General chat with Bobi -March 7

By Bobi
You probably haven’t noticed but I have been off the air for a little while. Even watching the Golden God in action has not been enough to thrill me, and I predict (with a high degree of probability) that he will be stretchered out of Paradise this Sunday, so there goes the remaining  joy of “All Stars”. Plus, the producers this season are bordering on hopeless. Just sayin’. Those ads are just too obvious. 
The news is repetitive. The weather is crap. My friends and neighbours are doing it tough and I have no faith in our so-called leaders. See that? I am so filled with ennui that I could even be bothered putting leaders in quotes. What has my life come to. OMG, I ended a sentence with a preposition. There is no coming back from here.
So, here is a list of links to some tube clips for entertainment and distraction. Pick and choose. Or not. 
A cat, reflecting my current mood.
https://youtu.be/Q34z5dCmC4M
Who doesn’t love a bad lip reading video. 
https://youtu.be/gneBUA39mnI
Chipmunks are just fabulous and besides, this is my life.
https://youtu.be/QjAJxRaa_-Y
This is the first tube video that I ever watched. I am sure every one has seen it before but here it is again. 
https://youtu.be/nGeKSiCQkPw
And lastly, just a bit of fun, especially the wait, wait for it moment at the end. 
https://youtu.be/8nHnQQhWQVA
I am sure I will up and bouncing about shortly. Sometimes it’s just a process I have to wade through. 
Okay. One more video. This is how I wish I could get through life. I love dogs. 
https://youtu.be/A4N7G29GWQI



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150 Comments

  1. Thank you, Bobi. I know the feeling. It seems we are lurching from one disaster to another, with Coronavirus now a nice distraction for ScoMo and climate change deniers after the bushfires.
    And I found out on Tues the company I do regular casual work for is closing (you may have read it in the news – it’s AAP), only 16 months after I was made redundant from my previous job. Sigh.
    Meanwhile, we are at a caravan park for the long weekend and Mr 8 is cacking himself watching old Goodies videos. Geez they were silly but I loved them as a kid

  2. Bobi, I’m sorry that things feel so dire that you ended a sentence with a preposition and didn’t’ care. I hope you feel better. Hug your pups.

    Juz, it is very sad that AAP is closing. It’s barely rated a mention in the news, but I think it is kind of a big deal.

    I have decided to take the weekend off from worrying about anything. Don’t care that I’m on my second last roll of toilet paper, or that ants have decided to invade my kitchen and I had to use surface spray, which I hate. I have planned a nice dinner and also have a reasonable bottle of shiraz to go with it.

    It’s too late for any of you to catch now, but I am really enjoying The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming. It’s not often that I laugh aloud so often while watching a movie. Later tonight Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is on, which is one of my favourite movies. So I’m set to have a smile on my face tonight at least.

  3. Oh no. As a former media manager we used to depend on “the wires” as we called them back then- to cover everything. I trained as a journalist and did work experience at AAP A thousand years ago. I feel it is a dark day for aus journalism. And something says non stop footage of empty dunny roll shelves is not going to fill the void of trained journalists reporting facts and getting good pics.
    I am sorry to hear this Juz.

  4. I’m sorry, Juz.
    It’s a subconscious thing but I always had faith when I saw AAP on the news item.
    If it makes you feel any better, the ABC, and the Drum, was horrified and gave it plenty of airplay.

    • Albo also made a nice speech. Anyway, at least we have enough toilet paper and tinned goods to see us through, but that’s because my pantry is always chockers. I’m the person who has six kinds of vinegar.

      • That’s me too. I feel sort of guilty that at any given moment we could comfortably withstand enforced isolation.
        I also have multiple different oils, vinegar, flours, rice, pasta shapes, etc!
        I went to the supermarket saturday evening to get some dinner – deciding to leave the frozen/tinned for Later On. The fresh section was totally as normal – you could buy any kind of meat, veg and salad ingredients. But in the grocery section it was trashed like it had been raided.
        People are weird.

