Drowning in a sea full of tiers

[Cismyfatarse]

Next thread. DD's birthday so can someone link.

Can'tbeserious that's a good sign that less people are in ICU.

Might it even be a good thing if lots of low risk people get it and develop some level of immunity (as asymptomatic people are less likely to pass it on)?

Someone said that was part of the reason they wanted the schools kept open. To build natural immunity in the younger population, partly because we'd be really screwed if the vaccines didn't work.

@Dinnafashyersel I saw today that lockdown reduces the effectiveness of gritting the roads owing to low volume of traffic.

I think that opening up completely in summer would have been a good thing as the virus was less virulent and community immunity could have been built up while hospitals were quieter. It would also have given people a better break to cope.

Obviously you need to balance that with protecting vulnerable people so having a good testing regime and track and trace was important at that point.

Makes sense WouldbeGood. For pavements it's always a toss up between how helpful motorists are by kicking up grit onto pavements versus the levels of refreezing surface spray. Gritting pavements is a real novelty round our way. Some of the newer estates have their own grit bins so maybe that is the way forward.

I've joined the staff meeting on my day off. It was good to do it in my pj's.

Changes in the staff rota twice since the first one came out 😂 it's like the hubs last summer all over again. Shorter days though. It will be nice to get home an hour and a half earlier.

We are cuddled up watching Matilda (for the fifteenth time this week) and eating cheese sandwiches. Hoping to brave the park later on - three is like a caged animal in the afternoon and needs to burn off some energy desperately. Six would be happy on her tablet all day long 😑

Feel like I am constantly checking here and Twitter and I’m not really all that sure why.

@MamaTookMyEyebrows

We are cuddled up watching Matilda (for the fifteenth time this week) and eating cheese sandwiches. Hoping to brave the park later on - three is like a caged animal in the afternoon and needs to burn off some energy desperately. Six would be happy on her tablet all day long 😑

Feel like I am constantly checking here and Twitter and I’m not really all that sure why.

Hoping that someone will post "bazinga, it was all an epic prank?"

Few parents at my work today pointing out they can't do the work homeschool juggle again. Different to last time- this time people know what it took out of them

Yip and people aren't stupid they aren't nieve enough to think it's only a few weeks they are worried about the weeks on top of the time lost last year.

This weekend I am going to sit down and sort out some work for the coming week for DD6. An hour or two a day. That’s all I’m asking her to do. Keep her ticking over.

Last time I nearly killed myself with work, home schooling and supervising DD3 (who was 2 at the time). Not this time. My mental health was in the gutter by the time nursery went back.

What's getting on my tits today are all the people posting on SM things like
"So grateful for this extra time with my little ones"
Even when they are now juggling kids at home with work! If it was so amazing why did you use childcare/not homeschool before? It just sounds like a guilt trip to those not enjoying it/"humble" brag about what great parents they are. I have been making use of the unfollow/mute button for any purveyors of that shite.

I hear you squeakypotato, one of our staff is a regular for this kind of thing and it doesn't half grind my gears. You might be ok on furlough but the company claiming the furlough for you is earning squat, still paying overheads, still paying NI and pensions...the bank account, it's emptying. Stop being smug!

I am very ranty today!

I think the only people who enjoyed the last time are people who had both parents furloughed or two kids of similar ages.

I worked 5 weeks, furlough for 8 and it was blinking hard going. I don't think I'm going to get furlough this time.

There is simply no way they will furlough me.

In fact I’m coming under a bit of pressure to “look again” at whether I am a key worker (I’m not - they want me to bend the rules to get my youngest into nursery and I’m not prepared to do that).

God I hate this. I hate it.

I’m not homeschooling.

1. DS is wise to the fact that this is an extra week’s holiday, as decreed by SG

1. The SG has told us there’s online learning. So that’s up to them to sort.

1. I’m my child’s mother, not his teacher. He’s a terrible pupil (for me!) and I’m a terrible teacher.

Can anyone inform me on why companies aren't taking furlough this time? Dont want to be too outing, but I know of companies that are closed but not taking furlough and expecting workers to work elsewhere? Is there a reason a company took furlough before but not taking it now?

