Author Topic: Tales from the Lock-Down  (Read 77932 times)

Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #25 on: 25 March, 2020, 02:55:04 pm »
I'm set up in the "back bedroom" with my full office panoply of dual monitors and a laptop. Quite a nice view from the office window now.

25 March by Richard Fletcher, on Flickr

And, miracle of miracles, the VPN seems not only to be working, but at a decent speed too.

Trying VERY hard not to go to any large retailers atm. The local Farm Shop is pretty good for veg, milk and bread, I can order meat online, and a small chemist in the local town will take care of shampoo and shower gels for the time being. Oh, and Majestic's website it back up and running  :thumbsup:
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #26 on: 25 March, 2020, 03:21:09 pm »
My mate what works (sic) for the Environment Agency has been given £150 by them to adapt his home to home working. Home working/skiving what he's already been doing for the last umpteen years. Seeing as his missus works for them too, it;s something of a bonanza. Jealous, me?!
Haggerty F, Haggerty R, Tomkins, Noble, Carrick, Robson, Crapper, Dewhurst, Macintyre, Treadmore, Davitt.

pdm

  • Sheffield hills? Nah... Just potholes.
Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #27 on: 25 March, 2020, 03:24:38 pm »
... the hungry hoard ...

Maybe the hungry horde will want some of your hoard.

Mmmh. Perhaps I should have said hungry bored...

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #28 on: 25 March, 2020, 04:24:59 pm »
We are in the process of reclaiming our back garden from the wild garlic which has taken over. The soil is pretty good and I plan to put a load of taters in, as teh easiest thing that can go into soil that hasn't been cultivate for a bit. Will be going online to buy seeds & stuff fairly shortly.
Dig up the wild garlic and save it! If you don't want it, I'm sure others do.

'Ear, 'ear. A head of garlic is as good as a spud. You peel the whole thing until the individual cloves are visible, press a lump of butter onto the top and then bake it in the oven for ~20 minutes.  The garlic becomes as soft as a boiled potato, and any sharpness is gone. Tastes wonderful.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #29 on: 25 March, 2020, 04:40:10 pm »
Make wild garlic risotto & salad with the leaves & flowers :)
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #30 on: 25 March, 2020, 05:06:06 pm »
Make wild garlic risotto & salad with the leaves & flowers :)

You (almost) charge a lot of money for it. A king's ramson.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #31 on: 25 March, 2020, 05:34:10 pm »
At a couple of our re-enactment events last year, someone made wild garlic butter (by hand, starting with cream) which was rather scrummy.
Looked pretty with the flowers as decoration as well.
"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch."

Wombat

  • Is it supposed to hurt this much?
Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #32 on: 25 March, 2020, 05:43:03 pm »
Wombat, what you complain of is largely true in bulk for almost everyone who wasn't an initial shelf-raider.  I live 400 yards from a supermarket and it's the same as living 15 miles away if there is nothing on the shelves.  On the plus side, we are much more likely to catch the virus than anyone living in wild Wales.

But, like you, I like where I live and I'm also starting on the garden, which, like yours, I suspect, has been pretty much a no-go area since last May!

Be lucky and keep safe

Peter

But at least you can go back another day if they're out of stock of bogrolls or whatever.  Its a major expedition for us, with a significant cost.  I'd like to be able to charge that extra cost to those selfish hoarder twats, who are no doubt living on a much larger income than I am. T'was ever thus, selfish people either not knowing, or not caring, that their actions are making life difficult for others.
Wombat

ian

Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #33 on: 25 March, 2020, 06:16:46 pm »
The power went off a couple of hours back here in the jungles of deepest Surrey (I assume the sticky tape that holds the super new substation they upgraded last Wednesday has come off) and still isn't back (saying 9.30pm now).

Not superhelpful, as I wanted to bake some bread. My feet are also cold.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #34 on: 25 March, 2020, 06:19:53 pm »
Its 1pm and I'm still in my dressing-gown.

I have, however, done a full day's work.

If I went straight to work as soon as I woke up, I could probably get a day's work done before breakfast, before all the distractions start (email, slack, zoom, whatsapp etc). Unfortunately, my company insists on maintaining a superficial semblance of BAU, so we are expected to be at our desks for normal office hours (with constant email, slack, zoom, whatsapp etc to force us to keep checking in).
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

ian

Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #35 on: 25 March, 2020, 06:42:37 pm »
I'm getting loads of sleep as I now don't get my twice-a-week 7am starts (or the disturbance of my wife trying to be quiet at ludicrous-o'clock). So I'm up bright and early at 9am every morning. Shower and a coffee and I'm ready to roll some days by 9.30 am. I do an hour on the turbo-bike thing in the garage (despite all the foul sweat that pours off me, it doesn't net me as many calorie points as a 45-min swim, even though the resistance is permanently bodged on the number six setting).

