EdinburghPar1975

Looking for some advice/ thoughts on some things we're thinking about. We live in a 1930s detached bungalow and the loft space is already converted to a large room, toilet and walk in cupboard. The roof line hasn't been altered and there's velox windows in place. As our kids are getting older we'd quite like to reconfigure upstairs to have two decent rooms and a bathroom. There is space in the floor plan to do that but it will need a few things moved about. Question is whether it is worth making extra headroom by having dormers put in round the sides and having the internal/ non supporting walls changed/moved (cheapest option) , whether we get rid of the garage at the side of the house and use that in order to extend out to the side and also extend upstairs sideways as well or do we go full on and change the roof so the height stays the same but the roof angle drastically changes. All of these options have been done in houses round us so i don't think planning would be an issue for any option but just wondering what the P&B community have done if they've had this situation?

Had to mute thanks to a boring work call but from what i've seen so far NS seems to be handling the main points well and is able to provide a detailed response as to reasoning, there's a bit of waffle around why it was taking too long to release bits and pieces but on the part they're discussing just now about why a new procedure was needed, and at that time, she seems to have answered that pretty well IMO. From what i've seen so far the only findings they're likely to have is that she didn't breach the ministerial code (she might have stretched it though) but Scot Gov should be more open and speedy with documentation requests.

The absolute hypocrisy from Douglas Ross and his pals about Sturgeon having to resign as she lied to parliament is staggering. Given his own parties mess over the last year it's interesting that they seems to have found their moral high horses just at the right time (for them!). Their moves are nothing more than political grandstanding to try and get rid of who they see as the biggest threat to the union - i'd be stunned if this didn't come from anywhere other than Tory HQ. From the brief bits i've seen and read so far it looks pretty bad for the Scottish Government but as has been said by folks it seems incredible to be calling for votes of no-confidence and demanding resignations before Sturgeon has spoken and the full picture is known. I find it hard to believe (but not impossible) that someone with a legal background and in a position such as NS would get herself into a position where she would be 'lying' to parliament over something such as this - it's not exactly secret weapons deals. It's all going to come down to what she knew, when and what she did with that info - unless she was told directly 'this is going to fail' on a date other than she claims then there's not really much of a case for her to answer. She may well have been 'shielding' information but could flag that as not wanting to prejudice a case etc. Proceeding with a case you believe to be true even if it has a chance of failure happens all the time - especially if you feel it needs to be used as an example of taking claims seriously (to be clear, i'm not claiming this happened here but i think we might find out today). Think this has a long way to go and she seems rather bullish for someone who's on her way out. I'm not a huge SNP fan, have voted occasionally but not every time and i'm not a huge NS fan either but this seems nothing more than an absolute witch hunt at a convenient time, if there was no May election i don't think we'd be hearing from even half of these MSPs about this

Sounding a bit more positive which if nothing else is just quite nice to hear! Would love to see the daily vaccination rates start climbing again though.

No idea, but thats what i was hoping could be asked - surely the suppliers will have an idea as to when they'll have supplies coming in again?

Is that another day with sub 30k first vaccinations? Any chance a journalist will ask when the ramp up will start again?

Completely agree. Suppose it depends on how the vaccine supplies are being distributed to the health boards, is it by their percentage of population of the age group being covered at that time or is it as a general percentage of their board in the national adult population. If you can get more folks done then all the better. Due to the population of Shetland, Orkney and the Western isles i've never quite understood why they didn't look to just get those places completely vaccinated asap to allow them to open up fully (at least internally)

Interesting that this morning they are talking about some chat coming from JCVI on how the under 50s vaccinations should be progressed. I'm assuming that they are expecting the supply issues to be resolved pretty soon if thats the case and the daily vaccinations numbers should start rapidly increasing.....well, hopefully anyway.

We had already been told that at best a phased return to the office would not start until the Autumn. We're now having calls about how many days folks want to work at home but also been told that the office should not be looked on anymore for day to day working if it can be done at home - it's to be a 'collaborative' space for meetings, workshops, training etc. They're effectively wanting to stop the social side of the office and i can't help but think they've probably realised that not only are folks getting the work done, they're getting through more. Folks are likely to log on earlier, stay on a bit later and not have travel issues, folk are also less likely to throw a sickie if they can just sit on the couch with the telly on and the laptop powered up.

I'm assuming that if tests go well then the kids might get a vaccination along with their flu jags - as mine have always had those then i'd have no issue with them getting a COVID jag either

If i understood Jonathan Van Tam correctly this morning on this bit he said they expect that the school return will have an impact on the 'R' number but the overall expectation is that the vaccinations and other ongoing restriction would help negate that. I think the all back in one go approach down South is a much bigger risk than that of the Scottish Government - hopefully we won't see any problems

Listening to Jonathan Van Tam this morning he thought they wouldn't know for certain until the vaccines are rolled out in countries where these variants are high, they're too low in the UK population to make a proper judgement

Like most i'm disappointed with yesterday but there does seem little difference to BoJo's in terms of overall timings. I'm expecting little updates before March 15th but will be watching the daily figures, week on week comparisons and infection percentages and hoping they continue to drop (as well as the hospital admissions and ICU beds) to allow a far more detailed update at the next 'milestone'. The one thing that may be the biggest benefit in helping things move a little quicker (or allow an eased lifting of restrictions) may be the 3 week review timeline the SG are working with

