You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
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Watcha' Doing - 2020
I spoke too soon yesterday. There are now 2 cases in Alberta. One in Calgary and one in Edmonton. I'm 460 kms northwest of Edmonton. My friend was scheduled to fly out this morning to Nevada for a golf holiday. His flight was delayed due to "shortage of personnel". Seriously? I've never heard of that. I don't know if it's because of the virus or not. He's rebooked for 3:00 this afternoon.
The #toiletpaper stories made me laugh out loud. People is insane in every corner of the world.
Yep no toilet roll or hand sanitiser here either. Dentists are struggling to get hold of face masks because people have bought them. I've seen a few people wearingg them but they've all been asian and they probably would have worn them even without coronavirus. I'm involved in organising a hig event towards the end of the year andd ut's a little worrying. Who knows wheree things will be then. Hopefully it will just fizzle out but i guess we have to plan for worse case scenario. We've got 206 confirmed cases in UK with 2 deaths, both were over 70. I'm self employed and whilst thee government has made statutory sick pay kick in from day 1 for those who are employed, I have no such thing. So i'm contemplating getting income protection insurance just in case especially as i have asthma. No idea if they'd cover me though.
I checked our toilet paper levels during grocery shopping today and there was plenty of it.Wondering if I should have bought some extra just in case people start hoarding it here too!
I'm tempted to buy loads too Peggy but this fad hasn't hit ireland yet either. I think that's what's happening - we so these news items and join in the panic buying. At least it is an amusing distraction ;-p
Why are people panicking about toilet paper? I get the hand sanitizer, but not the tp.
Cherie wrote: "Why are people panicking about toilet paper? I get the hand sanitizer, but not the tp."We see the same thing here when we have hurricane warnings. Peanut butter, bread, beer and toilet paper clear the shelves. Weird right. I would understand it if it was the stomach flu...
So totally sold out here now of toillet roll, kitchen towel, tissues and hand sanitiser. Oh and pasta and some tinned foods. It's ridiculous. We have 3 toilet rolls left. Eek!
Sarah wrote: "So totally sold out here now of toillet roll, kitchen towel, tissues and hand sanitiser. Oh and pasta and some tinned foods. It's ridiculous. We have 3 toilet rolls left. Eek!"Sarah this is where all the toilet paper is... maybe they can send you a couple of rolls!! TP link
Lol Jayme!Good luck with the shortage Sarah..
Haha.. Jayme, I thought the same thing. Definitely not something you want to be caught without if you have a stomach bug. And that article is hilarious. A pricey oops! I think I’d notice a $3k mistake. I went to the grocery store today and grabbed an extra package of toilet paper just in case the US decides to jump on this new craziness.
Jayme wrote: "Sarah wrote: "So totally sold out here now of toillet roll, kitchen towel, tissues and hand sanitiser. Oh and pasta and some tinned foods. It's ridiculous. We have 3 toilet rolls left. Eek!"Sarah..."
Goddammit! That's why I got an email from Who Gives A Crap the other day saying they were low on stock! I'm waiting for my subscription to turn up next week.
I have also done this before but at work and on post it notes, not tp.
Cherie wrote: "Why are people panicking about toilet paper? I get the hand sanitizer, but not the tp."Apparently, it's as some people bought an extra packet or two of toilet paper, and as they are so big and bulky, you notice the gap on the shelves more.
So other people notice and think "Oh, if their running low, I'll get an extra one too". And as they are so bulky, supermarkets don't keep a huge amount of stock out the back to refill, usually only 150-250 spare packets out the back. So once that runs out, the shelves stay empty for the rest of the day. And you notice that more, as so big, toilet paper usually has a whole aisle to itself.
Which is enough in itself to start hording (and lets be honest, in this case rioting) behaviour. But. Then we throw in social media and smart phones, and it's not you just telling your workmates, friends, and family verbally anymore. You can whip up this anxiety now to thousands of people. And we do like a good panic.
Good point, Rusalka. It's apparent we do love a good panic.
LOL Oh I will never have to worry about a toilet paper shortage My husb picks up some every time he shops. When we first got married he forgot to buy some. His parents came to visit and there was no paper. His mother scolded me and I cried. Ever since any time he shops he get toilet paper. I think we may be the cause of the toilet paper shortage.
Renee wrote: "LOL Oh I will never have to worry about a toilet paper shortage My husb picks up some every time he shops. When we first got married he forgot to buy some. His parents came to visit and there was n..."Hahaha - What a sweetheart. My husband buys it every time too. We have the upper shelf of the linen closet filled with TP. We ran out of TP in the guest bathroom this week (Henry's dart team was practicing at our house) and you would have thought the Apocalypse was here. I said, "Babe walk down the hall. We're covered."
