I discovered one of the drawbacks of wearing a mask yesterday.
I had a book to post to my father, and Mum wanted me to send her a book of stamps. So I thought I would leave Dad's book parcel unsealed, go to the Post Office, buy a book of stamps, pop it in with Dad's book, sellotape the parcel shut and post it. I took a roll of sellotape with me to do this.
All went well until I tried to bite off a length of sellotape....
A combination of mask and glasses isn't great anyway. A lot of demands on ears to support things.
A retired minister here has had to give up on masks with ear loops - as he put it, with his ears already supporting glasses so he can see and hearing aid so he can hear there wasn't enough space left for a mask.
My main problem with mask and glasses is not with the elastic, but that they alter the position of the focal point of my varifocals and I can no longer read anything.
Shopping is a nightmare - and it's a good job I don't drive.
I just got my first shot, so happy. Even after my second shot and waiting period, I plan to stay away from stores and restaurants and continue to shop on line. There is no way of telling who has been vaccinated and who has not. I also know people who even now will not wear a mask over their nose, and don't trust, "Government shots," As local delivery is free and it saves me money by no impulse shopping I see no good reason to go in a store.
I've loosened up a bit, but I'm still being cautious. I'll visit Panda Express or Boston Market for lunch occasionally, but only because they have outdoor tables. I won't eat dinner out. I've been attending weekly studio for my piano class rather than participating on-line, but only because the instructor and other students have been fully vaccinated. Church is going to resume in-person courtyard services on Easter Sunday, and I'm looking forward to that.
I am looking forward to things reopening so I can take the Dragonlets shopping. The older two need new summer clothes, and I would like options other than the supermarket. They also have book tokens to use.
I am looking forward to things reopening so I can take the Dragonlets shopping. The older two need new summer clothes, and I would like options other than the supermarket. They also have book tokens to use.
Absolutely! I need the toddlers feet measuring as she Will Not allow me to get an accurate measurement so I’ve been guessing for months. I’ve erred on the side of too large rather than too small.
Appointment booked on 13th, where she can Not Allow some poor Clark’s employee instead.
Masks are only mandatory here on buses (for mandatory read, if it's OK by the passenger, and is widely ignored). I wear one because drivers are exposed enough anyway. These days I put my hearing aids in a container so I can mask up on the bus, then when I get to my destination, I take off the mask and put in my hearing aids. There's even a bar height bench I can use at the Bus Exchange just by the spot where my bus stops.
I did try one mask that fits around the back of the head but it was among the least comfortable of the 5 kinds I have tried.
I'm finding the mask/hearing-aid combo a right pain. I'm a bit paranoid about losing them anyway (they cost enough!), and a couple of times they've threatened to come loose when I'm putting my mask on.
I suppose I could try a back-of-the-head type, but the first mask I ever had was that sort, and I found it indescribably uncomfortable.
I do not drive with a mask other than quick stops from here to there of less than 10 minutes, this means the glasses fit, do not get pushed up and distort vision, and do not fog up. When arriving, I take off the glasses and put on hearing aids and my mask, and hopefully will not need to read any fine print. If reading is involved I very carefully put my glasses on over my mask. Really not on my ears just resting on my head at a tilted angle which lets me read stuff, through the bottoms of the lens, and I am sure to look a bit odd. I hope glasses do not fall off as they have now and then. Getting back in the car I carefully take off glasses, mask, and aids, placing the aids in their box. Put glasses back on per usual over the ears and drive off. What a nuisance. Like Piglet I am worried about the loss of aids.
My hearing aids stay in more or less when removing my mask, the annoying thing is mask removal often knocks the setting to the next one along and then I have to fiddle to get them back on the right one.
I have a tie round the back of the head mask that was made in the shop's colours for the charity bookshop I volunteer in. I find it ok to wear and it doesn't interfere with my aids, which is good as I also need to wear my reading glasses in the shop too. Of course I haven't actually been there since early December, but should be on duty again the week after next.
Beautiful. I have a pair of mother of pearl vintage lorgnettes on a silk ribbon that I use for Victorian and Edwardian re-enactment. They roughly match my distance vision and I generally walk around as blind as a bat and raise them up if I want to see any distant object/person. I also have brass readers but they are less necessary for me.
