The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

ancientofdays

I am a pretty infrequent poster here but I do read along as this is a very interesting thread and I do value the different points of view.

I just wanted to add my twopennyworth here - I'm struggling with a nasty dental infection at present. Fortunately, since I seem prone to these, during the last one I had, my dentist prescribed several courses  of antibiotics and the final one was just in case so I  have been taking these.  Without them, I would have been waiting for antibiotic to come in the post which is the way my dental surgery is managing now. As, even with these, I am spending some time rocking and holding my jaw, I am thankful to have prepped for this without actually planning to.

I am not officially shielding but avoiding going past the boundary of my garden with a single exception, wearing a scarf over my mouth and nose, and socially distanced.  I am somewhat  confused, I know that there is a time when we will have to return to the real world but right now I'm worried about a potential spike of infections from those who chose to mingle a few weeks ago and from this long weekend.

I am fortunate in that I'm retired and have an income but that is usually supplemented by freelance work and that is not happening now. 

baggins11

It seems there has been a lot of heated discussion since I was last on here.  I just wanted say that I myself stopped coming on here after reading a ridiculous post about a 'controlled cull' regarding to schools being opened.  Everyone is free to an opinion but I think sometimes those who are shielding or retired and isolating are missing the bigger picture.   Schools need to open at some point in order to save our economy and if we are going to get a second peak I think we would all rather that happen in the summer than in the winter.

Our economy is taking a massive hit and if we don't get it started again we may never fully recover.  People are loosing their livelihoods and not able to pay the mortgage (myself included).  There won't be jobs to go back to once this is over if we don't kickstart the economy.  Many people will risk losing their homes.  I am in a job that only exists when others are working so we as a family will take a hit of at least £5k (probably much more) through no fault of our own. We don't have that money so are getting into debt for the first time in our adult lives.

Students are taking a massive hit on their education. Year 13 students not only have missed the chance of taking exams and proving themselves but might find they miss out on the first year of university - Cambridge has said they will go online and probably others will follow.  

Greyqueens superb post highlights that we need people in work to function as a society.  The plumber, the dentist, the bin men, the grocer, the builder etc we can't just shut down society for potentially years.  And many of these people have children of school age so they need them to go to school in order to be able to work.

I get a bit frustrated when financially secure people who don't need to work so are able to shield themselves complain when society as a whole is trying to get back on it's feet.  I am happy to collect shopping for those who are shielding locally and run errands, and I will support them but if they are in the position that they are able to isolate themselves they should count themselves lucky.  Those who choose to shield themselves should see it at their responsibility to make that happen with the help of the community - they shouldn't expect the world to shield with them.   The ones I feel really sorry for are those who are vulnerable who can't afford to isolate because they are working age.  And I feel for those who had loved ones in nursing homes - the nursing homes have been let down so badly in this.

So I would hate anyone to leave the forum and I like reading Mrs Ls posts and this post isn't directed at her (and it was someone else who wrote about the controlled cull).  I just think everyone needs to look at the bigger picture not just their own circumstances when they post.

And there will always be idiots sadly ignoring the guidance and not observing distance.  Unfortunately we can't do much about the idiots.  The vast majority of us want to do this as safely as we can.

DigForVictory

Thrifty I think preparing a scrub at the door point is a very shrewd idea. Not least as it'll help your husband in the coming weeks but possibly also your children in the coming months. 

Chemically soap is mostly soap - the prettier stuff has different colours & scents & moisturisers but the fundamental fat-busting (lipid membrane busting hence virus defence) core chemistry remains the same & indeed in these trying times I'd rather be using the less-added cheaper bars several times a day & keeping the fancy stuff for the shower or bath.

Not having an outside tap (yet) I'm struggling on how to decontaminate son when he gets back from work [he's not been called yet but he will] & while we probably could rig a warm hose through a bedroom window, that's not going to be popular come autumn nor desperately welcoming for any guests - he & his chief cronies currently meet at map coordinates on moors, and have sussed distanced bonfires...

Happy Sloth it is very hard but you are right to be the bad cop here - help him come up with a video message for the birthday body? Without listing out the wedding, your dad, zooming hens (& please share any photos of the dinosaur costume?!) Being the bad cop is uncomfortable but it's like handwriting, once you let standards drop, pretty soon everything is illegible. In my case my sister wanted a free pass to go see our parents & is still huffy at my flat 'no'. What we know of the science so far says she could take them something a load nastier than a hug, completely unwittingly & I am not forgiving that up front. If they ask her over (and I'd want to see the invite), that is their call.

baggins11 nails it with we need, as a country, to work. (Guiltily I am one of those lucky few who can "do do it all from home" & I invite you to contemplate how much all can be when your family assume since you're here you'll do it & your boss still expects you to get most of the results too. My boss is actually being far more reasonable than my family. So I've laid down martial law that one morning a week I get the shopping in (washed, covered & distanced) & the door bell, the phone, meals etc before 18:00 are just not my problem - it isn't working brilliantly as I can't always stop at 6 but hey!)

