You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
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Watcha' Doing - 2020
The college I work at is closed to students as of v with staff teaching online and being encouraged to work from home wherever possible. As I'm still living in the women's refuge without broadband, a desk or an office chair, this is going to be difficult. I don't drive and getting things delivered to an address I'm supposed to keep confidential is a problem. I've asked a colleague if he can deliver a small desk and chair from work to a nearby carpark and am hoping to get everything into the house without causing too much of a rumpous... Also hoping it doesn't rain!
Work are trying to organise a laptop and internet dongle for me but I don't know how long that will take.
The IT guy doesn't know about my situation and I'm sure he thinks I'm being unreasonable.. I know he's wondering why I can't just get a connection installed or ask a neighbour to share their hub.
I know it's silly but I'm getting a bit stressed about it all. Doesn't take much at the moment (lol)
... Just letting off steam..
When I get stressed I get a weight on my chest, which isn't great at the moment either. Trying to chill out a bit.
Saar The Book owl wrote: "It's just something stupid or silly, but for me, I'm just sad about what happened. My pony is stabled 5 minutes from my home and I've been there for 15 years. Now, with corona there are measures th..."Saar, I completely understand why your upset. The stable owner is behaving very unprofessionally. You are concerned about your horses pain, you work shifts, its impossible to conform to a weekly schedule. I feel your pain and I hope you can find a solution to this.
Annerlee wrote: "When I get stressed I get a weight on my chest, which isn't great at the moment either. Trying to chill out a bit."Take care of yourself Annerlee. I can imagine in an already difficult situation you don't need all this too.
Good to see your Travis!I understand why you'd be upset Saar.
I can imagine that's difficult Annerlee. I hope you get things sorted.
I think I was a little naive thinking that I could just move by business online and carry on as normal. Nothing is normal right now. Clients cannot focus on working towards their pre-coronavirus goals. And prospective clients are not thinking about the future right now or what they might like to change. Sure there are a lot of anxious people our there right now but with all the financial and job insecurity right now, nobody is going to pay out. The government said that we could claim if we are affected by the virus and for those having to self isolate due to being at risk. What a farse though. I don't exactly know which benefit to claim. The first one you could do online but the form isn't tailored for what is happening right now. Then I couldn't properly prove my identity because of the whole living on a boat thing. THe second one requires a form filling out. I have no printer. I can't go to the library to print it as I'm self isolating. ARRRRGGHH!
Two friends of mine have symptoms now and are self isolating. Other who are at risk, like myself, are also self isolating. I have also been coughing more this morning.
Good luck Sarah, with figuring it all out. It must be very stressful for people with their own businesses, even if there are promises that things will be taken care of, you still have to figure it all out and it doesn't take away all worries.
I'm sick of seeing farmers online saying have no fear it's business as usual were here still raising safe food for youI'm over here going ok is the electricity gonna stay on, is the feed truck gonna come is the diesel truck gonna come will the milk truck still come. What if the milk plant shuts down and I have to dump milk. That's fine and all but if I dump I don't get paid but everyone still has to get fed and taken care of which is a huge daily expenses. Do we just go on until we're broke and run out of feed and what if you ran out of feed and the markets are closed and you can't move your animals to another location and you have to either starve or euthanize your entire herd
Yeah these are kind of doomsday situations but I'm seeing a lot of people who don't seem to be taking the time to even ponder the possibility
That said I have inventory of feed to get through easily 6 months and spring is coming grass will grow and I can put animals out on pasture providing food and water almost no labor or expense
All's well I'm simply just running through the what ifs. Just because you have a farm and can grow your food doesn't mean you're bulletproof
Actually I've called some of my suppliers and asked what measures are in place so I know if I call for a product I can receive it. Some actually have plans in place should employees start getting sickMostly I'm getting sick of Americans thinking living in the land of the free means they don't have to obey quarantines and isolations and no one is gonna tell them what to do
Healthy thoughts and virtual hugs to everyone. I keep telling myself deep calming breaths.One interesting aside - I will finally find out what my true hair color is after all these years. ;0)
There are currently 4 cases in our county. The first was a man who was traveling and self-isolated when he got home then got symptoms. It's great that he isolated and spread the illness less, but others were likely exposed while he was traveling so I expect we'll be seeing more cases. Also, I don't know if the others were taking any precautions before they became ill. We had a DMV worker in our state (and one in my daughter's town in another state as well) who tested positive. I worry about how many people they were in contact with.