My lorgnettes cost about a tenner though.
Essentially, what the pandemic has taught us is the point of pince nez glasses.
My fifth grade teacher wore pince-nez reading glasses. This was in 1962, and he retired at the end of that year, so would have entered the profession just at the end of World War 1. When displeased with you, he would remove the glasses and, holding them just below the tip of his nose, glare at you. As he suffered from asthma or emphysema, he had rather a hawkish visage, which added to the ferocity of his glare. All in all there was a certain Victorian-era manner about him.
Not sure how many turned up, but FatherInCharge sent out a three-line-whip (sort of) for peeps to come to church today to help get the place ready for Easter (there is a Vigil & First Mass this evening).
Jobs included removing all the Passiontide veils (pictures, images, crucifixes - there's a lot of it!), cleaning silver and brass, renewing candles, replacing altar linen, hoovering the floors, arranging flowers etc. etc.
Commonsense might have said that this year, at least, all that veiling was superfluous, and it's not as though the candles etc. really need a whole day's worth of attention, but I don't have a horse in this race...
Now, the place is big enough, so I do hope they observed social distancing, wore face-masks, and refrained from too much Idle Chatter. I get the impression that some people are behaving as if the pandemic is over, even as restrictions are only just beginning to be lifted...
I get the impression that some people are behaving as if the pandemic is over, even as restrictions are only just beginning to be lifted...
Far too many people seem to view it as a sort of binary "lockdown on vs lockdown off" thing. Our local schools have just gone back full time for those that want to do school in person, and the CDC has said that three feet of separation is OK for schools. This doesn't mean that the CDC has suddenly decided that a three foot separation is safe, although that's the way that many people have interpreted it. It means that they have decided that in-person education is important, and going down to a three foot separation is worth the risk, if that's the only way you can accommodate your kids. It doesn't mean that less-important kid activities are worth the additional risk from closer spacing.
It was the same with masks - any number of idiots were proclaiming things like "why do you care what I do - you're wearing a mask" as if a mask was a magic 100% virus barrier.
I took Mr. Image for his first shot today. I was very concerned because he has trouble walking very far. I had called around to see if he could get his shot using the drive-through in the car and they said," No, that drive though is just for people being tested, not for shots." His walker has a seat Someone who works in the pharmacy which is located in the far back corner of the store heard me talking to him about walking as far as he could and then sitting down to rest for a bit and then continuing on. She told us to wait there and she came back with his paperwork to sign and said the pharmacist would come to the front of the store and give him his shot. How nice was that. They said for the second shot call when we arrive and they will check if they can do that again if they are not too busy. Restores my faith in the process.
My friend has his application to join the doctor's practice past the receptionist, so we now have to wait for his number to arrive and, hopefully, his jab call.
I'm hearing differing reports from all sorts of places. On Friday we spoke to a paramedic we know who said the third wave is on its way, we're heading for another lockdown, R is over 1 and the health service is starting to struggle again because a change in temperature always puts strain on it - people have more heart attacks, for example, and (in her words) "People start climbing ladders to paint their windows and then fall off." This is not the message we're getting from the general news or the graphs I've seen so it's hard to know what to believe.
We went for a walk with friends yesterday and the places we found were pleasantly free of crowds. We deliberately went early so it may have been a different story later in the day.
My home city is in the top 10 Covid-infected places and my council estate is one of the few places with cases going up not down. Apparently all caused by the volume of people who work in factories and those factories not having proper safety measures. Am very much not looking forward to lifting lockdown any further until this is sorted out. The 6 person minimum doesn't bother me much as it's all outside, but more indoor opening is questionable at best.
I await with bated breath the figures locally in about 3 weeks: our local Covidiots made the headlines, but are all young, and quite a few probably had it in the autumn.,
Mr Q got the AZ vaccine this morning. He's just crawled into bed, feeling like he has a nasty flu. He's decided to call in sick to work tomorrow. Both my parents (late '70s) got their shots a couple of weeks ago (I'm not sure which version) and had no unpleasant effects except a bit of fatigue.
