Topic: Corona Virus Panic/Discussion Thread

@ralphdibny I don’t think I’ve ever been to the barbers and not just asked for a short back and sides. It’s like the default haircut in the Sims.

@RogerRoger Yeah, that’s the way to go — having someone you trust to just do it and make it look good (or better). I’m always annoyed when the barber or stylist asks questions constantly through the process, basically wanting a step-by-step direction to the haircut. If they seem anxious to please me, I typically say, “Don’t worry, I’m not picky. It always grows out anyways.”
But yes, as a result of not giving precise instructions I’ve had some bad haircuts and had to do damage control when I got home.

I’m not brave enough to just take the razor to my head though. I’m just going to end up having to look like a caveman instead by the end of all this. If only I could pull off the dreadlock look. Maybe I’ll try.

As for my most impactful COVID19 adjustment, it’s gotta be the dedicated effort of not touching my face. I’m not a nose picker, but I stroke my beard, rub my eyes, or just rest my head in my hands a lot I’ve found. And the hand washing has been quite a new focus as well. I’m hoping to carry on with some of these now broken habits when this is over. I also don’t miss handshakes. I am now immediately repulsed by them. Someone shook my hand yesterday and it felt weird. Especially since I dove for the hand sanitizer as soon as he walked away. I do miss a good hug though. Life feels so impersonal at 6 feet away.

@RogerRoger Yeah, despite being inundated with public service announcements about social distancing, some people just ignore it. They’re the same people that dive into water that says “No diving”, and when a sign says “Do Not Touch”, well... the you know what the first thing they do is.

@RogerRoger @nessisonett @Th3solution haha I'll probably have to do the razor one day because of my receding hairline but I imagine I'll look like Dr. X from action man. But just using standard clippers are not bad, just a mirror on both sides an idea of roughly how you want to look.

I cut my hair short originally to shorten my shower time as I'd spend half of it washing my hair and picking strands of hair out of the soap. Now I do the short back and sides because it makes me look less balding on top. And now I also use "product" to keep it covering the recede. Funny that I didn't care so much about how I looked when I was younger, skinnier and had more hair lol.

I had a girl cycle past me really close on my daily half hour exercise walk (I seem to be doing this more frequently now that it's all I'm allowed lol). Considering I'd spent the last half hour giving a 2 meter berth to everyone I saw, it made me really angry at the time.

I hope no one else gets the coronavirus. As one of the unlucky people to have actually had the coronavirus I can tell you it sucks. I can tell how some people may think their going to and do die. I spent 7 days with a fever ranging from 101 to 103 fahrenheit. I also had cold sweats constantly and could barely breathe do to stuff in my lungs and had body aches(felt like my whole body was bruised). I must say the scariest thing was not being able to breath. After 7 days I spent another 3 days with a mild fever and coughing up the nastiest looking black & brown film from my lungs. Long story short i wouldn't wish the coronavirus on my worst enemy and hope everyone stays healthy.

@CurryPowderKeg79 sounds awful. We're you on a ventilator?

@CurryPowderKeg79 Oh goodness that's horrible! I'm glad you've recovered! So you were sick for about a total of 10 days?

@CurryPowderKeg79 that's horrible...wish you a quick and smooth recovery!

@CurryPowderKeg79 Dayum - hope you are on the mend and recovering well.

Things not looking so bright workwise. Will have to see what the next few weeks bring. On the plus side my kids made me a pancake with chocolate sauce so I will take what I can get.

@Rudy_Manchego sounds delicious, what's your work situation? (Sorry if I've missed you say it before). I thought I was going to be left out in the cold by the government plans. Not eligible for UC, earn more from Paye then I do self employment and normally greedy and non receptive bosses that I thought wouldn't furlough me. But on some excellent advice from Martin Lewis, I ended up asking them and they said yes but there is still a level of anxiety until it's officially in writing though :/

I think because it affects people differently that it makes the anxiety of catching it worse :/ you could be lucky prince Chucky recovering well in Balmoral (so they say) or you could be one of the unlucky ones. I think at first I just wanted to get it and get it out the way so I could have immunity but even people younger than me seem to be getting serious issues. And I can't imagine having pneumonia from this will help anyone's chances when the next pandemic comes up. I just hope there is a reasonable plan to keep people going financially until a vaccine is made.

