Covid - 19

[Sorastro]

We went shopping yesterday morning and to and from the supermarket I bet we didn't see more than two dozen vehicles.

Now, bearing in mind the obvious turmoil the country is in, I would have thought that given the movement of people is at an all time low, wouldn't it be a good time to start "tidying" the place up a bit, for example:-

Send council workers out to start filling in the pot holes, replacing/realigning road signs, re painting lines on the roads etc. I don't mean send gangs of them out, one bloke with a flatbed transit could do most of these chores on his own. Take last week a council worker sitting on a ride on mower cutting the grass outside our house {hardly vital} why couldn't he be given a van and sent out to do any of the above.
OR
Send the police out to scour the estates for badly parked vehicles and illegal motors and start summonsing the offenders. They could also make sure that offenders who have been found guilty and been given Community service to do are actually doing it There are far too many police cars tootling up and down our motorways as it is, parked on the slip roads "Stobart spotting", many of them could be utilised on the above. 

[Sorastro]

On the news this morning... Novak Djokovic and his wife are donating one million euro's to buy much needed medical equipment in Serbia.

Our overpaid footballers seem to be very quiet, now I'm not dropping hints here {yes I am} it's their money they can do what they like with it.
I think this is the time people like those helped put a little back, lets face it they are not exactly going to starve to death if they donate say a weeks wage {or 50%...10% even}.

It would be nice to see them do something in these trying times. I wonder how many have become volunteers.

Just seen on the news this morning. Football clubs are laying off none playing staff as they can't afford to pay them, at the same time the players are still receiving full wages.

Also question of the week:-
The Nightingale hospital is about to open, this is a thousand bed temporary hospital, for years the outcry has been about the lack of beds in the N.H.S. so where has all these "new" beds suddenly appeared from?

[Sorastro]

Watched Matt Hancock on Question time last night {8p.m.-9p.m.} and they got on about the logistical challenge of getting a warehouse full of P.P.E. equipment out to the front line staff and he said it was basically in the hands of the army {obviously logistical corp.}
He mentioned the man in charge, Brigadier Phil Prosser.
I know nothing about the man except he is {apparently} very good at what the army asks him to do, moving tanks from Turkey to Timbuktu, saluting marching squaddies, shifting ammunition that sort of thing, but I personally think this job requires at bit more expertise  and manpower that the army can't provide, as the army only thinks 2 dimensionally.

Logistics....Eddie Stobart knows logistics, T.N.T., Tuffnels, D.H.L. et. al. they all have a proven logistical records. All that needs to be done is send in Trunkers maybe once a week to the "Large warehouse in the North East that's full of the equipment" mentioned by the Health minister, to collect the P.P.E. equipment and the depots delivery vans can have the stuff out and delivered the next day. I'm sure that someone who has ordered a new kettle from the "catalogue" won't mind waiting an extra day for delivery so that the priority equipment can get out.

It's common sense, you don't need a Brigadier, these delivery companies cover at least 95% of the country DAILY, the army can't.


 

[Sorastro]

So the major football clubs are in dire straits {financially} already eh?

All I can say is "Oh dear what a disappointment". As I said, now's the time to start putting things in order and, more importantly,putting things into perspective.
These footballers have been spoiled rotten and now it's come back to bite these clubs on the bum. Take for example if I were in my early twenties, really good at football and a club spotted me and said "play for us and we will give you £2000 a week" I would be doing back somersaults all the way home, that to me would be like winning the pools!! er lottery {do people still do the pools??} instead of these eye watering sums these players command each week, mainly because I, and many like me, have been brought up to REALLY know what it's like to go without and we live accordingly.
When this pandemic is over lets start paying out realistic sums in wages, if they moan sack 'em... let them go abroad to play or better still sign on and get dole money for a couple of months till they find a "proper" job. Then just imagine going to watch Manchester United play and only paying £2:50p to get in, and the players car park full of Skodas and Ford Focuses 

The only casualties in this would be the likes of.... Gucci...Rolex....Lamborghini.... but there will still be plenty of money out there to keep them in business.

[Alsatian]

{do people still do the pools??} i

I bet Umpire wishes they still did! 

[Umpire]

According to my paper DE Gea the Man United goalkeeper is on £375.000 per week.Obscene.

[Sorastro]

Just read this:-
During the SARS outbreak of 2003 in Britain there were no deaths. This was mainly due to relentless testing of people, tracing the people they had been in contact with and isolation.
Also what was then was discovered is that over 70% of new infectious diseases originate from animals {as did SARS} be they tame or wild.
SARS came about because of unhealthy practices in the movement and slaughtering of some animals for food, the global trade in "exotic" pets etc and it appears to be continuing to this day.


This seems to be what is not happening this time, irrespective of what's happening now our government was slow on the uptake. They are playing catch up and to date over 5000 have lost their lives.

[Old Cruser]

We haven't been in a shop for three weeks.
Order provisions on line and family top up what we can't get from the delivery.

As for the football clubs it's time they got back down to earth! Too fond of themselves and charging/ paying what they do it's ridiculous.

I haven't had time to be bored. I cancelled all daughters care and I am supporting her myself, I watch the news up dates once a day and until evening the TV is OFF.

We have a different routine which helps, and have plenty of board games to play plus keeping in touch with family, friends and those who are lonely and frightened.

I applaud everyone single person who is going out to work. One of my daughters friends works in a supermarket and has been so afraid and upset - they all deserve a round of applause and when this is over I hope that our NHS is put back on it's feet!!

My interest in hedgehogs is also a distraction - I have many visiting my garden and my Trial Cam allows me to watch their nightly antics!
Currently I am awaiting my first baby one of the 11 I rescued last year to be returned.

