No surprise, COV-19 numbers are skyrocketing in Texas. We went from ~2000 positive cases a day to over 4000. Blah. The Dorito-in-chief's solution? Reduce testing. If you don't detect them, they don't exist, right?

On a more sobering note, Brazil's numbers are going insane. They had 55,000 confirmed cases in a single day, dwarfing any single day in the US with a population that's significantly lower. I expect in a month or two they'll exceed the US numbers, and that's pretty crazy. India's not so bad yet, but their trend is looking really, really bad. For a country with that many citizens, I'm afraid of what their numbers will be in 6 months.

Bleh... I'm glad everyone's being safe and doing well so far. Stay safe! Someone has to rebuild after the apocalypse ends.

You raise a good point Satis. Ok what skills do we have here? If we manage to find livestock I'm good to look after those. Niall is handy with DIY stuff so we can get some shacks built.

I'm good at making mistakes and inappropriate comments .

I think the only thing I might be good for in the apocalypse is some physical labour or guard duty, unfortunately. Can't build too many water purification systems with an English literature degree.

Apparently Germany is seeing a few flareups all over the country and is doing localised lockdowns again. In Belgium people have started acting like corona doesn't exist anymore and we are likely bound for a rise in cases in about 2 weeks as well. Almost no one wears a mask anymore except for on public transport (where it's mandatory) and this weekend a whole bunch of people met at a square in Brussels after the bars closed to hold some sort of impromptu open air party with music and drinks:

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2020/06/21 ... ey-square/

What a bunch of incredible idiots. Not much better here in France I'm afraid. Sigh. I'm going to visit my parents next weekend and will have to take the train to get there so not looking forward to that.

Indeed! And then I'll write a strongly worded letter.



Satis you still ok? Virus seems to be hitting Texas hard about now.

Was at the supermarket today and behind me at the cash register was a gypsy lady with two kids...and a dry cough. Not very happy about that. What else gives you a dry cough in freaking July? Let's hope it wasn't corona and/or that my mask helped me at all. She wasn't wearing one so also yay for that. I've seen some of the gypsy camps around here and it's basically several people living together in small caravans next to a garbage pile - not trying to be racist, it really is. So if you get a disease like that into a place like that it's guaranteed to spread like wildfire. Anyway, let's hope I don't get sick I guess.

Jeeze Ox hope you're ok! I've seen gypsy/traveller sites in both France and the UK and they are always a total state, hopefully they're all so full of disease they're like Mr Burns and are actually cancelling out all viruses they have (and not passing them on). Our upstairs neighbour smokes out on his balcony and has that lovely smokers cough but every time I hear it I just wonder...

Shiny and I are still good. Texas is now hanging around 6,000 new cases a day, but we're also one of the largest states in the country (both physically and population-wise) so it's not super obvious yet. I'd say 60% or more of people don't wear masks, so of course it's spreading. My job pretends to care, but I ended up having to go into the office 4 out of 5 days last week... so not really. We're also supposed to be moving to a new location in the next 2 weeks, which does not sound particularly safe. Ugh. Not happy, but not much I can do about it. Shiny's still going into work about once a week, but she's seeing more and more covid cases in her tenants, so her risk continues to go up.

Fun times! Nothing like this has happened in over 100 years. I guess it's cool we get to witness it? Just stay safe. As for survival skills... I've got guns and can shoot them, so that probably counts for something. I'm pretty good with tech, so as long as there are computers, I'll probably be useful in that regard. I can take care of a garden... and make fire? I dunno, I'm starting to run out of ideas here. :p

Going to step outside for the first time since 11th March tomorrow. Usually head to a friend's on a Saturday for take away and gaming but not done that obviously for a few months. Going for it tomorrow for the first time. He and his mum don't really go out so we're safe there, he'll pick us up and wipe the car down, we've got mountains of hand gel to take with us. I won't touch any doors/lift buttons on the way out, Niall can do all that and use the hand gel. They've been having take aways throughout lockdown and have been fine (taking it out of packaging etc) so we *should* be ok there. Will feel quite weird I'm sure, not even stepped into the corridor outside our flat in 4 months!

Bloody people!

Overall it went fine. Getting out was ok, didn't get anxious or have a panic attack or anything (never had one before but must admit it was on my mind as a possibility), we were fine at our friend's too. It was coming back. Now ok, it was 11.15 at night so this person probably thought they were doing the right thing, as they seemed to be moving in and probably figured it'd be quiet. But as we get here, they were stood in the doorway holding it open for their helpers and didn't move, so we had to squeeze right past her. Then she'd got a bunch of bags stuffed in the lift and blocking the door so it didn't close which meant I had to climb the 2 flights of stairs instead. Ordinarily, not a problem, but I've been too ill to do that for about 2 years and only recently managed to do 1 flight if I have to. So that panicked and exhausted me a little. Here's hoping no symptoms for 2 weeks now! Not going out again for a while, possibly to our friend's again in 2 weeks time but not before. Niall's mum is going to pop over next Saturday, will be the first time since lockdown and she's on her own so that'll do for all of us.

I'm sure you've all seen our incredibly intelligent population going out for the first day of pubs being open...

I actually haven't, but I have enough imagination to know what it's like even without the news. I've seen it in this country and several others as well.

That's an unlucky break on the way home...doesn't sound too dangerous at least, mostly really annoying. Especially the stairs! Did you manage to break your record by going up the two full flights or did Niall help you? Yay for no panic attacks!

We're now one week after catching that gypsy curse and still not sick. Looking better and better! I mean technically the max incubation period is 14 days but 5-6 is the average so statistically I'm moving closer into 'probably not' territory.

Meanwhile there are outbreaks flaring up in several European countries. Leicester is on full lockdown, as are some places in Spain, Italy and Germany. Apart from Leicester it seems like most of those are caused by factory or seasonal labor. For our American friends: during the harvesting season(s) tons of seasonal migrant workers from poor countries in and close to the EU (mostly Eastern Europe) flood into the fields as it's back-breaking (but relatively well-paid) labor. They are there to save money for their families so they basically don't spend anything and sleep in terrible shared accommodations, so clearly they at risk for these sorts of outbreaks.