The little things no one is thinking about.

[ThanksForAllTheFish]

Ok it’s almost 4am and I can’t get back to sleep. Stumbled into the Coronavirus topic and safe to say it’s not helping me any. Now I’m thinking about all the little things that might arise out of this that no one it talking about.

We all can see the big picture. We know that we should have in food and general supplies to keep us going for a couple of weeks. Schools may close. Work places may close. Areas may go on lockdown etc. But what about the little things?

For example: what happens if your MOT is due on the car but you are unable to take it to a garage because you are isolated? Would you still be fined? Will your insurance be invalid?
Or
What happens if someone has just had a baby and can’t make it in the allotted timeframe to go and register them? How would they get a birth certificate and would they also be fined?

I know you generally have plenty of time to do these two things but a lot of people do leave it to the last minute. So someone could feasibly have their car booked in for an MOT 5 days before it runs out and then get put in isolation. Or a family might have taken a long time to decide on a name for the baby (for various reasons) and a week before the deadline end up in isolation.

Any more examples of these type of things you can think of?

I don't think it's much different to any other situation where you might for some reason be unable to do something. You could be planning to get your car MOTd tomorrow but break your leg tonight. You could be planning on registering your babies name on Friday but have a car accident tomorrow.

The changes would be if the whole system stopped - if the offices were forced to close so that you couldn't register a birth or whatever. And presumably in that case there would be extensions allowed.

In Australia post bush fires they have extended the tax deadline for example. There will be ways 😊 But it requires a LOT of thought from high up

I did think about the mot thing as I'm booked in next week.

Force Majeure. You claim force majeure. It's like being in a natural disaster; you won't be expected to keep all your existing commitments.

As far as I know if your MOT is out of date you can still drive the car to the garage.

Normal rules won’t apply in these instances any way.

I thought about the MOT too as ours is booked in for Friday and as usual it’s right at the limit as the MOT is up on Saturday.

I’m worried about MIL. She has had a nightmare with her house and subsidence which has taken months to sort out. She is currently staying in a hotel while the house is being redecorated and it’s dragging on. I’m really worried that if there is a lockdown her house won’t be sorted enough for her to move back in to. She’s out and about more than she should be. She lives a 3 hour drive from us so not easy for her to come to stay and she won’t as she wants to be near the house.

All of those that are moving house at the moment, especially to different parts of the country, there have already been worries about house moving expressed on threads

What if your boiler breaks down, obviously as we go into Spring this will become less of a problem but still not good for hot water.

What will people do if they need to top up electricity?

I gave a coin to someone begging yesterday and suddenly thought, what about the homeless people? There’s no staying at home for them.

If your boiler breaks, check if your hot water tank has an electric immersion heater built in (if you have a hot water tank). Many do, and it will put you on till the boiler can be repaired.

A non verbal child I teach who has been poorly and isn't eating. We don't feel parents are acting appropriately for his care. Not cv, general care for what ever is the matter with him. No school and we can't keep an eye.

I'm also concerned about just general medical care and Gp appts for acute illnesses.

No point in worrying about all the ‘what if’s‘. Just take each day as it comes. Appreciate that sometimes unusual things happen in life.

Above all, we must look after each other, and that includes the wider community.

Dog walking? What happens with that?

What if your pet is ill and the vets are all closed?

@vivalebeaver oh no

Well Italy will be a test case. They have cancelled all exams and closed absolutely everything except emergency services, food shops, chemists and banks.

I walk my dog in a large natural park so don’t come close enough to anyone to worry.

I doubt very much that the country will be totally locked down. Yes they may cancel big gatherings, encourage home working for those who can do so, probably close schools.
Things that you've mentioned would no doubt be allowed some flexibility in those circumstances.

need to see exactly what lock down means, it looks like it means only basic shops open, no museums open, restaurants closed in the evening

A lockdown does not mean everything shuts...please note that even on the newer measures implemented by Italy food shops & pharmacies stay open and plenty are still required to go to work.

I've just heard from a friend that our local council (in Australia) is implementing a half in, half out work rule - so that only one half of the council are in at any one time, and there is no crossover (I presume on a week on, week off basis). They're hoping that this would prevent the entire council being out/quarantined at the same time. Nightmare though!
And she also said that her family in QLD have been told that if anyone travels overseas during the school holidays, they can't come back to school afterwards - presumably for the 14 day quarantine period that is being imposed on all return travellers from China, S.Korea, Iran and Italy to here.

I and my boys are due to come to the UK in the school holidays, but we're in NSW and as far as I know, the same restriction hasn't been imposed on our schoolkids - but it might. And we might not be able to come at all because of the stupid bloody virus. And if we DO get there, we might not be able to get back. It's a worry but no insurance company is covering anything to do with Corona virus, so if we cancel at this stage, we lose all our money ($1000s) which it may still come to.

I know those aren't minor things, they're major things, but they're still affecting my thoughts and sleep on a daily basis at the moment!

The government can give exemptions to MOTs if they choose to. Its being done in N Ireland at the moment because the test centres have had to close/restrict appointments due to dangerous machinery. But then there still needs to be admin staff to process the exemption.

i am in Italy and my library books are overdue. I can't renew them and the library is shut. I very much doubt they are going to do anything about it!

@ThumbWitchesAbroad we're supposed to be going to Australia in 2 weeks to spend Easter with family (Gold Coast)
Transit in Taipei..... I really don't think we are going to make it ☹️

Someone at work is getting married in the next couple of weeks, and going on a honeymoon which I suspect won’t now happen.... it’s just awful for anyone with anything planned atm.

As a PP said, you can claim force majeure for things like missing you MOT, but that’s not much consolation if the government bans all public gatherings etc like weddings, as Italy has done.

the bins?
i read that if you tested positive and are self isolating they will arrange for your rubbish to be collected.
but what about the rubbish generally?