@CurryPowderKeg79 I hope things are feeling better for you now. People I know have said it’s how breathless/tired you get doing little things like eating that was so weird/scary.

And welcome to the forums!

@ralphdibny Cheers!

I'm fairly senior at a small(ish) business in the tech industry but we are reliant on clients and people are tightening belts etc. We are ok but the future is looking a little dry at the moment. All depends on when this is over. Uncertainty is going to kill us.

Glad that things are looking better for you - there is some good help out there which is why I probably won't lose the house but there you go.

I am torn between whether we have had it or not - all the family were exposed to someone with it and we have had the barest minimum of symptoms but I believe we would know if we had it. But then we don't know how many people are asymptomatic. Weird.

@Rudy_Manchego yeah you hear some stories about how bad some people have it, then I see people like Prince Charles who just seem to shrug it off, even at his age?

I wonder if Boris is suffering? Has he been seen in the past couple of days?

Sorry to hear about the work situation. It does suck balls. I have friends on lower income work who are loving getting 80% of their salaries and kicking back. I hope there is enough support for now, all we can really do is get through April and see where we are at I think.

Weirdly enough I’m working more than ever right now. I’ve got a pay increase coming starting next Monday.

Social distancing is really taking its toll though.
Can’t see my fiancé, friends or family. It’s actually driving me insane🤣.

@Rudy_Manchego you've probably been through all the info but you can furlough yourself if you get paid through Paye rather than dividends (and even just the Paye amount if you get paid through a combo of the two). All this can be backdated. I haven't looked but supposedly there are business loans with preferential rates which personally I don't like the idea of because it still costs the company money.

But the government Job retention scheme grant (furlough) is supposed to help pay wages when the company can't because of lost or postponed contracts as well as other things.

The place I work for is kind of similar and we have clients from all industries. At first they classed our work as "essential" because some of our clients are banks and financial institutions but there simply isn't enough of that work to go around which is why I think they're looking into furloughing now. To be honest, some of the banks are going ahead with non essential work it seems just because they can because they are a bank. I'd argue that the only "essential" work is supporting the current employees and not going ahead with long standing projects just so they don't lose time on the schedule they've booked for the next couple of years.

@kyleforrester87 I know - people seem to be mildly poorly for a few days or seriously seriously ill and since we aren't testing widespread, we don't know the asymptomatic numbers. Saw a picture of Boris doing a zoom call which was great despite it being an insecure app and him showing the meeting ID.

Yeah, to be honest furlough wont be too bad for me but more worried about having a job to get back to.

@Fight_Teza_Fight My wife is really really struggling wih not seeing her family (I'm quite miserable and dont mind not seeing them). I feel bad because there is nothing I can do.

@ralphdibny Yeah its the holding off of projects that are affecting us, even if they have the cash etc. Still we shall see I guess. As just said, Furlough won't kill me but just the future of the business worries me.

@Fight_Teza_Fight yes I’m also really busy, I’ve not even considered getting ill to be honest, trying to keep the money coming in for everyone while looking after individual needs is already exhausting. Hoping things calm down a bit in a week.

Weekly shop this afternoon. Might try and get 2 weeks worth, actually.

@Rudy_Manchego Yeah I can imagine it’s though. My cousins a doctor & he’s decided to move out of his own home. Madness.

@kyleforrester87 Being busy definitely helps. I do feel social distancing is working. I’m hoping we see the number of cases drop by the end of the month.

@Rudy_Manchego hopefully they will extend the job retention scheme longer. If the things they've put in place outlive the pandemic then it might just save a lot of businesses.

The not seeing people sucks, as miserable of a git that I can be. As soon as Boris announced the lockdown, my girlfriend and I went back to my parents to wait it out here. I think I'd just be too depressed being more or less alone for 3 weeks. At least here we still have our own space but can enjoy additional company if we need it. The downside is that the family home can get heated but I think everyone has chilled their beans a bit seeing as they know that we are probably going to be locked up here for a while.