We are in a mess no doubting that and so are other countries. We just need to stay in as much as  possible and scimitar - take care young man!!
The nesting box is ready!!

[Fly]

Poor old Boris. I wish him all the best.
Still think he's a buffoon mind 

[Sorastro]

From what I saw yesterday Sunday service would be more practical... me and the wife went to the local shop yesterday. We went the long way round basically to get some fresh air, during our "walkabout" we were passed by 3 buses and out of those, 2 were riding empty.

Went to town last Friday.. stood at the bus stop for half an hour, a woman came to the bus stop and told us the reason for our wait was that as of that Monday they were running Sunday services only.

[Sorastro]

Now I know we are all in this together! diseases know no boundaries, old or young, rich or poor, famous or even infamous, BUT....

Is it really necessary for news channels to focus on individuals just because of their status.
We know only too well that the Prime Minister is in hospital with the virus {and hopefully will make a full recovery} but do we need a blow by blow account every waking moment of every day just because of who he is. To date over 5000 have died in this country with the virus, that means that 99:9% of the victims hardly got a mention. Prince Charles THOUGHT he might have it so is self isolating. The Queen did the same, she went into self isolation {just her and 300 staff} If anything happened to those two {heaven forbid} the weeping and wailing across the land would be deafening, yet hardly an utterance over the doctors and other medical staff that have already succumbed just by doing their jobs. 

But more importantly what of the soap "stars" who have been laid off through the virus. Equity, the actors union, say "Many actors and workers on these productions are not well paid". So while filming is suspended they are pushing the government to pay more than the governments benchmark of approx 80% of wages, up to a maximum of £2500 per month per actor.
Most of the big names in the soaps/ dramas are on between £150,000 and £220,000 per year, some lesser known such as bit part and extra's may be on between £400 to £2000 per episode, most contracts guarantee a minimum number of episodes per year this could be from 30 episodes to as much as 100 episodes, depending on popularity and or story line, plus they get repeat fees.
Just like the footballers they are hardly likely to end up in a cardboard box under the viaduct, and when you get people like Rooney asking why footballers are singled out for a wage reduction and are being "picked on" all I can say it's a good job you only need to use your feet in football.

[wollygobble]

No-one is supposed to leave their home except for essential supplies, medicine, medical help or exercise. 
So why are B&Q still doing click & collect?

[Alsatian]

Now I know we are all in this together! diseases know no boundaries, old or young, rich or poor, famous or even infamous, BUT....

Is it really necessary for news channels to focus on individuals just because of their status.
We know only too well that the Prime Minister is in hospital with the virus {and hopefully will make a full recovery} but do we need a blow by blow account every waking moment of every day just because of who he is. To date over 5000 have died in this country with the virus, that means that 99:9% of the victims hardly got a mention. Prince Charles THOUGHT he might have it so is self isolating. The Queen did the same, she went into self isolation {just her and 300 staff} If anything happened to those two {heaven forbid} the weeping and wailing across the land would be deafening, yet hardly an utterance over the doctors and other medical staff that have already succumbed just by doing their jobs. 

But more importantly what of the soap "stars" who have been laid off through the virus. Equity, the actors union, say "Many actors and workers on these productions are not well paid". So while filming is suspended they are pushing the government to pay more than the governments benchmark of approx 80% of wages, up to a maximum of £2500 per month per actor.
Most of the big names in the soaps/ dramas are on between £150,000 and £220,000 per year, some lesser known such as bit part and extra's may be on between £400 to £2000 per episode, most contracts guarantee a minimum number of episodes per year this could be from 30 episodes to as much as 100 episodes, depending on popularity and or story line, plus they get repeat fees.
Just like the footballers they are hardly likely to end up in a cardboard box under the viaduct, and when you get people like Rooney asking why footballers are singled out for a wage reduction and are being "picked on" all I can say it's a good job you only need to use your feet in football.

My thoughts entirely Sorastro! 

[Alsatian]

No-one is supposed to leave their home except for essential supplies, medicine, medical help or exercise. 
So why are B&Q still doing click & collect?

Ideally I imagine it should be for things like a new kitchen tap if one has broken and water is spurting out, or a fuse (remember those?!) blows and you don't have a replacement. No doubt some morons will still be ordering non essential items (garden bench, bathroom cabinet etc etc).

[Sorastro]

Ideally I imagine it should be for things like a new kitchen tap if one has broken and water is spurting out, or a fuse (remember those?!) blows and you don't have a replacement. No doubt some morons will still be ordering non essential items (garden bench, bathroom cabinet etc etc).

Spot on Alsatian.... although 90% of what's on offer at B&Q, and the rest of the D.I.Y'ers, the others are "essential materials".
 It's when you get places like Sports Direct that won't close and Holland and Barratt's whose staff are PLEADING with them to close because the management insist their stores are essential.

What has to happen {when it's finally over} is we MUST patronise our local businesses that have kept us "topped up". We MUST call in our local more, in short, after this, immediately start putting money over the bars/counters to help get them on. I for one only call in our local shop to put the lottery on or buy a paper, this will change as it reminded me of the bad snow we had in 2010. The traffic was at a standstill for days, no one could get out let alone to supermarkets so our corner shop was inundated with shoppers, most had never set foot in the shop before and as fast as he filled the shelves they were being emptied {siege mentality again} and as soon as the bad weather went all his "customers" melted back into the background only to re appear over the past month or so. I was one of the guilty ones then but realising what a mess I could have been in had he not kept us all supplied, when this is over I will make the effort to purchase more in that shop, same with our local W.M.club {if it ever does re open, it was on it's uppers before all this} 
I'm not saying I will only ever shop at that store plus I've no intention of becoming an alkie' but businesses will need an immediate injection of funds, once re opened or after, if they are to recover from this.

I will make sure I do my bit...............