The veggie box delivery was a bit random a couple of weeks ago as the normal guy was off sick. When he delivered last week I asked how he was and he said it had been a reaction to the vaccine (type not specified) and he'd had to take a couple of days off.
I got my AZ jag on Saturday evening. Last night I was feeling hot and fuzzy, found myself in my arm chair wrapped in a blanket watching the climate change documentary on BBC2 ... next I knew there was Louis Theroux on and it was more than 2h later. I can't remember the last time I was wiped out like that. Apart from the shoulder being a bit sore, this morning I've got up feeling OK (though I am on annual leave anyway).
Take care this afternoon. I felt fine for four mornings and a lot less than fine for the four afternoons, though they got progressively less less fine, if you see what I mean.
I'm getting shot #2 tomorrow morning! Hoping for no ill effects, but I've planned nothing else the rest of the day just in case.
Daughter-Unit and her dear hubby got shot #1 Friday. (That was some relief to this mama's heart.) They felt flu-ish and had sore arms, but seemed to feel much better Sunday.
When I got my first shot my arm was very sore for a number of days. I did not want to move it or lift anything. Mr. Image got his next, and nothing. His arm was just fine. Funny how these same shots seem to affect us all differently.
Mr RoS and I both have appointments for our 2nd vaccinations next week. Me on Monday & him on Tuesday. Different vaccines at different centres. I had a strongish reaction to the first, wiping me out for the following day. He had none.
From reports I've heard, AZ causes most side effects. That is how we have experienced it, but we have very different body types and metabolism. Who knows?
My friend, though the receptionist accepted his application at the surgery, has not been invited for a jab, nor given his NHS number to enable it, so the government announcement of all entitled having been offered is not true.
It might be that he is not in the system yet. He could phone the surgery or try booking via the NHS vaccine website (though that may be appallingly busy today due to opening up for over 45s). The NHS website does not require a NHS number (I did not use mine to book), you can access it with name and date of birth.
Ah, thank you. Though I had been told that when you turn up, the place requires the number. It's been several weeks.
I'm puzzled by mine. It used to be alphanumeric, ELKE something, but is now a very much longer and non-memorable numbers only thing.
I was asked to bring the email with the appointment information, but they didn't then ask for it. All I got asked was name and date of birth, and whether I was over 30 (nice of them to ask ... been a very long time since I was asked if I was old enough for something). But, I don't think we have a booking system (there is something if the date/time/venue of the booking is unsuitable, but a Saturday evening at a centre less than 10min walk from home that wasn't relevant for me).
Ah, thank you. Though I had been told that when you turn up, the place requires the number. It's been several weeks.
I'm puzzled by mine. It used to be alphanumeric, ELKE something, but is now a very much longer and non-memorable numbers only thing.
The number you require when you turn up for the vaccine is the booking number from the website. Though they only asked for my name when I turned up anyway.
Today the booking website is having problems due to overload - my husband is currently failing to get a slot.
My friend, though the receptionist accepted his application at the surgery, has not been invited for a jab, nor given his NHS number to enable it, so the government announcement of all entitled having been offered is not true.
My friend had this problem. He needs to keep phoning the surgery, that’s what she did. Even when she got an NHS number she found she couldn’t book online.
Mr F has been told he will likely get his second shot next week. As he's in the select group who get to go to their own GP, he will get a phone call when they actually get in a supply of vaccine.
I expect a letter in the next few weeks, as I will attend one of the large hubs.
Ah, thank you. Though I had been told that when you turn up, the place requires the number. It's been several weeks.
I'm puzzled by mine. It used to be alphanumeric, ELKE something, but is now a very much longer and non-memorable numbers only thing.
The number you require when you turn up for the vaccine is the booking number from the website. Though they only asked for my name when I turned up anyway.
Today the booking website is having problems due to overload - my husband is currently failing to get a slot.
It must depend on the centre you go to. I was asked what felt like umpteen times for my booking number, my NHS number, my postcode, my full name, my doctor's surgery. By the time they got the vaccine into my arm they were as certain as they could be about who I was.
I was a bit vexed today at the Co-Op. It wasn't particularly busy, but when I reached the checkout I noticed that the lass working the till, and myself, were the only ones wearing facemasks.
