Guilt Free Railing 18

[WouldBeGood]

Will it ever end?

I Had to check everywhere that this wasn’t a spoof . We really are led by donkeys.

@readsalotgirl63

I feel a Victor Meldrew moment coming on ....

DH and I were talking about that the other day. It's definitely where we are heading. He's actually looking forward to being retired so he can say what he thinks without fear of losing his job. He's not bothered about being locked up, says it will be much cheaper than a care home!

I feel that in a hell of a lot of situations if you speak out against Nicola and her policies then you are treated like a pariah . I’ve made a few comments regarding some of the stuff shes messed up or got off with over the last few years to friends and they either change the subject immediately or go silent . In a work context I’ve sat in the same room as someone who said that when several of their family members passed away it would mean less Tories in the world . The level of allegiance SNP supporters have towards Nicola is not normal shes not the messiah and her stupid comments to Chris Musson surely highlight that . She rides a wave of throwing out token rants against Boris and the Tories and what a lot of people forget is we have had a devolved Parliament for years we wouldn’t be taken over by Boris if there was no Nicola . I don’t remember this level of division and hatred ten years ago or so I would be quite happy with a coalition at Holyrood who concentrated on improving Scotland’s infrastructure and focusing less on identity politics and vanity schemes .

Completely agree @SylviasMotherSaid and everyone else.

My non ScotGov rail is about clothes though. Back to the office next month and I don't think the collection of sweaty Betty leggings I've treated myself to to wear almost daily in the last couple of years are quite going to cut it. And most old work clothes didn't make the lockdown clearouts. But the shops remain full over oversized floaty dresses and lounge wear. Where are all the smarter clothes???

I thought DH had miss heard when he told me about the doors in classrooms. But nope it’s true I’m shaking my head in disbelief at the total stupidity of her statement. Not to mention yet more costs to the taxpayer for yet another stupid decision. SNP the gift that keeps giving.
I really think NS has lost it!!

Anyway, this weekend the 6 Nations begins so looking forward to it got tickets and our hotel booked can’t wait.

My work had already moved to permanent casual wear before lock down. No sign of going back to the office yet for me but prior to lockdown and semi-permanent WFH I was mostly wearing out a lot of my work clothes anyway rather than doing a complete switch otherwise what was I going to do with all the trousers and shirts and blouses etc? They were still wearable, i decided I just wasn't buying any new ones and would just buy more casual stuff.

You'll probably find smarter stuff still at Next, M&S etc?

I'm wanting to know sooner rather then later where the additional funding for energy bills will be spent!
If there isn't a similar thing of money for lowest tax bands which let's be honest is probably the cheapest way to do it!

I get that they won't know yet but does many on here really expect the SNP to do something straight forward, not complicated and gets to folk quickly........

Extra money will be pocketed and spent on something else, after all the money given for the NHS wasn't spent on the NHS.

I agree re test and protect - and if you register a positive lft on day 6 + they can't tie it back to the original positive so you get another call and another barrage of texts. Barmy.

On a two week isolation odyssey here, the last family member has just tested positive - I really hope that's the last covid isolation we'll have.

Well I'm in Rona jail as of today. Everyone else negative so far but that's only a matter of time I suppose.

Oh no maple! Sorry to hear that. Hope you all manage to escape too. It all sounds so disproportionate at this stage.

I assume the energy money will somehow get thwacked in the independence fund. Or maybe towards their "Scottish energy company" they were promising, that seemed to get quietly dropped (not the actual energy of course, just some feasibility study or consultation or something).

I haven't been in an office for years, but judging what I see out and about it does seem to be more informal. Not quite legging territory, but those ponte (?) trousers with drawstring or elastic waists, or Jersey dresses/ wrap dresses, flat shoes/ ankle boots or smart trainers, sometimes oversized jackets or blazers, but not suit kind of things. Though I agree there does seem to be lots of stuff slightly below that level of smart in the shops! I really like the kind of things me and em do for a sort of casual-work look (though not their prices), but you can manufacture that kind of look much more cheaply from eg m and s, or even some supermarkets. I got some lovely wide legged trousers with a stripe down the side from m and s before Christmas that look really smart but are still comfy and feel totally jogging bottom... If you have any old office stuff you could wear one piece of that with something a bit more casual than you would have done before? So suit trousers with a tee, smart shirt with wide jersey trousers (maybe with a knitted tank top over?), or a jacket with a floaty dress or something? Though I'm deffo no fashionista.

