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Post by Latecomer on Jun 13, 2020 21:09:21 GMT
I genuinely don’t understand why toilets have to be for either men or women.
Just get rid of the urinals and have “toilets” for everyone . We are ALL people. What exactly do women actually do in the loos that they don’t want men to see? Please explain.
This is so silly in this day and age.
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 8, 2020 21:39:19 GMT
Interestingly George the Poet was on the radio a while back. He said he thought much the same as Dave25 ...he ended up doing a degree at Cambridge having managed to break away from rough estate in London....until he actually studied how people behave (anthropology) at university. Then he thought back and realised that nearly all his friends had, for example, no father present in their life, and that he was the exception, or outlier, being able to break free from probably ending up as a criminal. He was really interesting to listen to. He explained in some detail why people ended up how they did and said he was basically naive and simplistic before he had properly thought it though.
The point I make is that it is easy and lazy to think how Dave25 does. To really question takes courage and hard work and is not easy. That’s why so many people don’t bother.
And I will just say... in any walk of life you get people who will cheat a system....it’s just that somehow not paying your fair share in society and shielding your money from the tax man is admired rather than despised. Not very supportive of all those NHS nurses is it?
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 8, 2020 17:56:10 GMT
Dave25 Do you agreee with this statement: 'the colour of ones skin has an impact on ones ability to live free anywhere in the USA' For some people it does, for others it does not. And claiming the victim role in cases where it is not fair makes it worse. Black people in the USA can become anything they want, and the ones that worked for it have. Just like any other person. This unites. Then there's the group that desires pity, even in situations where it's completely unfounded, which makes companies scared so they demand privileges. This creates a gap and makes sure these people will not be seen as equals because they don't see and present themselves as equals. It's a downward spiral. Nobody denies there is and will always be racism. Uniting and standing strong solves this. Not milking the victim role and point fingers. Let's applaud the low number of black unarmed criminals killed by police together. And protest against the alarmingly high number of white unarmed killed criminals, because what is actually happening there? This is not about the ones who swing guns at the police. Stay stable and sane everybody. Surely you can’t really believe this rubbish? Sorry, not engaging. |
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 6, 2020 14:03:40 GMT
Were you able to eat the second tub before it melted? It's in the freezer. I'm saving it...not for another rainy day, but a sunny one! Today's treat was a slice, or three, of iced Madeira cake from the Co-op, reduced from £1.35 to only 35p. Thank goodness it came with full instructions, otherwise I wouldn't have had a clue what to do. "HOW TO PREPARE - Remove all packaging. Place cake onto a flat surface and with a sharp serrated knife, cut using a sawing action. Make sure you clean the blade between slices " I've always been a bit of a maverick, so I didn't actually bother with the sawing bit, and just cut straight down. It still worked a treat, but then my knife was made in Sheffield. 🙂 You made me chuckle! Nothing beats Sheffield steel!  |
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 5, 2020 15:30:30 GMT
Did you watch to the end? Did you see where she ended up? Did you see perhaps why she subjected herself to abusive relationships? I thought that was the whole point. It didn’t glamorise it... I enjoyed the portrayal of first sex as well...he asked, she asked for a condom, there wasn’t the usual grappling with clothes, they just stripped off. He checked all was ok mid sex....it was refreshing. Yes, all 6 hours of it. Apparently in the book her father is specified as abusive, but here it's left vague, a brief hint early on that was then contradicted by her apparently nostalgic preciousness over her father's glassware in the Call Me By Your Name episode (It's a small town, her Mum is actually the cleaner in her house every day, he has gone to school with her presumably for years - surely he'd know more than he does?) . And yes, I noted than Connell was laudably careful about ensuring her consent in the early episodes, and refreshingly upset that she wanted him to take her roughly from behind later on, but that doesn't make me feel any more happy about the way she was portrayed and the way audiences seem to think her doe-eyed helplessness is