[davidjay]

I've been a bit busy at work so I've not had much time to be on here this week but I have a feeling that might be changing in the next day or two.

Yup. Off until the New Year; mixed feelings as it's obviously safer to be at home than out mingling with the public, but we can't be hanging around doing nothing forever. At least the last of the Christmas presents was delivered today.

[Kreuzberger]

Peter Altmaier, our Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, has assessed our chances of eased restrictions, as planned, on Jan 10th, as faint to fuck all.

I'm just not getting it. We are on record infections and deaths again today, and yet we have been under seriously heavy manners for a week now. Even the private party scene has, according to younger friends, begun to come to it's senses. The only explanation I can think of is that school kids are remaining asymptomatic while blasting their viral load through families and hyper-local communities.

I am just thankful that, over the entire piece, we will only be seeing a total of five or six close friends who are all largely sensible and childless.

[Zuriblue]

Bugger bugger bugger fuck fuck fuckity fuck.

I’ve just got back from seeing my support bubble, talking to my mums friend and she told me that two out of the three tanker drivers have tested positive for the pestilence. I had an oil delivery last Wednesday and spoke to the driver. Ok we were socially distanced and outside but this is a real nightmare. I’ve got to call track and trace tomorrow.

Edit: and I’ve got a slight temperature but can still taste and smell. Shit.

[Zuriblue]

Bugger bugger bugger fuck fuck fuckity fuck.

I’ve just got back from seeing my support bubble, talking to my mums friend and she told me that two out of the three tanker drivers have tested positive for the pestilence. I had an oil delivery last Wednesday and spoke to the driver. Ok we were socially distanced and outside but this is a real nightmare. I’ve got to call track and trace tomorrow.

Edit: and I’ve got a slight temperature but can still taste and smell. Shit.

And a slight temperature last night so I went for a test. 50 miles each way, straight into the low sun with frozen washers (they unfroze after 20 miles) and flaming Morpeth town centre was locked off because of a gas leak. The temperature went after a bit thank Christ and I don’t have any other symptoms but I’m terrified for some of my relatives. Hopefully it’ll come back negative but until I know I can’t leave the house. Gopverdaminamal.

Problem seems to have been that we’re on the Border (Scotland is 2 miles away) so it’s all been taken care of by Scottish test and trace. The 2 apps don’t share data and it looks like the oil company didn’t send their customer list to test and trace (or if they did it didn’t get passed on to the English ones)

[Oblomov]

Mum's funeral today, I'm giving a short eulogy.

I'm not ready for it at all, I had hoped the day would never come

[The Red Arrow]

Thoughts with you, Obie. Be strong for the weak, brave for the frightened and there for the living.

[Boiler]

You're a braver man than I, Obs. I'll be thinking of you today.

[Kreuzberger]

I just popped over to the German press to see if anything notable has been happening. I wish I hadn't.

The emerging medical consensus seems to be that we should remain in lockdown until at least the end of March and perhaps even April. I am not hugely surprised but I am still shocked that it has come to this.

[Oblomov]

Thoughts with you, Obie. Be strong for the weak, brave for the frightened and there for the living.

Cheers Arrer, I found it enormously difficult but I felt compelled to soldier on partly out of sadness that nobody stood up to give a tribute at my uncle's funeral in 2015 and also to spare my eldest brother the burden of speaking, as he's already gone above and beyond in being the driving force for funeral arrangements and care for our father since mum passed.

I don't think I can ever repay my gratitude to him for how amazing he's been, but it's a start.

[The Red Arrow]

From my experience(s), it's not a matter of repayment - it's just making sure that certain people know that you're there for them in good times and bad. I'm a 'life's too short for regrets' sort of person, but like all of us, I carry baggage. Let me give you an example.

Years ago, I was strolling through the town towards a favourite pub, when I spied my friend (the barman) through the window with a face like slapped arse, depressing everything within range. I thought "Bollocks to that!" and walked on to an alternative hostelry in search of a happier atmosphere. He hung himself that night. On his birthday. Now it's too late for him, and maybe he'd have done it anyway (the birthday business chimed in with his sense of logic), but I'm never going to cross the road again if I see someone I know looking miserable.

But do you know the one I really feel guilty about? I come from what used to be known as a broken home. My Mancunian uncle went out of his way to make sure I knew that I could call him day or night, whatever the reason, and while he couldn't promise to sort it out (he probably could have done, he was well-connected), he'd give me a bloody good listening to. Hard as nails, he was, dragged himself up from a grubby cobbled street in Salford to a very comfortable life indeed, never forgetting where he came from - in fact he was so proud of it, he'd regularly take us there. Anyway, he died fairly young, and I never did pick up that phone (I can still remember the 061 number). But then, maybe knowing that there was somebody there was enough. That when the big one hit the fan, I could have phoned the old bugger at stupid O'clock and said "Hello, Unc. I've really fucked up this time..."

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that sometimes all we can do for people is just be there, and make sure that they know that. It's all we can do.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Right. I want you to tell me if I'm being hypochondriac or if I've got reason to believe I'v got Long Covid:


Common symptoms of ongoing symptomatic COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 syndrome

Symptoms after acute COVID-19 are highly variable and wide ranging. The most commonly reported symptoms include (but are not limited to) the following.

Respiratory symptoms

Breathlessness ✔︎

Cough ✔︎

Cardiovascular symptoms

Chest tightness

Chest pain

Palpitations

Generalised symptoms

Fatigue ✔︎

Fever

Pain ✔︎

Neurological symptoms

Cognitive impairment ('brain fog', loss of concentration or memory issues) ✔︎

Headache ✔︎

Sleep disturbance ✔︎✔︎

Peripheral neuropathy symptoms (pins and needles and numbness) ✔︎

Dizziness ✔︎

Delirium (in older populations)

Gastrointestinal symptoms

Abdominal pain

Nausea ✔︎

Diarrhoea ✔︎✔︎

Anorexia and reduced appetite (in older populations)

Musculoskeletal symptoms

Joint pain ✔︎

Muscle pain ✔︎

Psychological/psychiatric symptoms

Symptoms of depression ✔︎✔︎

Symptoms of anxiety

Ear, nose and throat symptoms

Tinnitus ✔︎

Earache

Sore throat ✔︎

Dizziness ✔︎

Loss of taste and/or smell

Dermatological

Skin rashes

[lambswool]

I think you’re being reasonable in believing you’ve got Long Covid so, no, I wouldn’t say you were a hypochondriac.

You don’t seem to be suffering any change in taste or smell though. Above all other symptoms, this disorder appears to be the most prevalent. All my friends and acquaintances who have had Covid 19 say they’re still affected in this way.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I've always had a dog nose. Awkward when people use the loo upstairs...

If anything it's more sensitive.

[lambswool]

A friend’s son who caught Covid back in March lost his sense of smell for months. When it started to come back, he could only smell what seemed to be smoke. It made him worry constantly that the house was on fire. Really messed with his head.

It’s a very peculiar disease.

[Boiler]

Right. I want you to tell me if I'm being hypochondriac or if I've got reason to believe I'v got Long Covid:

I've got a large percentage of those myself, Malc and I know I've not had Covid.

And like you, I've got a dog nose as well; someone at work thought I was having a stroke when I said "I can smell cigarette smoke" and they couldn't (apparently it's a symptom). But... in a roadway near to where I was working... same as I can smell it if someone's smoking in a car ahead of me and they have an open window.