at the stage of thinking what is the bloody point of going out tbh .... may as well sit in my garden and not worry about a probably useless mask

I just feel rudderless and worrying about how long it will take to find a new job

Yes masks steam up my glasses so I cannot see at all

I'm starting to feel like this too, and at the beginning of lockdown of it I was one of the buoyant, optimistic ones.

I'm self employed and my work has dried up to nothing. At the start of it - in April I was paid some outstanding invoices and got two lucrative jobs in, so I was mistakenly confident I would be just fine for work through lockdown

How wrong was I? In early May I earned £165 and nothing since and absolutely nothing on the horizon. The self-employed grant was an absolutely godsend, but of course it's one payment and the bills keep on coming, so I am having to watch every penny and I am literally counting down the days until we get the next self-employed grant which won't be until mid August. Two months away!

I was also motivated to keep myself busy in other ways, catching up with jobs around the house, garden, cleaning etc .. but lately I can hardly motivate myself to do anything. I was going for walks or bike rides every day - now I can't be arsed. It just seems so pointless walking or biking around aimlessly, going nowhere with no purpose. I'd love to paint all my fence panels, but I'm terrified to spend money on the paint.

I'm tired and exhausted doing nothing - sleeping 9, 10 hours a night and waking up with no energy or motivation. The boredom can be mind numbing and there's no more books, films, programmes, crosswords, puzzles, quizzes .. that can distract me. I'm bored of it all. I'll have days when I have spurts of activity but then other days when I don't even get out of my pyjamas.

I'm hoping my business will come back, my clients will return but I don't know that. This could be it for me after 27 years of continuous self-employment. The future is all so uncertain and though I try not to worry I can't help it.

On the plus side, although I'm a single mother I do have both (young adult) children still at home, so I have the company of young people and both have secure jobs (currently working from home) and both pay me regular keep so I'm not completely without income, albeit barely enough to scrape by.

I also have a garden which has given me a lot of pleasure and I've been able to get it looking really nice, but of course, when the weather's shit - like today - it's not much help.

I can feel myself sinking and then I'll have a day when I get my arse into gear and do loads - exercise, walk, clean, do a DIY project, writing or doing something creative for myself,, but invariably the next day I'm back 'down' again. The up days are becoming less and the down days are becoming more, even though I'm fighting against it for all I'm worth.

Life just seems so pointless without purpose and it's hard to create purpose out of nothing.

Annamaria14

I am sorry that you are in the one part of Ireland where a hurricane -forced storm has been in action non stop for MONTHS.

You do know that there are such things as ONLINE groups don't you... You are on one right now.

I know you enjoy portraying a miserable life and don't like to be reminded that it's only as bad as you make it. You could chose to forget your excuses and get out a bit, it's up to you. We just don't have to buy it. A few days of thunderstorms hardly forces everybody to be locked inside for weeks, let alone months unless they chose to.

YANBU

Fuck alone knows how I am supposed to pay my mortgage with no job.

I honestly cannot bear to be in Ireland anymore. Other countries are opening up. Not here . I am going to try to leave

bit tricky when the country is under attacks by the longest and worst storms in history..oh, wait

@Homemadeandfromscratch before this week we had a rule where we were not allowed to go beyond 5km from our houses.

It has been lifted just this week to 20 km - but now the weather is really bad