Jayme wrote: "One interesting aside - I will finally find out what my true hair color is after all these years. ;0)"This made me LOL. :D
Glad to see you two around, Travis and Annerlee!We have a few hard months ahead. I hope our governments are smart and sensitive. I hope everyone who is able to help, would do it. It is obvious we all will have to do our part, starting with social distance and self-isolation, but the recovery will be hard work too.
@Saar The Book owl That is unkind. I know that it is hard to hear but try not to take it personally. She is behaving this way because of who she is and it's probably not only you that she is acting this way towards. @Sandra That's wonderful. Good luck with the home schooling.
@Janice Keep safe.
Big hugs everybody . Stay safe.
Public transport is running as normal here. Pubs, shops, restaurants are open. All public schools will be closed until April 6th. Shipping is limited and I can't send parcels home because it is no longer accepting parcels from here to prevent the spread of the virus. The government here is restricting parcels leaving the country that contain hand sanitizer and/or masks. It's my Dad's birthday at the end of the month and I hope I can get a card to him. Wish me luck.
I really hope that people will try their best to be nice to each other during the virus. It will pass. I hope people can stay calm and peaceful.
It all feels so surreal. I came to the horrible realisation this morning that should anything happen to my parents or brothers, I won't be allowed to fly in to Canada to see them.
I have to brave our local Tesco store tonight and I have the sneaky suspicion it will be a waste of my time.
I have to brave our local Tesco store tonight and I have the sneaky suspicion it will be a waste of my time.
Oh Anna, that's indeed a horrible realisation. Our local supermarket is asking for volunteers to help with small things because they fear they won't manage otherwise. They need people to desinfect pinpads and things like that, help filling up the shelves, telling people to keep 1.5m distance from each other, etc. I saw them today also putting up large plexiglass screens in front of the cash registers, to separate the employees from the customers.
Anna's Reading Life wrote: "It all feels so surreal. I came to the horrible realisation this morning that should anything happen to my parents or brothers, I won't be allowed to fly in to Canada to see them."I was thinking the same thing yesterday. My family is in Uruguay, and my husband´s in Argentina.
Peggy wrote: "Our local supermarket is asking for volunteers to help with small things because they fear they won't manage otherwise. "That is great. Here I have seen many neighbors offering help to whoever needs it via NextDoor. I think I would feel better if I could do something like that, but I can´t. I am not in self isolation, but in actual quarantine since my daughter and me were in Europe until next week. So I can´t offer my help for at least another 2 weeks.
I was doing a mental list this morning of family members and friends who are doing their self-isolation all by themselves and started checking on them, trying to make them company. It has to be maddening not having contact with anyone. I will try to skype with one of my sisters in law this afternoon. She started her quarantine in Argentina yesterday after visiting us here in the US (she came to help my husband with the kids while I was gone) and she lives by herself.
It's hard when you want to help but can't. I'd be happy to help out at the local supermarket, but I have a fulltime job already that goes on, albeit from home. I hope others will respond, otherwise perhaps I can help out on a Saturday or Sunday. I think it's great you're checking in with people. Even if they're alright and you don't really have anything to talk about, it's still good to just have a conversation with someone!
Annerlee wrote: "When I get stressed I get a weight on my chest, which isn't great at the moment either. Trying to chill out a bit."Annerlee, hope you can get some think sorted out. I won't tell you not to worry as we're all doing that but try to relax. Your health is more important than any job x
@Jayme, you've made me panic now - why didn't I think to stock up on hair dye ARRGGHHHHHH!!!My heart goes out to all of you who are separated from loved ones right now. I am very concerned about my 80 year mother but at she lives with me. I am wondering how I will cope without my pain management treatment which I usually get as an inpatient at hospital. I hope I will be able to walk as I have my Ma to look after. I'm not thinking too much beyond that to be honest.
