Forum menu
I travelled through Euston at about half four on the 11th, it was like a ghost town – the Avanti to New St used to be standing room only, there were two of us in the carriage.
We had to come in on the Tuesday morning because no preparation had been done for a lockdown where we couldn't go top the office. It was like those scenes you saw at Enron or Lehman brothers with people walking out the building with the contents of their desks. We were so woefully unprepared for the concept of WFH that almost no-one had a laptop so we had to carry our desktops and monitors out. There weren't enough headsets to go around (haha, remember when a work meeting didn't automatically mean teams?), we didn't even have wi-fi dongles.
I'm not sure how, but somehow management managed to make Boris look ahead of the game.
I can’t begin to imagine how worrying that must have been, particularly at the start, with no vaccines, poor PPE etc. and a fat evolving knowledge of the virus.
I share and understand that contempt you mention.
I ended up losing my job and going back to TV work, which was the BBC ambulance series filmed in Liverpool towards the end of the year. It was weird / tough in equal measure.
I can’t begin to imagine how worrying that must have been, particularly at the start, with no vaccines, poor PPE etc.
This will sound melodramatic but it was the kids that made me more worried than anything. My wife is very conscientious when it comes to work and the NHS as a whole. I asked her to overstate her level of risk, and similar to hopefully avoid being dragged in. Quite properly, she refused. I felt a tosser for putting that on her.
PPE was a joke. Nothing more than what a dental nurse would wear in normal times. In those first few weeks many of the fatalities were NHS staff.
To have ****ers (who were probably shitting themselves at the time) come out with denial bollocks safely after the event is disgusting. But then there have always been people like that.
It gives me comfort to know that their motivation is shame at how scared they really were in those first few weeks/months and a need to erase it from their memories to feel 'big' again.
@Cougar2 graphic from a chap on Mastodon https://mastodon.social/@jbond/113384808647338968 who grabbed it from X. Click through to thread reader for the full thing.
There is a compelling theory about the raison d'etre of minority religions like the JW sending people door to door to 'recruit' sinners to the family.
It is that the rejection is the point.
Sent out in to a harsh and rejecting world, our hardy harbingers of truth are met with scorn and insults, faced with a host of hostile heathens, unable or unwilling to accept the Word of God.
Then to return to the fold, to a place of safety, accepted unto the bosom of those that hold the truth. See? The outside world is scary, and it hates you.
These forays into unsafe spaces like this website seem to be a modern equivalent - presumably they then crawl back to their facebook groups and claim their victimhood there.
^^ That's actually a r genuinely interesting argument regarding the JW etc. Must remember that.
It's also reminded me to watch S2 of Everyone Else Burns. 🙂
@Cougar2 graphic from a chap on Mastodon https://mastodon.social/@jbond/113384808647338968 who grabbed it from X. Click through to thread reader for the full thing.
Excellent, TVM.
So this “kill list” you mention above, is it a public stoning of the offender that anyone can attend?
They sent a rather abusive email to us
Honestly, put copies of it for sale in the shop and I'll buy one
Standards are slipping. He used to post his little 'sign offs' on the forum for us all to enjoy.
Drac
Full Member
Just so you all get an idea what our little returning conspiracy theorist is like. They sent a rather abusive email to us this am a lovely individual who now is on the kill list if they try to get back in.
It was worth his(?) time though, he's converted dozens on here to the cause.
Oh, wait.
Just noticed, 1000 pages!
Will hopefully manage a nights sleep without waking up in a puddle of sweat several times a night.
Spent at least a week like that, along with another month using a bog roll a day to contain the ocean of green goo that seemed to inhabit the space behind my nose that my brain would normally occupy.
That was about ten years or so ago, so not Covid.
I had my Flu/Covid jabs last week, made my arm ache for several days, but I’ve got enough aches at the moment to not worry about it. I’ve been getting free flu jabs for some years, from work, and now my doctors surgery notifies me when it’s available, have done for several years.
This is the first year in abut 20 I have not been able to get a flu jab and the first since covid jab became available. I really don’t want to get either virus again, the flu was absolutely awful but covid the second time I couldn’t move very far without having to pause for breath.
Help.
A little back ground. Mums now 95, things have progressed to the point where I need a bit of respite care frankly. It might even do mum some good to have a change of scenery for a week, say.
Social services are keen to get mum into respite asap but mum still hasn't had flu and Covid booster due to being house bound. A big wait locally but possibly happening this week.
Social services have been told by, "a GP and the person that administers the booster" for the housebound around here that "Covid protection starts from the day after the jab."
I'm calling BS . The thing is, I might need to find some compelling evidence. Has anyone come ( sorry "to" at you @TiRed) across some nice, plain statements or data from the likes of the NHS that back me up on this. Judy sunshine I can sort them at a meeting tomorrow or Thursday. I think it was nearer 3 weeks for the covid booster to have maximum benefit.
Not sure about flu?
If anyone is able to help, it's very much appreciated. Theres a lot going on here at the moment and I'm feeling completely overwhelmed to be honest.
Thank you.
