Coronavirus

[Bettyanne]

OMG SkepiKal and Hops......that means so much to me.......thank you for your replies......so so kind of you....
I think Hops a musical couldn't have said it better......Like when we thought Bill was cured from the cancer but it was only a small part or large how ever to express it......No the cancer didn't go away but the Bill I loved still loved me right to the end......I was so so lucky to have had him as my friend, my best friend and of course my Husband. 
My family as a kid was so dysfunctional and uneducated to say in the least....screaming and yelling was a daily thing by my grandmother and mother.  They seem like they were never happy and if you could believe a poor boy who had cerebral palsy but of course my mother was never to blame for anything.......nothing nothing nothing...she is dead 8 years now........over 100 she lived.  I wonder if God let her live this long to see if anything would ever change.......but it didn't right until the end. I was so confused as a kid ......I was in Catholic schools for 12 years.......Honor they father and thy mother.......what they didn't say is even if they were mean to you and had no idea what the Hell they were doing......including grandmother??
But maybe it taught me a big painful lesson.......I didn't need to do that to my husband or my six kids....I know I wasn't the best but I sure tried to do better.  What else can we all do when we get dysfunction as a kid......we can duplicate it or try to do better......I know the answer now better then I was young.......I should have gotten away from them and never looked back. But that didn't happen.

So the Musical ended eventually but it sure was out of tune HOPS......the notes didn't sound so good but I made it......my husband was part of that loving me .......in a way I had never experienced as a kid, and I loved him back......we helped each other and always did.......that was the applause......Hops. and SkepiKal the tears came when Bill passed.....because I knew what true love was.....we had our problems too coming from these two families so messed up.....but Bill and I loved each other and always did......and we loved our six kids so much too.

I am starting to see how its not who are parents that count its who we each are.....how we see love even if we were hurt by our parents......WE don't have to duplicate them....we can start a new....Hops and SkepiKcal.....it will take some more crying but that's ok......God or our higher power what ever?? Being kind and loving is a priceless gift we can give each other.....

Thanks...Bettyanne

[Hopalong]

Hi again Bettyanne--

Let's talk about this more on one of the threads you started.
I got so caught up in the music comparison I forgot I was in the
Coronavirus thread!

Talk to you again soon, on any Bettyanne thread you like.

Big hugs,
Hops

[Bettyanne]

With this Virus which is safer to do?

Take a plane?
or
Take a train?

Thanks,
Bettyanne

[Hopalong]

I would think train, Bettyanne.
(Plus I love them way more anyway.)

Because you can get fresh air between cars, is my main reason.
They're not sealed up the way airplanes are.

No scientific proof here, just a hunch. (Now I want to go Google it.)

Okay, here's the answer!
https://www.cntraveler.com/story/safest-mode-of-transportation-during-covid-19
Let me know if you can read that article.

hugs
Hops

[Hopalong]

Hey ((((Posh)))) --

Really good to hear from you.

I agree that Russian Roulette is a very perceptive (chilling) term for it.

How are you doing? I hope you are feeling safe, generally. And enduring the isolation with mind intact. It FEELS endless, but it isn't. Really isn't. It's just a thing. A random thing everybody's got to suck up to and endure....

It's a real challenge BUT I think people will come out stronger on the other side.

hugs
Hops

[Twoapenny]

With this Virus which is safer to do?

Take a plane?
or
Take a train?

Thanks,
Bettyanne

I agree with Hops about the train BettyAnne, and I don't know if cost would make this impossible but I think First Class, if it's an option, is something you deserve to give yourself right now.  Some nice books or magazines to read, music to listen to?  If you're that way inclined.  But I'd look at ways of making it the nicest experience you possibly can.  Give yourself that mothering that was so lacking when you were little.  ((((((((BettyAnne)))))))))

[Bettyanne]

Thanks Two a Penny,
The virus is really bad here in San Francisco......so I might take the train when it is better.
I am so upset with Bill dying and now accounts that I was on as a buyer are being closed.
OMG it makes me feel like a nothing......
I know that's not true.......but it sure feels that way.
Thanks so so much,
Bettyanne

[Twoapenny]

Thanks Two a Penny,
The virus is really bad here in San Francisco......so I might take the train when it is better.
I am so upset with Bill dying and now accounts that I was on as a buyer are being closed.
OMG it makes me feel like a nothing......
I know that's not true.......but it sure feels that way.
Thanks so so much,
Bettyanne

