Crazy Cat Lady Chapter 4 - The Aftermath

jwil

From me too.  You'll get there.  Final bill done and dusted (apart from the house).  It's all downhill from here.

Buffythedebtslayer

Hey CCL, Just saying hello XX 
I too have the vet visits looming. You are awesome - and you might not think that but you are ok and it will be ok. Lots of love XXX 

crazy_cat_lady

dawnybabes said:

Hope you feel better soon, hope that’s it now for you x

havent forgotten your sleep cream - been a rough few months but hopefully it’s levelling out (DH got terminal cancer) will be in the post this week 

Please don't worry about that - you need to look after you and yours. xxx 

crazy_cat_lady

I don't know what to think about this current situation with the virus... I don't know how much of it is panic whipped up by the media and how much I think that the British government are dithering over making a decision. Suppose it doesn't help that I don't trust the government in any way, shape or form.
I am not worried about me or the kids health wise - but I worry about my parents who are older, with underlying stuff and my two besties who also have underlying conditions. I dislike the idea that the UK don't seem to be doing what the rest of Europe are doing in terms of delaying, and I really dislike the attitude I'm seeing from the general public. This virus is only scary because we don't know much about it, and most people will recover in a short period of time - but this panic buying and media frenzy is making everything feel much worse. 
I went out yesterday for a little walk into town - only went to the pet shop to order cat litter and to my butcher's to stock the freezer a bit. I am determined that as far as possible I will continue to support my small, local shops because they will be hardest hit when everything hits the fan, which it surely will. Got home and dd told me that we needed milk and cereal... wish she'd told me that before I'd gone out but I said I'd go today instead. Spent a couple of hours at bestie's house just watching a bit of Netflix and escaping from reality for a while. 
Got up this morning with plans for tutoring then visiting my mam - I'd double checked that she still wanted us to come as my stepdad has COPD and between me and the kids we are in contact with a LOT of people as we're all at different schools. Decided that I would pop to Mr A on the way to tutoring for milk and cereal. Oh. My. God. It was worse than Christmas - I got there approximately two minutes after the shop opened and there was a queue out of the car park. I decided to attempt a different, smaller shop on the way to tutoring. It's a small Mr S on a parade of shops - but there was a queue there as well. I parked away from the shops and walked in to a tiny Mr T where I got my milk but no cereal. Then walked up the street to a well known freezer shop to see if they had cereal - they did, and they had clearly also just had a delivery of loo roll. I wanted to cry watching people tearing round the shops quite literally emptying stuff into trolleys... decided I would get chicken (you all know ds) and headed far away from the shops. It was awful, and a very far cry from the whole #bekind thing that we were doing a couple of weeks ago.
I don't know what to think any more - I don't really want the schools to close, but I think it's inevitable so I'd rather it happened sooner rather than later. Get it out of the way if possible. Goodness knows what is going to happen with the exams and the longer term picture - but things are changing hour by hour, so looking as far as May and beyond seems completely pointless. I hate the utter confusion and not knowing what on Earth is going on... I don't cope well with uncertainty at the best of times.

dawnybabes

The worlds gone mad tbh.  I did a click and collect yesterday and ended up going into the shop as more than half was missing 😢🤬🤬

foxgloves

We're all in the same boat, CCL. I'm an overthinker at difficult times, like yourself but I think I've planned for everything which is 'plannable for'. The rest of it? I think we'll have to do our best not to worry about what we can't control. Much of this really does fall into that category, doesn't it? 
F xx

f0xh0les

Take it a day at a time ccl.  Plan out what crochet projects you want to do if school gets shut down, don't leave yourself without a routine, if there are little niggly house jobs that need doing, plan those in. Work out a meal plan just in case you end up needing lunches for kids, and how are you at remote lectures?   just in case you become the latest internet sensation on  Utube / CCLs Chemistry podcast! 

Our Easter hols start on 4th April, so even if the school shut down tomorrow (unlikely!) you would only miss 3 normal weeks of teaching and the school could shut down for 5 whole weeks - straight through, but I think they really want to hang on as long as they can, but the Easter hols are almost certainly going to be longer than usual.  It is one of those exceptional situations.

There is absolutely nothing we can do about it.  I do find it quite amusing that the Her0ns and Farmf00ds still appear to have all the stock, while the major supermarkets seem to be selling out.  It shows a marked difference in the spending habits of the clientele, and who is hoarding.  Then again telling 70 yr olds they might need to self isolate for 16 weeks is enough to make anyone reach for an extra pack of loo rolls, and they don't often need much encouragement  at the best of times!

jwil

They are expecting the virus to peak in May, so to make everyone self isolate now will be risky as it is likely that people will get fed up and break isolation just when they need to most.  From what I've read of the official guidance rather than the media, the policy makes sense and is science-led.  
I think that if people have concerns, then they should allow them to self isolate earlier,  I wish also they would make it clear as to what would happen if we did need to shut down, how people would have access to groceries etc - that might help stop the panic buying.

From my point of view, we've only got 2 confirmed cases here, so to shut down schools now seems premature.  However, should it start to escalate, then of course it would be prudent.  A lot of our NHS staff have children, so if we shut down schools too early we have a lot of crucial staff that will not be able to go to work.

crazy_cat_lady

Work is awful.
Attendance is down, and the kids that are here have been wound up into some sort of panic/frenzy that it's not safe for them to be here, and that makes it difficult to get anything useful done. They've all got a really bad pretend cough and nobody seems to know what on earth is going on. It has already been a long day and I'm only half way through it. Everyone thinks they're sick, and they don't want to learn about anything except the coronavirus.
Good luck out there my fellow educators.

beanielou

Sounds just dire.