Coping in the Time of Covid-19 - New and Improved!

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  • Got my letter this morning. I now have my first vaccination booked for Sunday morning, and an appointment for the second one booked in April
  • Mine is next Monday. I hope we don’t get snow to make the journey tricky.
  • Got my teeny tiny Certificate of Vaccination yesterday - via text and link on my phone and I was hten able to print it off from my Health Fund website.
    In a rare example of the left hand knowing what the right hand is doing ... it is the same size as our national ID card (which comes with a little plastic wallet thingy). So I printed it off and glued it to a piece of light card and put them in together! So snug and cute. I love the way they spelt my name wrong too!
    Then I went to A Supermarket and bought a pottle of fancy ice cream (Brownie macchiato!!). Gosh it was such fun! Then I bought a bottle of fancy GIN (distilled in Herefordshire!!)
    I am floating on air!!!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Is that because of the vaccine or because of the GIN? :mrgreen:
  • Both of course!
  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    I had an email offering me a vaccination on Sunday. I was a bit surprised as I'm not yet seventy or have any underlying health problems. Of course I said yes, specially as it is only a fifteen minute walk away. My brother, younger than me but very frail, had his vaccination yesterday.
  • Galilit wrote: »
    went to A Supermarket and bought a pottle of fancy ice cream (Brownie macchiato!!). Gosh it was such fun! Then I bought a bottle of fancy GIN

    Personally I'd use milk to make an ice cream shake. But if gin turns you on, then who am I to question?
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Good Lord, Miss Amanda - are you saying you don't like GIN???

    Are you sure you're an Anglican? ;)
  • GalilitGalilit Shipmate
    edited January 2021
    Actually I bought a pot of fancy ice cream (brownie~macchiato) to celebrate the end of the 7 days after jab #2 and the receiving of My Special Certificate! I even went into the supermarket and chose it myself!
    (With QR code and my name spelt wrong. But - in a rare example of the left hand knowing what the right hand is doing - it was exactly the size of the national ID card and so it fits perfectly into the little plastic wallet thingy you get for that!)
  • Sorry I didn't remember I wrote all that above ... it's the euphoria!
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host
    …or the GIN
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I thought it looked vaguely familiar, but I was too polite to say ... :mrgreen:
  • Piglet wrote: »
    Good Lord, Miss Amanda - are you saying you don't like GIN???
    If given the choice between a gin and tonic with a slice of lime, and a glass of mother's milk, Miss Amanda would unhesitatingly choose the former. But she wouldn't substitute brownie macchiato ice cream for the lime.
  • My brother, the one who had a stroke and is in a rehab, got the vaccine yesterday.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Excellent, Nicole!

    Miss Amanda, I don't think ice cream would go very well with GIN ... :mrgreen:
  • Not in the same glass, perhaps, but complementary to one another?
  • Gin with lemon sorbet is , however, wonderful.
  • Yes, Miss Amanda could easily spend an afternoon with that combination.

    Nicole, wonderful news. May your brother continue to heal.
  • Actually, I am wrong. He got his second shot yesterday, he wasn't able to tell me about the first, some weeks ago. So that is indeed a Good Thing.

    Thanks, Miss Amanda.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Gin with lemon sorbet is , however, wonderful.

    Actually, that does sound rather good.

    Joining in the Good Thoughts for Nicole's brother.
  • Miss S and her family are living in Reduced Circumstances while they get their kitchen/dining room/utility/loo/boot room redone, including having the floor dug up and relaid (I think they are currently cooking in the bootroom). In Normal Times they could have come here to eat, or eaten out, but because of the lurgy that's out, and takeaway round here is limited to fish and chips. So, on a Saturday night I do a takeaway curry for them and last night's was a zinger. I have finally arrived at a definitive chicken Chettinad, a modification on a Madhur Jaffrey recipe (yes, heresy I know) and with two vegetable dishes and homemade naans it was the best thing about the whole week!

    Yum...
  • That sounds lovely, Mrs S; they must be very appreciative.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Miss S and her family are living in Reduced Circumstances ...
    ... a quaint little village in Norfolk. :mrgreen:
  • NenyaNenya All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
    Piglet wrote: »
    Miss S and her family are living in Reduced Circumstances ...
    ... a quaint little village in Norfolk. :mrgreen:

    :lol:

  • Nenya wrote: »
    Piglet wrote: »
    Miss S and her family are living in Reduced Circumstances ...
    ... a quaint little village in Norfolk. :mrgreen:

    :lol:

    <killingme>

    Question - how does one reduce a circumstance?

    that's a quote but I cannot remember where from!
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host
    Hmm. IIRC it’s Honoria Lucasta the Dowager Duchess of Denver in an excerpt from her diary published in Busman’s Honeymoon by Miss Dorothy L. Sayers.
  • Golden KeyGolden Key Shipmate, Glory
    Sounds of a pair with "What is a 'week...end'?", said by another Dowager Duchess on "Downton Abbey". Perhaps Honoria and Violet are acquainted?
  • That would be right, @BroJames . I was thinking Harriet Vane, but the duchess seems much more likely.
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host
    It comes in a note in her diary about the tickets etc. for a red-herring holiday in Mentone which are sent by Miss Climpson to an accountant and his wife in reduced circumstances.
  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    I was slightly surprised to get a text message from my surgery on Friday inviting me to book a covid vaccination as I'm not in the groups being targeted at the moment. However the link worked, I booked a slot and I had my first vaccination on Sunday.
    Today I got a message saying that that slot had been cancelled and I'd be called in due course for my vaccination. Guess there was a bit of a glitch somewhere.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Mr F got a phone call from the Health Centre where we're registered to say they'd had an unexpected delivery of vaccine and would he like to come in at 2.30? Which of course he did.
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    Firenze wrote: »
    Mr F got a phone call from the Health Centre where we're registered to say they'd had an unexpected delivery of vaccine and would he like to come in at 2.30? Which of course he did.

