Marley444

We have really lovely neighbours either our age or older. I would not report them if they had an extra child or grandparent to visit - how can you leave grandad at home on Christmas Day and just invite grandma??? If I had neighbours who were partying or obviously have large social gatherings that would be different. I just hope people behave responsibly.

I think you will find some helpful information here - https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing-and-tracing/

Whilst I haven't had personal experience as I have not really been out and about much since March, I have heard that it is a real challenge to get a local test if you need one and some people are being expected to drive 200 miles for a test, which seems ridiculous. I find it incredible that we still don't seem to be on top of the system of testing and I have no confidence at all that there is a concrete strategy in place - not sure where Boris is, but it feels that he is not at the helm - keep seeing him in hard hats around the country! I feel very uncertain about the winter we will be facing. So many mixed messages stay in, go out, meet friends, stay in don't meet friends! Go on holiday, don't go on holiday, quarantine but don't get a test - get a test but we don't have capacity!!!!

I have three daughters and I definitely accept there is such a thing as Middle Child Syndrome. My lovely middle daughter feels that she is neither the oldest nor the youngest and has always had an issue with her place in the sibling hierarchy, even though as parents we have spent our whole lives telling her how special she is and that we have treated them equally. She has always been much more needy and craved validation

I am absolutely a Silver Streamer! Partly due to our TV remote for BT not working, partly due to lockdown and that there are very few new TV programs on air and mostly because I prefer to watch a season of something on Netflix or iPlayer ... we don't have Sky - just BT Vision.

Any vaccine offered will have gone through a lengthy process of testing etc so I for one would be very happy to be offered the vaccine as soon as it is ready. I would rather be offered protection that live in this vulnerable and stressful situation of feeling at risk. I thought that was the only light at the end of the tunnel for the world and find it hard to understand why anyone would not want to protect their own life and the lives of others.

The wearing of face coverings should have been compulsory from the beginning, as it was in many other countries. How can the science vary on this topic??? The only reason I believe it was not implemented to begin with is that there was a supply issue. Now we are awash with options and the supplies are plentiful - the virus is still here but perhaps the spread would have been limited if this had been the mandate back in March.

:D thanks for your permission swaneldo :D

I must say, that in recent weeks there have been a few heated debates in our household, and I quite often feel it is better just not to express my views and keep quiet to avoid tension. I don't know if it is a generation thing, as when we grew up, times were so different. I try to be 'woke' as much as I can in this new era, but sometimes I feel that my views are compromised. I often wonder what my grandmother, who was very opinionated, would say!

I couldn't think of anything worse than going to the pub this weekend! I think many people have adapted to a new way of life and a glass of wine in the garden with a handful of friends is far more conducive to enjoyment than being in a pub with the potential risk. I don't think it is our generation that will be out and about on 4th July somehow. I wonder if those who are desperate to get back to the pub have managed to retain their job in this economic downturn? I hope so :)

LOL :D

Yes I find it incredible to think that any other country would want us Brits arriving, especially if they haven't experienced the harshness of this pandemic yet.

I am feeling extremely anxious at the thought of leaving the safety of my home and flying off anywhere. We have flights booked for our whole family in August, and at the moment we can't even meet up in our home, so I can't imagine how we will go from this to sitting on a plane load of people and heading off. I am hoping to cancel or postpone till next year, but know we will have to wait till much nearer the time when we have updated advice from the foreign office.

As much as I have a concern for the high street and the economy, and people's jobs, I won't be going back to the high street any time soon. I have been once to my local garden centre mid-week which was very reassuring - very impressed with their Covid measures. But I am happy to buy everything else online. I have my groceries delivered and happy to buy clothes online - not that I buy much. Just took delivery of some new hiking trainers this week. I miss my hairdresser more than the shops, and I would also like to get a pedicure, but that's is about all for me.

He should resign now before he causes any more friction! The bit I don't understand is, if him and his wife allegedly had the symptoms of Covid19, there was no room for misinterpretation of the rules 'Stay At Home'. Why was it sensible for him to take the virus to his family???? And surely if they had been in contact with there son, then he potentially had it and had to quarantine with the too. I am sure they would have been able to care for each other like others have managed to do. Why did they feel the need to risk others to help them care for their child???

My daughter and her husband had a very expensive holiday booked with flights they booked separately on Opodo. They have had a total nightmare trying to get a refund. They elevated it to the founder of the holiday company who said he would process the refund but still they have received nothing, and Opodo were impossible to get through to and they are still waiting for their money back from them as well. They are seriously out of pocket and the two companies have been sitting on their money for months ... disgraceful!

Do the majority of people realise that many teachers have been in school this whole time? I think judging by what I have been reading it has been assumed that teachers have been shielding at home but so many have been in school face to face with children of key workers who ironically are the ones who may have been closest to the virus such as children of NHS staff. And they have been given hand sanitiser to protect themselves if they have been lucky enough! My question is, is it worth risking more infection for both the teaching staff and support staff for half of a term of what won't be 'normal' school teaching/learning? Will parents want to risk delivering and collecting their children, and what about those year groups that aren't being offered schooling?

Whilst I understand that the airline business is on its knees, I can't see how it would be in any way sensible for anyone to consider taking a holiday abroad in the near future, and certainly not this summer. Social distancing is virtually impossible in an airport and on an aircraft it is totally impossible! I saw the interview on TV this morning and I think Mr O'Leary has lost the plot! I wonder if it is cunning ploy to get out of refunding money to passengers who have already booked flights for the summer .. if he says the flights are operating and then puts the onus on the passenger to cancel, maybe they won't be liable to give them a refund???

