Another Weird for the Weird folk

[Regenbogen]

... And you tend to drink less, I realized. But your glasses stay better on your nose.
Btw it doesn't matter if you touch your mask (if you are not working with blood, spit or excrements or patients), because you don't wear it to protect yourself, but to protect the others.
When you sneeze into your mask for example (***yuck  ***), most of it stays in the mask and doesn't spread around. Even when you are talking normally, you spread a lot of aerosol around you.
Of course one should still keep the distance.
And DC, I think you are right with the gloves (again except working with infectious materials or people). Better to wash your hands regularly.
But I don't blame anyone who wants to wear them, if it makes them feel safe. Nothing is worse than panicked coworkers. They should just remember to still wash their hands.

[Dina]

Hi Regen
I mean, you are not supposed to touch your own face (as you can inadvertently have touched some surface with virus) but with the mask you forget about that. But you are right about why you wear the mask, it is to protect others.

And that is the problem with the gloves, people who not normally wears them tend to forget to wash their hands, and also they keep the gloves for too much time. But I am not blaming anyone, I am saying only that sometimes it can be less than beneficial.

[Regenbogen]

MAEN, weird!

It has happened. Now we have to wear masks in public. At least in public transport and in shops.
And today is the first day we are allowed to meet outside with one person that doesn't belong to one's own household.
I will meet with a friend to do some Nordic walking next Monday morning. We will be outside and there won't be many people around.

I think I overdid doing sports last week, my feet still hurt. But the weather was so nice and I needed to do something alone.

[PilgrimDan]

Well, I haven't worn a mask or gloves during this entire fiasco, and I'm still unhugged.

[Regenbogen]

Well, I haven't worn a mask or gloves during this entire fiasco, and I'm still unhugged.

Please feel free to feel hugged. All you need is some imagination.

Free hugs for everyone! 

[Dina]

Hugs back!
I live in a first floor (as in the British way, so not the ground floor) and the stairs for that only floor become a problem when having grocery bags and, specially, while wearing face masks. I was hyperventilating for a few moments.

[Regenbogen]

Hugs back!
I live in a first floor (as in the British way, so not the ground floor) and the stairs for that only floor become a problem when having grocery bags and, specially, while wearing face masks. I was hyperventilating for a few moments.

I can totally relate to hyperventilating. Today when I took my lunch 3 floors up at work, the escalators didn't work and I had to walk their big stairs up. Damn, was I breathing hard. After that I almost cursed myself for not taking desert. I felt, I earned it. LOL

And I have to tell you: Oktoberfest 2020 is cancelled. Really. No shit.
I looked it up, this has happened during cholera in 1854 and 1873, during both world wars and during a phase of hyperinflation 1923. Not very often, so to speak. Only in serious cases. That's a lot of money lost there. But maybe lives saved.

[Dina]

Yes, there will be a lot of money lost but I think the chance of saving lives is enough to make it worthy.
I've read that the cases in Europe are beginning to reduce, so that is very good. I expect it gets even better with warmer days.

I normally walk up the stairs at home with no problem as it is only one floor but at the university I work on floor 4. There is one bar in floor 2 (and another in the ground floor) so I often go for food there and I walk up the 2 floors. Well, it always make me breath hard. Still, I do it most times. What is terrible is walking up the 4 floors, which I only do when the escalators are off line. That is awful. (We have several escalators and is rare that all of them are working at the same time but on the bright side, it is rarer than all of them are off line at the same time). Anyway, at home the problem was wearing mask and having grocery bags.

[Regenbogen]

Yes, I meant walking up the steep steps carrying a tray of food for my collegues and me and a few bottles of water, wearing the mask. The escalator steps are always steeper than normal steps.

And yes, the infection rate has slowed down here. I think it's because of the restrictions. People staying home, shops closed, ... Now they want to try reopen one at a time and see what happens. I think there will be more infections again in the next weeks, but hopefully not too many, so that there will still be enough capacity in the hospitals.

My daughter was pissed yesterday, because everybody just talks about f**** corona. So we talked about magic and its use in the books we know.

*****Hugs for everyone*****

[Dina]

Don't watch Tangled, it happens in Corona  . By the watched, I have watched several episodes of Tangled: the series, and I think it is quite fun! But sadly, it is not in Netflix anymore, so I can't find it in English anymore.

And sorry, in my previous post I meant "elevators", not "escalators". I was talking about normal stairs, not escalator ones, which are, indeed, terrible. And walking up stairs with trays is the worse! For me, even carrying not heavy things became complicated when I carry something horizontally. It makes all much worse

I hopefully will be back later, now I need to do a conference. Have a great maen everyone!

