Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Billy Jean King]

The removal of the ex Communist, Jeane Freelunch and the man who has loved every minute of his new found fame, Dentist Leitch.  They have been an utter shambles and an embarrassment. Getting  someone with a modicum of intellect to replace Freelunch would be a start. That, and looking a bit further than Leitch for your scientific advice. There will be people a lot better qualified than him out there to seek advice from. Do you not think that it may be prudent to try something else, given that what’s happened so far, hasn’t worked?

Leitch might come over as condescending but his credentials for that job cannot be called into question although I assume from your dentist patter you know that fine. Freeman, agree 100% she's out her depth but the communist chat is simply woeful.

 

BTW you didn't respond to my earlier post about your "modicum of respect for Nicola" message ???

 

[Marshmallo]

2 minutes ago, Nkomo-A-Gogo said:

sorry, I don't even read them.

What an asshole!

[madwullie]

2 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

Leitch might come over as condescending but his credentials for that job cannot be called into question although I assume from your dentist patter you know that fine. Freeman, agree 100% she's out her depth but the communist chat is simply woeful.

 

BTW you didn't respond to my earlier post about your "modicum of respect for Nicola" message ???

 

Freelunch is a beauty though. Nicking that. Nae

Edited December 19, 2020 by madwullie

[mizfit]

Feeling a bit better now.

It’s amazing what watching shite on telly for a couple of hours and deleting your Facebook can do.

[101]

14 minutes ago, super_carson said:

Like many tonight, I'm completely flattened. I struggled with my mental health for my early to mid twenties and tonight has a very a similar feel to some of those times. One good thing about the pubs being all shut is I can't ruin 5 years of sobriety and go missing for 2 days...

I've been angry today, unbelievably pissed off and I know I've been a b*****d to be around and I don't see that changing any time soon. Having to try really hard not to snap at my missus (who has given up hope on seeing her family at all anytime soon). Any of that "make your own sunshine" or "we are all in this together" chat can get in the bin.

I think what has probably broken both myself and many others is that we felt like things were improving, case numbers started to level off, vaccinations have statyed with other vaccines probably only a matter of weeks away, Christmas etc. Then suddenly wham! A new strain that's more contagious and a new lockdown which we know won't just end in a few weeks. Every time we think we are getting somewhere, we end up back at the start and it feels never ending. Theres no exit strategy, no other semblance of a plan other than just hard lockdowns and it's just an unrelenting pile of shite we cant seem to escape from. The hope that things would get better had fucked it for me.


I get the feeling that Sturgeon will have lost a lot of that new found support. Purely anecdotally but I havent seen or heard anyone say they agree with these measures (I know there will be some, those weirdos who take pride in labelling themselves as introverts yet who constantly bombard social media, for example). I think everyone is pretty pissed off, and if this ends up as a rolling lockdown then I can see a lot more people saying enough is enough.

Sorry for the rant lads, I'm just a miserable b*****d tonight.

Merry Christmas.

Sorry to hear your back to the dark days but congratulations on keep up sobriety in what has already been an incredibly difficult and frustrating year.

I also agree the new more contagious strain along with my pal dying from covid has knocked me for 6 and some days have been brighter than others.

I would disagree with your point of "there's no plan out of this" the plan is to vaccinate the population there is no point letting a more contagious mutation of the virus run through society unchecked during a period when she know people would ideally be meeting a lot of people in places with limited ventilation. If we can keep the virus under control carry out all the proper checks on this new strain whilst ramping up vaccinations then we will have an exit strategy. If we let is blast through society filling the hospitals, as it's done in SE England and Wales then we go back to a Covid Health Service we go back to people dying and let's be honest no leader of a country could sign off on that when they now know what happens if you take your foot off the gas.

If people say enough is enough, and it's perfectly understandable after 11 months of utter shit then more, lots more people will die not just from Covid but from a hundred other things. I would sincerely hope we can get through 3 weeks of January and look at decent numbers of people in care homes now safe from this vile virus and NHS staff protected and able to go about their work with slightly less risk and hopefully we will be on to vaccinating the most vulnerable who are in out community.

I hope you and your wife have the best Christmas you can in this situation and can look back in the summer of 2021 having made it through the worst post war time Britain has ever faced with a sense of relief. 

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Sadly it'll make no difference as your lifelong cult members like [mention=55994]Wee Willie[/mention] will donate and vote for them for eternity

Which mainstream political party supports a different path though?

