Ah, that sucks. Yea.. Shiny and I avoid any kind of gathering of people. We're possibly a little overly-paranoid, but so far it's kept us safe. Who knows... it could also be this special anti-covid rock I was given by an alien visitation.

By the way, for anyone interested, I'm selling anti-covid rocks. Only $500 (or 1000 euros) per rock. Guaranteed 100% effective so long as you abide by the terms and conditions.

*No talking, eating, sleeping, walking, running, standing, or kneeling for 2 years. No getting within 500 feet of another human being for the rest of your life. Also no meet, dairy, cheese, or vegetables. Also no fast food, slow food., or any other speed food.

You almost had me convinced until you listed dairy and cheese separately. I'm not falling for your tricks!

Pleased I could help Satis! I talk all sorts of bollocks making up my own swearwords these days. Gotta do something to pass the time.

Vaccines:
Was speaking to my parents on the weekend. Dad is over 75 so he's in group 2 in France but they're not starting vaccinations yet, so he'll probably get one around March. Mum will be in group 3 as she's under 75.

We've started vaccinating here now. I think it was yesterday they started them and televised the very first one. The second one went to William Shakespeare! First group is, like most countries I think (and particularly coz this is the one that needs storing at -70 degrees) mainly hospital workers, care workers and the vulnerable who are in hospital. Two NHS workers so far have had allergic reactions to it though apparently they both are aware they have allergic reactions to this sort of thing, so much so that they carry epipens so it's not really a big surprise. Obviously that's set the anti-vaxxers off with how it's "highly dangerous". I'm just kind of glad I'm lower down the list; it means shorter term effects can come to light before I get it and won't get me excited for no reason. After all even those who've had the vaccine this week (and the second dose in 28 days) won't suddenly be allowed full freedom. Until a certain percentage of the population have had it we'll still be in partial lockdown.

How is your first week going Satis? Other than learning stupid amounts (and you're a smart guy so I'm sure you're coping with that just fine). Sounds like Shiny might be getting a bit run down though, hope you're making sure she is looked after in the evenings since you're at home!

That's awesome that people are already getting vaccinated in the UK.. and yea, not surprising that some people have reactions. It's totally expected. Anti-vaxxers can go to hell. Can we send them to some uninhabited island somewhere to go die where we don't have to endure their stupidity? That'd be awesome.

Regarding my job... funny, I just posted about that elsewhere, but it's going great. I'm overwhelmed, out of my depth... and loving every moment of it. I don't give up and I pick things up fast, so I have very high expectations that I'll be doing amazing soon enough. My coworkers have been amazing so far... very supportive and quick to help and answer questions. I'm so much happier here than where I was.

Having said that... every job is a job... I will almost assuredly become disillusioned eventually, but for now, I'm very happy. As for Shiny, I'm doing my best to support her. Her job is definitely sucking right now. But since my new job doesn't require 10-12 hours of work a day, I can actually do stuff like cook and clean again, so that's something!

No clue on timelines. I know my health trust has some so it's close by, there's probably some within less than a mile of me! But as I'm 6th on the list I can't imagine I'm in this first wave. We had what, about 100,000 doses I think? So that's only actually 50,000 people they can vaccinate as it's a 2 dose deal. My dad thinks he'll get it around March as he's second on the list in France but they haven't officially bought any doses yet. I'll certainly let you all know when I have it if I get any side effects or whatever.

That's all sounding great Satis, I really hope it stays that good for you Jealous of my friend Cat, she has just been told she has a job she applied for so she's handing her notice in soon. Very jealous that she's escaped the clutches of our company.

Think you got to Belgium just in time Ox. Do any of the other countries here have the new strain? Not sure how much you've all been following but London and the South East have got some new strain that they say is no worse and should still respond to the vaccine but is about 70% more transmissible. As such Belgium and a couple of other countries have banned anyone travelling from the UK and looks like France and Germany will in the next few days too. Those areas with it now have a new, special, even more restricted Tier 4 ruleset.

I see the US has started vaccinating now and a bunch of EU states have signed up for some too. Good times. Now we just need to get rid of our "UK only plague" and be accepted back into the world

Vaccines are rolling out... I imagine we'll know in 2-6 weeks if they're effective and whether or not they turn people into zombies. My company's committed to working from home full time for the first quarter of 2021, so that's all good. I did hear about the new mutation in England. There was apparently some disagreement on whether or not it was more transmissive, but that also seems to be becoming less of a question (it appears to be). Still, science doesn't always get things right the first try... hopefully it's not so bad. We'll see. If the zombie outbreak starts there, it'll give me more warning to buy a cabin in the woods somewhere. Stay safe.

We've got 2 new strains now but we're blaming one on South Africa. Yay us. Not sure a cabin in the woods would be safer, haven't you seen the film? That's where it all starts!

We're now virtually all in tier 4. Basically back in lockdown but it's not called lockdown. Everything closed, not to go out unless for a good reason, the only difference between this and full lockdown is schools are still set to open.