[Regenbogen]

MAEN, everybody.
Long time no see.
How are you all? I hope everybody is healthy.

I'm fine. Went walking today with a friend. We talked a lot. It was nice finally meeting someone in person, who is not family or work related. I didn't realize, I missed that until our meeting today. And I noticed, she needed to talk, too. We went to the river through some forest paths. It was very beautiful. Lots of birds and butterflies.
I hope we can do that again this week. Next week I will have to work the nightshift. I will be very tired the whole week. I hope the kids will let me sleep at home. I can't close the door to the bedroom because of the cables leading into the room from my husband's computers he needs for work. We'll see. Maybe I will get a little grumpy from lack of sleep. 

[Dina]

Hi Regen!
I've noticed that many people is missing chatting. I sometimes see people talking a lot with the market cashier, for instance. Also I have a coworker who is always chatty and now when we gather virtually he absolutely can't begin working until chat a lot. It is bad for my nerves, as I am not chatty and I would like to just begin working after a small amount of pleasantries but I know this can be hard for her. I swear I am trying my best to lend her my ear and be nice.

Walking by the river with birds and butterflies sounds so amazing...

I hope next week is more or less light even when the night shift. I mean, I hope AT WORK is not too hard. About the virus, I know it is destroyed much faster in high temperatures, so I hope it is going to be easier to eliminate of surfaces and hopefully the contagion rate is going to fall in the Northern Hemisphere.

We here are...wandering it seems. The president said that recreational promenades of about an hour are allowed, but many of the governors and my city's major decided not to listen to him. It is a complicated balance, specially for people with children that need some air, but I seriously think allowing people to get out "just for a walk" is too risky, specially because cold is coming and the positive cases are raising.

Ok, I am going to fix myself a cup of tea before my first meeting of the day. See you later, perhaps. Meanwhile, stay safe and good maen everyone!

[Regenbogen]

About the chatty people: Sometimes I like to chat, but usually not so much at work. I have a colleague, who talks almost all the time. Either she talks about her travels, or her grandchild, or about politics (which I hate, because our opinions differ a lot, and I don't really like to discuss all the time). And if she doesn't talk about those things, she comments everything she does, wants to know if I think she did OK, if I had done the same, or what I think she should do... all the time. And now she is in my team and I have almost no opportunity to get out of her way. When she had to work the late shift last week, another colleague said to me: "Listen". " What?". "Nobody talks". So, I'm not the only one annoyed. And it was a nice day at work. Everybody just did their jobs and only saying something when necessary. I didn't notice before how exhausting a person can be who talks permanently.

At home I need at least half an hour of quiet alone time. Sometimes I don't get that, but I'm always trying. Nobody there but me. That's one of the reasons I always go to the river. I don't like phone calls either.
That's why I thought I didn't miss anyone. 

Dina, I hope it won't get worse with the virus in your country in summer. Maybe the social distancing is enough. I hope so.
Here they are slowly reopening. Some students have class already, but so far only those who graduate this year.
They are thinking about letting the fourth grade of elementary school back into the classrooms, but it is still not clear how to do that. It would be my daughter in 4th grade. They finish elementary school in July and in September they all go to higher schools.
And smaller shops are allowed to open this week. Then we will see, how much the infection rate increases and if it is OK to reopen more or that's the theory. 

[Dina]

My colleague is not that bad. I mean, she talks a lot but normally not about politics. Sometimes she talks about her family but normally she talks about things she did, clothes, something she watched on tv, something she read. Still, sometimes she is exhausting. I like some silence. So I totally understand you. Before the coronavirus crisis that person took some time off for personal reasons and we were all saying "how silent it is". Sometimes you miss her, because she is quite nice and funny. But sometimes you are just happy you can focus and enjoy the silence.

We won't be having classes for some time, but we are giving virtual classes. Tomorrow I will dictate my first one. Let's hope all works well.

[Regenbogen]

@Dina
How was the start of your virtual classes?

So far my daughter's lessons go well in these circumstances. She is receiving e-mails with work sheets and orders what to do. Her school books she has at home , at least the ones for German and math.
We take pictures of everything she has finished and send them to her teacher. So she gets private feedback. It's cute, yesterday her teacher told her, she did well with her spelling, and is allowed to paint Smiley's on her work.
Most of the time she receives work for 2-3 days. Except from her English teacher. She sent work for two weeks, but it's not much, so that's OK.
But to be honest, I hope she can go back to school, soon. Both kids really need other kids soon. And my husband and I are no teachers. Even if we were, it is sometimes not easy to teach your own kid. I'm better with other kids or with the trainees at work than with my own.