romantic. They are criticising Connell for not being her 'white knight' when his friends insult her or boyfriends bully her, rather than being angry that she - supposedly the smartest girl at school and college - doesn't stand up for herself and actively seeks out horrible men who hurt her. There's a short Twitter film made by an Irish performer skitting it - where she's asking him about wanting a cup of tea - that really summed up the series for me. This is a character submitting herself to extreme abuse from men and it just wasn't explored enough why. Do young people in this post Twilight, 50 Shades, Fleabag world not see this as extreme any more? The semi-autobiographical series Patrick Melrose explored the rich, bright, self-destructive character with so much more depth and understanding. We will have to agree to disagree...I thought they showed quite clearly why she felt like she did and thought the ending was hopeful and optimistic and showed a couple who, despite their backgrounds had managed to find self worth and respect. |
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 5, 2020 11:32:03 GMT
Yes, it's the best instruction manual for teenagers I can imagine. That's what worries me about it tbh. I thought the performances were excellent and the production values superb, but I'm dismayed that so many recent smash-hit series/books have female protagonists who are passive, gamine wet lettuces desperately needing a man to rescue them/validate their existence, or submitting to emotional and physical abuse in a glossy aspirational setting. Here, we have a female lead, supposedly super smart, who submits to abuse while looking incredibly chic in an Italian villa used in adverts and movies, and then photogenically tied up and prettily weeping 50 Shades style at the hands of a scandinavian photographer (seriously, if you asked teenagers what is the coolest job, photographer is one that's always been right up there.). And I think the production romanticises this, with its honeyed summer light and gorgeously dressed houses and characters: I've seen adult women on my Twitter feed desperate to emulate her hairstyle and whooping with joy at finding her exact hoop earrings. Apparently the book describes her as "luminously thin" too, with the sort of fetishistic language some readers have said feels like something from a Victorian novel (the 19thc novel loves suffering, pretty women) - lucky it's the sort of eating disorder that makes her look like someone from a 50s French film/Audrey Hepburn and not James Corden, eh? Did you watch to the end? Did you see where she ended up? Did you see perhaps why she subjected herself to abusive relationships? I thought that was the whole point. It didn’t glamorise it... I enjoyed the portrayal of first sex as well...he asked, she asked for a condom, there wasn’t the usual grappling with clothes, they just stripped off. He checked all was ok mid sex....it was refreshing. |
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 5, 2020 7:30:22 GMT
They get paid regardless of whether it works or not. Preliminary results were not that impressive (it didn’t stop monkeys catching it, but they seemed less likely to develop life threatening pneumonia) This is unlike any other vaccine development ever done, in that they will produce all the “contenders” as quickly as possible, knowing that some (all?) will not work. The collateral damage of producing vaccines they will just end up bining is worth it. That’s not to say I am not optimistic that we will get treatments and more understanding of this disease...I greatly admire scientists and their work...it’s just that we have to give them the breathing space to do so, by getting this under control. |
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 4, 2020 21:23:18 GMT
Hospital admissions far more useful, I agree. |
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 4, 2020 21:20:14 GMT
No it wouldn't - the rule is a face covering, not a mask. Everyone owns a scarf or a t-shirt, they will do. True, although the problem with casual improvisation is that it probably won't do anything useful. I own several scarves (I don't know where they came from as I hardly ever use them) but none would offer any protection against disease. Not trying to protect you against the disease...they are to try and stop you spreading it if you have it, so scarf or t-shirt mask fine. A mask DOES NOT PROTECT YOU so keep your distance but if others all wear them that will help (like if people sneezed into tissues or arm/sleeve. |
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 1, 2020 16:45:05 GMT
Has to be better than Stay alert....
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 1, 2020 16:43:47 GMT
Here we go.
Low contacts. Safe distance. Low risk
Then explain people can see the odd friend/family but please not all at once and please dont go mad....as little as you can live with.