You called correctly. It's about two weeks to peak titer. Plenty of studies on duration of protection, but relatively few on time to onset. The first booster trial ignored the first seven days and looked at symptomatic COVID thereafter with impressive protection.
Cheers TiRed, I'll dig up some NHS centric info too as I think that'll sway them more if they try and press the issue.
Obviously, even with the jabs, mums age is against her but I'll have done all that I reasonably can once she's had the vaccines and let the immunity build up for a while.
I do not feel comfortable letting her go into a car home for a week or so without even the modicum of protection a Covid and flu jab gives. Even the manager of the care home maintained that I've no need to worry as, "all the other residents are vaccinated, so can't pass Covid on to your mum..." Which obviously didn't reassure me as I'd pretty much assumed everyone knew that is *not* how the vaccine works.
I do not feel comfortable letting her go into a car home for a week or so without even the modicum of protection a Covid and flu jab gives.
Even putting aside the additional risk to her, it's not an optimal respite for you if you're worrying about that for the entire week.
The typo did make it sound like you were dropping her off in the stairwell of the local multistorey, though. 🙂
I had a weird flu type reaction a couple of days after my flu jab last week. Just washed out for 12 hours or so. Rather put me off paying for a Covid booster.
That's unpleasant. No effects here (COVID and flu x2) apart from a slightly achy arm (x2)
A couple of connected articles; JCVI isn't recommending pregnant women for free COVID jabs, despite it being protection for the child https://theconversation.com/the-uk-is-no-longer-offering-covid-vaccines-to-pregnant-women-heres-why-that-might-be-a-bad-idea-243770
COVID infection may shrink cancers. Some will no doubt think that severe COVID is a good thing, it really isn't https://theconversation.com/covid-caused-cancer-tumours-to-shrink-in-mice-new-study-243973
had my Covid and flu boosters yesterday morning, jeez, feeling proper crap now…. tired, achy bones, headache, shivery… I guess that means they are working .. !
Mrs_OAB and grandpa_OAB had thiers last week, same effect, they both were pretty flattened for the next couple of days by it.
I have not been called for my flu or Covid yet, hoping that they still do that for those living with immune compromised...
Matt, if not Boots (amongst others) will sell you a COVID jab and most pharmacies will sell you a flu jab, £110 job jabbed 😉
I have not been called for my flu or Covid yet, hoping that they still do that for those living with immune compromised…
I looked into this as partner is on immunosuppressing meds. Situations seems to be that you are eligible for a free flu jab, but although cohabitees of immunocompromised folk were eligible for Covid jabs last year, 2024 guidance does not seem to include them.
I dug into the Green Book and that does seem to be the case. Evidently they've reached the conclusion that it's not clinically / statistically worthwhile vaccinating partners / those living with immunocompromised people.
Basically, if you don't qualify for a covid jab in your own right, you're not eligible and your only recourse is to go private, which in the case of, say, Boots, means paying around £100 for a single vaccination. You are however eligible for a free flu jab. You can go via Boots or similar for it and won't charged.
That's my understanding anyway. It's frustratingly hard to clarify this stuff and rather than rely on my take, I'd suggest checking the details yourself. My GP was incredibly unhelpful in a 'not our responsibility' sort of style. In case it's useful:
https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2024/09/23/your-guide-to-whos-eligible-for-the-2024-flu-vaccine/
https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2024/08/02/whos-eligible-for-the-2024-covid-19-vaccine-or-autumn-booster/
Even putting aside the additional risk to her, it’s not an optimal respite for you if you’re worrying about that for the entire week.
I'm very much an afterthought in the decision making process. I'm given an illusion of choice and having a say but it's just an illusion. Suffice to say, not getting LPA's in place was not a good move. Anyone reading this, don't bury your head in the sand till it's to late. Get it done.
Anyway...
Mums had jab, guy that turned up to do it was not a happy bunny. Mum actually screamed out in pain at both jabs. I've honestly never seen it done so fast, without the slightest pretence of giving a shit. I could hear him tutting whilst I gained her consent... something social services rightly said I need to do.
Not so much as a cotton bud taped on afterwards so I had to put plasters in her and change nightie/ sheet due to blood all over the place. She's on blood thinners.
Id expect far better at a vets to be honest. Still, it's done.
This is a shit country to grow old in.
you don’t qualify for a covid jab in your own right, you’re not eligible and your only recourse is to go private, which in the case of, say, Boots, means paying around £100 for a single vaccination. You are however eligible for a free flu jab.
Although i didn’t book one because I’m not eligible, when I went to the Drs surgery for my free Flu jab about a month ago, they offered to give me a COVID jab at the same time.
That’s my understanding anyway.
I am in Scotland - and suggestion from NHS Scotland at end of summer is that they would continue for those sharing house with vulnerable / immunocompromised. This was from my GP. But, I cannot find if that is a thing on the NHS Scotland winter vaccination website.
Had my booster today, no questions asked. Only reason I can see for being eligible is being on statins.
1,000
Poopscoop - that's absolutely shocking treatment for your mother. I know the nhs staff are under such strain, however they are employed to care.
Every jab I've had has made me a little poorly, but I'm willing to go through this to help others.