  5. I think there may st be something in the air because I was going downhill too; thinking negative thoughts. But a week on the beach helped bring me peace and joy. Now that we are driving hime, I will have to listen to nice music, go to the beach or a movie, or both, and surround myself with happy people.
    At th the moment I am reading A Marriageable Age, by Sharon Maas. That’s giving me nice thoughts. Also when we were at Siesta Park, I had lovely friends and family come visit. Now ai have to hold those thoughts.

  6. Just had a weekend with one hundred teens and young adults, and came home with greatly reduced fear for the future. Time to stop listening to the overdramatics in the media, and look at the good people and things in my life. And they are many.

    • In Sydney, things are not better. I am a good housekeeper so I always have enough funny paper, rice etc. I normally buy them when they are on special.

      Now I am jobless until 27 Apr. The health dept cancel all exercises classes until after Easter. I only get paid when I work so I am not very happy.

  7. We have had a scary few weeks with a major health scare for my husband. I was hit harder by something that merely turned out to be pneumonia (he had a large -6cm- neoplasm on his lung but everyone in sight thought was cancer) than by his quadruple bypass surgery! For someone who is thin, fit and active he has certainly had some major health issues.
    Mind you, he lost 10kg in 6 weeks and could barely function, so it was very scary to watch a sudden deterioration.However, he is on the up now and as he can eat again I am trying to force feed him high calorie stuff. While avoiding it myself, lol.

    • Tim Tams.
      At every stage of life, Tim Tams are the cure.
      Is there a singular form of Tim Tam? Doesn’t seem right.

      • I’ve become slightly-addicted to the strawberry-flavoured Tim Tams, of late.

        They are a gift from Heaven. Forget everything else. These are what I’m hoarding, to ride out the corona-virus pandemic.

    • Geez, BS, you are having a rough trot. Good luck with the fattening up – hope you are stocking up on pork belly, bacon and butter.
      Meanwhile, in TV news, I have managed to catch up on Project Runway and the Walking Dead (yes, I am still hanging in there). And, yay, it’s Monday so we get a Survivor tonight, although this could be the sad ep I know is looming

    • Thinking of you Brussel. A tough start to the year but hopefully things get better from here. ❤️

    • Brussell, wishing you both an uneventful return to health. My DH has also had bypass, at a too-young age and with the same lifestyle of thin, fit and active. It really knocks you, but your man’s health will really help him get over this latest scare. It shows why elderly people succumb to what seems like minor illness to the rest of us.

      • thanks everyone. I am way calmer now. I was actually cranky with him last night, as in “why do I have to cook AND wash up”. Of course we have healthy teenagers who should do more, but there you go. I enjoy things like lawn mowing (no one immediately drops stuff on it or messes it up, lol) but i do get a bit bored with cooking and cleaning.
        Fijane we are so spookily connected! We only found out he had a heart condition when we had to do some genetic testing after our son had heart issues (his are fine and fat me didn’t have problem). But they discovered give major blockages in his heart and from discovery to surgery it was three weeks. Didn’t help that I found out they call this the WidowMaker, but at the same time the potential lung cancer thing was scarier. Maybe because I could see a fit healthy strong man deterioriating in front of me eyes with no cause. It was foul.
        But we are all fine now and just trying to isolate as much as possible as he still has compromised respiratory system and we don’t want to risk anything ELSE.

        • Our first warning was a major heart attack! Coming up to two years on now, and it has just given me a jolt of grief to write that. We were blessed by being close to a hospital, having a small amount of medical knowledge (I knew to say the magic words “chest pain” at the ED to skip the queue, even though both of us thought it was stomach related), and amazing medical staff, ambulance staff and whoever invented putting stents into blocked arteries.

          This might be a good time to spread the word (as I do in many places) that the ONLY test for heart disease that finds blocked arteries is an angiogram. Having a stress test or blood tests is not accurate, as we found. If anyone in your blood line has heart symptoms, ask for an angiogram and don’t be fobbed off with a clear stress test.

