Stockpiling...

[loveallthingsitalian]

Where I work we are packed in like sardines, social separation is impossible and of course for 8 hours a day. I only do 2 days and some are trying to work from home so I might end up as Billy No Mates if all goes to plan and it’s only me in the building.

Employer thinks hourly emails telling us not to use others pens, calculators, phones and computers is keeping us protected!!

 

[Mazza]

Brissles, our Waitrose was stripped of all loo rolls etc last Friday. I said upthread their next available online shopping slot and it was APRIL 7TH but when I looked at Ocado it was a 15 minute queue to get onto the site!!!

On a positive note, despite any snippy comments I may have made about community, a neighbour knocked this evening (we each took a socially distancing step back when I answered) and offered to do any emergency shopping I might need if struck down. So big hugs to her and her husband for that.

Also, the L'Occitane handwash arrived today. I recycled the box immediately and did the thorough handwash straight after!

 

[maymorganlondon]

Well, if we are all prone to 'rambling' now at putting the world to rights, God knows what us living alone will be like after 3 months of house arrest, we'll be really spouting a load of gibberish !!!

And we will still make more sense than most Q presenters!

 

[Mazza]

Well, I shall still walk my dog, and stay out of everyone's way in my local Co-op to get my daily paper and a loaf, until I show any signs of 'symptoms'.

Well Boris and co have said you can walk the dog and go outside for exercise. My exercise would consist of lifting groceries down from the shelf to the basket and conveying them home.

No, she just stood looking at me, I assume she was embarrassed but if she had apologised we may even have had a laugh.

I hope during this exchange you managed to drop the F Bomb a few times. I certainly would have but you are probably not as sweary as I can be. (Working with foreign exchange dealers can do that to you.)

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

Being ”allowed” out for a walk smacks of prisoners walking round and round the courtyard with armed guards on lookout turrets.

 

[Lemonpop]

Once they have got rid of the over 70’s (portrayed in the papers as doddery old fools on sticks) how long before it’s 60’s then 50‘s etc?

Can you imagine the outcry if it was Asians,disabled etc had to self isolate.

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

Just heard from my niece who lives in Italy. Up until now if they were out without the necessary papers it was a warning but now it is an automatic fine of E 200.

 

[Twilight]

I hope during this exchange you managed to drop the F Bomb a few times. I certainly would have but you are probably not as sweary as I can be. (Working with foreign exchange dealers can do that to you.)

I went back into teacher mode & spoke quite deliberately. I'm chuffed that I said something immediately rather than wait for several hours before something popped into my head.

 

[stratobuddy]

Not posting about this, but when I was scrolling down to post there was a full width advert for a funeral director !!

What I am posting about is, my house is in a low density area, so I hardly ever see any neighbours. But I did see one yesterday, and we had a chat for about 10 minutes.

But I was trying to keep at least 1 metre away, but every time I backed away, he closed the gap back down to about 1 foot! He always does like to be close when speaking, but he certainly didn't get the hint that I was backing away.

By the time we'd finished, we'd moved about 20 yards from where we started!

 

[Lemonpop]

Loved reading these posts,cheered me up as I was feeling a bit down. Thank you you are a fab bunch.

 

[alter ego]

We abuse Nature at our peril & sooner, or later, she fights back.

Twilight, you are so right. Nature and common sense. I'd heard it stems from a Chinese market that sold live animals alongside dead and were eating bats.

If anything comes from this I'd like to see education so people learn not to mess around with hygiene and to forget some of the "old ways" that have likely brought about this virus.

I can't see it happening, though. We've had SARS, MERS, avian flu and ebola. All mankind either abusing nature or abusing animals in at least one little way. What next? Will people never learn?

And don't get me started on how slow the Chinese government was to react to this. They had the powers to shut the country down as soon as this virus was discovered. If they'd looked to recent history and learnt from it they'd have prevented a lot of problems. If governments worldwide made sure their people were educated even better. But that's never going to happen as I believe it's one of the ways some governments/leaders keep their people in check.

Rant over!

Not posting about this, but when I was scrolling down to post there was a full width advert for a funeral director !!

What I am posting about is, my house is in a low density area, so I hardly ever see any neighbours. But I did see one yesterday, and we had a chat for about 10 minutes.

But I was trying to keep at least 1 metre away, but every time I backed away, he closed the gap back down to about 1 foot! He always does like to be close when speaking, but he certainly didn't get the hint that I was backing away.

By the time we'd finished, we'd moved about 20 yards from where we started!

A woman in a queue yesterday was so close to my partner she could have licked his ear! I'm so ****** annoyed he didn't ask her to stand back and give him room.

