Fears For Tiers

[Bytheloch]

Thread #567 Still here, getting through each day one 2M step away at a time. November into December 2020 here we go...

Oh the Edinburgh library decisions sound bonkers three different avid library users in Edinburgh have told me they can’t access any of the open ones & they all live in different parts of the city.

We’re lucky that after months of being closed Falkirk have actually opened all their libraries albeit with shortened hours.

Some of the ideas about swapping books are lovely- we swapped with friends over (first?) lockdown —& spent every penny we saved on the cancelled activities— but nothing beats browsing around a library feeling that freedom to try something risk free!

My local library never reopened but the one near my mum and dad did. It was great, it has a big, spacious children’s section so my 3 year old could wander about and choose books on the days my parents look after him while I work.

And my parents have agreed to continue looking after him on my 3 working days during tier 4, sorry Nicola. I don’t have one of those wonderful toddlers who will sit and play quietly or even watch tv or play with an iPad while I do Zoom meetings and spreadsheets and without childcare I can’t work. I couldn’t believe it when I saw that informal childcare wasn’t allowed under tier 4 except for keyworkers. How the hell were parents like me meant to manage that?

readsalotgirl63 Re the Reading Challenge, yes its good to encourage children to read, but i really object to the name. Call it Schools Reading Challenge or something. It feels like they are trying to brainwash Scottish kids.

@AgentCooper

My local library never reopened but the one near my mum and dad did. It was great, it has a big, spacious children’s section so my 3 year old could wander about and choose books on the days my parents look after him while I work.

And my parents have agreed to continue looking after him on my 3 working days during tier 4, sorry Nicola. I don’t have one of those wonderful toddlers who will sit and play quietly or even watch tv or play with an iPad while I do Zoom meetings and spreadsheets and without childcare I can’t work. I couldn’t believe it when I saw that informal childcare wasn’t allowed under tier 4 except for keyworkers. How the hell were parents like me meant to manage that?

That's disappointing. I don't think much of NS but I thought she understood how hard it is for working parents.

AgentCooper this says you can use informal childcare if it's essential to allow you to work from home www.parentclub.scot/articles/your-guide-childcare Just in case you have to explain yourself to the Stasi 🙄

Incidentally the rest of that advice is utterly laughable. "Do I have to physically distance from the child I'm taking care of... No, just wash your hands before and after changing their nappy." It's more infantilisation from Scotland's chief mammy...

Stirling Council announced that all us locals can get into the Wallace monument for free next year. Is that supposed to stir us up into voting SNP? FREEDOM! Aye well not really freedom so much as daeing whit yer telt...

My boys used to do the Reading challenge when it was called stuff like "The Summer Reading Challenge" and was run via the library. Many years of council tax freeze put paid to the library system though so that doesn't work so much anymore. I mean look at somewhere like Stirlingshire - has about 40k households. even if they'd charged an extra £1 a month they'd have had an extra nearly half million a year. If you add a bit more for the richer households and ask for an extra fiver a month, probably could have raked in at least a million a year and no-one would have really missed it. Now I know that's really not that much nowadays but think how many books it would buy or community projects it could have helped. But it was the principle of showing how caring they are by not taking extra money from poor strapped people...does my head in.

Do any schools still have decent libraries nowadays?

That's disappointing. I don't think much of NS but I thought she understood how hard it is for working parents.

She hasn't a clue. My 3yo was self isolating. They recommend they self isolate with one parent. So financially that would be me. Except he loves his Dad. Do they honestly think that you can keep a 3yo in one room? I got nothing done trying to SI with him I couldn't get him to watch a film all he'd watch was 20min programs and constant intuription.

Watching with interest to see what the reaction will be come December 11th, when restrictions are supposedly to be 'relaxed' depending on circumstance, and circumstances are such in certain areas that they immediately just get slapped back into tier 4.

Couldn't care less what happens where I am as 2/3/4 makes no appreciable difference to me personally anyway, but there appears to be a hell of a lot of people who are just taking it as read that no matter how restricted they are right now, everything is just getting binned off for Christmas.

Depends - not all schools have libraries. A sliding scale of payments for libraries if it improved selection would be worth it, one thing I wonder with fewer bricks and mortar shops is if there is an opportunity for community expansion. There would be howls of selling off libraries though but if well thought out it could work well.

Why aren't there cafes in libraries too as most of the bookshops have done?

Well if we get to the mythical tier 2 we don't face legal movement sanctions and can leave Scotland! But other than that...still can't have anyone round.

Even in Tier Zero - which they have repeatedly described as "normal" - there are strict limits.

no more than 8 people inside, from up to 3 households
maintain 2m social distancing with people not in your household
No travel to level 3 or 4 areas
No concerts/theatre
50 people maximum in a church for a wedding/funeral
Masks

So even at tier 0, I couldn't take my kids (3 of them) and DH to see my parents, my sister, BIL and her two kids because that would make 11 of us. We could however meet outside, in Scotland, in December.

