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Your not alone mate feel free to dm
St.colin.. Just remember that you aren't alone. Even though stw appears to be a random anonymous jumble of miss fits.. when any member is in need of help there's a genuine line of members who would go above and beyond to help people out.
It’s harder to deal with things this time of year anyway (well I find so)… lots of people will find this November and December tough. Be good to each other.
@stcolin I empathise with you to a point, and must say I find this situation quite oppressive, almost suffocating at times. Add in the other challenging parts of life and it’s not a bed of roses. However, there is a lot of positivity out there too, it’s just a little less easy to come by; social media and the media, do not help. Bad news travels faster and louder but it doesn’t mean there isn’t good stuff about too. This forum proves this at times.
It's things like this that feed the conspiracy theorists,can the governments response to this get any worse
BBC.CO.UK @Stcolin, I can't offer any sort of help, got my hands full frankly but like the others say, know you're not alone. Me, I expect things to get better, on account of they genuinely are deeply shit right now and it's just not very sustainable, I mean, just by pure random chance things are bound to get better right?
It’s grim. Is the simple answer. We can hope that a vaccine comes charging in to rescue us but until it does we’ve got a tough choice between perpetual lockdowns and piling up the bodies. We are nowhere near through this. If the lockdown works we’ll have a third wave when it’s lifted (back to September behaviours) and if we actually attempted to go back to pre-pandemic behaviour next summer then a 4th wave. Possibly bigger than each of the previous three.
we’ve got a tough choice between perpetual lockdowns and piling up the bodies.
But as TiRed says, the vaccine is hopefully closer than we could have imagined 6 months ago, experts are suggesting, but have been ignored, that a series of short sharp lockdowns, rather than prolonged drawn out ones, would help us stay in top of it enough, and treatments are reducing the number of deaths, relatively speaking. It's hard to see any positives as we head into a gloomy looking winter but they are there.
I'm another anxiety sufferer here, so please get in touch if you need to vent. I have my wobbles, but my glass has been half full more often than half empty recently. Or my anxiety has been overtaken and replaced by frustration at our handling. That's given me a focus for my rage that is at least less self-destructive.
I’m really sorry to derail the thread in the last 20 minutes, it wasn’t my intention
You haven’t. Mental health matters more than ever at the moment. All I will say is perspective matters as well, and the media can’t offer that perspective. There is an exit plan and it is being enacted. But it won’t be by Christmas. Nor Easter. It WILL be by second half 2021.
Winter can be pretty miserable, and I have not been on a bike since March (still). But a crisp sunny day means you must go outside if you possibly can. Maintain some routine - even when working home. Try and switch off and watch some TV or read. I do sums.
Ignore most of the experts. Of all flavours. The media wants to push agendas and experts are selected and interviewed to push those agendas. BBC try and appear balanced, but in reality one wants surety, which is not balance. I don’t do media. But I do give a reasoned opinion here.
Pandemics have always presented the greatest threat to society. The world isn’t doing such a bad job given the lack of immediate choices.
On the subject of mental health and exercise, I’m loving zwift. After a couple of years of basically sneering at my wife for using it (we live in the Dales so outside is great apart from weather) I decided to give it a go over the winter and it’s an absolute blast. I’m in a team, we do regular rides and races, I’m probably fitter than I’ve been in years cycling-wise. My bike hasn’t been outside in the past two months but I’m cycling in Bologna tonight.
It’s a real escape from the world.
On the subject of mental health and exercise
A good read on mental health and the benefits of being outdoors is The Natural Health Service. It's a pragmatic approach.
Whilst there is a lot made of the impact of the current restrictions on mental health less is being made of the impact of infection. Long covid isn't exactly a thrill ride, shall we say bouts of low mood go with the territory. Never mind if someone is so debilitated they can't work. Whilst it is really welcoming to see a discussion about mental health issues I am left with the feeling it is merely a flag of convenience for some lock down sceptics. Any discussion would have to include the impacts of all approaches not just massive horribleness vs a bit of death.
Well wish me luck... COVID test today, the outcome of which determines if I can have a medical procedure on Monday. If I'm negative then I'm meant to self isolate over the weekend.
They won't even book the OT until I test negative so I don't even have a time.
OH and Jnr are both in Covid +ve schools and locking myself inside with them seems a bit stupid.
Somehow I manage to arrive at this thread when my anxiety about all this is at its worst. I genuinely struggle to see any point in hanging around to see what happens next. Make it to Christmas? Doubt it. I’d end up hating it more than I already do and then having to deal with the start of 2021 still locked down.
I feel exactly the same right now but at least have the comfort that I'm coming out of lockdown on Monday (don't think you're in Wales?) so can escape to see my family in a few days. I've had the effects of the virus cut me off from friends and family, take away my job and seriously curtail what I can do in terms of coping strategies for my anxiety like escaping to the countryside and riding bikes. I'm not alone in this, the same way that you aren't either.