His mother called in for 5 minutes earlier while he was outside. Like you, he kept backing away but she kept following him! What is wrong with these people? She's over 70 but fit and is hanging around with people who seem to think it's all a big joke and they won't be taking any precautions. They get all their health advice from wise people on Facebook that think lemon juice or vinegar will kill everything! His dad has cancer but she doesn't seem concerned about passing it on if she picks it up.

I think it's time now that shops/cafes etc. should train their staff (quickly) to ask people to stand apart. People are too stupid to think for themselves, unfortunately, and if these places want continued custom from people who aren't ill they should ask the stupid ones to give the person in front a bit of room before we're all ill.

Sorry, folks. I'm really ranty tonight. I'm having to sit on my hands so I don't cause (another) family upset so really appreciate all you lovelies here for indulging (or ignoring) me

 

[alter ego]

My husband is almost 70 and works part time as a taxi driver and has regular "older" people he runs to hospital appointments or visiting spouses or relatives who may be in homes or hospital. He knows a lot of these appointments and visits will be cancelled but has said from today if any of his regulars still have such appointments or visits , he will run them for free, same goes for any who need to get out to buy food.

Your husband is a star. If only more people were like him.

Both of us are OAPS and have lived through Miners strikes, 3 day weeks, electricity being cut due to the strikes, cooking by candlelight, rubbish collectors strikes and enough versions of the flu from swine flu to bird flu, mad cow disease and so on. We`ll soldier on as per usual, eat what we can find, make do and mend, help others if we can do and I`ll only worry when the Govt ask us to paint a red cross outside our front door and send us body bags though the mail which we will be expected to fill and leave outside to be collected with the bin every Friday. Until then life goes on.

I remember all those though I was a child during the 3 day week. My parents were older - old enough that my nan was a nurse during the Spanish flu. My mum nearly lost her finger to an infection (it looked like a chicken claw) but it was pre-antibiotics. My grandfather saved it with hot bread poultices which mum said was excruciating.

Life will go on and we will get through but it ain't gonna be pretty for many people who, these days, are not used to sacrifices or hardship.

 

[Bettyboo]

I’m so glad I started this post as it’s brought a bit of sanity into the madness that is going on. I think it is going to be a real lifeline in the next weeks when I will have to stay indoors. I have to say what a sensible lot you all are and I agree with all the comments that have been posted. Take care everyone.

 

[Twilight]

A woman in a queue yesterday was so close to my partner she could have licked his ear! I'm so ****** annoyed he didn't ask her to stand back and give him room.

His mother called in for 5 minutes earlier while he was outside. Like you, he kept backing away but she kept following him! What is wrong with these people? She's over 70 but fit and is hanging around with people who seem to think it's all a big joke and they won't be taking any precautions. They get all their health advice from wise people on Facebook that think lemon juice or vinegar will kill everything! His dad has cancer but she doesn't seem concerned about passing it on if she picks it up.

I think it's time now that shops/cafes etc. should train their staff (quickly) to ask people to stand apart. People are too stupid to think for themselves, unfortunately, and if these places want continued custom from people who aren't ill they should ask the stupid ones to give the person in front a bit of room before we're all ill.

Sorry, folks. I'm really ranty tonight. I'm having to sit on my hands so I don't cause (another) family upset so really appreciate all you lovelies here for indulging (or ignoring) me

Sometimes we have to forget social niceties & tell it as it is. I look after my granddaughter two days a week, she is 22 months old, a bundle of gorgeousness & the temptation to kiss & cuddle her is always there but I've told my daughter that I'm easing up on anything that might put her or her parents at risk. I don't think there is anything wrong with asking people to respect your space & your health

 

[alter ego]

Panic buying loo rolls isn’t a new thing.

i remember at least 2 other occasions- one when we had the oil crisis in the early 1970‘s and when we had strikes in NI, I bought the crappiest () ones imaginable whenever I found them. For years they languished in the hall cupboard being bypassed for the softer ones eventually being chucked when we moved house.

My mother arrived at my house one day with a mini gas stove to keep me going and I remember petrol coupons were issued but never used.

I've had a problem with toilet rolls for years as I remember sitting on the loo being unable to wipe as there was no loo roll. No one else I know can remember it, though.

My partner has been irritated to the point of rowing with me as I buy the giant 24-roll packets even though it's only us two. Well, he's glad now as despite several trips to the local shops over the last week they've been out of stock. He works away so he finally picked a pack up in a shop 100 miles away.

Phew. I had flashbacks of me as a little girl on the loo screaming for my mum to do something

 

[alter ego]

And we will still make more sense than most Q presenters!