Safe distance...self explanatory
Low risk....ask people to consider all their actions and think once then twice.
How’s that? I would user fewer contacts or low number of contacts but less words is more powerful and I think it sort of explains?
Anyone else?
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 1, 2020 11:29:16 GMT
How many of us can remember the new slogan from the Government? How many of us need a slogan? This is a disease, not some magical threat the like of which no human has ever known. We all know what diseases are and how they spread and this disease, severe though it may be, is one of a class of diseases we all know very well. Who among us can honestly claim they've never caught a cold or flu or be unaware of how they spread? I genuinely don't understand how people can look at what should be an easily comprehensible situation and not know what behaviour is and is not safe. I just don't get it. Nobody should find this confusing. And I don't understand how people on this forum can get to whatever age they are and still not know how diseases spread. Every single one of us should be able to figure out what to do. There are no excuses. Perhaps someone could explain to me how what the government says somehow negates all your experience of illness and all your understanding of disease and leaves you helpless to know how you should behave now, because I'm completely baffled. Your middle paragraph is precisely why we need a slogan. Clunk, click with every trip. Look left, look right, look left again. It’s called public health. Their first slogan Stay home. Protect the NHS. Save lives was good. It is complicated and half the problem is we cannot totally eliminate risk but the messaging recently has been terrible. For example, my work has been talking about people returning to work, when 95% of their work can be done from home. They have even dug out old jobs, that haven’t been done for the last 10 years and can ONLY be done in the office to “keep them busy until we open again”. Managers have heard “can return to work” and not “must stay at home if possible” I do blame the Government. People need guidance from public health and have always done so. They need adverts on the TV...remember the Green Cross Code and that was just to teach people how to cross the road.... |
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 1, 2020 10:02:26 GMT
I think the misreporting from the media has something to answer to. I have watched every briefing bar one I think and seen one news bulletin a day. The headline that government scientists don't agree with what has been actioned is totally unrealistic when 3 out of 50 sage members are mentioned. The other 47 then are apparently in agreement. This is a complex issue and getting the balance right is not an easy ask as there are many competing issues and views at all times. I doubt if the government would go ahead if they thought what they were doing would risk a second peak when at every stage that is what they have been trying to avoid.A lot of what is happening is advice, shielded people are not being forced to go out. Jenny harries said yesterday that the risk outdoors has dropped substantially since the outbreak began. People are being given choices. That is not to say people are being irresponsible as I think many are. At every stage we are being told that the regulations when changed are not to be taken advantage of and we should still be minimising contacts where possible. I hope we can move through the levels without any further major outbreaks but that is not just down to government. It is down to how we all act.I don't agree there is any confusion with what is being done. Detailed guidelines are always available on gov.uk. I am sure many will disagree but we all have our opinion and lets hope we can all get though this without too much further suffering. How many of us can remember the new slogan from the Government? It is deliberately vague and they have replaced red for warning with green for go (sublimal messaging....you are not really aware of it but it changes how you feel about something). Then they will blame the public for “not being sensible” when things go wrong. “You didn’t use you common sense”....not “we were rubbish about getting the correct messaging out there” Call me cynical but they have taken a decision that the deaths are worth it as we need the economy back up and running. If that’s the case please have the guts to level with us. It’s either that, or they are taking incompetence to a whole new level.... |
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Post by Latecomer on May 31, 2020 16:58:06 GMT
It is always a difficult ask to expect people who will not be ill themselves to stay at home for the sake of others...not exactly sure that they realise that, even if they are not ill, it is the contact points and the number of them that count....hence all the people on here popping out for a croissant and buying food daily, instead of once a week. Or the people who just pop to the Co-op for the daily paper every day.....the beauty of the first message STAY AT HOME. PROTECT THE NHS. SAVE LIVES was that we were doing it for those doctors and nurses....and we all understood they could be overwhelmed. Now? What is the message? Empty hospital beds, unused Nightingale hospitals, all back to normal working...so who are we staying home for? And why? You can see how it looks to them.....Plus “we need to spend money to keep the economy going” so it becomes our duty to go out and buy that icecream.....