Our Prime Minister made a brilliant public address last night. I think it will go down in our national history. He was calm, dignified and yet conveyed the gravity of the situation. He spoke of "cocooning" which was a new word for me. It is a nice way of saying stay at home for a really long time LOL
I was supposed to bring my dog for an arthritis jab today but the vet cancelled. I was going to ask to ask for some advice. He his fine during the day but as soon as we put him to bed at night he starts scratching at doors. This is a new behaviour for him so I think he is picked up on our worry. We have taken to leaving all the doors open but the sound of his nails tapping on out wooden floors is keeping us all awake. We are going crazy which adds to the stress - viscious circle!
Stay safe all <3
i am back from the grocery shop, Still not TP. :)I got everything I needed. I am happy as I wanted some items like tomato paste, quinoa and chickpeas. The Legume and flour shelves have been "popular" but there were still some.
The only thing I could not get was fresh jalapenos. Can ones will do,
But for an old lady behind me at the cashier (i had to tell her to step back), everyone seem to be vigilant.
For those who have family far away, I totally understand. It is not easy at the best of time and even worse now.
I finally had a chance to check out the little free library down the street from me. Inside, along with the books, was a roll of toilet paper with a note attached that said, basically, if you need the roll take it and if you have extra leave one. "We are all in this together." I though that was really nice of them.
My parents are an hour and a halfs drive from me. I'm concerned for my mum. Even if we were closer to lovedd ones and something happened and they ended up in hospital, we wouldn't be allowed to see them. So much going on that i can't get my head around. Schools have just closed her in the UK except for the kids of keyworkers and those 2ho are vulnerable. I can't imagine that will last for long either. People are dropping like flies.
We all turned into homeschoolers today as the school delivered homework packets to all the district. I liked the email from the art teacher saying the k-2 grade sketch pads are homemade with love My district is so good. Wife photocopied all our stuff for a coworker because her kids schools are not providing lesson plans for parents like ours is
Hope everyone is hanging in there. Times are unreal right now. I'm in the US. in Kentucky. There is one confirmed case in our area, 30 confirmed in the state, but in reality probably many more unconfirmed. I'm a teacher. Public school preschool. Our district closed for 2 weeks but I actually think it will probably be longer, we just haven't heard yet. We are using"non traditional instruction" or NTI days. My districts days don't start till next week, but my nieces start tomorrow. Up till when the NTI days begin the districts are using built into the school year "snow days" that were unused.
Taking it day by day. Trying our best to practice "social isolating" but I do have to get out to go to the grocery store tomorrow, and pick-up and drop-off some girl scout cookies to a friend. Going to leave in her mailbox. No contact or as little as possible is planned.
Here in NY schools are closed until April 20
My city declared a state of emergency today. The last time that happened was when the river flooded and destroyed the water treatment plant. It feels surreal.
AmyK said the seniors in the retirement center where she works are going crazy, but they are co-operating as much as they can. They have been in total lock down for a week longer than we have. No visitors are allowed but loved ones are talking on the phone outside the windows, just to see their family. There has been no communal dining but they are missing Bingo and their Coffee socials. The center has been loaning TVs and laptops where they were available and helping people use social media. Their activity workers are delivering jigsaw puzzles and anything they can think of to keep the folks busy while they are not allowed out of their rooms. They take them outside for walks or wheel chair walks when there are enough staff available 1:1. She said Evan is missing his friends and going crazy having to stay home with Ryan all day. I have been working from home and not been out anywhere since last Friday, but I need to go to the grocery store tomorrow. I am going to go early in the morning.
Kristie - the TP in the little library was nice. I might walk a street over and check out the new one I saw in our neighborhood. I have some books to leave.
There's talk about a little library in our neighbourhood too. That would be nice! The TP is nice too Kristie! I saw a pic where someone stocked a little library full of TP. I was surprised that worked, surely there will be people who just hoard all of it?Shops are still allowed to be open here, but many of them are closing down anyway, especially the non-essential ones like clothing, ikea, etc. They do it for safety reasons, but also because with so few customers it's more expensive to stay open than to close. I read it's very busy in garden centres and hardware stores.. won't be surprised if they close down soon too, either voluntarily or forced.
I also heard on the news today that 5 times more jigsaw puzzles are being sold. Especially people in their 20s and 30s have started making puzzles. Rob and I started one last Sunday, but we make jigsaw puzzles regularly in winter.