One covidiot was not only minus a mask, but jabbering loudly into his mobile phone, which, as enny fule kno, does NOT absorb the virus...
Ah well - Hail Boris! It's all over! England is SAVED!!
The process here is book online if you can or phone if you can't. Health card number. Arrive 5 mins before appt time after multiple text messages generated by the booking system which tell you precisely what to do and where to go. Health status questions, health risk questions. Directed to a cube farm and things are confirmed, with all prior answers to injector's computer screen. Then 15 mins of wait post inoculation for leaving clearance. The clinic I went to do some 20k vaccines that day. Took in total 20 minutes. Second appts are not booked but will receive a msg to book the same way.
The cell phone company which is gov't owned has given free cell data again into the summer. Helps to connect about the health issues (and working from home).
Vaccines are the only thing this province's gov't have done okay, but to be fair it's the health authority that's not under gov't direct control.
I've had my first shot. Mrs C called me and said "there are spots for walk-ins at the grocery store" so I toddled off to the grocery store, gave them my name, answered a short list of health questions, got given a shot, then was sat in a chair and told to wait 15 minutes before leaving.
Eldest child went to a drive-through facility run by the national guard (Pfizer is the only vaccine authorized for 16-18 year olds, and this was the only place we could find it), and that was very efficient. Everyone stayed in their cars, and drove through a big "registration" tent where their details were taken, then to other tents where they were given the shot (stick your arm out of the car window), then to a long "park for 15 minutes and wait" line, in which you couldn't leave early, because the car in front would be in your way. It was very efficient. This one we booked a spot online.
The number you require when you turn up for the vaccine is the booking number from the website. Though they only asked for my name when I turned up anyway.
Today the booking website is having problems due to overload - my husband is currently failing to get a slot.
It must depend on the centre you go to. I was asked what felt like umpteen times for my booking number, my NHS number, my postcode, my full name, my doctor's surgery. By the time they got the vaccine into my arm they were as certain as they could be about who I was.
My apologies, I should have been clearer. I was asked my personal details on check in obviously, and each of the many people wanted my name and date of birth etc, but nobody asked for my NHS number (which I didn't have had on me). You also don't need it for booking online.
I am now part of NHS Lothian's Lateral Flow staff testing programme and am armed with a box full of little vials and swabs to stick up the porcine snout twice a week for the foreseeable future.
I don't know whether I'd have had the option to refuse, but I don't really mind: I suppose it's a tiny bit of discomfort for the general good.
Comments
I had a book to post to my father, and Mum wanted me to send her a book of stamps. So I thought I would leave Dad's book parcel unsealed, go to the Post Office, buy a book of stamps, pop it in with Dad's book, sellotape the parcel shut and post it. I took a roll of sellotape with me to do this.
All went well until I tried to bite off a length of sellotape....
A retired minister here has had to give up on masks with ear loops - as he put it, with his ears already supporting glasses so he can see and hearing aid so he can hear there wasn't enough space left for a mask.
Shopping is a nightmare - and it's a good job I don't drive.
Absolutely! I need the toddlers feet measuring as she Will Not allow me to get an accurate measurement so I’ve been guessing for months. I’ve erred on the side of too large rather than too small.
Appointment booked on 13th, where she can Not Allow some poor Clark’s employee instead.
I did try one mask that fits around the back of the head but it was among the least comfortable of the 5 kinds I have tried.
I suppose I could try a back-of-the-head type, but the first mask I ever had was that sort, and I found it indescribably uncomfortable.
I have a tie round the back of the head mask that was made in the shop's colours for the charity bookshop I volunteer in. I find it ok to wear and it doesn't interfere with my aids, which is good as I also need to wear my reading glasses in the shop too. Of course I haven't actually been there since early December, but should be on duty again the week after next.