They all back this.

[Am Featha Taigh Nan Clach]

I am exceptionally lucky that I've never suffered from any mental health issues and that the new announcement doesn't put me up nor down.

I've been genuinely touched by the reaction of some and am deeply sorry for any additional anguish new restrictions will cause.

I hope this anecdote cheers people up somewhat. A friend of a friend once was in a relationship with Neil Oliver. He has a micropenis

[Benjamin_Nevis]

1 minute ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

Which mainstream political party supports a different path though?

They all back this.

I've paid scant attention to this thread since Todd was spamming it with shite graphs months ago. I assume nothing has changed. I don't see this making a massive difference politically. All the folk i've seen on social media spitting teeth about this are fucking lunatics who post Crankie memes anyway. And of course any temporary damage to the SNP will be easily counteracted by the fucking certainty that Johnson and a couple of other high profile Tories will almost certainly break the rules in some sort of ridiculous fashion and absolutely brass it out. 

The change to the Xmas reprieve is awful for some folk, for us, fortunately, the only difference is going to be that I won't be having a drink and staying over at my parents' house which after the year they've had is a bit shite. We'll still get to the spend the day with them and have a meal so it's not a total loss. 

[Sergeant Wilson]

24 minutes ago, Marshmallo said:

Shout out to @Nkomo-A-Gogo for downvoting this post - fair play!

He's hovering around the top end of the charts for the best and worst thread. When I say best an worst obviously I only mean worst.

[heedthebaa]

21 minutes ago, BucksburnDandy said:

Sorry to read of everyone who is struggling tonight. Particularly to you[mention=1175]RH33[/mention] but to all of you, take care of yourself and find a way to talk to loved ones, friends or trusted professionals.

 

As RH33 said, the mental health crisis both currently and coming down the line should be the biggest concern for public health moving forward. Services are hugely underfunded and while laudable work currently goes on to help people, it needs expanded massively.

 

From my own personal perspective I've gone back on to anti-depressants this year after being off them for a couple of years and generally feeling miserable just now with the time of year. It is a strange contrast for me as it has been a good year in our personal lives - we moved to Inverness and both got good NHS jobs while selling our house in Aberdeen and buying here. There has been a lot of stress involved and that is perhaps where things stem from for me.

 

However today has drained my better half more than me as it will be well over a year since she last saw her family by time we hope to see them again in March. We had hoped to go over to Ireland to see them just after the New Year. So that has totally floored her.

 

I hope everyone takes care of themselves.[mention=43879]pandarilla[/mention] I hope you do what is right for you, the circumstances sound awful.@bob mahelp hopefully your son can come home to live for a while to be with his loved ones.[mention=38578]mizfit[/mention] I hope David Marshall provided as much solace for you tonight as possible.

 

Happy to speak with anyone who just needs someone to chat to. Love to you all tonight.

 

Fraser (BucksburnDandy)

 

 

I’ve felt a bit guilty during this shitfest, as I’ve been ok with it and I went the other way in coming off anti depressants during the first lockdown. Apart from not being able to hug my grandkids and mother it hasn’t put me in nor out. I kinda needed my life to stop and it ended up being a godsend. I still have my shit times, but they’re not COVID related. 

[Benjamin_Nevis]

1 minute ago, heedthebaa said:

I’ve felt a bit guilty during this shitfest, as I’ve been ok with it and I went the other way in coming off anti depressants during the first lockdown. Apart from not being able to hug my grandkids and mother it hasn’t put me in nor out. I kinda needed my life to stop and it ended up being a godsend. I still have my shit times, but they’re not COVID related. 

I don't think that's anything to feel guilty about tbh. Other than finding working from home a bit shite, and not being able to see my parents as much as I'd like given their situation, it's been OK for me in general. I've saved some money, and manage to spend a lot of my newly found spare time getting properly fit. Frankly being able to take any positives out of this clusterfuck can't be anything other than a good thing. 

[craigkillie]

I had a wee girl in September and she's an absolute delight. My mental health is pretty good most of the time, aside from the odd wee moment, but if it wasn't for her I think I'd be in the same boat as a lot of folk on here. I've been working from home for nine months, but I'm not able to do the bits of my job I actually really like, which is teaching students and generally just chatting to my colleagues. That has meant I've basically been sat in a wee room keeping on top of all the shite stuff and have generally been unmotivated. Away from work, the three main things that bring me joy are going on hoilday, going to the football and meeting my pals for a pint or whatever, and I've not been able to do any of them since March (I could have done the latter to some extent in the summer but wasn't drinking in case I had to drive to the hospital).