    My friend the same - she’s 64. :mrgreen:
  • HelixHelix Shipmate
    Slightly off-topic but I saw this this and thought it was genius ! Hope you enjoy and hope it fills up a moment of lockdown!
  • Boogie wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    Mr F got a phone call from the Health Centre where we're registered to say they'd had an unexpected delivery of vaccine and would he like to come in at 2.30? Which of course he did.

    My friend the same - she’s 64. :mrgreen:

    Mr Cats, who is 67, got his call today for next week. I will have to wait a while yet. In church Zoom calls now those who have not been vaccinated wear their relative youth with pride!
  • FatherInCharge (who is 72) had his first jab today - I haven't heard that he's having any nasty side effects, so I hope it went OK...
  • So encouraging to hear that several of my neighbours have already had their vaccinations, with no lasting ill effects - Mr. C is due his next week, so great progress is being made.
  • Boogie wrote: »
    Miffy wrote: »
    Boogie wrote: »
    I’m enjoying my short hair - far less faff. I’ve taken to cutting my own fringe after I apologised to my hairdresser and she said I’d done a good job.

    I had it cut very short (for me) just before lockdown in January so it should last a while. I still dye it. I love grey hair but mine isn’t grey, it’s a sort of concrete colour streaked with the colour of a rat - truly horrible! I dye it ash blonde.

    @Boogie, sounds like my mop, or at least, my mop as it looks on the dreaded Zoom calls! I’m wondering if it might look better with a real silver shade, rather than its current ‘Shade de Badger.’ Perhaps one of those spray in brush out ones. (I stopped using permanent and semi-permanents years ago because of skin sensitivities).


    A while ago I asked my hairdresser to dye it grey but she said it wouldn’t suit me. 🤔🧐

    I know this is late, but it sounds as if you would benefit from toning shampoo and conditioner aimed at removing dull and brassy tones from blonde and grey hair. I think brightening it would help bring out the actual silver - you could even get some purple hair dye drops to add to your normal conditioner to use as a toning mask. If you leave it on for a short time, it doesn't turn your hair purple but just a nicer, more silvery grey.
  • *sings*

    Darling, I am growing old,
    Silver threads among the gold,
    Shine upon my brow today;
    Life is fading fast away.


    (With acknowledgements to E E Rexford and H P Danks).

    There! That should cheer you all up...
  • I live in accommodation for people with mental health issues, run by a charity. It is a large house turned into 8 flats. There is one wifi router between all 8 flats, so the internet exists but is very weak - not strong enough for livestreams or Zoom. Obviously in the current circumstances this isn't helpful, but the service manager is saying that as our service charges don't explicitly cover the internet, they don't have any obligation to improve the internet. But of course, everything else relies on having decent internet - therapy, university virtual open days, GP appointments etc. Some of those are available by phone but not all are. It feels like I've been cut off from the world and forgotten about, and churches don't seem to be taking digital poverty into account. I will be moving in September but that's still 8 months of isolation without even things like Zoom that others are able to use.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited February 2021
    @Pomona

    I sympathise, having had unreliable BT Broadband for some time.

    Fortunately, I am able to afford a Vodafone mobile broadband alternative (yes - a Dongle!), which often works better than BT, even when BT is behaving itself IYSWIM.

    What can churches do about digital poverty, though?

    This is a serious question, because this is a field (somewhat strange to me personally) in which churches could perhaps be more proactive.
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    Is there any chance you could get a WiFi dongle or a smart phone with a data package ?
  • Is it possible to by-pass the service manager and approach the charity? Given that it is clearly a mental health issue in these times.
  • I have a smartphone with a data package, it's just that I've had to increase the data package by quite a bit to cope with just a weekly Slimming World Zoom meeting, and it's not cheap. Zoom uses quite a lot of bandwidth. The most appropriate mobile wifi would cost about £40 a month on top of my existing phone bill, though I would be able to reduce the data package. I guess the issue for churches is that they only seem to be using video-based programmes, which use up the most data. Facebook groups, Discord servers etc use up a lot less data and can still support video formats in addition to text. Text is also easier to use for people using screen readers, or for providing easy-read resources.

    I've contacted my support worker about the issue but the difficulty is that the property is run by two different groups - the charity that runs the project in terms of support etc, and the property management company who are the ones who maintain the building including the internet provision.
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    At one point companies were instructed to remove data limits as a pandemic accommodation, but I dont know if that has stopped now.
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    Intertube reckons that 1GB data gives about 4hrs of video calls - https://www.o2.co.uk/help/pay-as-you-go/big-bundles so a £10 bundle could give you 40hrs of video calls a month if that helps. But these facilities should be treating wifi as an essential utility.
  • At one point companies were instructed to remove data limits as a pandemic accommodation, but I dont know if that has stopped now.

    Removing data limits only applied to children accessing educational websites, and access to the NHS and government websites for the general population. It wasn't a general removal of data limits.
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    Should I be surprised the government lied about what it was going to do https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52091359
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Helix wrote: »
    Slightly off-topic but I saw this this and thought it was genius ! Hope you enjoy and hope it fills up a moment of lockdown!

    Thanks Helix. I was feeling a bit down due the increased pain from an injury and they certainly brightened my day.
  • finelinefineline Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Huia wrote: »
    Helix wrote: »
    Slightly off-topic but I saw this this and thought it was genius ! Hope you enjoy and hope it fills up a moment of lockdown!

    Thanks Helix. I was feeling a bit down due the increased pain from an injury and they certainly brightened my day.

    I enjoyed it too - thanks, Helix.
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