Cabin Fever?

[Diane CBPFC]

Anyone starting to get tired of being on lockdown?

We finally got winter weather here this week (-20C which is up to -30C with wind chill) and about 12" new snow, so I am glad to stay home right now.

I really have appreciated the streaming TV shows, considering it was only a few years ago we were still on dial-up and then very expensive internet - now we have lots of it for cheap :-) Also making use of library loans of e-books and audio books from the germ-free comfort of home.

For those of you not normally living the life of a hermit - how's it going? 

[Roger Kettle]

Yes, I must admit a few things are getting to me now. I miss my golf. Normally, I play once a week but I'm a member at a course which is more than five miles away (and in a different council area) so it's not permitted. I also play with three friends and that's not permitted either---only two people from two households at the moment. The one consolation is that the weather has been so bad of late that the course has been closed because of ice, lying water or a combination of both.
I miss watching my football team. No supporters allowed in the ground for the foreseeable future. Once again, there is consolation in the fact that they are getting stuffed every week.
I miss wandering around Dundee city centre and popping into bookshops. Although it's only a couple of miles from where I live, it's in a different council area and only essential trips are permitted. AND, of course, bookshops are closed.
I miss my Thursday evening beer with friends. (5.30 to 7.00 p.m. and all the world's problems are sorted over two pints of Director's).
I miss the days I could go into my local grocery store without looking like Jesse James.
I miss having friends drop by.
Listen, I've said this before and I'll say it again. I have absolutely no grounds for complaint. My wife and I live in a warm, comfortable house with space and a garden and I regard myself as extremely fortunate. My heart bleeds for families crammed into a tiny flat with their income decimated and for elderly people living on their own and cut off from family. That must be truly soul-destroying. The things I miss are trivial. So, no, I'm not going to complain. Well, not TOO much!

[Bilthehut]

I'm with you with the last sentence Roger.

We are so lucky compared to most working age people.  Pension keeps coming in, just had an equity release sorted, ordered new windows and we are both healthy.

[Egg]

Still being of a working age, I too have nothing to complain about. We doubled bottom line profit targets in 2020 and have hit 25% of actual target in the first 5 weeks of 2021.....mostly down to the .com juggernaut.

For me / us, it’s how it’s ruined spontaneity! Calling in on people, we’re still doing lots of walking, but being able to call into the pub for a pint, then deciding to stay for a couple more and a bite to eat!

But I think most of all ( family and friends apart of course) it’s no live music! For the last umpteen years we’ve tried to get somewhere at least once a month. We still have gigs booked that have been moved 2 or 3 times already!

But yes, still here and healthy so all good.

[Diane CBPFC]

I think you are right about this being hardest on the young and the old living on their own and also the single young people out there.

Your regular life sounds like fun Roger

It also seems that the UK is taking the lockdowns way more seriously than we do in Alberta (we have the worst covid numbers in Canada) you are given much clearer guidelines and distances to travel etc Things here are mostly open if there is cash changing hands and closed if it is for family/friendship purposes indoors - they will allow gathering outdoors of up to 10 people. It is -30C here today, -39C with the wind chill - I don't like anyone that much to stand out there and chat with them in this cold. 

[Roger Kettle]

My wife and I got letters today informing us that we can get our first inoculation in two weeks time. So far, the protection programme seems to be running quite well. There's a long way to go, of course, but I'd like to think that we're making some headway in our struggle against this awful virus.
Diane, I was about to complain about the dismal weather here but, after you mentioned the -30 C temperature in Alberta, I think I'll keep my mouth shut! Be safe.
Okay, I'm being cautious here but I think I'll pencil in the middle of May for my first pint down the pub with my mates. I'm trying to remember whose round it was...

[Diane CBPFC]

Oh, I can only wish for those -30C balmy days - forecast is -42C for tomorrow.

[Diane CBPFC]

When you are making your first trip to the pub, I will hopefully be planting my spuds in the garden :-)

[Roger Kettle]

Oh, I can only wish for those -30C balmy days - forecast is -42C for tomorrow.

Good grief. Throw another moose on the fire!

[Max]

Had my first vaccine injection yesterday, an absolute doddle.
I was in and  out of the hall in 5 minutes, though because I had driven there they asked that I wait 15 minutes in the car before driving home.
My partner has her injection tomorrow morning which is good because we should gain increased resistance at the same time.
The news this morning that the Oxford vaccine (which I had) may be less effective on covid variants is a bit of a pain.

I find that this lockdown has bothered me more than the previous, a bit more depressed, a friend died of Covid two days ago.
I've taken to reading books on WW2 on the Pacific islands, an area I'd never looked at before, will look at the TV series Pacific made a few years ago.
Once the lockdown is lifted I'll book a few small holidays, three or four day trips in the UK.
Don't think abroad is a safe possibility right now, maybe next year.

Glad to hear that you are all mostly ok, hope that it stays that way.

[Roger Kettle]

So sorry to hear about your friend, Max. It's difficult to comprehend the varying effects this virus has on people---from no symptoms whatsoever to, well, the ultimate. These remain dark times.

[Mince]

The dark times not only have a light at the end of the tunnel with vaccine herd immunity in a few months, but a light within the tunnel, namely:

- people more in touch with family

- carbon emissions reduced  worldwide

- essential workers appreciated

- more sleep (apparently 17 more minutes a day on average)

- more people able to work from home

- good hygiene back in fashion

- decade of advances in vaccines and other medicine

- board games making a comeback

- parents discovering whether homeschooling was workable

- people losing weight and becoming fitter and healthier

- everyone pausing to reconsider what they took for granted


But most importantly the pandemic was the perfect opportunity to:

- practise and prepare for a much much worse pandemic.

[Roger Kettle]

Oh, thank goodness! I was wondering who this optimistic, buoyant person pretending to be Mince was---then I got to the last line!
I particularly enjoyed the double use of the word "much"!

[Mince]

Okay, that made me laugh.

The final comment was meant to be a good thing. We were extremely lucky this time round. The UK fatalities are probably going to be half that of the 1918 Spanish Flu, but could just have easily been double. We received a warning and I hope we heed it.

[Max]

As for practice and prepare, we just had a power cut.
I discovered I have 11 torches, more if you count our mobile phones.

Wonder how much a portable generator costs?

N.B. cut lasted 30 minutes.