Coronavirus: Please use this thread for all COVID19 talk!

You’ll f**in smash it Libs. All great tips mentioned already, and you do have control.

Music too. Whack some headphones on and lose yourself in an album. The cravings will pass. They always do eventually. But don’t ask too much of yourself, especially at the moment. One day at a time.
(And you know we’re here on a message or a phone).

 

Sorry for late reply Libby, I’ve just emerged from a 2 hour Zoom meeting.

I’m sorry to hear you’re struggling, and I really do sympathise about the drinking. I was getting a bit worried after the summer, and managed to do sober October, which made me feel a lot better because it wasn’t too difficult. However, any plans for dry January have been put on hold until February.

I see you have had some great advice from others already, and I can’t really add anything. I would wholeheartedly agree that getting outside as much as you can is the easiest way to feel better about stuff. Hang in there mate, and remember we’re always here for you.

 

I did wonder.

 

This version of a recently well used image will cheer people up. Maybe not PL though

 

I was really worried about going down that path, as someone who lives alone (and basically didn't see another human being for 3-4 months at one point, as we staggered shifts/worked from home to avoid contact). Because I'm bad at committing to things (which may be why I live alone), my solution was to throw myself into a bunch of projects...broadening my range with cooking, getting in shape, doing some writing, etc. Mostly just busy work, but things that had a tangible end-product. And I set up hard-and-fast rules: I only drink on weekends, and generally no more than every other weekend.

None of them have been consistent hobbies since -- the nice thing about the 'getting in shape' one is that it can be a project again in a month or so, after the rib muscle I badly screwed up heals --- but each provided a temporary focus that kept me from taking on self-destructive habits.

That said, winter has been more difficult for everyone, I think. During the summer, you could go outside and walk or go for a drive to avoid feeling like the walls are closing in. Now it's cold and miserable and it's hard to see that as an escape. But we've all made it this far...there's still some distance to cover, but civilization's just around the bend again. This too shall pass.


Edit: also, I've found listening to podcasts helps. Find something informational on a subject that interests you and devour everything you can. Makes it feel like you're actually doing something productive even if you aren't doing anything, and the presence of a human voice doesn't hurt.

 

@Libby - on the podcast front, I think you’d really enjoy Top Flight Time Machine. Sort of football based at first (and do start from the beginning of them) but very quickly goes off track!

 

I might have to check that out LTL. Do love a good surrealist sports-adjacent narrative.

And if anyone is a history nerd, a few good ones that involve enough material to keep you going basically forever:

Revolutions Podcast by Mike Duncan - depending on the revolution, they run from 10-30 hours in length. Exceptionally well-researched, especially the later seasons. Really gives you a sense of the extent to which history is determined less by great men and more by the snowball effect of stupid decisions made by short-sighted individuals who couldn't see past next week. Duncan also did the History of Rome podcast, which is a good 100 hours or so.

The British History Podcast - more of a conversational tone, gets a bit speculative during the periods where concrete fact is hard to come by. One mark against: the host is an English-born, American-raised Liverpool fan. It currently runs over 350 episodes and I believe that it has just gotten to the Norman invasion (I'm still back in the Dark Ages).

Hardcore History - if you really, really like books about war. The WWI series was quite good at conveying the sheer madness that was the decision-making in that conflict, though some of the others I don't love.

 

it is excellent!

 

The Keane Odyssey episodes kill me!

 

First few episodes they are finding their feet really, but once you get into the Keane/Keegan deep dives they’re hilarious. It’s very bad language though, so avoid should that offend!

Put it this way, they somehow ‘discover’ that Professor Yaffle from Bagpuss is Roy Keane’s mortal enemy...

 

I have never bothered with word search as it requires no brain power and I have always found it boring. Recently found a book of word searches issued by The Sun...won it in a raffle. Now filling the odd hour with it. Yep, the world has officially ended....though at least Netflix gets a rest

 

Did you say you “won” it in a raffle.... I’d hate to think what you’d have got had you lost!

 

Just saw a video about an NHS doctor saying she gets 20-30 abusive tweets every day from Covid-deniers (aka planks) ranging from calling her a liar, wishing she would die (though not as polite as that) and one even said they were only responsible for themselves and didn't care if they killed anyone by not wearing a mask. The latter obviously feels that no one should care about him....well, he's right of course because we don't (though I suspect the medical staff he abuses probably would). I don't understand how they can think that some mysterious cabal has convinced every doctor, nurse, carer and paramedic to lie....and not one medical professional has come out and declared it a hoax in the pub after work. People may have varying views on how to deal with things and how far things go...but to deny the existence of a disease that is killing people and to abuse people dealing with it is beyond me and anyone else with a brain.

Good to see that one woman who has been posting videos of hospital corridors has been fined under health regulations....though she will now be a martyr. Must be mad to go near a hospital at the moment if you don't have to....be nice if she got it....but that would put others at risk.

 

As I've posted before make vaccination and valid test a mandatory condition of international travel. I think it's true to say those vaccinated can still carry and transmit the virus. Some form of distancing and other measures are going to be needed for the foreseeable future. Getting an international comprehensive test, trace and isolate procedure up and running is as important as the vaccination program.

 

A gas company has made vaccination mandatory for their work force (presumably when it is freely available) as they feel they owe a duty to their customers*. This may be the thing to come.

*Not sure how what employment lawyers will make of contract changes for existing employees. Someone will challenge it no doubt.

 

Not to stray too much into politics but you see the same thing in the USA about the virus or the election or numerous other conspiracy theories. It the past we laughed when we heard about moon landing conspiracies but now so many people believe them. Not sure what changed. Social media?

 

One of the arguments used by anti-vaxxers, and one of them was prominent in the mob storming the Capitol last week, is that the vaccines contain cells from aborted foetuses. This has a grain of truth, in that cell lines from a foetus legally aborted in 1973 in the Netherlands have been the source of research material over the decades as a standardised cell line, and are in fact used in the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. The Vatican in 2005, and again in 2017 said that Catholics can and should receive vaccines derived from human foetuses where no alternative is available.

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are made from purely synthetic DNA templates.

 

There's your problem, and answer, right there - The pubs are all shut so everyone has to look elesewhere for their uncorroborated conspiracies (or the opposite, if you see what I mean)

 

I hope this doctor has evidence of this, although hearing it from 6 different sources adds credibility to the claim.

 

Could have posted this on another thread but this'll do.
Extract from today's fiver column in the Guardian. Piss taking goal celebrations could be top viewing on MOTD
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...brations-distraction-from-government-shambles
While we can probably all agree goal celebrations don’t necessarily make for good “optics” in the current climate, they are comparatively benign when measured against the actual “optics” of intensive care units packed full of people who are at death’s door because our imbecilic prime minister and his coterie of fawning lickspittles are incapable of making timely decisions. Attempting to pin the blame for the current Covid-19 crisis on Phil Foden because he got a hug from Kevin De Bruyne is all well and good, but the sensible among us know it’s little more than a feeble attempt at distraction.

“Some of the scenes we have seen have been brainless and give out an awful message,” parped Julian Knight, Tory MP for Solihull, in what was a reference to footballers celebrating rather than any of his party leader’s increasingly embarrassing televised appearances before the nation. Well, considering a resolute failure to learn from any of their previous mistakes has been a recurring theme of our political overlords’ approach to the Covid crisis, it is no surprise they are once again taking potshots at footballers and hopefully we will see the objects of their derision react accordingly. Expect the players in question to have a few carefully choreographed social distancing tricks up their sleeves this weekend, as they once again go about making the UK government look extremely stupid."