I’m not sure what I can say at the moment, or why I’ve vented here.
Venting is good, even if it is to a bunch of strangers on a random bit of the internet.
The other 'arf and colleagues have had a short paper published:
Clinical features and outcomes of adults with coronavirus disease 2019: A systematic review and pooled analysis of the literature
Linky
Submitted 1st July and only just published - for me that highlights the warp speed progress being made on treatments and vaccines - took 5 months for a short paper to be published but vaccine trials are belting along.
can’t recommend the STW races enough... race on Tuesdays currently & TTT on Thursday... great to race against/with people you “know” from here! Good bants too on the threads before/after. Really brings an extra dimension to Zwift (which I enjoyed a lot anyway!) Feels good as well to be regularly meeting up for team sports/a “club” which I hadn’t done for a long time!On the subject of mental health and exercise, I’m loving zwift.
@stevextc good luck with the test and the procedure. My wife had her hip replaced at the start of September. She had to self isolate for 2 weeks before the operation and 1 week after - spent the whole time alone in the bedroom, I delivered meals to the bedroom door.
don’t think you’re in Wales?
No, I'm in Manchester. I was actually fairly okay with the tiered system. I got a little bit of freedom with that. I would feel okay if that was what we returned to on 3rd December. I can only hold onto a glimmer of hope for that.
I also had to make a call not to travel back home for Christmas, which is extra tough this year. I will have only got to see my friends and family once this year.
Oh, and regarding the Zwift thing, I don't have any equipment that I can use to get involved. I tried to get a smart trainer over the summer but nowhere had stock.
I don’t have any equipment that I can use to get involved.
ANT speed sensor and an ANT stick, or a bluetooth one and an ipad/iphone/apple TV is all you need. You don't get the "real power", but it's still fun.
https://www.wiggle.co.uk/wahoo-rpm-speed-sensor-with-bluetooth-40-and-ant
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=bluetooth+speed+sensor&i=sports&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
you don't need cadence or Heart rate, but bluetooth monitors will talk to apple just fine.
I've just had my new smart trainer delivered today so my dumb trainer and a cheap speed/cadence sensor is going to be up for sale soon if that helps? It's only the Halfords one and a cheap sensor off Amazon but it got me through the last lockdown.
Has this been discussed yet?
Would you guys go to the Netherlands right now for 2.5 times the money you're currently on - or would you be too worried about the rest of the world blocking travel entirely from the Netherlands?
@oakleymuppet only visited a couple of times but it seems very pleasant, cycle culture etc. Unless you're going to work on a mink farm yes absolutely I'd go, this thing is not going to last forever & such an opportunity could set you up for life!
Would you guys go to the Netherlands right now for 2.5 times the money you’re currently on – or would you be too worried about the rest of the world blocking travel entirely from the Netherlands?
I had the opportunity to apply for a Netherlands job a few years back, post-Brexit. I had the skills but the language might've been an issue. But the real reason I didn't pursue it was the lack of proper countryside in the North where I'd have had to live. I loved the riding I did there because it was different but it would have got very dull very quickly. And it wasn't just about trails, it was about the general scenery. I currently have all that Wales has to offer, but NL was just endless flat fields with cows and ditches around the edge. Forever.
Would you guys go to the Netherlands right now for 2.5 times the money you’re currently on – or would you be too worried about the rest of the world blocking travel entirely from the Netherlands?
I lived 4 years in NL and hated it with a passion - not just the endlessly dreary countryside but also the inhabitants. In restrospect maybe part of it was my fault, but I'm not anxious to go back. Relevant to the thread - I was not impressed by the medical service. My wife was hospitalised at one point and the medical staff mostly ignored her, to the point that she was badly dehydrated. Just an anecdote, I know ...
Thanks zilog6128 I spotted that but am already in a different club. Surprised you didn't put a team into the ZRL, it's been really fun. Though you need a bunch of single-cat riders to turn up fairly consistently, which may not quite fit.
It's for a contract role so I'd be back, just worried about not seeing the wife at Christmas and being stuck in the equivalent to ground zero for the next round of crazyness. The pay reflects (I think) the fact that they need someone to bring their processes under control and the fact that they're asking me to go over in the middle of covid - a hired gun really.
On the other hand I'm keenly aware that it's all going to shit in Britain, lots of people are going to be out of a job and the extra money might help me and the missus stay afloat if it all goes very wrong over here in terms of unemployment.
My BiL is in the Netherlands, a small town in the arse-end of nowhere, flat as a pancake and boring as hell. It would drive me insane but seems to suit him and his family.