Very poor. I thought they were going for @30k a day but the last three days have been approx 21.5k, 15.5k and 24.5k (first and second jag totals combined). They need to get the finger out again and get the numbers up massively. Heard something about it ramping up again but it needs to seriously get moving when the supplies are in place

I would think Sturgeons roadmap/ plan whatever it is called this week is likely to follow Westminster in terms of the sequence of how things will open but will likely be a little behind. I wouldn't be surprised however if the Scot Gov plan is a bit more granular with reviews and things being opened maybe every three weeks or so but less at the same time to try and create a gradual release - the Westminster one seems to be a series of events that will just cause big gatherings (after March anyway)

in a few cases i think you're bang on but for the majority i think it was more about distraction with others back around and in some cases kids had done very little home learning (for a variety of reasons).

I think the two weeks would be quite handy from what the teachers told us before. The biggest issue from our teachers from what they told us was that the kids had 'lost' the ability to be taught along with others and in a similar pace - they had to be retaught to be in school and learn in a large group again. A few weeks back before some time off and then back in post Easter might be easier for the kids (and teachers) to handle. As i say it's what we've been told from our school but i'm sure others will be different

Ok, i'll guess that it'll be P4-7 back to school on 15th March unless there is an issue with figures before then, Secondary schools back after Easter, Lockdown as it is just now to run until March month end and then back into a tier system after that - Dumfries and Galloway/ Borders and above the Central belt will get a decent lift in restrictions, Central belt pretty locked but no change to any hospitality anywhere till the end of April

I hope not but given that it's unlikely today will be lower numbers than last Monday then i think it will still be a bit of a downbeat message - if they are doing highly targeted testing around the hotspots then the numbers are bound to be higher. Hopefully the positivity percentage remains below 5% again - would be good if NS did give a bit of good news about vaccines having great impacts and also gave some indication as to when mass vaccinations will be ramped up again

My wifes family are in London so i'd imagine we'd be off down there as she's not seen her 2 year old niece since this all started. I'd like to be able to have my Mum in the house as we've never been inside each others since this started, also to see my Dad in Gloucester. Fancy a nice getaway to a decent hotel for a few nights as well. As much as i'd like to get to a Pars game i'll be amazed if they allow crowds at the games again this season. I think for me just having to ability to do what i'd like to when i want to will be the best thing, not having to get annoyed at being restricted or wondering when we can book things or go places - but most likely i'll just moan and do f all

Just back from the school drop off for our youngest (the eldest is in P6 so a few weeks yet for him). The usual parents who were grouping before weren't doing that today and folks were more spaced out. I'm also very aware that my kids are lucky in that they are in a newly built school that has multiple entrances to take the groups in so P1, P2 and P3 all went in different gates as well as at different times. Additionally they are lucky to have outside doors into each classroom and loads of are outside to keep each class in it's 'bubble'. If it had been their old school it would have been more problematic and i can see where potential issues may rise. I suppose it's a bit of a calculated 'gamble' doing it the way SG has and hopefully it'll work. Really can't see much else changing this side of Easter other than P4-7 maybe going back (i think they may try and hold Secondary school kids back till after the Easter break) and then a gradual easing post Easter as more and more are vaccinated.

Regardless of how much you believe or don't believe she says at the briefings, it's only when someone stands in for Nicola Sturgeon that you realise just how good she is at public speaking - you might have an issue with the message but it's delivered clearly. John Swinney sounds like he's reading off a slow teleprinter or something in comparison

My Dad had a live event he was going to last year moved to this April, he's just heard that it's now in September. It's in Amsterdam (i've checked - it's definitely a concert ). He'll be vaccinated by then but he's now getting worried that he won't be able to travel to it as it's not in the UK. KLM are ok with the flights and would allow it to move but the promoter is saying (probably fairly) that if the event goes ahead and he can't get to it then it's not their problem and he won't get a refund for the tickets. The whole lockdown thing is getting very weird in terms of when (or if!) they're going to lift it. If enough folks are vaccinated to allow the most critical to be protected, the NHS isn't under pressure and the transmission rates are down then i can't see why things cannot be lifted (albeit in a planned easing). In terms of travel then I have personally no issue with vaccine passports to allow international travel/ quarantine monitoring and masks while on the plane etc. but scaremongering folks into even thinking that lockdown will remain pretty severe till late in the year isn't going to help with compliance. The messaging could and should be better...maybe the 'plan' next week will help but i have my doubts...

It's unreal. At the school my kids go to the parents are truly the issue. No matter how many times they were asked to wear masks and stay apart at drop off (and also leave as soon as the kids were dropped off) the same parents would get into wee groups with no masks for a chat - the unbelievable (yet believable) thing is a good number of them are/were domestic and catering staff in care homes and home visit care workers.

The tone of the language of the briefings seems to be changing from being all positive about getting folks vaccinated quickly through to the current - if you're under 50 forget about a vaccine before Autumn...oh, and it's still not enough by way of restrictions to help bring the numbers down. I didn't watch todays briefing but did anyone actually ask why Forth Valley now has so many cases and what they're doing their to target a stop in infection rises? When i seen the 7 day average increases for that area i couldn't help but think that was going to lead to the new date for any easing (including schooling) being after the Easter holidays.