The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

maryb

Same here in suburban London.  Normally Thursday is market day.  Even in lockdown there are still about four stalls in the High Street selling fruit and veg so Thursday is still a bit busier than other days.  But today it had the same atmosphere as if it were evening after rush hour.  Really quiet and dead

GreyQueen

It wasn't just shops that were shuttered, is that so many were empty and had For Sale or For Lease boards in their windows. Chain businesses and independants alike. It's deathly. Who in their right mind would sign a lease on a commercial premises right now? How are the companies who run commercial waste collections going to survive? What about the suppliers of everything from coffee cups to chip trays? The hard-working folk who get up at dark o'clock to clean offices, shops and hotels? How will people survive? It's terrifying to behold, and I'm old enough to have seen a few recessions and been a youngster joining the workforce when there were millions already out of work.

annieb64

We are struggling  to find anywhere  to walk which isn't   really muddy. About the only place is the park at the other end of town but then we have to walk past all the closed shops which is so sad.
We seem to have two new takeaways opening. I suppose they must be busy. There seem to be a lot of people asking on the local FB page where they can get takeaway  Sunday lunch etc.

thriftwizard

I think you're seeing it first, up there. Our little town still seems moderately prosperous; one or two permanently-shuttered shops, one of which is a charity shop. Of which we had 9 last time I counted. But the sheer number of charity shops is telling in its own right; between those and the high street chains that have moved in in the last few years, there are very few true independents left. Rumour has it that a number of the high street chains are not renewing their leases...

There were a fair few people around when I popped up to the post office earlier, many of whom I didn't recognise; not that I know everyone here, but a good proportion after 28 years. But we're on the edge of the city & I think people are still coming out for a change of scene; we're still getting lots of Lycra-clad cyclists stopping for their take-away lattes too. So all still looks prosperous here, but I'm not so sure about under the hood...

VJsmum

annieb64 said:

We are struggling  to find anywhere  to walk which isn't   really muddy. About the only place is the park at the other end of town but then we have to walk past all the closed shops which is so sad.
We seem to have two new takeaways opening. I suppose they must be busy. There seem to be a lot of people asking on the local FB page where they can get takeaway  Sunday lunch etc.

Same here, annie.  We are fortunate to be on the edge of the countryside but it is all a mud bath - and walking into town gets a little dull.  At least my Glastonbury wellies are getting some use - so wellies might be a good prep addition for those without.  I have fairly posh ones because at Glasto you can be wearing them all day for 5 days so they need to be comfy (mine are Muck Boots) but i found that cheaper ones are fine for a couple of hours - i previously wore Dunlop.

littlemoney

I too know far more about ME/CFS than I want to. It has ruined my life for 30 years. I have improved twice after bad bouts but after the third one, 8 years ago I have never recovered from and was permanetly unable to work again.  Since then my life or should I say my existance, as this is not living, has been hell and hell is getting worse each year as I seem to be able to less each year. If people really knew what the rest if their life could be if they develop long covid they would not be as carefree about catching the virus as they are.

I agree only good thing is that this might raise awareness and get some research done.

Anyone here who is struggleing to get over the virus, do not hurry back to work you will only make yourself worse if you do not allow your body to fully recover which could be many months. I have struggled back after illness, got no thanks from work. There were months when was working where I would spend every evening and all weekend resting just so I could go work.

-taff

I saw real outside world today for the first time in a while i.e. the town center. Oh had to go to the bank so I went to Boots. Shop assistant was very helpful and gave me a genuine smile back when I thanked her for her help, hardly anyone around, lots of shops shut and rightly so. We did have a spate of Multipurpose shops deciding to buy in milk and veg as a reason to stay open arguing they were providing essential items during the first lockdown. They probably still are but I didn't go in any of them. even the very quck walk around was nice. You have to take your joy where you can find it....

thriftwizard

Speaking as someone lucky enough to have "recovered" from ME/CFS twice, and whose life has certainly been - different - because of it, I'm terrified of Long Covid. First time, I was 19, and at a prestigious university when I caught Glandular Fever only a few months after recovering from true 'flu; I'd been unconscious/delirious for a week and woke up a full stone lighter with the 'flu. After the Glandular Fever, I was literally unable to walk more than a few yards for a couple of months. This was in the 70s and ME had yet to be described, so my university decided I'd "had a breakdown" & dropped out. Hence I've bumbled through life without a degree; that said, I'd never have had such fun raising my own kids or running a market stall if I'd had one. (Might have had a pension, though!) Then I went down again when DS1, aged 11, also managed to get Glandular Fever. He too struggled mightily to recover as fast as his school thought he should; his attendance was pretty sporadic for couple of years, and I was just - wiped out - for most of that time. I couldn't see properly, I felt sea-sick all the time & couldn't balance, I had deep, uncontrollable tremors in my legs and agonising pains across my scalp and in various joints, and horrible headaches. I managed to get most of the kids to school most of the time, and fed & bedded, and spent the rest of the time lying on the sofa, terrified I'd got BSE, which was grabbing the headlines at that time. Sadly, I suspect a lot of people thought I was just terminally lazy; a number of "aspirational" friends (?) just - drifted away - at that time. My fledgling writing career hit the buffers; you need to be putting stuff out there all the time to really get noticed, and I just couldn't. But I'm pretty well most of the time now, for which I'm very thankful.

Some people have not been so lucky, and have never got better, and I'd be the last person to judge them. We're far too quick to pressurise people into rushing back to work, and I'm actually glad I didn't have any glittering prizes to rush back to, or feel I was letting anyone down if I didn't. I would love to make sure people realise that this is a very real, physical thing, not "all in the mind" or "laziness" or "lack of moral fibre" as has sometimes been said. It's well-documented now that it does tend to be the over-achievers, the brightest & best, who go down with it, not that I'm counting myself in there. I have every sympathy with those who develop Long Covid, and sincerely hope not to be amongst their numbers, but I'm glad that the world is beginning to see that some viruses (viri?) really can wreak havoc long after the initial stages have passed.

Nargleblast

We all think we're so powerful and in control of everything, but when a tiny little microorganism enters stage left look what happens! This whole event is changing everyone's perception of what is important, and it's showing just who the strong  ones are. I fear there will be one almighty mess to clear up once this virus leaves. People's lives, their health (physical and mental), the economy, the way things are run in society.....we will never return to what we thought of as normal. I don't think it will be all doom and gloom, but it will certainly be different. How do we prep for that? 

Karmacat

I came down with CFS in my mid 50s - turns out I'd been drifting into it for years through overwork, but a couple of life events in my 50s turned the tide for me.  I staggered on till retirement at 62, and things have been easier since then, but never easy.  And reading what other people have written on here, I think I had a light dose  

I watched the news tonight, after a few days off, and it was shocking to see how bad things are for the hospitals - police and bus drivers driving ambulances, buses converted into ambulances to carry 4 people at once, the minimum national R number has gone *up* (I'm aware some of the regional numbers have gone down).  I feel safe-but-bored as I am now (ie nothing to complain of!), but I'm worried for the country, to be honest.