Oakleymuppet - FAKENEWS!!!! 😉
That link to the BBC story is about Denmark - nothing to do with the Netherlands
Hahah ****, I'm so tired. Off to the Netherlands it is then. God damnit brain! In my head I read the Netherlands last night and there I was thinking the Netherlands was too civilised to be mink farming as well!
I'd be 15 mins from Maastricht airport, so whilst it wouldn't be the den of iniquity that is Amsterdam it wouldn't exactly be in the middle of nowhere.
I was well up for it, unfortunately it clashes with the Tuesday STW race league which is such a laugh that it has to take priority!!Surprised you didn’t put a team into the ZRL, it’s been really fun.
@bunnyhop
Thanks for the kind wishes.
I've had my consultation this week and things are looking up for my health. Not out of the woods yet, but good positive progress . Thank you
@stevextc
Best wishes for the op. Hope it all works out as you want, but stay strong and also remember there's so much out of our hands that if it is delayed, you'll get there in the end. I had the green pathway with the test and isolate route, but my mum has an op delayed last minute due to them re deploying resources. It still worked out ok.
I borrowed my little girl's room and built Lego for a couple of days. Anyway, best wishes.
Here in France we seem to be proving that whatever else you close if you leave the schools open the virus still thrives.
And for those interested, it does look to me that they're reintroducing some shielding despite the headlines to the contrary.
Had a email letter through from the DHSC, signed Hancock and jenrick, with this included
This letter is a formal shielding notification and can act as evidence for your employer to show that you cannot work outside your home until 2 December, including for statutory sick pay (SSP) purposes
Technically I'm not as vulnerable as I was, but I'm changing my immediate plans to concentrate on staying safe, and I'll sort the other stuff later.
But it also gives a bit of hope that they, the gov, are willing to listen and try to protect those more vulnerable.
statutory sick pay (SSP) purposes
This was in the announcement and published guidelines. Who can live on SSP? Hopefully employers will now make use of furlough for those shielding.
remember there’s so much out of our hands
This is what is so frustrating.... the biopsy is already delayed due to Covid... if I don't test negative before I don't get the biopsy, if anyone I live with gets told to self isolate .. (presume more delay) but assuming I get the biopsy and it's not favourable then what? Do they just say they won't treat me if I test positive or a member of my household gets told to self isolate again?
Here in France we seem to be proving that whatever else you close if you leave the schools open the virus still thrives.
OMG imagine.... who'd have thought that. A coronavirus being spread in schools...
Steve, I know someone who prepped for surgery by splitting their household, and using an ambulance to get to hospital. You need two bathrooms, and to talk through the arrangements with the hospital a few weeks in advance. They were retired though, so could properly self isolate for two weeks before the op.
Masks with valves??? What madness is this.
we have all been told quite clearly valve masks don't protect the public so its pointless wearing them, yet they keep coming up on my FB feed for sale.
STEALTHMASK.CO.UK 
To those of us that are suffering from anxiety and stress, there are some good things too to come out of this:
Some viruses seems to be not as prevalent this year and hopefully this will be the same for flu. People on the whole do tend to be washing their hands properly and distancing.
With a low immune system I normally would have had some sort of illness by now that finds me in bed for a few days and a few weeks of trying to recover. This (touch wood) hasn't happened.
The other good point is more people are getting out and about. This will lead to appreciation of our gorgeous countryside and native wildlife, which may in turn help people realise the importance of the environment.
Thanks tired - you have helped more than you know in being a sensible voice in all this madness.
Thanks tired
My pleasure. Just back from my first GP appointment. I've been laid low all week by more woe, but going out in cold weak sun does help. Had a sore chest all week and some breathlessness. But recorded my first ever peak flow - I don't have asthma for sure (720 ml/min). So, time for more sums.
My projections for "do nothing" based on yesterday's data - i.e. anything lower than this would implicate lockdown effects. With lockdown, I think a peak in deaths at or below April peak (dashed line) is to be expected. Remember this is a do nothing counterfactual. We have lockdown1 plus schools open. Expect lower curves...
% of positive tests up here has been trending down for a wee while now, down to just over 5% today.
Amazing the small things you look for positives in during this time.
In my head I read the Netherlands last night and there I was thinking the Netherlands was too civilised to be mink farming as well!
they do farm mink in NL I believe but they are phasing it out.
5plusn8
Free MemberMasks with valves??? What madness is this.
we have all been told quite clearly valve masks don’t protect the public so its pointless wearing them, yet they keep coming up on my FB feed for sale.
You can still see senior politicians etc wearing vented masks, never mind fb ads.
Those valved masks are ffp2 or FFP3 so filter the air the wearer breathes clean of virus and microbes 95 or 99% respectively.
Ie the wearer is protected. The valve the wearer breathes out of isn’t filtered so the mask doesn’t protect anyone else.
We wear similar at work but must cover the outlet valve with a normal mask or visor so we protect both ourselves and others
I like a nice counterfactual analysis
🙃