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Post by The Doctor on Mar 17, 2020 18:15:56 GMT
Work seems to be business as usual and, er, we are doing extra cleaning ourselves. I am hoping reality strikes soon and Upstairs gives some clear guidance tomorrow so I can't count on us staying open/being employed for sure as yet.
-Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 17, 2020 19:09:21 GMT
OU system is falling over. With face to face tutorials cancelled everyone is moving to online ones. The system is not coping well with it and keeps dropping off.
-Ralph
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Post by Bogatan on Mar 17, 2020 19:11:59 GMT
Been off work for 6 days. Last week was already getting a bit weird, curious what things will be like as we approach full lockdown.
Had an ever so slightly sore throat for the past 2 days. As with everyone else paranoia set in a little. But realistically its just a combination of not drinking enough, travelling and given my eyes are a bit scratchy I assume mild hayfever.
Ended up seeing Shatners show last night. I honestly think if the government had made their latest recommendations (seriously they need to actually shut things down or not, suggesting isnt going to work) even a few hours earlier it would have been called off, but people were already queuing to get in.
(Why the hell anyone would add an hour or two of lining up with a large number of strangers on top of sitting in the theatre with them for another couple of hours baffles me, theres literally no benefit to getting in early)
Expecting it might be cancelled and wanting to keep my options open I hadnt booked a hotel for the night, so was happy to find one near the olympia pretty cheap after I'd picked up my ticket and confirmed it was going ahead.
Anyway show was pretty good. Happy to see Wrath on the big screen (even if the sound wasnt great early on). Now just Motion Picture, 3 and 4 to see big screen style. Shatner was good, but having seen Blessed in action again just last week he suffered in comparison. As all men do in fairness.
London was really empty this morning as I walked back to Kings Cross (18 or 20 miles walked in 25 hours, my legs ache) Somewhere between a normal Sunday morning and the early stages of Shaun of the Dead.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Mar 17, 2020 19:16:32 GMT
Today I have mostly been panic-buying the Adam West Batman series on Blu-ray, and the latest Jack Reacher novel (still in hardback - I had been planning to wait for the paperback but want to get stocked up on reading matter).
Probably start working from home tomorrow or the next day. Today in the office we learnt how to do multi-participant Microsoft Teams videoconferences on our laptops.
Martin
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Post by Pinwig on Mar 17, 2020 19:48:01 GMT
Still in limbo really. The first of our staff went today, off for two weeks as her son was sent home from college with typical virus symptoms. Kids beginning to disappear too. I've lost two now, other classes a lot more. I get the government's desire to keep schools open, but I can see the infrastructure of the school collapsing before it's officially shut. Tonight we all met to make a huge list of things kids can do while off. Being the only really tech savvy person in the place I suggested setting up a school google drive account from which parents can download resources. Otherwise they were just going to email stuff out all the time. I mentioned google classroom and what we could do, but that seems beyond most of m'colleagues.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Mar 17, 2020 19:49:57 GMT
Last night we were mostly panic-buying pints of lager in a pub in the expectation that we are unlikely to do so again for a few months. Today I panic-bought an iced latte in Caffe Nero on the walk to work, and there were several other customers. Then on my lunch break I panic-bought another iced latte at a different Caffe Nero in the city centre, and I was virtually the only one in there. (I say panic-bought - panic-cashed-in-completed-loyalty-stamp-card would be more accurate.) And there were no newspapers. There are usually newspapers. I guess they decided it was unhygienic for customers to share newspapers. If they had customers. Hope all these places are still going when we come out of this. Martin
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Mar 17, 2020 19:53:12 GMT
Fortunately my nieces' mum (my sister) is a primary school teacher, so when the schools close she can just switch to teaching her own children instead of other people's.
Martin
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Post by Bogatan on Mar 17, 2020 20:19:03 GMT
Still in limbo really. The first of our staff went today, off for two weeks as her son was sent home from college with typical virus symptoms. Kids beginning to disappear too. I've lost two now, other classes a lot more. I get the government's desire to keep schools open, but I can see the infrastructure of the school collapsing before it's officially shut. Tonight we all met to make a huge list of things kids can do while off. Being the only really tech savvy person in the place I suggested setting up a school google drive account from which parents can download resources. Otherwise they were just going to email stuff out all the time. I mentioned google classroom and what we could do, but that seems beyond most of m'colleagues. As with the rest of the response it seems like they want to avoid making a call and are hoping to make it Easter holidays rather than take responsibility for shutting schools early.
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Mar 17, 2020 22:18:41 GMT
I doubt we will be going back after Easter, not with the peak not expected/hoped to hit until May.
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Post by Jim on Mar 17, 2020 22:33:54 GMT
My workplace seems on the cups of acknowledging we won't be back in the office for a couple of months now. Today they announced we could take equipment like monitors with us for working from home, not just our usual laptops. Though I'm in the middle of my language course, so can't take advantage of that...
