So England is re-opening

[The Lone Gunman]

I seem to recall you work in Companies House. I left the Civil Service many years ago before redundancies and downsizing started to kick in. Much as I fondly remember my Inland Revenue colleagues, who, like me, went on strike for 3 months, for better pay, I am glad I got out when I did.
I suspect this is a unsettling time for you.

Not Companies House but a Civil Service office. We've been downsizing steadily for the last 20 years. We've been in our current building for around 14 years. We used to have the entire ground floor. Now we have a quarter of that and it'll soon feel too big with so many people working at home.

Thankfully, it's not an unsettling time for me. As far as work goes, those who know me well personally will be aware that the last ten months or so have been surreal rather than unsettling - I can't go into details, but it's been a weird, weird period and that's without Covid-19. Still, could be worse - circumstances have meant I've built up loads of leave, so I'll be having plenty of lazy days off like today in the coming weeks.

[Eric Cartman]

How much of this change is enforced though. The main problem is that the majority of people know they aren't really at risk, what is stopping them slipping back to normality?

I think the pics and vids from Bournemouth highlight what I was getting at. I don't have a great deal of confidence in the British public.

[goats]

I think the pics and vids from Bournemouth highlight what I was getting at. I don't have a great deal of confidence in the British public.

Broad haven in Pembs was apparently busier than it’s been for years yesterday......

[blue matt]

I think the pics and vids from Bournemouth highlight what I was getting at. I don't have a great deal of confidence in the British public.

but the world has to get back to " some kind of normal " at some point, sure it would be great to have 0 chance of getting covid, but thats not where we are at and it could be years till that happens

Im speaking as someone who am in my 4th week after getting back to work, we have gone to the garden centre a few times, been to Wickes, today i popped to Halfords as my brake light was out, as ive mentioned it before our girls football team is going back training on Friday ( in bubbles of 6 )

we havent been to the beach, though the surfboards and wetsuits are out of our storage container, so a beach trip could well happen shortly, ive dug out our Weekend camping tents, so we could stay over on a campsite

truthfully life is returning to a semi-normal down here, yes its at a distance ( be it at 3M ranging down to 1/2M and with perspex screens everywhere ) people are earning a living, life looks fairly normal now

Of course drakeford has a great fall back. when the Welsh economy is on its knee's and jobs are lost, he can always shout " Oh its them Evil English overlords that caused this " or " Oh its all Boris's fault " , its a no lose situation for him, he has he " get out of jail card "

[Harry Paget Flashman]

Wouldn't fancy being a doorman trying to limit the number of people going for a drink at their local.

Having read the guidance on reopening venues it looks pointless.

No loud music in case people shout and raise the rate of infection transmitted in the air.

No loud music or live acts in case people start dancing.

No sport on the tv in case people hug.

People should be seated.

It'll be like having a drink in a Dr's surgery waiting room.

[blue matt]

Having read the guidance on reopening venues it looks pointless.

No loud music in case people shout and raise the rate of infection transmitted in the air.

No loud music or live acts in case people start dancing.

No sport on the tv in case people hug.

People should be seated.

It'll be like having a drink in a Dr's surgery waiting room.

to me it looks like its geared to pubs serving food, but its a start

[Harry Paget Flashman]

to me it looks like its geared to pubs serving food, but its a start

Pretty shite for the bulk for the NTE though. Half the places won’t make money or be worth opening at the capacity levels being thrown around.

Throw in the expectation of venues to keep tabs on its customers for track and trace purposes and the extra costs around that.

[Heisenberg]

but the world has to get back to " some kind of normal " at some point, sure it would be great to have 0 chance of getting covid, but thats not where we are at and it could be years till that happens

Im speaking as someone who am in my 4th week after getting back to work, we have gone to the garden centre a few times, been to Wickes, today i popped to Halfords as my brake light was out, as ive mentioned it before our girls football team is going back training on Friday ( in bubbles of 6 )

we havent been to the beach, though the surfboards and wetsuits are out of our storage container, so a beach trip could well happen shortly, ive dug out our Weekend camping tents, so we could stay over on a campsite

truthfully life is returning to a semi-normal down here, yes its at a distance ( be it at 3M ranging down to 1/2M and with perspex screens everywhere ) people are earning a living, life looks fairly normal now

Of course drakeford has a great fall back. when the Welsh economy is on its knee's and jobs are lost, he can always shout " Oh its them Evil English overlords that caused this " or " Oh its all Boris's fault " , its a no lose situation for him, he has he " get out of jail card "

People keep saying it's "no lose" for him as they think he is doing a shit job and he will just make excuses - whether or not their predictions come to light...

Sounds like a "no win" situation, really.

[Jordi Culé]

but the world has to get back to " some kind of normal " at some point, sure it would be great to have 0 chance of getting covid, but thats not where we are at and it could be years till that happens

Im speaking as someone who am in my 4th week after getting back to work, we have gone to the garden centre a few times, been to Wickes, today i popped to Halfords as my brake light was out, as ive mentioned it before our girls football team is going back training on Friday ( in bubbles of 6 )

we havent been to the beach, though the surfboards and wetsuits are out of our storage container, so a beach trip could well happen shortly, ive dug out our Weekend camping tents, so we could stay over on a campsite

truthfully life is returning to a semi-normal down here, yes its at a distance ( be it at 3M ranging down to 1/2M and with perspex screens everywhere ) people are earning a living, life looks fairly normal now

Of course drakeford has a great fall back. when the Welsh economy is on its knee's and jobs are lost, he can always shout " Oh its them Evil English overlords that caused this " or " Oh its all Boris's fault " , its a no lose situation for him, he has he " get out of jail card "

Just watched a tv news report that suggested 500,000 people tried to get into Bournemouth today. When has that been normal?

[xsnaggle]

Just watched a tv news report that suggested 500,000 people tried to get into Bournemouth today. When has that been normal?

I read a similar thing but it said Dorset not just Bournemouth. Places like Poole and along the coast. But maybe they were some of those that tried Bournemouth and couldn't get in!

[xsnaggle]

Very little, but the changes I've alluded to are noticeable. In my experience, a lot of the people who have been working at home during the pandemic are likely to continue to do that for some time, if not permanently then a lot more often. Most of the shops reopened in Cardiff on Monday but they were very quiet. Public transport is still very quiet. The traffic on the roads has increased but it's still quiet in normal terms. People have been getting into the habit of socialising in their gardens more often than before and I think that will continue as long as the weather holds.

Things will undoubtedly move back towards normality, but as I say I think it's going to be a gradual process.

Mu only observation on that is regarding traffic. Anyone who drives regularly will know the difference in traffic between when school are open and when they're not, so part of it still being relatively quiet may be due to them not being open.
If so we may see an increase on Monday morning.