Yeah everything still okay here, things are getting rather loose, but i still prefer shopping with mask on. Curious to see if numbers will still be going down in a few weeks.

Pretty certain it's all gonna kick off again here soon. People going out protesting - ok that's a good reason to protest but I don't believe half of 'em aren't just hoping for looting rights and right now there would be ways to protest without risking lives. Niall pointed out today, Covid affects black etc worse so it's really good that, let's protest black people being killed by... spreading a virus to them that kills them.

Our easing of lockdown is bloody weird. Parks and gardens can open but zoos can't, despite the fact they're probably way bigger than most parks and gardens, and as you have to pay to get in and therefore go through a pay booth, they could limit numbers going in as they are in France. We're allowed to have up to 6 people in the garden for a barbeque but those people aren't allowed to come in the house (so better hope they don't need the loo). Face protection must be worn on public transport but not in shops. I've given up trying to follow what's going on. Regardless of anything, I'm just gonna stay inside in my little bubble. Only difference for us is I'm going to reopen my online store but only for Paypal payments so I can print a postage label and Niall only has to take it to the post box out in the street rather than go into the post office, queue with a bunch of dirtbags and then have to use counters that who knows who has touched!

Yeah those protests...feels a bit weird when the government calls on our sense of responsiblity and we have all been trying to do our best, not visiting friends and family and not gathering in large groups and then suddenly this mass gathering of people gets an exemption. In Brussels 10.000 people (!) gathered. It's already icky enough that our governments put these restrictions in place in the first place, but we tolerate them because we want to be good citizens and not endanger ourselves and other people. So then the government shouldn't get to decide to allow certain mass gathering but not others, especially when we are all just coming down from the worst part of the pandemic. What is the message they're even sending now? Follow the rules unless you have a good reason, then do whatever you want? At least in France they forbade the protests and police cracked down on them.

Right now I'm considering hiring a dodgy cop to murder the fucking wankers in our building that keep playing loud music. Dunno who it is, I know it isn't one of our neighbours so they might just have to go through the rest of the building in one clean sweep.

*ahem* apparently we had our lowest deaths today and are finally below numbers from when lockdown started. But take that with a grain of salt because we also don't ever get the numbers in correctly on a Monday. Plus we have the lovely accolade of being the only other country beside the US to hit 40,000 deaths. Impressive considering size/population difference.

Shiny and I are fine. I went back to work this week for 2 days, 4 hours each day. We're required to keep distance and where masks in any public areas, but maybe 25% of the people take it seriously. It's only the software development department that's going in for the most part.

The protests aren't affecting me personally. I live out in the suburbs, so not much to really see. Besides, I don't go out except to go to work. However, it's definitely going on. Meanwhile, most people appear to be acting as if the pandemic is over, despite the fact that Texas is on the upswing for infections. *sigh* I'd hoped this would be over in a few months.. most people lack the attention span for anything protracted. Oh well. I wouldn't be so concerned if I weren't being forced to go to work. How long until I'm forced to sit in a meeting room with other people for 2 hours? Ugh. I guess I could always quit.

It's fairly quiet here on covid front. Nearly 700 tests in 24hours and 3 positive results. 14 diagnosed people in hospital but not under assisted breathing. Death toll so far 69 people.

Good stuff Peltz. Looks like all of Eastern/Northern Europe has done a great job, with the obvious exception of Sweden and Russia. But Russia gonna Russia I guess. I love how their covid death rates are somehow several magnitudes lower than the overall excess mortality rates in the same period.

https://www.ft.com/content/77cd2cba-b0e ... a9a7930bda

I guess a lot of people just randomly died around the same time? Totally legit.

@ Pev do we know why exactly the UK keeps doing so badly compared to almost every other Western European country? While most are seeing vastly reduced numbers the UK is still going pretty strong.