We also need to work together to keep up the soap & water, to keep that social distance (and if you sneeze while cycling your social distance extends behind you - think about paint splatter to explain it?), to watch out for those we love & to try to be kind. To Everyone.

And when I read that it sounds like a saint praying. Just we managed that, at the very start of lockdown when it was new & shocking. Now we need to update the usual ways as When This Is Over may be when pigs fly without a rugby club & a bungee line.

Mostly as if we don't, the new normal is going to include a lot of funerals, and a lot more recriminations. Not the prod of choice.

Count your blessings & pass me a bit of soap, please?!

-taff

I'm not unaware that there are some people who are going to find this difficult, and when I say some, I mean an awful lot. I am lucky, I count myself lucky that I can shield at home and not having difficulty paying the bills yet. The OH doesn't have a job, I'm not fit for a job [yet] and I am quite happy to stay at home and let this play out as it will. I don't particularly want to be cannon fodder for a governement that couldn't fight it's way out of a paper bag.

It will have to happen yes, but doing it safely is going to be a whole 'nother thing....

VJsmum

Excellent posts, Baggins and DforV.  I am also lucky as can also work from home - or not much at all through the summer. 

I don't think Cambridge is going totally online - i think they are going to do what my own university (I am a lecturer) and many others are doing - mass lectures will be online with face to face reserved for smaller group seminars and tutorials.  It is a model i think can work well (i like to be inclusive in my lectures, asking questions etc so will have to change my style a little - but it isn't too much of a hardship).

I am also fortunate in that we can avoid lots of people in the main.  However, my DD works in a city centre shop and travels by train so she is rightly anxious about having to do that again - at least she works in Lush, so there's plenty of soap!

Jazee

I'm lucky as I work from home anyway and have been able to continue.  My going out is just dog walks.  DH on the other hand has had to work right through the lockdown coming into contact with hundreds of people every day.  We have a routine that when he gets home, he strips off just inside the front door, puts his clothes in the washing machine, I have the door open ready for that, sanitises his hands and anything he may have touched then goes and showers.  I am enjoying the daily show and so far, touch wood, neither of us has shown symptoms.

annieb64

When DD was at Cambridge she had very few mass lectures. Most of her teaching was in a tutorial. She was doing a rather obscure subject so it might be different for the more popular courses.

baggins11

That's good news VJsmum I think it will work well.  My DD is year 10 and soon they will be doing weekly catch up/review sessions in small groups with a teacher in addition to the zoom stuff they usually do.  It seems like a good compromise.

Stay safe Jazee and continue to enjoy the show! Sounds like you have a very good routine.

Onebrokelady

GreyQueen said:

Lyn, Covid 19 ain't ever going away. Any more than the flu goes away. The proportion of society which is not retired does not have the luxury of putting up the shutters indefinately. Governments need the revenues those businesses create in order to pay pensions, fund the NHS, pay furloughed employees, pay for everything. Lockdown cannot go on much longer or the whole economy sinks, taking us all down with it. Even the comfortably-off will not be spared the fallout.

Everyone I know who is s/e, including small shop-keepers, are deep in the s**t and burning through savings. Much more of this and they will be bankrupt. I know people with £700 rents on very mediocre houses and £300 monthly income. They can't hold out much longer. Even charities are folding as they cannot open their shops, run street collections etc.

All the world's governments know, but cannot tell Joe Public, is that they have to ease lockdown in stages and expose more and more of the populace to Covid-19. It has to be done in such a way that the small minority of persons who become severely ill do not overwhelm the acute care facilites available to treat them.

About 80% of us will only ever experience a very minor illness, in up to 50% of cases, so minor that we are asymptomatic. Herd immunity for this disease is reckoned to be approx 70%, so our safety relies on having lots and lots of recovered C-19 people around us, not hiding behind closed doors. Not that you can hide from a highly-infectious airborne aerosolised virus indefinately.

Well said, most sensible post I've read this week ,this just cant go on for the majority of us,  it's simply not sustainable 😟

Onebrokelady

euronorris said:

My antibody test kit arrived yesterday. I will do it tomorrow night and put it straight in the post. Not doing now, as the post box won't be collected until Tuesday, so don't want it sitting in a hot box for days on end.

If it shows I have had it, the anxiety levels in DH would drop dramatically. He is struggling quite a bit with his anxiety because of all this.

Can I ask where you got your test from, I would love to know if I've had it because I had some very dodgy symptoms back in February that could have been anything or a mild case of covid, I had seen on the news that they are meant to be testing nursing staff and healthcare workers first but I'm not sure how reliable that is 😊