I am trying to go to bed later, but even then, oh the blissful sleep. I find I'm dreaming a lot. I don't usually remember my dreams but I woke this morning with the idea that I'd tried to eat a prosciutto sandwich and somehow the prosciutto had come out and stretched around me like cling film. A predicament that only waking up solved.


Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #36 on: 25 March, 2020, 07:15:26 pm »
I was chatting to the fishmonger earlier. He did 9 years on deep sea fishing boats, and says all this social distancing suits him just fine.

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #37 on: 25 March, 2020, 08:07:32 pm »
Its 1pm and I'm still in my dressing-gown.

I have, however, done a full day's work.

I don't own a dressing gown. OTOH you don't want to see my nightwear, trus me  :demon:

This time of year I'm normally in my office between 0700 and 0730 in any case, and if things start going really badly I can still be there at 2100.  This year, so far, so good
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #38 on: 25 March, 2020, 08:21:07 pm »
Its 1pm and I'm still in my dressing-gown.

I have, however, done a full day's work.

I don't own a dressing gown. OTOH you don't want to see my nightwear, trus me  :demon:
We don't want to truss you either.  :demon:
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #39 on: 25 March, 2020, 08:21:28 pm »
EMinor has discovered gardening!
He's also started cooking for me and Mrs E; he can't go anywhere, so we can eat dinner together.

orraloon

  • I'm trying Ringo, I'm trying real hard
Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #40 on: 25 March, 2020, 08:36:35 pm »
Make wild garlic risotto & salad with the leaves & flowers :)
Wild garlic pesto.  Pure dead brulliant so it is.

Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #41 on: 25 March, 2020, 08:46:53 pm »
I added some to our cauliflower cheese this evening.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #42 on: 25 March, 2020, 09:00:11 pm »
I meant to go in search of wild garlic on Sunday. Don't suppose I'll get any now  :-\
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #43 on: 25 March, 2020, 09:30:24 pm »
I've been having a mdadm & fsck kind of day.  Because the disk fairy's sense of timing is impeccable, I managed to sneak a high-priority eBuyer order in at the first whiff of a SMART error, just before the lockdown.

Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #44 on: 26 March, 2020, 08:49:45 am »
Wombat, what you complain of is largely true in bulk for almost everyone who wasn't an initial shelf-raider.  I live 400 yards from a supermarket and it's the same as living 15 miles away if there is nothing on the shelves.  On the plus side, we are much more likely to catch the virus than anyone living in wild Wales.

But, like you, I like where I live and I'm also starting on the garden, which, like yours, I suspect, has been pretty much a no-go area since last May!

Be lucky and keep safe

Peter

But at least you can go back another day if they're out of stock of bogrolls or whatever.  Its a major expedition for us, with a significant cost.  I'd like to be able to charge that extra cost to those selfish hoarder twats, who are no doubt living on a much larger income than I am. T'was ever thus, selfish people either not knowing, or not caring, that their actions are making life difficult for others.

Yes, you are quite right on those points.  I didn't mean to belittle your plight.  Good luck

Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #45 on: 26 March, 2020, 08:54:26 am »
Never understood people eating garlic for pleasure - or at all.  Instant social-distancing.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #46 on: 26 March, 2020, 09:07:02 am »
We live on the main local bus route and from my desk, I can see the buses going past. In the past few days, all the buses have been totally empty. I think I saw one person on a bus in the whole of yesterday.

It's like they're running the service just for the sake of running it. I suppose at least it is keeping bus drivers in work.

No idea what level of service they're providing, presumably not a full timetable, but I've just seen four buses going past, two in each direction, within the space of a few minutes.

I wouldn't board a bus wearing anything less than full hazchem right now.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #47 on: 26 March, 2020, 09:09:44 am »
Never understood people eating garlic for pleasure - or at all.  Instant social-distancing.

I heard recently about a woman who heard that garlic was good for fighting off viral infections, so she ate so much raw garlic that it stripped the lining off her throat, or something like that. Totally unverified story but it sounds plausibly like the kind of mad thing people do.

As is this brilliant madness, which is totally verified - and given that it happened in Herne Bay, not all that surprising:
https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/kent-coronavirus-herne-bay-woman-3980586
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

ian

Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #48 on: 26 March, 2020, 09:29:22 am »
There's a zorbing place up the road, I think they're missing a business trick.

I got a bus on a Sunday, but honestly I'd rather take my chances with Covid-19 than some of the people who populate the environs of Croydon (and other than one person downstairs, we had all to ourselves). I once witnessed a three-way brawl on the tram broken up and rather than admonish the three protagonists for their outbreak of sundry violence a woman complained that the should be fighting properly. Two versus one isn't fair, you see. OK, but her solution to this was that other chap should go find a friend to help him out.

vorsprung

  • Opposites Attract
    • Audaxing
Re: Tales from the Lock-Down
« Reply #49 on: 26 March, 2020, 09:59:36 am »
I did too much Pilates this morning and now my back is a bit oooch

On the plus side, daughter is making a Bakewell tart