          I can understand what you say about the lung cancer. I had an elderly friend’s DH have bypass late last year and she was quite relaxed about it. Thinking on her reaction, I realised that when you get over 80, you have seen some terrible possibilities of health problems. Compared to those, a heart bypass can seem better because it has a “cure” that is only as bad as a major operation. The prospect of a bad cancer (or Parkinsons, dementia, MND etc) can present a family with months or years of horrible, possibly ineffective treatment. Bypass is a terrible shock in the short term but life is likely return to relative normality. Also, I think it is easy to think that once you have had one bad shock, you are somehow immune to something else. It just wouldn’t be fair.

        • If it helps any, my Dad lived for 20 years after his major heart attack.
          It helped that he followed the Doctor’s advice to the letter.
          What doesn’t help is if I tell you that the average age in men for a heart attack is 42.
          People take good health way too much for granted.
          Now if I could just lose that extra 10 kilos, I would be ahead of the game.

          • Yep. My Dad got 29 extra years after a triple bypass at 50.

            Now I’m watching folks have heart attacks fighting over toilet paper.

          • Heh heh.
            I was talking to the lass at IGA today who said that frozen meals were now running out. Have people not heard of cooking and freezing? Dumb as bat s***t.

          • I am completely relaxed about him living for many years after the bypass. We were extraordinarily lucky that the genetic testing got us to a cautious cardiologist who did tthe extra mile with testing and ordere the angiogram. He felt vindicated as govt don’t want the cost, but as he points out one identified problem allows planned treatment instead of emergency or patient death.
            I agree with you totally Fijane – urge ANYONE with history (grandpa dropped dead at 50 type stuff!) to get the full test. When DH’s results came back at something like 1759 (the average for someone his age was more like 200) he immediately wanted all siblings and nephews and nieces tested. So the whole family got done!

  8. Having come late to the party, DH and I are really enjoying Doc Martin. But I have to say that their medical advisors are either incompetent or ignored. Last night’s premature labour just added to the comedy in being so unrealistic, and so many of the “emergencies” are resolved incorrectly.

    In general, shows have been getting better with the medical accuracy, but I will never forget the ridiculous triplet birth on Friends! Does anyone else have a classic memory of medical incompetence on a show?

    • “Does anyone else have a classic memory of medical incompetence on a show?”

      Maybe this isn’t the same thing, but cancer on TV is such a sanitised, simple thing that it’s almost like it *should* count as a case of medical incompetence. Even hospital shows tend to focus on patients with quirky or interesting illnesses, or diseases that can be cured in 40 minutes. But it’s like, a diagnosis of “cancer” is there to wring some emotion out of the characters, and once we see a few scenes of them in a hospital (“chemotherapy” seemingly involves little more than a couple of IV tubes and a comfortable seat somewhere in a well-lit medical facility) it’s all over and done with, they never mention it again.

      The actual reality of it is so completely removed from the things you see on TV or read about in the paper. It was so bizarre, knowing that I couldn’t really explain what I was going through, to people, because their only frame of reference was TV (same as me, and it was a completely inadequate one).

      • I suppose it all comes down to being able to neatly package a storyline into a defined period. But life is messy, and just won’t do that.

        You are right, chemo or cancer is certainly not like what is portrayed. It always gets me how the ill person still looks so nice, if a little pale. Where are the side-effects, the facial changes of cortisone, the mouth sores, the minor infections caused by immunosuppression. People who are seriously ill don’t just delicately fade away like southern belles, they are actually unwell.

        Childbirth and babyhood is portrayed really poorly as well, so I guess with both it and chemo, we can laugh at those shows after coming through them safely.

  9. I was in town, today. My hometown is a coastal village who’s economy relies on holiday periods. February and March are always quiet months, because all the tourists have gone home and nobody’s here on holiday (although, traditionally, things always pick up around Easter. In all my years at the toy shop, the Easter weekend was the busiest time of the year, apart from Christmas). But everyone I’ve spoken to has said that, it’s never been *this* quiet before. And when the businesses that import goods from China stop receiving deliveries, they’re simply going to run out of stock.