First remote language course session was a bit painful - people really need to remember to mute their mics when they're not talking! - but I guess everyone is getting a crash course in this now.
Daughter's school has started sending work to do at home, but they're explicitly not giving a lot as they don't want to stress kids this age any further.
The weather has been lovely so far this week, 15 degrees and sunny, feels like Spring, which if anything is making the whole thing feel weirder.
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Mar 18, 2020 9:50:44 GMT
We were allowed to take monitors home as well yesterday but I didn't think I would be able to get one connected to my Chromebook so didn't bother. I then of course thought of a way as soon as I was home. Oh well. Building is physically locked now to prevent entry so can't even pop back for one now even if I felt motivated enough to.
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 18, 2020 12:44:59 GMT
Looks like head office is closing and those who don't work with the public will work from home. The rest of us are being left to get on with it. Or it seems. Could change.
-Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 18, 2020 13:16:49 GMT
It's irrational but my current anxiety levels are through the roof. It's going about my work (and having less to do today as some services have been shuttered) while seeing less people and places closing with notices everywhere...it's all getting to me a bit. I know logically that in a few days I'll acclimitise to the new normal and settle down but my nerves are fucked. It's hard to not keep checking the news.
June OU exam looks to be "replaced with alternative assessment arrangement". Bugger.
-Ralph
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Post by Shockprowl on Mar 18, 2020 17:01:02 GMT
Perfectly normal to feel like that Doc'. Everyone is on edge. I think there'd be something wrong with you if you didn't feel like that.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Mar 18, 2020 17:10:02 GMT
Perfectly normal to feel like that Doc'. Everyone is on edge. I think there'd be something wrong with you if you didn't feel like that. And how are things at the Admiralty in these Interesting Times?
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Post by Shockprowl on Mar 18, 2020 17:11:49 GMT
Perfectly normal to feel like that Doc'. Everyone is on edge. I think there'd be something wrong with you if you didn't feel like that. And how are things at the Admiralty in these Interesting Times? Everyone's working really hard.
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 18, 2020 19:00:24 GMT
Work table acquired. Now just to get a chair so I can study at home when the lockdown happens.
-Ralph
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Mar 18, 2020 19:36:40 GMT
Today I have been mostly panic-acquiring a spare roll of green recycling bags from the central library.
Office still open, though people being 'encouraged' to work from home if they can. School closures provide added encouragement for parents to stop coming in.
I've decided to work from home tomorrow. Not sure about Friday. Probably work from home all of next week as Dad wants to drive over and spend the weekend in nine days' time, and I want to be sure I'm not infected, which means more or less self-isolating for the week leading up to his visit.
In other news, Council wants volunteers to stop doing volunteering work on local nature reserve until further notice.
And Travelodge won't refund my non-refundable rooms booked for mid-April in central London but will let me amend the dates to much later in the year. Happy to settle for that.
Martin
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Mar 18, 2020 20:03:15 GMT
Today I have been mostly panic-acquiring a spare roll of green recycling bags from the central library. Oh yeah, and a spare bag of bird seed for the twenty or so house sparrows who permanently reside in the hedge in my back garden. Martin
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Post by Pinwig on Mar 18, 2020 21:15:12 GMT
The briefing today coincided with the weekly staff meeting, so we all watched live. As with all these things one announcement just leads to more questions. However the race is on now to provide children with work before Friday. I'm loading up a Google drive which I'll share with parents. Having the close decision is a relief, especially as we're down enough staff now that things are awkward, but we need to wait and see now how many children we will need to look after.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Mar 18, 2020 21:19:16 GMT
Doing a good job there!
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Post by Shockprowl on Mar 18, 2020 21:48:52 GMT
Absolutely.
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 18, 2020 21:57:51 GMT
Oh btw: got engaged.
-Ralph
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Post by Philip Ayres on Mar 18, 2020 22:01:21 GMT
Congratulations!
The Jedi mind powers did the trick then? "This is the engagement ring you're looking for!"
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Post by Shockprowl on Mar 18, 2020 22:01:56 GMT
Oh btw: got engaged. -Ralph YYYYEEEAAAAYYYYY!!!!!!
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Mar 18, 2020 22:04:24 GMT
Great news! But his girlfriend will kill him when she finds out... Martin
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Post by Shockprowl on Mar 18, 2020 22:05:44 GMT
Oh no. He's not-
He's not got engaged to Phil's Grand Galvatron has he?!?!
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Post by Pinwig on Mar 18, 2020 22:11:41 GMT
Good lord! Well done that man.
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 18, 2020 22:26:08 GMT
Congratulations! The Jedi mind powers did the trick then? "This is the engagement ring you're looking for!" Paddles the soft toy penguin helped me as all my planned scenarios were thwarted by virus lockdowns! -Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 18, 2020 22:26:41 GMT
Oh no. He's not- He's not got engaged to Phil's Grand Galvatron has he?!?! The perfect engagement gift! -Ralph
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