@RaspberryCoulis I was reading the inside numbers for Tier 0 yesterday as trying to ascertain when our group of 5 friends could meet up inside. Turns out never is the answer .
Do you think they think we've forgotten that pre covid life used to exist and we'll except this for all eternity?

Hopping back to library chat for a sec - our local is like a ghost town after school. It’s sad how everyone supports at the baby book reading sessions, but it’s difficult to continue that once at pre/school level.
I think cafes and community bakery/cafe style retail points could work so well. Work spaces at reduced rates for freelancers, self employed and start ups that directly benefit the wider community etc.
Our local has break out rooms too, could be utilised for after school childminding facilities, with creative reading and story creation sessions for the kids.
Membership fees should be reintroduced for those who can pay- on a voluntary sliding scale, managed via your council tax, but everyone benefits from your contribution.

Soooo much that could be done to refresh and sustain libraries, but very much doubt they’ll be high on the recovery priority list🤷‍♀️

It’s so dystopian

Why would a testing site be closed because “of high winds” does anyone know?

@anon444877

Well if we get to the mythical tier 2 we don't face legal movement sanctions and can leave Scotland! But other than that...still can't have anyone round.

We will be able to leave Scotland to go abroad. We won't be able to leave it to go anywhere else in the UK, though! Even in level 0. I can't believe we have reached this stage... Also, the revised travel page on the SG website specifies that the reason people in level 3 and 4 can't go abroad is because they would be leaving their council area. I simply can't see on what grounds the SG has to prevent that when the destination isn't in Scotland. If other countries are willing to host Scots (following whatever quarantine/ restrictions they choose to impose) what right has Scotland to say that they can't?? The rules aren't protecting public health in Scotland at all. (Quarantining on return would be, fair enough).

And I agree, level 0 is nowhere near normal. There are businesses that are not allowed to open even in level 0 (nightclubs and sexy places, which presumably don't fit the clean living impression of Scotland we want to portray, so it's absolutely fine they are banned for an indefinite period... oh, yes) and others that will be so severely restricted it's not really worth them opening (concerts/ mass gatherings etc) . As well as limiting the number of people you can have in your house.

The current regulations are due to expire at the end of March I think. My one glimmer of hope is that things will look better by then so they won't be needed, and all the tiers and travel bans and so on can get in the bin.

Goodness, I've woken up on the wrong side of bed. Sorry.

My DSs went to chatterbooks at the library until high school. They'd have a book to read and discuss monthly and get speakers in and do activities. Does that still exist in non covid times?

@Bytheloch

Hopping back to library chat for a sec - our local is like a ghost town after school. It’s sad how everyone supports at the baby book reading sessions, but it’s difficult to continue that once at pre/school level. I think cafes and community bakery/cafe style retail points could work so well. Work spaces at reduced rates for freelancers, self employed and start ups that directly benefit the wider community etc. Our local has break out rooms too, could be utilised for after school childminding facilities, with creative reading and story creation sessions for the kids. Membership fees should be reintroduced for those who can pay- on a voluntary sliding scale, managed via your council tax, but everyone benefits from your contribution.

Soooo much that could be done to refresh and sustain libraries, but very much doubt they’ll be high on the recovery priority list🤷‍♀️

Agree with all of this. Personally I'd love some self employed spaces/ cafes etc on a community level, rather than having to go into the city centre (I want to work somewhere that's not my house, frankly, and eat cake, but I'm too lazy). Obviously some communities do have them, but many are deserts for stuff like that. To be fair, our local library was pretty well used by community groups. Hasn't opened back up, though, so not sure what's happened to the community groups.

@NotAnActualSheep it’s all just total shite and so counterproductive.

I’m a podgy old woman and should be at self improving yoga class just now, then the gym with my DS. Instead I’m lying in bed, wondering how long it is until it’s acceptable to drink

@WouldBeGood

Why would a testing site be closed because “of high winds” does anyone know?

Some of the outdoor drive through ones do seem quite gazebo-heavy to shelter the workers and keep all the tests before sending them to the labs. I can imagine that could get quite dangerous in high winds. Or maybe they are worried that bits of nearby buildings would blow onto queues of people waiting to be tested, which wouldn't be good PR.

@NotAnActualSheep i know some hotels were offering a space to work for the day, with WiFi and coffees and food.

@WouldBeGood

Why would a testing site be closed because “of high winds” does anyone know?

They are usually in car parks or other wide open spaces. Maybe there is some damage to the temporary buildings or they are worried about the safety of the staff who have to work outside and go from car to car?

Perhaps There is some debris from an adjacent building site ?

I’m just guessing.

And thanks for the testing site info 😊 I was puzzled

@polarisation

AgentCooper this says you can use informal childcare if it's essential to allow you to work from home www.parentclub.scot/articles/your-guide-childcare Just in case you have to explain yourself to the Stasi 🙄

Incidentally the rest of that advice is utterly laughable. "Do I have to physically distance from the child I'm taking care of... No, just wash your hands before and after changing their nappy." It's more infantilisation from Scotland's chief mammy...

God @polarisation thank you. What a relief. But furious that this isn’t explained on the Scottish Parliament tiers page.