    Meanwhile, I knew I’d have a hard time getting back into the workforce, but with the economy shrinking thanks to the corona virus (and it was already iffy to begin with), there’s just not many jobs to apply *for*. So obviously people like me are deeply worried about the future, and that they’re simply unemployable (which itself leads to a shopping list of existential dilemmas). Honestly, I’m amazed that I’m functioning at all, right now, and not curled up, on the floor, hyperventilating in a permanent anxiety attack.

    I was so looking forward to having another good year (unlike most people, I think, my 2019 was pretty awesome). But so far, 2020 has been pretty forgettable. I bought a lot of cool toys (he says, with his Jurassic World Tarbosaurus standing on the desk next to the laptop, watching him type), and read a few good books, but the downside is I have no space to store any of my treasured collectables, and I’m completely broke. Apparently our treasured (har) prime minister wants to gift pensioners and the unemployed with a one-off cash bonus to help stimulate the economy? It’ll probably be, like, $20, but at this point, I’m not likely to say no to the help.

    “Survivor” is the only TV that I’ve been watching, lately. I think this season has been better than last year (which I found wholly disappointing. How did two goats make it to the end?). Still with it’s problems (mostly, bizarre production stunts), but the cast got more screen-time, and Daisy didn’t get the chance to screw the whole thing up because she was ousted right at the very beginning (and the villagers rejoiced).

    NRL starts back soon, but again, last year’s games (particularly that horrid grand final) were so disappointing that I’m really questioning whether I want to be invest in the competition, this year. Plus all that nonsense with Folau just hit a nerve, with me, a nerve that’s painful and raw and exposed (at least he’s, thankfully, racked off overseas, and now he’s somebody else’s problem. Maybe while he’s in Europe, he can travel to the Auschwitz memorial and learn what happens when unfounded bigotry becomes normalised. Ah. See? Hits a nerve).

    I have a trivia competition to attend, on the weekend, with my family members as a team. I haven’t done a trivia competition in ages, so I’m looking forward to it. True story. I was the inter-school trivia champion, for three years in a row, in high school, something that’s still proudly on my resume :).

    • It doesn’t surprise me at all that you are a trivia champ.
      I am coming out of my funk slowly so I am becoming a little more optimistic – not about the economy or politics (eye roll here) but about the niceness of people in general.
      Far be it for me to put my 2 cents in, WS, which is a prelude to say that I’m going to anyway, but have you thought about becoming a counsellor? You certainly have the background, and from what I can tell from here, the attitude.
      As you rightly point out, when my Dad got cancer, there was no one to help us all navigate either the system or the experience. It was a nightmare.
      And here I am nearly 15 years later and I am just starting to process some of the fallout. Mainly because of losing Mum (I am an orphan now) but also because my brother has prostate cancer and my niece has bowel cancer. She had been telling the Doctor for 18 months that she was sick but the Doctor insisted that it could all be fixed with antibiotics (another dramatic eye roll).
      My faith in the medical profession is unfounded. My expectation is that no one dies, everyone can be cured in a one hour show and at no additional cost. Very small sigh.

      • I’m sorry to hear that about your parents, Bobi.

        I learned a lot of things, in 2018 (things that I hadn’t expected to ever learn). I think there’s a lot that the general public just doesn’t realise, simply because it’s such a weird, alien experience. I remember asking my surgeon whether I could’ve done anything to avoid this (given I’m a very healthy person). And he just looked at me and said, probably not. “Sometimes it’s pure, dumb luck.”

        And I think that’s a bit of the misconception. A lot of cancer is genetic. Only about 40 percent of cancers are life-style related, or connected to external factors. The majority of the time, it’s about faulty genes you inherit from your family. You can drink kale juice until you turn green, but you’ve still got a higher risk — and even then, the body has about 2 or 3 fail-safes to deal with rogue cells, and it’s only when those things all simultaneously fail that you have a problem.