Mixed messages. I predict problems ahead. I only hope that a muddle through perhaps not hugging easy other may be enough....I fear it won’t be.
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Post by Latecomer on May 30, 2020 16:15:28 GMT
I’d be fine with people deciding to take the risk....but not with them having my oxygen and bed if I need it, having followed the rules....Plus I think it it selfish not to think of all the NHS workers that would have to deal with being overwhelmed with sick patients.
So...we obey the rules, for everyone please. It’s called society.
By the same token we really should think about helping the poor and the young as we seem to be expecting a lot from them at the moment to protect some of those big flash car owners sipping wine in lockdown gardens....And not forgetting that delivery driver/bin man/care worker/teacher/NHS worker etc etc etc
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Post by Latecomer on May 29, 2020 18:05:35 GMT
If anyone is interested, the number published today For hospital admissions for the 27th is....... 552 Looks as if we are settling into a long tail with a couple hundred deaths a day becoming the new normal. Yes, interested. Thanks. Where do you find this? Would like to keep an eye on it. I think saying that you can meet up with family in your own garden, just before an absolutely gorgeous weekend, with no real explanation of why Monday and why not now, is a rookie error...or perhaps Boris just wanted to have good news to deflect from Cummings story? I don’t think we “needed time to prepare”....it’s not like we are going to be doing anything special is it? I do like the other leaders (Welsh and Scottish) as they explain well eg why 5 miles Limit ( you might not be able to obey this if in rural areas, we understand, but you get our concept...please don’t spread it between places) etc etc Boris, in particular, is not very good at explaining in follow up questions...so for barbecue question he didn’t say “if you pass a plate of food or touch a spoon to get barbecue sauce then your guests may catch it if you have it and are not showing symptoms” ...he just said “wash hands” ...I mean that helps but not if you then touch your mouth before passing that sauce bottle over...!!!! He just such a muddler.... |
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Post by Latecomer on May 28, 2020 18:58:50 GMT
The thing is I’m still not sure what the government are trying to achieve? Are they trying to do a “New Zealand” and get rid of the virus until we have a vaccine/better treatments, or are they trying to make sure we keep R below but maybe near to 1, so that we continue having cases but the NHS can cope? If that’s the case how do the shielding people ever emerge? I feel like each time they don’t know what they are trying to achieve long term so they are whishy washy and achieve the worst outcome....at the start they locked down too late after dithering with ideas about herd immunity...but achieved neither an effective eradication (our lockdown was not as tight as other badly hit European countries) or a herd immunity or kept the economy going in any meaningful way. It would have been cheaper to lockdown tight much earlier and eradicate and then enjoy being an island where borders can be guarded relatively easily......
So what are we actually trying to achieve here? Does anyone know?
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Post by Latecomer on May 27, 2020 11:01:51 GMT
I think it is ironic that Dominic Cummings basically stirred up people during Vote Leave to make it ok for people to voice populist hate against minorities......and now the mob have turned on him he doesn’t like it. He helped make our society a nastier place (in my opinion, I concede not everyone will agree) and now he doesn’t like the nastiness being directed at him.
He should go.
On a side note the Range Rover has automatic tracking (same model helped nail the Crossbow murderer in Anglesey despite the man destroying the car!...google it) so it should be quite easy to check if he’s telling the truth and if he did fill the car with petrol somewhere....It would also be ironic if the big brother data led to his downfall wouldn’t it....
More importantly where is our sensible track trace and isolate system and how do local lockdowns work if you are allowed to travel for childcare?