I am mildly tempted by these https://www.nooz-optics.com/gb/en-gb/collections/reading/original?gclid=CjwKCAjwgZuDBhBTEiwAXNofRGUphyA0_HAe0b7yJMNaPfkuRVRNk_NUmPAcHFXs9c-Y8vrmrNxxeBoCFFcQAvD_BwE
Of course, for only a minuscule amount more, you can still pick up lorgnettes https://www.bentley-skinner.co.uk/london/jewellery/43313-a-fine-cartier-enamel-and-gold-lorgnette/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Google Surfaces&utm_campaign=Google Shopping&utm_content=Google Shopping Clicks
My lorgnettes cost about a tenner though.
My fifth grade teacher wore pince-nez reading glasses. This was in 1962, and he retired at the end of that year, so would have entered the profession just at the end of World War 1. When displeased with you, he would remove the glasses and, holding them just below the tip of his nose, glare at you. As he suffered from asthma or emphysema, he had rather a hawkish visage, which added to the ferocity of his glare. All in all there was a certain Victorian-era manner about him.
Mind you, so were two of my grandparents ...
Jobs included removing all the Passiontide veils (pictures, images, crucifixes - there's a lot of it!), cleaning silver and brass, renewing candles, replacing altar linen, hoovering the floors, arranging flowers etc. etc.
Commonsense might have said that this year, at least, all that veiling was superfluous, and it's not as though the candles etc. really need a whole day's worth of attention, but I don't have a horse in this race...
Now, the place is big enough, so I do hope they observed social distancing, wore face-masks, and refrained from too much Idle Chatter. I get the impression that some people are behaving as if the pandemic is over, even as restrictions are only just beginning to be lifted...
Far too many people seem to view it as a sort of binary "lockdown on vs lockdown off" thing. Our local schools have just gone back full time for those that want to do school in person, and the CDC has said that three feet of separation is OK for schools. This doesn't mean that the CDC has suddenly decided that a three foot separation is safe, although that's the way that many people have interpreted it. It means that they have decided that in-person education is important, and going down to a three foot separation is worth the risk, if that's the only way you can accommodate your kids. It doesn't mean that less-important kid activities are worth the additional risk from closer spacing.
It was the same with masks - any number of idiots were proclaiming things like "why do you care what I do - you're wearing a mask" as if a mask was a magic 100% virus barrier.
Much the same here, I'm afraid. The Third Wave is due about mid-May, I'm told...
I'm hearing differing reports from all sorts of places.
We went for a walk with friends yesterday and the places we found were pleasantly free of crowds. We deliberately went early so it may have been a different story later in the day.
Daughter-Unit and her dear hubby got shot #1 Friday. (That was some relief to this mama's heart.) They felt flu-ish and had sore arms, but seemed to feel much better Sunday.
From reports I've heard, AZ causes most side effects. That is how we have experienced it, but we have very different body types and metabolism. Who knows?
I'm puzzled by mine. It used to be alphanumeric, ELKE something, but is now a very much longer and non-memorable numbers only thing.
Today the booking website is having problems due to overload - my husband is currently failing to get a slot.
My friend had this problem. He needs to keep phoning the surgery, that’s what she did. Even when she got an NHS number she found she couldn’t book online.
She persisted and got there in the end.
I expect a letter in the next few weeks, as I will attend one of the large hubs.
One covidiot was not only minus a mask, but jabbering loudly into his mobile phone, which, as enny fule kno, does NOT absorb the virus...
Ah well - Hail Boris! It's all over! England is SAVED!!
The cell phone company which is gov't owned has given free cell data again into the summer. Helps to connect about the health issues (and working from home).
Vaccines are the only thing this province's gov't have done okay, but to be fair it's the health authority that's not under gov't direct control.
Same here - the generally good* vaccine rollout is down to the NHS (praise them!) rather than the government (**** them!).
*Yes, I know there are glitches...
Eldest child went to a drive-through facility run by the national guard (Pfizer is the only vaccine authorized for 16-18 year olds, and this was the only place we could find it), and that was very efficient. Everyone stayed in their cars, and drove through a big "registration" tent where their details were taken, then to other tents where they were given the shot (stick your arm out of the car window), then to a long "park for 15 minutes and wait" line, in which you couldn't leave early, because the car in front would be in your way. It was very efficient. This one we booked a spot online.
I don't know whether I'd have had the option to refuse, but I don't really mind: I suppose it's a tiny bit of discomfort for the general good.