Will you be taking part in the one minute silence at noon?

[en0la]

Ironically I'll be at a funeral but will you be taking part ?

@ReverendRicketyCricket

Nope. Won't be standing outside shining a bloody light either. Absolute nonsense.

Sorry to those who have lost loved ones but you really don't need a Government prescribed time to remember them and if you think Johnson gives a shit you're sadly mistaken.

Agree

No. And this probably sounds selfish but it's my birthday today.. I mean my birthday has a habit of being shit, but last year really was an epic shit one. I've been shielding for a year and one day I would like to have a lovely birthday
I'll likely be on the phone anyway as have a telephone consult

Yes, I will be, although I'm on my own so no one will notice.

It'll just be a quiet moment thinking about those who have died from Covid or because of Covid-restrictions (family member), and for the living who are suffering in so many different ways.

The only difference between today and every other day, is knowing that my quiet moment will be shared.

to everyone who has lost someone, or who is struggling.

@QueenPaw, I hope you have a cracking birthday!

Got to make what joy you can in this world!

No. I'm tired of all these ostentatious but empty public demonstrations. They become more meaningless the more of them there are. The shaming for non-compliance, a la November Poppy syndrome, is also very distasteful.

To the NHS staff who may be offended: as a fellow public-sector worker (university) who's had a similar fight on my hands, I'd have come out on strike in support of you after that derisory 'pay rise' you've just received, particularly given the sacrifices made within your sector over the past year. But clap like a performing seal or indulge in endless doorstep demonstrations, that I won't do. It's of use to no one.

I'll be having my vaccine at that time.

No, because it's not over yet. I will participate in memorial silences after the event, not during. Not whilst we still have people suffering due to care being cancelled or postponed, not whilst our freedoms have been taken away, not whilst people are losing their businesses homes and employment. No, it's not appropriate.

Lost my lovely DW in July to cancer. She was very ill in hospital during covid restrictions. I used to visit her by sitting outside her ground floor room. The window opened enough for me to push my hands through. She sit by the window, lay her head down in my open hands, and rest like that. Heartbreaking. She came home two days before she died. I don't think I will formally observe a minute's silence, I am grieving every waking minute. This has been a hellish year.

Oh joystir. I'm so very sorry.

I never once clapped, I never do any of these formal remembrance things either. I don't like the sentimentalisation of horror.

@QueenPaw Happy Birthday to you!

This has been slipped into my diary, but no I probably won't, I don't really like doing any others that often pop up. (Bar rememberance day)

Dont need a minute's silence to remember the dead, I think about them at other times anyway. I might take a minute to think about the incompetence of this government that led to there being far more of them that there should have been. Also to think about how I vote in the forthcoming local elections.

The government have made multiple errors to get us to the mess we are in now and we need to replace them.

Is it at 12 and 7pm?

I spend most of my time recently thinking about the losses of the last year and the almighty government screw-ups, so I don't need a prescribed time to do this standing on my doorstep so the neighbours can be assured that I am a good citizen (after they have all driven to the countryside to do their exercise and other lockdown-breaking daily activities.)

I am very sorry Joystir. I can't imagine how hard that was.

Yes, of course I will. It's not meant to 'help' anyone (for those who say it's pointless) it's meant to be 'reflection' and I shall certainly do that.

This time last year the school I work in closed and I was on furlough, I was also ill and would quickly realise I had COVID myself....I was very ill for 3 weeks with it. Two people I knew had already died (a family friend and a former work colleague from a previous job) and there would be more deaths of people known to me to come. In the village where I live there were ambulances and undertakers coming and going to the local nursing home which I can see from my window, it was awful. I really felt as though I lived through the worst of the COVID crisis....and thus I am in a very reflective mood today.

@Trumplosttheelection

Well as a nhs employee I find those of you sneering at this event really offensive. Just so you know.

We - my whole family - actually ARE NHS workers - including on the wards.

Put it this way - I don't know a single person who thinks like you about this.

No, and I agree with many of the sentiments expressed on this thread.

I'm sick of the platitudes and pointless fucking clapping/silences.

I'm a healthy individual who has been locked away for in excess of a year. My father in law had a missed cancer diagnosis as a result of not being able to access treatment quickly enough and I haven't seen my own parents since September. I'm terrified to think of the cost of this whole mess that future generations will be dealing with and I worry about never regaining the freedom that has been taken away while we all sleepwalk to our front doors clapping and lighting candles.

I feel nothing but anger.

If anyone thinks I'm callous, I really am not. It is important to allow people chance to grieve, to commemorate and reflect. I've even approached my local council with a proposal on creating a public space in our town, when this is all over where people can quietly reflect in their own time over the coming years.

I also utterly respect anyone who wants to take part today, some people do draw comfort from collective experiences.

It's the public shaming element playing into a populist movement that I deplore.

No not deliberately but as I am on my own at midday I may follow a minute's silence by accident.

It's pointless in my opinion and people are just jumping on any old bandwagon to enjoy a bit of virtue signalling

Nope, I've sacrificed a year of my (healthy, young) life already, I don't need Covid forced down my throat any more thanks.

No.

I’m surprised that Marie Curie of all charities, aren’t using their platform to draw attention to the million women who missed breast cancer screenings this past year, or the many thousands of people who are walking about with undiagnosed cancer, to the many thousands of people who will die early because their cancer treatment will be too late.

@OhYouBadBadKitten agree with this
What I'm seeing at the moment is a rise in pressure to conform - to stand on the doorstep, because otherwise you hate the NHS/disrespect the dead, that everyone in the public eye must display the Union Flag (the bigger, the better) else you hate our country. People need to open their eyes and see what is happening.

No. People have also died from other conditions.

I think it will make more sense to do something joyous and life affirming today, personally. That's what I'm trying to do in my grief.