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Post by Latecomer on May 24, 2020 17:27:37 GMT
It's a year today since my mother died. Not my best day, but better than I expected, perhaps because I'm avoiding the family WhatsApp group on the grounds that a load of sentimental posturing by my brother - who couldn't be bothered to help take care of Mum while she was completely housebound, didn't care enough to answer the the phone when the hospice called in the middle of the night to say she was dying, but was round Mum's house, which was still my home at the time, helping himself to stuff before we'd even finalised the funeral arrangements - probably wouldn't improve my mood. I'm OK, and I think I've done a good job of getting myself through the last year - and I've put some distance between myself and that side of the family, and it helps. And my aunts and cousins have been incredibly kind and supportive over the last year. Today is sad but also positive - everything relating to the estate is finally dealt with and wrapped up, and I'm free to start looking forward. Good work sf and give yourself a pat on the back. I am sure you will always miss your mum but hope you have some lovely memories of her. How is the new place working out? When lockdown happened I know accommodation situation was horrible....hope the new place is good. |
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Post by Latecomer on May 21, 2020 19:45:02 GMT
Burnt palm of hand picking up what turned out to be burning hot fork, not sure how, think someone must have turned hob o under it. Have sat with it in water for an hour, had to break for clap (mimed). Really throbbing, shower suddenly off the cards. Poor you...have done the right thing. Cold water and then savlon... I am always burning myself...sometimes for quite silly reasons....eg taking cakes out of oven and perching the tray on my knee while I close the oven door.... Usually it’s on the rails of the oven as I shuffle things about. I am just quite incompetent. Hope it feels better soon...x |
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Post by Latecomer on May 18, 2020 13:15:02 GMT
Sigh. Forecast is for 80% or greater chance of rain all this week, and it has been raining for the past eight hours almost nonstop. Not having the chance of a long outdoor walk is going to be a bit taxing at this point in the shelter-at-home regime. A coat? Rain wouldn’t stop me (unless there is thunder and lightening, then I stay home!). After all, even if you get wet you don’t shrink! I usually find the worst bit is contemplating going out in the rain...once you are out it’s not too bad! Sometimes quite exhilarating. Other times I feel like a gloomy French poet...without writing the poetry, or being French!!!! |
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Post by Latecomer on May 17, 2020 18:15:10 GMT
Sainsbury's (used to?) do some rather nice packets of mixed nuts and chocolate raisins but I haven't seen them on the shelves recently. I decided I'd assemble my own substitute and with that in mind I bought some nuts and some chocolate raisins. I bought two packets of chocolate raisins, and it's a good job I did because one of them didn't make it through the afternoon. I think sometimes I must have been the best mother as chocolate raisins and popcorn both counted as a fruit/veg portions in my house! The children still chuckle about it! |
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Post by Latecomer on May 17, 2020 9:38:26 GMT
Today I should be celebrating my birthday with a trip to the Liverpool Empire to watch Riverdance. Instead I am spending it sitting on the couch eating chocolate. Thankfully I have a nice Sirloin steak to cook later to cheer me up. Happy birthday david! I hope it is a good one, despite the lack of Riverdance! |
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Post by Latecomer on May 14, 2020 13:12:15 GMT
That feeling that you “don’t belong” while in a crowd at school and then hoping you will at University...only to find that the same (but different) problem sort of follows you. And the heartbreak when he realises he can’t really go back to his old life either.....I thought the bit where he arrives on campus and looking round was amazing....just like I felt!
I also liked that they ended up not really being “cool” but being fine with that!
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Post by Latecomer on May 13, 2020 18:15:30 GMT
This was splendid wasn’t it. Each episode I didn’t believe when it was over .....it was so slow but beautiful and I loved the changing dynamic.
Perfect end as well....they are both finally happier people and, although they could have stayed together, it was ok for them to be apart, as finally they each sort of liked who they had become! I always say to people that you cannot be happy in a relationship unless you are happy with yourself. I mean, obviously you can be happier with someone that without but you can still be lonely and unhappy with a partner....they aren’t going to magically solve stuff.
I am sad that I have finished watching it and there is no more....
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