Westminstenders: All bets are off

[RedToothBrush]

We are seeking an extension. Apparently. No prizes for guessing why.

There is no news but COVID news. And that's all there will be for a long time.

Enjoy your stockpile and your sunny uplands it brought.

Keep safe.

Some controlling bastards firms insist on bums on seats - and will need to be told officially to allow WFH, or shut down.

Other non-essential jobs can't be done from home

Yep, need a list, but some will still hunt loopholes; 'tis the nature of the beast

We're fortunate that we have a large garden, which can now get lots of TLC

Was planning to do the garden anyway. Have cracked on with half the fence before schools closed. Decking got painted today. Needs another coat tomorrow.

Home schooling is definitely messing up my plans though.

Dh has to go in for a shutdown meeting at 8.30 :(

"A senior police source says the lockdown will involve neither the military on the streets, nor tactics such as road blocks. But details on enforcement are still being hammered out and will
continue to be so over the next few days."

So if you really MUST collect any students, do so tomorrow - sounds a good chance the authorities won't have worked out how to enforce this by then

About time BJ said sth clear. A written speech in his case is obviously better than waffling through a press conference.

France has strengthened existing measures, clarified some.
Exercise is allowed 1km from home at most, 1hr at most.
Trips to doctors only allowed if you've been summoned or it's an emergency appointment.
More markets to shut, though efforts made to allow farmers to sell harvested produce and avoid waste.
PM has said normality won't return any time soon and confinement may last several more weeks.

Meanwhile, more and more people I know here are reporting symptoms. Mild, mostly, but scary. No one seems to be tested, though.

Glad I did a big food shop today, plus garden and DIY stuff, and got the cat through her MOT.

A friends has just been widowed in her early 40's (nowt to do with COVID)
She will have to go to lots of appointments to sort stuff out.
Those will go on regardless.

Carphone Warehouse apparently tried to get themselves categorised as "essential" even though they're in the process of shutting the standalone stores They were turned down

This would have been useful ... shame the govt didn't proceed

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/23/government-ignored-advice-set-up-uk-emergency-alert-system

The government does not have the ability to send advice on coronavirus directly to Britons’ mobile phones,

after repeatedly ignoring its own findings that an emergency messaging system could help the country in times of crisis.🤦🏻‍♀️

South Korea’s aggressive use of emergency alerts has been credited by some for helping to keep the country’s infection rate relatively low,
while many other European countries have built systems allowing governments to issue warnings about threats to life.

When politicians in the Netherlands became concerned on Sunday that too many people were flouting physical distancing rules and congregating in parks,
they used their emergency messaging service NL-Alert to send a message urging the public to avoid congregating in open spaces and keep their distance.

Ah prettybird I sympathise. DS (20) is up in St Andrews and we've debated back and forth for a while now on whether he should stick it out over there. He's in a flat with two good friends who have decided to stay. His girlfriend sadly was forced by her parents to come home to London. He says he'd rather stay close to his friends than anywhere near a big city. I respect his decision but as a mum it's hard to know that he's 400+ miles away in such circumstances.

Danny Kempp@dannyctkemp*

French PM says lockdown could last several more weeks,

just an hour after the Dutch extended coronavirus restrictions until June

Looks like lockdowns need a long while to work fully - we could have learned this from China

Any bets on how long the UK's extension will turn out to be ?
"at least 3 weeks" is what BJ said

The first time an emergency alert went of on my phone I was freaked out, I didn't realize they existed!
Haven't had any for C19 but tv and billboards are full of stuff.

I have a 25-year old stupid phone, as my iPhone 5S went permanently to No Service after a couple of years

• means buy another iShiny, so of course I never did again.

I probably should reconsider that now, in case Angela sends me something important

The town hall rang my landline here, with a message about restrictions and fines.
Everyone in France who has a mobile phone got an SMS after Macron's lockdown speech saying what was to happen.

Re: nation wide messages from government; DH And I saw this on The Rookie the other day and said what a great idea it was. I didnt know it existed as a thing until then.

Well, it exists as a thing in many advanced nations,
just not in the UK (hence not ?)

Yoikes I'm so sorry to hear about your aunt.

CNBC reports
CDC has found that coronavirus survived in cruise ship cabins for up to 17 days after passengers had disembarked.

That's not doing anything for my anxiety, BCF!

The Trump administration has issued secret orders to facilitate a military takeover of the US in the event that civilian leadership is incapacitated during the coronavirus crisis, a report says.

The orders would kick in if disease or violence arising from the pandemic rendered Washington impotent and prevented devolution of power to civilian leaders in the regions as envisaged in decades of contingency planning.

The United States would then be placed under the authority of Terrence O’Shaughnessy, a four-star general and former fighter pilot who is the designated “combatant commander”, according to Newsweek.
RTB

And all this time Trump voters and NRA types thought Obama was The Enemy. Well, well, well.

I live here and I shouldn't laugh, but oh what karma if the NRA turn out in droves to fight an army takeover ordered by their hero. Karma all around if the Army fights back.

yoikes I'm so so sorry to hear your sad news.

I've been following Planetracker every morning for the past week
Interesting to see how the amount of flights in the air are slowly dropping away. Very little movement in and out of Heathrow and Gatwick now.
The main European hub which is still relatively busy is Amsterdam. Lots of international flights going in and out

Meanwhile the good old USA has a billion domestic flights still flying around daily and plenty between them and Canada.

Most of the trans Atlantic flights are freight, a huge reduction in civil flights.

Morning Everyone
Day 1 of Brave New World
I ordered some broccoli and kale plug plants for my tiny raised bed yesterday. I wonder if they will ever arrive?
Urgently waiting Dcat1's thyroid medication which I asked vet to post on last week.
All parcel delivery seems to have stopped.

Oh, and just think how rich Mr Bezos is going to be once this has all quietened down

DGR others share your views on this pandemic being a game changer it seems.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/24/coronavirus-crisis-change-world-financial-global-capitalism