In retrospect, I'd be inclined to PCR everyone at the first sign of something as the lfts seem to not pick omicron up til you're on about day 3 or later and then the isolation clock starts ticking again @IsurviveonCoffeeandWinein2021

Oh no - not you too isurvive!

That's interesting @mapleleavesreturn because I think I'm probably on day 3. Might just book all of us for a PCR tomorrow but then it's the phone calls.

I intend to fully isolate btw I just can't be arsed with all the hassle of registering it tbh.

Thanks for clothes suggestions. My office is fairly relaxed so I don't need a thing super smart but a step up from joggers definitely. I need smart casual but not overly 'office-y' if that makes sense. I've ordered a few pairs of trousers from Zara today, so will see how I go with those.

If one of us got covid and the rest negative on LFT I think I'd ship us off for PCR's to get the clock started. After I'd stocked up...

Yeah the amount of pointless phone calls and text messages we've had...

I'd agree with the PCRs. I'm sure that used to be the advice anyway - that anyone living with/ close contact with a positive case was supposed to go straight for a PCR even if they had no symptoms. So you can claim ignorance of the rules if questioned! And it seems more likely to deliver an early positive, if that is the aim, so minimise the isolation time

My office wasn't necessarily that "smart" anymore to be honest. When I started there nearly 20 years ago it was definitely a suited and booted vibe. I latterly mostly wore ankle grazers with smart pumps and a blouse or shirt or a tucked in plain "t-shirt" with a plain cardi for the chill or a plain fine knit jumper. I'm not really a dress person but other folk would wear shift dresses/wrap dresses and boots/smart shoes.

I'm almost always in skinnies and boots or flats, with T-shirt and blazer style jacket. Or dress, but most likely worn with trainers.

@WhatWouldTheDoctorDo

From the bbc summary of FM's questions today it sounds like Douglas Ross was giving Nicola a hard time and she was doing that thing where she ridicules the question and refuses to answer it.

I've actually just watched the clip of this, and I agree that she doesn't come across well at all. Douglas Ross quotes a retired firefighter raising legitimate concerns about fire safety, and asks what consultation she's had with the fire service. She calls him and his line of questions 'infantile', doesn't actually answer the question and instead goes on about local authorities being able to take action. Her tone is very aggressive and quite tetchy though, and I have to agree that it gives the impression that none of this ground work was done and policy was made up on the back of a fag packet because, I don't know, they feel the need to do something/anything to appease the teaching unions, even if what they are proposing is patently absurd? I can't believe that anyone thinks these are Hallmarks of a good leader who is confident in solid policy. Thankfully at least some of the papers seem to have picked up on this latest nonsense.

I particularly liked the following bits from that article:

"The SNP continue to set a low bar for themselves and fail to meet it every time"

"Why should the Scottish people continue to pay for the hare-brained schemes of talentless politicians and their token, ill-thought-out policies?"

Exciting for rugby @Coquohvan!

Pisser for those afflicted 🧘🏻‍♀️

Try ASOS as well @WhatWouldTheDoctorDo they have such a huge range and easy to return

So Kate Forbes had already confirmed that the 120 million to local councils last week will come out of the 290 million allocated today.......
So either she had a crystal ball or has gone yay don't need to now touch independence fund.......

So that leaves 170 million......bets on something which is difficult to obtain or will this get spent on something else they promised to pay for instead....

Thanks all on the clothes suggestions again, all good and appreciated. I think I'm just fed up of having to wade through hundreds of items online to find anything vaguely structured, and I feel that the shops in Edinburgh have such a poor range these days. I want to go out, have a wander and try lots of things on. Sigh.

Agree @Y0uCann0tBeSer10us - and tetchy and aggressive perfect way to describe. Last night's news seemed to suggest that the fire brigade not on board with door chopping.

No trust here in money to help with energy prices being effectively distributed. Not sure anything useful has happened with covid recovery money and I seem to recall free iPads for all to help with education recovery, but DSs school still waiting.

May be watching through my fingers @WouldBeGood

This is doing the rounds