It's finally starting to get to me. Several days ago I was out jogging when I got into a pointless and stupid argument with a fellow jogger over who had the right of way on the sidewalk. Last night I had a disaster dream which took the form of a disaster movie with Tom Hanks in the leading role. It was a double disaster movie actually, with a volcano or meteor strike (huge fireball in the sky falling to earth) and a mad killer stalking Tom and his family in the midst of the crisis. I felt ashamed about the argument and I hated the dream. I don't know about you but I'm ready for all this nonsense to end as soon as possible.
As an antidote to the apocalypse angst, I am ordering some books about the '66 World Cup. Does anyone here have any suggestions?
It's getting to me right now for some reason. Just feeling a stab of sadness. I hope you're feeling better soon TTH. I was able to pack my lunch and take a picnic blanket to a local park several times in the past week. Ate my lunch (in the shade) and did some writing on my laptop. It was great to be out and not "only while on a walk" - plus I find it hard to write at home and it got the writing juices flowing again. However some idiots overcrowded a downtown park this weekend and honestly I think it's probably too soon / things have been badly communicated here. I think I had a dream a while ago where I met Paul McCartney on a beach? That was weird.
An interesting reaction and I suppose we all have had our moments as this has evolved. After 40 years in corporate management, I like to think that I've learned to adapt well to circumstances beyond my control, but this one is decidedly different. Since I have no way of knowing when it will end I'm focused on getting some things accomplished with the additional time that's been afforded me. I have had to severely limit my exposure to the mindless media coverage, idiot politicians, so-called experts and the proliferation of Covid psychics who are increasingly offering their learned predictions of what life will be like afterwards. Complete rubbish! That and the endless lectures from public health officials along with pointless statistics, all of which got stale 5 weeks ago. With improved weather and things opening up, it just feels better now. The golf courses are now open, my canoe is ready to go and I have enough renovation materials to keep working away for another 3-4 months. Besides, I will retire in 6 months so whatever happens, happens.
Oh, I don't wish to exaggerate. I'm more or less normal and I'm grateful for the fact, believe me. One of my closest relatives, a gregarious sort who loves to play pool, has come down with serious depression as a result of this and has been forced to take medication for it.
Now I'm starting to get angry. The President mentions that we can get haircuts in his speech last night. Now the government website says no. Come on guys. Get you act together. I desperately need a hair cut. This Keith Richard look doesn't suit me.
I wish, but with farm land around here, (without planning permission), selling for upwards of £10,000 an acre, I won't be buying much. The government had decreed that the Shropshire Council have to build ten's of thousands of houses in the county which relies on agriculture, light manufacturing and tourism. Once upon a time, the entire town helped out with the harvest and held a harvest festival afterwards. Nowadays, a conglomerate owns an expensive combine harvester with which they do all the farms for a large fee, employing only a handful of people.
We got a drawer full of postie throw away rubber bands! Dizzy collects them and tells me they will come in handy one day! and yes,I agree with von poop, they are good quality ones. Diz gets excited when he finds an extra long one, he reckons they are quite rare? Is there a name for these avid collectors? She
Just in case you haven't seen this elsewhere: Shopping in Aldi - New System! A warning to all: avoid using Aldi at the moment if you can. I've just got back from a truly awful shopping trip there. Having queued up, patiently and socially distancing, as I neared the entrance a shop worker clipped a carabena onto the belt loop of my jeans, my perplexed expression must have said it all as she explained that whilst people are distancing in the queue outside, they aren't distancing once inside the store. So what some Donut has dreamt up is to rope 6 or so customers together with 2m of rope between each of us! Well these are strange times and with the threat of a second wave of infection I thought I'd best not complain and just tow the line (so to speak). I'm telling you now, what an absolute idiotic idea this is. We've negotiated our way in to the store, some with trolleys and others trying to grab a basket before the berserk conga line drags them away. I was near the middle of the rope picking up some veg, the woman at the front, who was trussed up like a kid in a harness was trying to drag the whole line to the apples and the bloke at the back trying to pull the other way to get his hands on last weeks courgettes which were now this weeks courgette offer. It was like tug-of-war for the deranged. It's embarrassing to say, but I lost it, started ranting and raving about the rope and how on earth are people meant to shop like this, I went to unclip the carabena which miraculously brought the attention of the staff who told me I'd be asked to leave the shop if I uncliped. " we're not rock climbing, we're trying to buy cheese" are words which I'll carry with me to my grave. Strangely this outburst had the effect of bringing our train together as a team. We carried on now with lots of communication, people passing stuff along the line to other to fill their baskets. Now I know passing things to one another could spread the infection as much as person to person contact but I honestly think if we hadn't have done, I'd still be there now. As we started along the aisle I generally refer to as "biscuits and creosote", it was clear from the melee that all was not well in the adjacent aisle. As far as I could tell there had been 2 trains of people and a lady in the middle of one chain had ducked under the other to get her hands on a pop-art cat bed. The tangle had resulted in a multi-pedestrian pile up in which the epicentre resembled the deity Durga, it wasn't clear how long they'd been there but one old chap was trying to free himself by feverishly sawing at the rope with his house keys. We navigated the remaining aisles without major trauma, other than having to rescue Doreen (2nd in line) after she fell in the chest freezer trying to reach the last beef Wellington. We were individually unclipped prior to the till, at which point any camaraderie we'd had quickly evaporated as everyone scrambled for the first available till. With the ordeal still impeding rational thought, it was a welcome and familiar sight to have the check out throw all my shopping on the floor in the normal 1000mph fashion. I really did not appreciate being strung along like that, but I hope you did. I don't think I'll be going back there in a hurry! Edit: Copied and pasted from: Shopping in Aldi - New System! Tim
Brilliant! At this point in time you could earn big money on pay-per-view for action footage. Any of the footy broadcasters available to call the play by play?
A Health & Safety nightmare, (eye damage, slip hazard etc.) and a generation of kids with hydrophobia.
It's an ill wind etc. Turner Prize cancelled due to pandemic Turner Prize, UK's top art award, axed for 2020 One small crumb of comfort to be gleaned from the general disaster. I wonder if there are any more.
No Wimbledon, Eurovision or Football a definite plus for me. Has the Archers got the Covid yet? The least affected village in England last time that little soap opera invaded my ears.
That isn't quite accurate Adam. While declining infant mortality had a significant impact, life expectancy has increased at all ages. The average person can expect to live a longer life than in the past, irrespective of what age they are now. It's why pension plans are under such stress. In North America, while life expectancy has greatly increased for the wealthiest, it has edged up only slightly for low-income people. The gap can be as much as 15 years. Poor Americans have a life expectancy not dissimilar to those of African countries.
Uhoh. . Loads of life choices, all bad, play the biggest role there. This ones going to bump up against Adam's rev limiter again.
Agree to an extent, but it's always cited in 'medieval people were lucky to live to 40' nonsense, particularly in that nasty/brutish/short quote, which things might nod towards during later industrialisation, but isn't really the case. Complicated stuff where the statistics become more & more confusing with massive populations, but the agrarian/basic life wasn't as totally harmful as people like to think. (Often people who think nobody washed or drank water, and that Knights couldn't move in armour... see. trrrrriggered again. ) Should say I apologised further to TTH, as I didn't like the 'tone' of my original little triggering there right on hitting send.