It's such a lot for you to be coping with, BettyAnne, so many difficult things going on.  You're doing great.  It does look very bad over there.  It feels pretty bad over here at the moment.  Where we are isn't as bad as many other places but the numbers don't seem to be going down too much which worries me when we've just had another month of lockdown.  I'll be first in the queue for a vaccine; I'd rather take my chances with that than the virus and hopefully they can collect more data as they go along which will help them know how safe it is for certain groups (I think here at the moment they're saying no to kids and pregnant women; a friend of mine with MS has been told it's probably not a good idea for him and he lives a very solitary life anyway so he's happy to carry on shielding as he pretty much does that in his normal life).  There's so much going on and it's all so up in the air, it's very difficult.  I'll be happy when it's all over xx

[Twoapenny]

I'm tired. I've not got much more to say then that. One description a person used to describe Covid was Russian Roulette. It does feel that way.

It does feel that way, P, although some people's chances are better than others.  We're just avoiding it full stop.  I don't like getting a cold, let alone anything else, I certainly don't want to be catching this as well xx

[Twoapenny]

Well it's not looking too good here despite the fact we've just had another four week lockdown.  Overall numbers have dropped a bit but deaths are still going up and locally the death rate doubled over the last week.  It does worry me, even though we're taking as many precautions as we can.  They administered the first vaccines today; I think son is in one of the priority groups that they've put forward so far (I say think as the information is changing so fast that I can't keep up but the last thing I read said he'd be in one of the priority groups).  Although most people I've spoken to this week are saying they won't take a vaccine for it so I have been feeling anxious that even vaccinated we'll still have to be very careful as it won't be 100% effective so there would still be a chance of catching it off someone else.  I'd kind of hoped that by this time we'd be looking back on this as that awful event that happened in 2020 but it still feels as though we're very much in the middle of it all.  Crossing fingers that by this time next year we'll be looking back on it.

[Hopalong]

Yup, numbers are bad. And rising.
I expect we'll reach half a million deaths in the US because of...politics. Really ugly, very sad politics. For which the only answer is outstanding education everywhere.

But in the now, nothing for it but to keep on weaving, avoiding the dangers. Glad your son may soon be vaccinated. You too as his caregiver, I hope? What I just heard on a public radio (non-political) forum was that distribution is going to be long, complex, etc. Could be late summer or worse before adequte numbers of vaccinated people are reached. The toxic delusional administration focused on production, not distribution. And since the US also refused to purchase adequate quantities of additional doses, other countries got to Pfizer in time to order them.

The short-sighted....aaaaagh, why vent. I am nearly all vented out!

Got a cold the other day, a NORMAL cold. Feeling better already but there was that hour or two (before I researched again--sneezing and runny noses are rare for Covid-19) when I was asking myself...was it a surface touch? A delivery? I forgot to spray the gate latch? Was it socializing around the bonfire? That creepy crowd of screeching women (screeching spews more microdroplets) at that restaurant? Etc.

I'm with you, Tupp, on just avoiding the hell out of it. Taking as few risks as possible, just hunkering down to endure it. Ain't easy. (I wore two masks today on a necessary excursion, and gloves--never bother with those--because mechanics had to sit in and work on my car), took a spray and paper towels to wipe it all down before driving it away. Noticing, noticing, how often people think six feet (an arbitrary number my doc reminded me "isn't magic") means something sorta like awww, let's say three....ai yi yi.

But this too....will pass.

hugs
Hops

[Twoapenny]

It will pass, Hopsie, I'm just hoping I come out the other side a better person.  At the minute I'm feeling increasingly bitter and resentful.  I hope that goes away at some point.  It's funny but the people I've spoken to or know who are having to be careful because they are at risk (or someone they know is) seem to be coping with it more calmly and rationally than people who aren't at particular risk themselves.  Just my limited observations of my own circle.  I was chatting to an elderly lady at the bus stop and her responses were very similar to other elderly people I've spoken to.  I asked her how she's been with all of it and she said well you just have to get on with it.  We've missed seeing family, grandchildren, family events like Christmas get togethers have had to be put on hold but she said "I rather miss them this year and see them for years to come then get together now and not be here next Christmas".  It's perspective but I must admit I am struggling with mine at the minute.  I've purposely not asked people how they feel about the vaccine because I know I'm over-reacting to anyone who tells me they won't take it but people seem to want to tell me and it's out of their mouths before I can say "don't say anything, I don't want to know!"  It's finding the balance.  We'll both be taking ours as soon as it's available and I can't tell you how grateful I am to be living somewhere where it's even an option.  Can you imagine living in slums or shanty towns as so many people are, where this is just ripping through and they've no access to healthcare or long term support.  And might not be able to get a vaccine in any case, because of cost?  I can't imagine how it would feel to be living like that and then be aware that people are turning it down.  It's not my business, I know, and I know I've turned down things in the past that other people would have wanted but I think I'm just finding the overall situation a bit much.  We really are a global community now and I don't feel that we behave like that a lot of the time.