In my opinion, the virus is still here, nothing has changed apart from staying at home has meant that infection rates have reduced. Until there is a vaccine we will all be at risk to this invisible enemy. Difficult to 'stay alert' when we can't see the enemy. I think that any sensible person who values their life more than their freedom will still act with caution and not be in a hurry to go out and about any time soon. I think this message is open to misinterpretation to those who struggled to 'Stay at Home' and these are the people who possibly lack the sense to 'Stay Alert'!

For me, I don't think I am drinking more because of lockdown. I generally drink more in the summer than the winter anyway. I enjoy a glass of wine in my garden after a hard day of toil when the evenings are sunny and light. And we have had some lovely evenings recently so I have to confess the rose has been flowing!

This is so strange. I keep having reoccurring dreams about my hairdresser in various situations. She is not always cutting my hair either! I have been searching for may hair cutting scissors and thinking about them for days now, so I am sure this is why, and as if by magic I found them this morning after waking up from yet another dream about hair cuts! So the good news is I have my scissors, but the bad news is I cannot find a comb in the entire house, as I never use one, and my husband is bald! So I have just attempted a little trim using a brush LOL!

I haven't bought a newspaper for years and I am not going to start now. There is so much news available online and I have the BBC news app on my phone. Printed papers go out of date so quickly compared to online news which is updated instantly. Not quite sure how the Culture Secretary thinks we should all be going out and buying papers when we have been instructed to stay at home .. has he missed the message?? Maybe he needs to read the papers!

I would like to nominate a wonderful young nurse - Nancy - she is working tirelessly on the frontline in a London hospital, has caught COVID-19, recovered and is back on the frontline again helping to fight the battle. Such courage, bravery and commitment with a heart of gold :)

My hair is fine at the moment as I had a cut just before lockdown, so should be ok for a couple of months hopefully. I may be tempted to trim the edges. My husband has his own clippers and one of our daughters uses them on him. He is saying that he may try himself as she is not able to visit. I have offered to do it for him, but I have never done it before so it could be interesting/amusing!

I am having problems accessing the Ocado website ... it seems to be permanently down and although I am lucky enough to have an order placed for this weekend, I am unable to edit it or make any changes that I need to make. I am going to try again tomorrow very early in the morning in the hope that everyone is still asleep! I feel sorry for those who haven't already got an account and are now unable to register.

I can see that they are trying to keep the most vulnerable age group safe and away from the virus spread as much as possible and more importantly out of hospitals to take the strain off the NHS, but I am unsure how practical this will actually be. Also how will this be enforced? Plus there are many over 70s who help with childcare and support the younger generation. We are in a crisis situation and unfortunately there is no right answer

Such unsettling times for us all :(

I regularly help out with childcare in our family to help out as all my children work full time and I have retired. Always happy to help however, I do now have a slight concern as my husband has underlying health conditions and I guess the issue is that our generation are going to be relied upon but we are the 'at risk' age group so I can't imagine how this is all going to work out. We are the ones being told to take care of ourselves.

Yes, you're right Sally

Travel seems full of uncertainty at the moment ... my daughter is due to go to Vietnam at Easter via Hong Kong ... her boyfriend's company say he will need to go into 14 days home quarantine when they return and they are now trying to change their flights and holiday plans and go west instead of east, but they are having a challenging time trying to rebook.

Thanks Carole .. he is a big dog and seems to be fine today, so hopefully no damage done ... I have also heard of a dog who stole a whole box of Christmas chocolates and ate them all including the wrappers! Maybe they are more resilient than we think? My dog drinks from muddy puddles and loves horse poo! And we then buy him premium dog food LOL!

I always say to my husband we are only 48 hours away from crisis when things go wrong. There are only limited supplies of fresh foods like milk and bread and when people panic buy crisis begins so quickly!

I don't blame you Wilf ... it's quite frightening how fragile our world is!

Hi Wilf, I share your concerns too. I am thinking of changing my forthcoming travel plans as I am meant to be going to the Far East in May and feeling quite nervous about it. I am going to wait a couple of weeks as things keep changing so quickly. It seems that a vaccine is way off and it will be interesting to see how far it has spread during the next couple of weeks. Do you have any travel plans?

I wish I was a gin drinker, but I cannot even smell it .. my family tell me posh tonic makes a difference but I am too mean to buy it for them!

I love chocolate but the thought of tainting it with ketchup actually makes me feel sick! Yuck!

I can so no reason why a child aged 7 would need a mobile phone. When children are on public transport or responsible for getting themselves independently to secondary school, I can see a need but the issue now is that phones are more than just phones connected to the internet and with poor policing of social media bullying and trolling is a huge issue with young children.

I can think of better ways to spend £500,000 to be honest! I will probably be in bed at 11pm so it won't make a difference to me. It is still early stages of the Brexit process so I feel the celebration may be a bit premature.

I am one of the women who this impacts, however I am very sceptical about this new promise from Labour. I watched the TV debates and there was no mention of it then on Friday by Jeremy Corbyn, which makes me very suspicious. If it wasn't in their original manifesto then where on earth is the money going to come from?? This just makes me think that they have no means to fund any of what they are proposing!! I think they are playing with the emotions of people like me to try and sway my thinking, which is quite a scary prospect. Can't trust any of them to be honest!

Interesting question - I think Helena Bonham Carter is excellent as Princess Margaret. I am unsure about Olivia Coleman at the moment - I have watched 4 episodes so far and think she has a very stern facial expression the whole time and is not as warm as Claire Foy, but then perhaps this happens with age! Not sure the Duke of Edinburgh's character is as cheeky as it was in the previous episodes. Be interesting to see what others think?