Kristie wrote: "I finally had a chance to check out the little free library down the street from me. Inside, along with the books, was a roll of toilet paper with a note attached that said, basically, if you need ..."What a lovely thought! It's a reminder that there are kind people, not just assholes <3
Just heard that there was a junior rugby match here in town two sundays back. The coach of the village our team was playing has tested positive. It's on my doorstep now!
Margo wrote: "Kristie wrote: "I finally had a chance to check out the little free library down the street from me. Inside, along with the books, was a roll of toilet paper with a note attached that said, basical..."That's brilliant idea. We have a subscription of tp turning up in the next week, so I might drop a couple of rolls off every week for the next couple while people are freaking out. People can't keep this up for the next 12 months... or can they?
Seeing good news. I've seen China has reported only 1 new infection for each of the past 2 or 3 days and now China is sending Drs to aid Italy who is absolutely not able to treat their sick and in dire straights. I think that's there most positive news the country of origin getting a grip and going to help others
Travis wrote: "Seeing good news. I've seen China has reported only 1 new infection for each of the past 2 or 3 days and now China is sending Drs to aid Italy who is absolutely not able to treat their sick and in ..."The reports here is it's not China, which is increasing, it's Wuhan where the infection started. And the health professionals here are doubting the validity of the Wuhan claims unfortunately.
Michigan has 119 cases and our first death now. I’m home working but took today and tomorrow off.
Rusalka wrote: "People can't keep this up for the next 12 months... or can they?"Oh, Lordy, I hope not.
Things are exploding here now. We don't have enough ventilators or beds for what is coming. We're expected to go into lockdown today or tomorrow, probably starting with London as that has the most cases. Schools are closing tomorrow so it looks like Rob won't be working after today.It's good to hear the cases in China have slowed like that. I guess what's happening there will give us a good indicator of how long this is going to go on for. And how we come out of it.
Kristie wrote: "Rusalka wrote: "People can't keep this up for the next 12 months... or can they?"Oh, Lordy, I hope not."
We're actively discussing 18 months. Spanish FLu lasted 12+. Vaccine may not be around for 12-18 months. It's horrible, but social distancing at least could be that long.
*edit* sorry, this is worst case scenario. Plan for the worst and if you announce things earlier, then it's good news.
Yay!! It’s the first day of spring here. It is pretty gloomy out but hopefully winter is behind us.
Hi all,We set up a thread specifically for corona, so that people can also avoid news on this topic if they prefer to do so but still chat about other things here.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
We can use watcha doin for all other things we want to talk about. My personal suggestion: post also small happy things that you normally wouldn't find worth posting!
Jannene wrote: "Yay!! It’s the first day of spring here. It is pretty gloomy out but hopefully winter is behind us."We had some lovely sunny weather the past few days, and it looks like it will last for at least another week! Yesterday was also quite warm (17C) and I sat outside and read a book. Happy me :)
It will get colder now (11C) but still, just having the sun out is wonderful.
Jannene wrote: "Michigan has 119 cases and our first death now. I’m home working but took today and tomorrow off."Yesterday we were at 94 and one death. My boss is not telling us to stay home but he's working at home.
Also, in our garden there are birds building a nest, and a lot of bees hovering around the insect hotel. Makes me happy!
Lucky you Peggy.First of Spring and it's grey and we're having lots of rain tomorrow.
Dominique wrote: "Jannene wrote: "Michigan has 119 cases and our first death now. I’m home working but took today and tomorrow off."Yesterday we were at 94 and one death. My boss is not telling us to stay home but..."
Do as I say not as I do...perfect.
We've seen a few robins in our garden too. I love the first days of Spring.
A separate thread for Corona Chat is a great idea!
Going to head out for my morning walk. I am planning on reading outside since it will hit 70 today. Happy First Day of Spring (in the Northern Hemisphere) everyone.
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You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
Books mentioned in this topic
The Lost Man (other topics)The Glass Woman (other topics)
The Survivors (other topics)
The Survivors (other topics)
The Glass Woman (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Roberto Bolaño (other topics)Dervla McTiernan (other topics)
Kevin Hearne (other topics)
Rachel Caine (other topics)
Tan France (other topics)
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So far all's well. A lot of businesses are closed and more probably to come. Same as a lot are going through