Looks like you were indeed right Satis. It's amazing how stupid people are. Instead of taking the obvious cautious position and waiting a few weeks they just go "We have only 500 cases compared to NYC and Seattle so I guess that means nothing bad can ever happen to us here, party time!!". In a way we (people) keep making the same mistake over and over and over....first it was Europe thinking "Oh well it's in China, won't happen to us here", then it was the rest of Europe going "Oh well it's in Italy, won't happen to us here", then it was the UK going "Oh well it's mainland Europe, won't happen to us here", then it was the US going "Oh well, it's Europe, won't happen to us here", and then it was the South of the US making the same exact mistake...will we ever fucking learn?

Borders of France are reopening tomorrow! Might pay my family a visit soon.

Glad to hear everyone's ok, those numbers are insanely low Peltz!

I keep thinking similar to you Satis; our gov keep on about how they need to get the economy going again but if you're at risk you can stay home, but how many employers will accept that and for how long? 6 months time when someone is still insisting they need to work from home, how many companies will start looking for excuses to just fire them? And then people will feel forced into going into work, just to earn some money which, ok, is important, but not if you're dead.

Ox, I'm going with the fact we're run by idiots and also populated by idiots. There was an article the other day where they were going "it's ok! There was no patient zero! We had about 1,300 cases come into the country at the same time!" as if that's a good thing. No, all this means is that the month everyone was saying stop flights coming in and you guys were going "no, it's fine, honest" was... well... a load of crap. Although admittedly it seems the majority of those cases were holiday makers bringing the virus in and I guess you can't very well ban someone from returning home. Plus we have morons in general in the country so as soon as the weather is ok they head out when they're not supposed to and cram onto beaches or decide to go protest and stand shoulder to shoulder. Ok, go protest if you need to but at least stand away from each other!

Parents asked me today if I'd consider going out with Niall now wearing a mask, just to the post box or a walk or whatever. I said unless it's a medical appointment I'm staying in for now. Not to avoid the outside, but because I'd have to touch doors and the lift in our block of flats and I don't trust the other tenants to be clean and I'm also pretty certain our cleaners haven't been around since this all started. I'm not risking touching something and infecting myself before I clean my hands!

My wife got some kind of corona protection gift box from her work, containing some of the usual corona stuff like 3 masks and hand gel. But it also included some kind of "hook" that they could use at work to press buttons (like for the elevator) or open/close doors with. Actually quite a handy tool, might be something for you Pev.

Lol.. the corona hook.

Our HR group has left small baskets containing disinfects, gloves, and paper towels around the office. Since my department appears to be the only people actually coming, to work, I typically steal some of this while I'm in the office and disinfect everything every time I leave or come into my office. Might as well. Most of my coworkers don't appear to take covid seriously. I certainly do. Whatever... I hope they all die. Not really. But damn, it's hard to care sometimes.

Anyway, Shiny and I are still good. Hopefully that continues.

I used to work in an office with shared work stations (there were different shifts) and the first year I worked there the company didn't provide any means of disinfecting the mouse, keyboard and desk between shift changes. I never understood this as it seemed like a surefire way to reduce sickness absences dramatically. You can imagine how much there was going around in that office with young party people all using the same equipment with their grubby hands. It was an entry level sort of job in an exotic place that attracted a lot of young foreigners from all over Europe whose primary interest was partying and getting away from their parents, so personal hygiene was not a priority either.

That hook doesn't like such a bad idea tbh. I usually use my knuckles to manipulate buttons or enter codes, but there's only so much you can do without look like a total weirdo.

Looking forward to when this shit is over though, and I can stop acting like a total germophobe. It is really not my standard mode of being.

If I can dress like Hook and yell "SMEEEEEEE!" I'll take that. Frankly though in this place the only way that hook would be useful is if it's on a 6 foot pole and disables people. Maybe I could use it to push them into the canal... We still have a rising R number. Oh and of course we were one of those towns on Monday where people went "OMG PRIMARK IS OPEN!" and instantly tried to stand in the same spot. My friend passed it for work early in the morning and gave up counting people crammed together once he reached 200. That's great your wife has such a pack though, nice when companies care (makes sense, can't make much money if your employees are all dead).