We got some! We also picked up some dried and tinned foods just in case.The behaviour in some of the supermarkets has been atrocious over the weekend. The cashier was telling us about it and I've seen some ugly videos too where the police had to be called.
I am getting a little obsessed now with checking the news I have to say. Organising a big event and being self-employed with all this going on is a little worrying. I need to do some digging about income protection. The UK has made coronavirus a notifiable disease so it is covered by insurance now which is good news.
Since I'll not be going out at the moment (we've been told to stay at home until the corona virus thing gets under control) I've ordered a coffee machine! I gave in and finally ordered one along with groceries. I finished two books, which is the only productive thing I've been doing since I'm off work another 2 weeks.
Our prime minister informed us today that we shouldn't shake hands anymore. And what does he do right after this announcement on national tv? Shake someone's hand, lol! I guess it takes some getting used to ;-)
LOL Politicians just can't help themselves 😂Our PM announced that all gathings of more than 1000 people should be cancelled. The country has been shouting for days that tue Paddy's day parade should be cancelled so I suppose the message finally got through!
Yes I can imagine Peggy. I noticed at the weekend jusst how much i touch my face and have been trying really hard to stop but not getting very far.Sounds like a great idea Bash! I hope your self isolation isn't too boring or inconvenieent for you.
ʙᴀsʜ wrote: "Since I'll not be going out at the moment (we've been told to stay at home until the corona virus thing gets under control) I've ordered a coffee machine! I gave in and finally ordered one along wi..."Good thinking Bash! As long as there is coffee and books all will be well in this little corner of the internet - oh and pasta, and spuds, and wine and hand sanitizer and loo roll and...........
I like all your excuses to buy new things. Bash's coffee machine, Renee with her books.. :)
Sarah wrote: "Yes I can imagine Peggy. I noticed at the weekend jusst how much i touch my face and have been trying really hard to stop but not getting very far.Sounds like a great idea Bash! I hope your self ..."
I know Sarah, ive got very conscious of thet. The problem is that as soon as tell myself not to touch my face nose starts to itch 😯
No case in Quebec city yet. 3 cases reported elsewhere in the province.I work for a company that have offices all over the world. And to be honest I like of the way they are managing this crisis.
At first. they stopped all work related travel to China quite quickly and stated that any employee that had travelled to an infected region was to work from him for 2 weeks.
Then the stated that any employee that was scheduled to travel could back out if they did not feel comfortable,
Last week, they escalated to cancelling all travel plans. People that are at risk healthwise are allowed to work from home.
Esther wrote: "No case in Quebec city yet. 3 cases reported elsewhere in the province.I work for a company that have offices all over the world. And to be honest I like of the way they are managing this crisis. ..."
My company has done the same thing, Esther.
We got a notice today, that even interstate travel in the US - for business purposes is being restricted. I expect that if we travel on personal time, we will be told to work from home for 2 weeks before we go back to the office. So far, I am still planning my road trip with my sisters in May.
The province where I work has the highest number of corona cases, and also a relatively large number where it's unknown how people got it. Advice in this province was to stay home even if you have only light complaints, and is now changed to working from home whenever you can.My university stick to this, and even though lessons continue, they urge staff and students not to come to work when they have even only a bit of a cold or sore throat. Also, they have told us (staff) to work from home whenever possible and only come to work for teaching. We should minimize meetings and stuff like that.
I get it, and I'll do as they say. But it feels kind of weird, that we have to cancel meetings and work from home as much as we can, while lessons continue which means I'll be in a classroom for 2 hours with 30 students sitting close to me and each other.
I just read in the news that last Sunday a group of passengers forced a plane to stop in Denver (the flight was from Colorado to Newark) because a person sniffed. That person was controlled in Denver's airport and he just happened to have an allergy. Still 3 passengers decided not to get back in the airplane as a "precaution".I can't believe that level of paranoia, really. Stay home people. If your paranoia is out of control just stay home. This doesn't help anyone... on the contrary...
Allergy season has started here in Coastal Virginia. We both have the sniffles, but know it's allergies because we were working in the garden all weekend and it's the first of March. I think you are going to see a lot of people going to the doctors because of allergies thinking they have COVID-19.
We have allergies too. It's crazy how people act like you have the plague. No, people... I sneeze every year about this time. I will say itchy eyes and nose make it really difficult to keep your hands away from your face. The more you think about keeping your hands away, the more you want to rub your face.
Its getting pretty bad in here, the stupid government allowed 7500 Egyptians in without checking wether they have the corona virus or not, now they are doing that after getting a backlash from the citizens and so far they got 65 out of 200-500. they are still going through the checkup, I guess they'll close down the airport, they already closed down the cinema theatres and the wedding venues.Recently a woman caught it after she went to a spa, this is crazy!