Love it . So true. And I'm the biggest rambler of them all. Oooh! I think I'll send them a demo tape.

Once they have got rid of the over 70’s (portrayed in the papers as doddery old fools on sticks) how long before it’s 60’s then 50‘s etc?

I'm in my fifties and am doddery, a bit of a fool and use sticks

 

[alter ego]

A couple of months ago we were on Bury market and Mr V saw packs of carbolic soap and insisted on buying some. He was a miner for many years and at the end of their shifts they scrubbed down in the pit head baths and being lots of hairy arsed miners they refused to use any old soap, it had to be either carbolic or the large blocks of green household soap. No miner wanted to be seen to smell of flowers, perfume or baby soap lol
Anyway he`s still using his carbolic soap and says it brings back memories of a shift down the pit. He refuses to use anything but bar soap and says shower gel is for the modern man which he says he refuses to be lol
My Mum used nothing but Pears soap and Nivea cream on her face and had a lovely complexion until she died in 1987. She kept her Pears soap away from the rest of us and we had to be content with the large block of Fairy household which was used to wash everything from shirt cuffs to the dog and every bit of us from our hair to our feet.
My oldest son also uses nothing but bar soap but he`s been in the Army for 27 years and has done many stints in war zones and says bar soap is portable, doesn`t leak, weighs little in their back packs and can be used for everything from shaving to rubbing on chafed feet when out in the field. He`s even brushed his teeth with soap when the need arose.

As Twilight (I think) says, your posts conjure wonderful imagery - especially for me as I'm from mining stock.

It never ceases to amaze me that men stoically remained "manly" in a job as brutal as that. After a hard day I'd always want to sink into a scented bath. You'd have thought that something nice would have made them feel a little lighter. The pamper thing was unheard of in those days I suppose and even if you fancied a bar of Camay instead you'd be laughed out of the baths. The camaraderie those men and today's forces lads (and lasses I hope as I don't know any) is amazing.

My nan always had a big green bar of Fairy soap that the local corner shop would cut off a slab and would use nothing else. We had carbolic soap and wooden draining boards in our art and home economics rooms and I loved the smell of that. Hard on the hands, though.

I used Pears for years. It used to remind me of my old saddle soap. Then, one day, my bar no longer smelled like it once did. I bought a few more but they'd changed it - and ruined it. I haven't bought it since.

Anyone remember Shield deodorant soap?

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

Your husband is a star. If only more people were like him.



I remember all those though I was a child during the 3 day week. My parents were older - old enough that my nan was a nurse during the Spanish flu. My mum nearly lost her finger to an infection (it looked like a chicken claw) but it was pre-antibiotics. My grandfather saved it with hot bread poultices which mum said was excruciating.

Life will go on and we will get through but it ain't gonna be pretty for many people who, these days, are not used to sacrifices or hardship.

Although I was born in the 50’s and not the dark ages my family were fond of the bread poultices, I endured several but for the life of me I can’t think what for and my parents are no longer around to ask. I know it has something to do with the yeast drawing out the infection.

Even today youngish acquaintances here believe in “charms” given by specific people for specific ailments. In the past you went to see these people who gave you some daft thing but I’ve now heard of it being done over the phone!! Old country folk I can sort of understand but these are 20/30 and living in big towns.

 

[alter ego]

Although I was born in the 50’s and not the dark ages my family were fond of the bread poultices, I endured several but for the life of me I can’t think what for and my parents are no longer around to ask. I know it has something to do with the yeast drawing out the infection.

Even today youngish acquaintances here believe in “charms” given by specific people for specific ailments. In the past you went to see these people who gave you some daft thing but I’ve now heard of it being done over the phone!! Old country folk I can sort of understand but these are 20/30 and living in big towns.

I don't understand how more and more people seem to be into "flat earth" type things and beliefs. Nor how many dismiss history.

I wish I had a recipe for a bread poultice. It seems as if I'm contradicting what I just wrote but some of the old methods did work. Not as wonderfully as antibiotics did when they were first used, but I've no doubt they helped many. I was brought up in a family terrified of gangrene and sepsis. It hasn't taken that long for that fear to seep back in due to antibiotic resistance. I fear for a future that will see needless deaths due to infection from a simple scratch again.

That is if we survive this virus. We're doomed!

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

The one thing which will really piss me off is when all the celebs start posting how the are either virus free or struck down with it. I really want to punch them in the face when you read “my cancer trauma“ etc which turns out they had a smear test like the rest of us It so demeans those truly suffering.

Just read we are all supposed to go for a run to keep our lungs going. Maybe on the way we can do a Paula Radcliffe so won’t need loo rolls anyway.