Essential Services

[Fromtherough]

The weekend is meant to heat up a fair bit, that'll be a right test for the restrictions and I for one will be breaking them. Two weeks now I've sat alone in my house, only driven for essential messages, spoken to no one I know physically other than via message.

I'm going for a long drive somewhere and don't really care if I'm "breaking the rules"

I know you’re on a wind up, but not sure how a drive will curb your loneliness. You do make a good point though that these times will be even tougher for those living alone.

 

[User20204]

I know you’re on a wind up, but not sure how a drive will curb your loneliness. You do make a good point though that these times will be even tougher for those living alone.

If you know so much, you should read between the lines then.

 

[Fromtherough]

If you know so much, you should read between the lines then.

Hopefully this helps: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/feeling-lonely/

 

[JustOne]

and people like you are exactly what is wrong with this country

Something I have thought about for a long time, and (on a personal level) find interesting. If you asked everyone in the Country to paint their house blue SOMEONE would paint theirs red, they'd probably put it on Instagram too and cause a mini revolt and there would be lots of red houses, and pink ones, maybe even some green. Put a 70mph speed limit on a road and someone will do 100mph, tell everyone they have to be in bed by 10 and someone will stay up til midnight. If something is not a LAW then many people will do exactly what they want to do even if the general concensus is not in their favour. Even things that ARE law obviously get broken. It's clearly the same on the forum (any forum), speak up and say 100M people will die and someone else will say only 5,000 and both parties will try to justify their arguement, some arguements put forward will be plain stupid, just like the red house, but everyone is entitled to do (and say) whatever they want. You'll get someone who posts something amazing, profound or revolutionary and then BillyBob Nomates comes along and says "You spelt THERE wrong!" simply to undermine their opinion. When you get on your ship all of these types are the people you are representing/potentially fighting for,.. and some of the knobby ones will be on your ship!

As Hobbit says above, maybe you gave him the attention he sought, indeed the guy on instagram who paints his house red will be looking for some attention, the problem is PEOPLE GIVE IT TO THEM, just like those of us moaning about someone buying a tin of paint or lads walking around in groups of 10. If we just focused on what WE are up to ourselves and were satisfied with ourselves, indeed HAPPY as individuals, then we perhaps wouldn't care less... but we're a miserable lot who are WELL GUTTED that someone else can drive their car 5 miles to walk their dog!

 

[SteveJay]

Something I have thought about for a long time, and (on a personal level) find interesting. If you asked everyone in the Country to paint their house blue SOMEONE would paint theirs red, they'd probably put it on Instagram too and cause a mini revolt and there would be lots of red houses, and pink ones, maybe even some green. Put a 70mph speed limit on a road and someone will do 100mph, tell everyone they have to be in bed by 10 and someone will stay up til midnight. If something is not a LAW then many people will do exactly what they want to do even if the general concensus is not in their favour. Even things that ARE law obviously get broken. It's clearly the same on the forum (any forum), speak up and say 100M people will die and someone else will say only 5,000 and both parties will try to justify their arguement, some arguements put forward will be plain stupid, just like the red house, but everyone is entitled to do (and say) whatever they want. You'll get someone who posts something amazing, profound or revolutionary and then BillyBob Nomates comes along and says "You spelt THERE wrong!" simply to undermine their opinion. When you get on your ship all of these types are the people you are representing/potentially fighting for,.. and some of the knobby ones will be on your ship!

As Hobbit says above, maybe you gave him the attention he sought, indeed the guy on instagram who paints his house red will be looking for some attention, the problem is PEOPLE GIVE IT TO THEM, just like those of us moaning about someone buying a tin of paint or lads walking around in groups of 10. If we just focused on what WE are up to ourselves and were satisfied with ourselves, indeed HAPPY as individuals, then we perhaps wouldn't care less... but we're a miserable lot who are WELL GUTTED that someone else can drive their car 5 miles to walk their dog!

I agree with most of what you have said, but the big difference currently is that unlike some of your examples, where people break the rules it is only them or their immediate family/contacts that are affected, today those flaunting the rules potentially impact hundreds of others given how this virus spreads. That fear is maybe why so many on social media are angry with those seen to be ignoring the restrictions.

 

[JustOne]

unlike some of your examples, where people break the rules it is only them or their immediate family/contacts that are affected, today those flaunting the rules potentially impact hundreds of others given how this virus spreads. That fear is maybe why so many on social media are angry with those seen to be ignoring the restrictions.

I agree and I am sure there are a lot of people who are genuinely fearful (blue houses) some who really aren't scared at all (red houses) and people like me who are somewhere in the middle (pink house).

Given the above... (and with somewhat flippant examples..)
Those that are fearful SHOULD STAY IN, those in the middle should go buy a tin of paint whilst socially distancing and those that simply aren't scared should go have a house party.
My Mother (81) has to stay in as she will probably die if she gets it, I will go to work later and possibly be exposed and some teenager will be off to lick public toilet seats.

So what of it? Well for sure NO ONE wants to die but we all see the risk differently. Just because you (or others) are scared doesn't mean that everyone has to be. If we all had to behave scared NO ONE would be going to work, there would be no nurses, or shops open, water and electric supplies would have stopped already, no one would be there to answer phones for all those mortgage holidays... and there would be no delivery drivers for our precious Amazon parcels. However, when those people DRIVE to work we still need some policemen to make sure they are not breaking the law on the roads - whilst all those boxed into their houses will moan about how busy the roads still are.

Obviously it's a no win (ongoing) situation because someone will always paint their house differently to the norm, but it's certainly interesting to watch unfold and to comment on.

If there is any real conversation to be had it should be about the end game, what is it and how are we going to get there.
My personal interpretation of what we are seeing is HERD IMMUNITY ..... IN STAGES

We can't just go for all out one-time herd immunity as it would completely overwhelm the NHS so what we have to do is stagger the stages to slow the virus. We also can't just outright and say that we all have to get the virus because that will scare the crap out of the nation and cause widespread panic but if you protect the vunerable (tick) leave the schools a little bit too long (tick) isolate the masses (tick) allow some freedom (tick) then you are allowing the virus to continue albeit slowly, herd immunity... slowed down as much as possible whilst you wait to see if you can find a prevention/cure.

There is NO WAY we can all just hide in our houses, what if they don't find a prevention/cure for a year? we need SOME people to have had it just to keep the country ticking over and yes that means that some people will die unnecessarily before their time - this is a risk that the government for sure is taking. You can have SOME people die and the masses will carry on as normal but if the body count gets too high it will cause mass panic (social breakdown). Right now nearly 3,000 in this Country and we are still moaning about tins of paint and speed traps, I wonder what (if any) the tipping point is.

 

[Old Skier]

Right now nothing. They will pay from June and they have said they can keep trading aswell .

And you can claim UC I believe and get an advance of pay

 

[Old Skier]

have had 5 different people reach out for help/advice that fall down the cracks and will get zero support (bar universal credit of less than a ton a week if they choose to go that route) and there must be hundreds of thousands in the situ most dont have any reserves to be able to get through the short term either

Most local supermarkets are advatising for drivers and shelf stackers, might not be great but it must be better than nothing.

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

So much so that you reduce the death of 1000's down to your tummy on cheat days?

Not quite that much, I suppose.

 

[Fish]

How did I miss this thread, all the trolls out in force in here also.

But just as Bluesolf states, reading through it is comedy gold, and free ???