But yes - son is in one of the priority groups (group 6, I've now been informed).  They've rejigged the numbers regarding deaths amongst adults with learning disability and for someone of my son's age his chance of dying from it is thirty times higher than another lad of the same age without a learning disability.  That was a pretty sobering statistic as well.  I don't know about care givers; groups are calling for it but they haven't announced that yet.  They are dosing care workers in care homes but I'm waiting to hear about those in the community.  It may be that the GP has some leeway and can sort something out but it's a waiting game at the moment.  Waiting, waiting, waiting.  We'll get there in the end.

I hope your cold clears up!  Any sniffle makes you think now.  Interestingly I haven't had a cold and I normally get one in the run up to Christmas.  Best not count my chickens though, there's still a couple of weeks to go! xx

[Twoapenny]

Just grumbling.  Cases are up, hospital admissions are up, deaths have dropped slightly but are still high.  People seem to have become immune to 1500 - 3000 a week dying from it.  I know your numbers over there are a lot higher but even so, the lack of concern from many here bothers me.  Scientists are warning that we'll experience a third wave after people get together over Christmas.  GP surgeries have pulled out of the vaccination programme as they haven't got enough staff to do their normal work and vaccinate people for twelve hours a day.  My best friend's husband (who is at risk) has had to self isolate (their son is high risk) after a work colleague continued to come in to work FOR TWO DAYS AFTER HIS WIFE TOOK A POSITIVE TEST AND THEN FOR ANOTHER DAY WHEN HE DEVELOPED SYMPTOMS HIMSELF.  I mean seriously, how are people still not getting it?  The work colleagues wife is a carer so may have taken it into other people's homes as well.  The whole office is now off work until just before Christmas because they can't be sure he wasn't in contact with all of them at some point.  We've been in to town to our lovely local cinema (lots of precautions and it was us and three other people in there, many feet between us) and on walking back to the bus stop walked past a barber's shop containing two barbers and four blokes waiting for a hair cut, none of whom were wearing masks, with all the doors and windows shut.  Crazy.

But in other news, my favourite second hand furniture shop has opened again so I may well do an early morning dash in there with my measurements to hand to see if I can get any of the stuff I want from them instead of having to buy cheap flat pack.  That's good.  Meanwhile, staying home, staying away from people and trying to stay positive even though it's difficult when so many just seem to be taking no notice.  I think I notice it more because we're in a town, so there's just more people about in a smaller area.  The sun is shining, though xx

[lighter]

Did you find anything good at the 2bd hand shop, Tupp?

Sorry people aren't being careful.  Some have to work.  Some dont believe in the science.  You keep taking precautions and seeking your joy, ((Tupp.))

Lightet

[Twoapenny]

Did you find anything good at the 2bd hand shop, Tupp?

Sorry people aren't being careful.  Some have to work.  Some dont believe in the science.  You keep taking precautions and seeking your joy, ((Tupp.))

Lightet

I didn't go in, Lighter, just peeked through the window.  They shut because of Covid, then had a flood so they've really been up against it and much of their furniture had to be chucked because the flood water ruined it.  So there's more space in there than usual (that will change, I imagine).  I'll go one morning in the week, first thing when it's still quiet and no-one else is around.  I saw a beautiful chest of drawers, far too big for my place but chest high, curved and crying out for some wax and a good buff.  I could do with two wardrobes with drawers underneath, a new desk for son's room, a small bookcase that can double as a bedside table in my room and a nicer TV unit/storage thing for the sitting room, as well as a new sofa.  Almost everything, really lol.  But they sell nice pieces in there for good prices so I can get better stuff for less than I'd pay for new cheap stuff, if you know what I mean.  They also have lots of nice extras like cushion covers and lampshades; they even had some weird kid's toy thing that son had wanted for ages and that we couldn't find anywhere as they stopped making them a long time ago.  There was one in the window one time when we walked past; he was delighted.

Yep - we are just avoiding people in general.  I think I struggle when I see the places where everyone has worked so hard to make it safe and keep it safe - and then two doors along no precautions at all.  But we'll keep doing our thing and it will all be good in the end xx