As it is, I'm able to watch my daughter grow up, which is giving me something to keep going for every day, because both she and my wife need me, and there's always something new and exciting happening (even if it's her doing a bigger shite in her nappy than she's done before).  Even then it's rubbish to not have grandparents and folk around - I think in the 3 months since she was born there have probably been about 2 weeks where they have been allowed to visit under the rules, and at no point have they been able to come in the house. We drove to see my gran today, and she was in tears at being able to see her for literally 5 minutes, which is properly heartbreaking stuff.

There is an absolute limit for how long this can go on for, because it's really not a life at this stage - we're very likely going to be talking about a full year of not being able to do almost any of the things that give people a bit of release from what was a fairly shite world even before this all kicked off. At the moment like most folk I guess I'm just clinging on for a vaccine bringing things back to normal, and I really do hope that the people making the decisions are not overly risk averse at the point where the most vulnerable people are vaccinated and the risk of massive numbers of deaths and serious illnesses is reduced to almost zero. As much as I think the Scottish Government have made a lot of mistakes in the way they've handled this, I do think they probably will get that part right, even with the likes of Sridhar in their ear trying to get us locked down until 2045 just in case.

Edited December 19, 2020 by craigkillie

[Widge]

Whilst these new restrictions don’t affect me in a way that it’s detrimental to my health or wellbeing it’s difficult to swallow. Instead of going to see my folks for the week and my GF going to see hers, instead we’ll have it together and make do. 
 

The thing I don’t get, is the travel ban. I’ve got work in Newcastle on Tuesday which has been programmed in for weeks now and needs to be done. Firstly the travel ban is for the festive period, when is this? Secondly, just because it’s Xmas doesn’t mean job stop, I don’t really get why it’s alright for me to go and travel for work, yet there’s people out there who can’t cross a tier to meet family outside. 
 

I’m not going to pretend I understand the logic or agree with a lot of it, but I guess it is what it is for now and hopefully everyone gets through it. I’ve got a distraught GF at home right now who’s not seen her mum for 9 months now and I can only imagine there’s thousands others who are the same and my heart goes out to those who were promised some hope only to have it taken away. What I will say is, if anyone wants to chat or anything please feel free to drop me a message. We’re all in this together ultimately and it’s good to see P&B being a place that helps for the most part. 

[Gordon EF]

6 hours ago, Hedgecutter said:

Non-Christians across the planet must be looking at us thinking "what a bunch of completely incompetent self-entitled arseholes"... and I would be inclined to agree.

I imagine that's a viewpoint that unites people of all faiths and none.

[Staggie_93]

Utterly bonkers that the highlands are going from tier 1 all the way up to tier 4. What’s the justification for that exactly?

Edited December 19, 2020 by Staggie_93

[Distant Doonhamer]

1 minute ago, Staggie_93 said:

Utterly bonkers that the highlands are going from tier 1 all the way up to tier 4. What’s the justification for that exactly?

It's based on an utterly dismal  run of form from Ross County.  Same applies to us in Dumfries and Galloway,

[UpInTheAyr]

Will Sports Direct remain open though?

Better stock up on my Donnay and Peter Cardigan just in case.

[Gordon EF]

3 minutes ago, Staggie_93 said:

Utterly bonkers that the highlands are going from tier 1 all the way up to tier 4. What’s the justification for that exactly?

What does that remind me of...

Spoiler

 

[welshbairn]

52 minutes ago, Glen Sannox said:

The removal of the ex Communist, Jeane Freelunch and the man who has loved every minute of his new found fame, Dentist Leitch.  They have been an utter shambles and an embarrassment. Getting  someone with a modicum of intellect to replace Freelunch would be a start. That, and looking a bit further than Leitch for your scientific advice. There will be people a lot better qualified than him out there to seek advice from. Do you not think that it may be prudent to try something else, given that what’s happened so far, hasn’t worked?

Leitch is the spokesman, they've got other people to do the science. Apart from that I'd bring back Catherine Calderwood, she's done her penance now and she's a whole lot more charismatic than Gregor Smith. I've no idea what the ex-communist thing is about, or why it matters in the middle of a pandemic. It would be interesting to hear your take on the Westminster team.

[Arch Stanton]

People down there in that London not giving a f**k.