Asking on behalf of a friend

Sorry just back on.

She’s 5 and in P2

New plan is she will go to in laws as of Monday while I work. They are absolute gems; I hope it’s not too much for them

@ssd

Can anyone inform me on why companies aren't taking furlough this time? Dont want to be too outing, but I know of companies that are closed but not taking furlough and expecting workers to work elsewhere? Is there a reason a company took furlough before but not taking it now?

Asking on behalf of a friend

Amongst other things, NI and pension aren't covered this time. So furloughing staff is not free

@MamaTookMyEyebrows

There is simply no way they will furlough me.

In fact I’m coming under a bit of pressure to “look again” at whether I am a key worker (I’m not - they want me to bend the rules to get my youngest into nursery and I’m not prepared to do that).

God I hate this. I hate it.

I was trying to find a more detailed "keyworker" list as the level 3 definition in particular is as much use as a chocolate teapot. In the process I found this - it's a list which was developed for identifying keyworker priorities for testing during the last lockdown. It has much more detail. Not saying you are, or should like - just that the "important to Scotland" definition or however they word it is fecking awful.

At least .gov.uk has a list (which personally I look at for guidance too)

www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/advice-and-guidance/2020/04/coronavirus-covid-19-access-to-testing-guide/documents/scottish-government-coronavirus-testing-prioritisation-matrix/scottish-government-coronavirus-testing-prioritisation-matrix/govscot%3Adocument/Key%2BWorkers%2Bmatrix%2B-%2BTesting%2B-%2Bv3%2Bupdate%2B-%2B7%2BMay%2B2020.pdf

@StatisticallyChallenged

I hear you squeakypotato, one of our staff is a regular for this kind of thing and it doesn't half grind my gears. You might be ok on furlough but the company claiming the furlough for you is earning squat, still paying overheads, still paying NI and pensions...the bank account, it's emptying. Stop being smug!

I am very ranty today!

It's enraging isn't it.

I really hate all this relentless positivity people seem compelled to post on SM. Yes that makes me a moaner. But this is a shite situation and saying so, or being mentally affected by it, does not make you a worse human being. There's a pressure to not complain and find the good in everything and it just makes me want to throw things at the wall.

I liked having time alone. My kids miss their friends. I would rather see my colleagues in person than on zoom. I can't be alone in any of that? But no, we can't say it, it would look like we hate our families, so instead it's "so grateful for this extra time with these ones". Boak.

Am also ranty today

Nah, I got utterly fed up on new year's eve with all the "so much good in 2020" posts that mine was along the lines of "sure, there's been a few good bits but mostly 2020 is a year which has destroyed businesses, ruined people's mental health and plunged families in to poverty. 2020, do one"

DB works in a factory (not essential to the pandemic). Yet is not being furloughed, still expected to go into work. Doesn't make sense. Who needs flooring at a time like this? Is it honestly that essential??

I think there realisation furlough isn't "free" and some large companies (who topped up furlough last time) were getting pressured to pay the furlough money they recieved back.

I do wonder if the Government will reconsider non-essential factories and construction but I can't see it. They need some income to keep the economy rolling.

Many companies have completely exhausted grants, loans etc surviving round one. There's nothing left to fall back on. They can't furlough their staff and close because there will be no income, nothing to pay the bills with.

At the risk of getting muted for my positivity:

If you have a 3 year old staff nursery ratios are 10:1 so they are ignored at nursery most of the time. At primary school the ratio is more like 25:1.

It is absolutely normal to ignore even quite small DC for most of the time.

If you are home educating they do not need more time than in school, they need a lot less because you can tailor to them. How you / they cope with the rest of the day is a different issue. I will be engaging with school a lot less this time round because I ended up very disengaged from what was happening with DD3 spending A LOT of time unproductively in front of a screen.

Update from a pharmacy acquaintance in Scotland: they don’t know yet if they’ll be giving vaccines “may happen”.