And I still haven't gotten my coffee machine, over 3 hours late. I really need coffee...
I finally understand the toilet paper craze The companies that make it have turned their efforts to making masks thus the shortage
That makes total sense. Adults are all sold out. They have introduced mask rationing here and it is limited to 2 per week. You must have a copy of your valid health insurance policy and your ID card as a foreigner here. You can line up at the pharmacy once a week and that is decided by the last number of your birth year. Mine is 0 so I can only go to the pharmacy on Fridays and buy 2 masks for the week.
Luckily I have a small face and there were some kids ones for sale on-line so I bought a pack of 10 and received those last week.
There is very little evidence that the masks will stop you catching covid19. But they're still sold out. I don't think the toilet roll companies here are making masks, just people panic buying then hearing about shortages on social media causing more panic buying.
The masks only work when they're the sophisticated kind with a certain filter, that medical staff uses too. And then it only works when you use them correctly. Other masks don't seem to be that useful. It was said here that they could even give people a false sense of security.
Wow, it's so interesting hearing all these different perspectives. We have virtually been told to go about our business as usual, paying particular attention to hygiene. I think the government is doing a good job of calming the panic. Should we be panicking? Most schools now have cancelled any school-related international travel, that is, student excursions. At the moment there are no travel restrictions to Iceland and Norway, so I am hoping things don't change before I leave (May 17th). Who knows what the situation will be like then?
Officialy there are 267 people infected and today the first person died. Now, the governement advises to cancel all the events with more than 1000 people to the end of this month. Normally I'm going to FACTS (a sort of Comic Con) at the beginning of April, but that's with around 45000 people in one weekend. For now it isn't cancelled.In Belgium, people are not panicking and keeping calm. It's strange, but there's no fuss about it, for now, just some traveling advice, no hand or kiss, schools are open, we've got plenty of toilet paper(!)...
Buying a new bookcase from Ikea was a great idea! its right at my vision of view, with my favourite books and upcoming books to read.It brings such a positive energy!
Is it a Billy, Bash? We have some too!
Peggy wrote: "Is it a Billy, Bash? We have some too!"its called GERSBY, its the perfect size that fits the free space I have in my room!
If I end up filling it, I'll have to think of another shelf, possibly the very wide and short ones I could put under my tv. but for now I'm happy with how my room looks :D
Peggy wrote: "Is it a Billy, Bash? We have some too!"We've got 3 of them with the window doors covered with leaves prints.
I've also contacted my insurance company to ask what happens if our flight in April gets cancelled or France decides to close down. On the news today was Trump's decision to close the US to all Europeans from Schengen countries, and some insurance person said that it's not likely that people get their money back as these are such special and unforeseen circumstances. I found out (when I was googling something else, it's not like they sent me an email) that our airline offers all passengers a free rebooking if you have a flight planned before April 30. You have to rebook it to a date before December 31. Not ideal as I'm bound to school holidays so I don't really have another option to go this year except a week in October but I don't know how much fun Corsica will be that late in the year, but better than losing the money and missing out on the holiday.
I guess you are right, Peggy. It's better than nothing.I manage to go to Vienna and Budapest and come back the day before the pandemic was declared by WHO, and everything ended falling down.
My oldest daughter, a junior in College, is spending a semester in Budapest (that is why I went). Her program was cancelled yesterday and all the students asked to come back home as soon as possible, just 2 hour before all the flights between Europe and USA got cancelled. We are trying to get her home through London this weekend.
What a mess is all of this...
It's a stupid decision of Trump, blaming the EU for this. Except Great Brittain. I mean, this is not the time to play such games.
Oh Peggy that's to bad, but at least you can reschedule. "crossing fingers for you" We don't have flights until July, so I think we are OK on that front, but we do have reservations for an inn in the mountains for our 35th anniversary the end of April. My plan is to call them today to check if we can move the reservation if we need to. I hope we can still go at that time because we have theater tickets for the Shakespeare Festival and other events, but those can also be canceled because they are larger crowds and I don't know if those will be rescheduled.
Saar The Book owl wrote: "It's a stupid decision of Trump, blaming the EU for this. Except Great Brittain. I mean, this is not the time to play such games."Lol yes, especially him saying that it's Europe's fault that it's now also present in the US, while here the media coverage is more like the US was quite unprepared for it.
@Sandra: oh no! I'm sorry for your daughter.. I hope you'll manage to get her home soon. I hope you had a nice time in Vienna and Budapest despite everything though. @Jayme: congrats on your 35th anniversary! Hopefully that will be fine and you can still travel freely within the country by that time.
I love that we're all over the world, but we all have the same Billy bookcases!
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You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
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Exactly!! That would be a priority for me.