        My aunt is our family historian, and she traced our family back to my great-great-grandfather (a fellow who lived in Brisbane in the 1890s and had ten kids). There’s apparently a long history of stomach troubles in my family line, and I took this information to a genetic health specialist last year. I was tested for the faulty genes and I didn’t have any of those, and the specialist said there didn’t seem to be any specific family connection. I remember her telling me, she often saw clusters of people who had similar health problems … but modern medicine couldn’t find a link between them, other than coincidence. So there’s some things modern science still hasn’t figured out. I still have faith in doctors, though (although, like your niece, I was misdiagnosed for 11 months, and I think that happened mostly because of the misconception that cancer isn’t a young person’s disease).

        Still, though. Not to play doctor, Bobi, but with a prevalence like that in your immediate family? I’d be keeping an eye on that.

  10. Just posting a picture of cuteness.
    My old man had 3 teeth out and, while they were there, they cut some small tumours off his legs.
    He is feeling sorry for himself.
    This is the position he has taken up for most of the day.
    Downward dog.

    • Aw, look at him, still stoned.

      It must have been very worrying for you having your old boy get a procedure that required general anaesthetic. I’m happy he came through all right.

      • In a related but lighthearted vein, we are such bad dog parents our dog had to get her teeth clened under anaesthetic. The vet offered a special service to bring her around more quickly and have her lucid faster. For $70! We were all “hey, she’s not doing surgery or running the country or chairing an important meeting – she can take a few days to come good!”

        • Thanks, BS.
          He is much better now and I have life back in perspective.
          I obviously have too much time on my hands.
          He has clean teefs, and cooked meals.
          How could he not be happier.

    • It’s been a tough day. I won’t do it to him again.
      The vet says everything is fine but he Is incredibly sleepy.
      And let’s not discuss the projectile diarrhoea. Thank goodness he is the best of boys … and I have tiled floors.

      • My old boy took two full days to come out of it after a biopsy last year. He staggered into the kitchen on his own for his dinner, but immediately lay down and conked out next to his food dish afterward. And had a towel tucked under his butt when he moved onto a carpeted area.

      • On the other hand, his speech was mildly humourous when he mentioned that we all have a role to play.

        Mr Morrison, some people have far too many rollls, that’s a big part of the problem, man.

  11. Meanwhile, this year’s Bachelor in Paradise has suddenly started firing it’s promos on all cylinders tonight.

    Abbie’s back. Yay?

  12. For those worrying that the bottom may fall out of the toilet paper market 😜, my Sri Lankan granny rarely wore underwear and never used to. She kept a milk bottle of water beside the toilet.
    So think outside the square. 😂
    Hi leaves would give a fresh Australian scent.

    • I heard this evening that some supermarkets have now run out of rolled oats.
      The story is that someone in America has put out a list.
      We are such sheep.

    • Outside the square, ha. People seem to forget that we are lucky enough to have water readily available. I thought I’d use a spray bottle with water, and use wash cloths to dry off. My baby-sitting days were when cloth nappies were in use, so washing something that has touched a butt doesn’t bother me.

      I knew when I heard pandemic declared this morning that panic buying would ramp up. Added to items now hard to find: bar soap, spray cleaners, cotton balls and make-up remover pads (why?), bleach, eggs…then I got pissed off and stopped looking. Did no one wash their hands or wipe down their bench tops before this pandemic? The stupidity and selfishness being demonstrated recently is staggering.

      • The pasta shelves at one store were almost empty…except for pasta made in Italy. That bit of discrimination made me laugh.

        • Flour gone. Sunlong rice, all gone. But they will restock.
          I bought a bottle of vodka this week to add to my laundry (now hand) wipes.

          • Vodka, of course, I hadn’t thought of that. Should I get a cheap and nasty vodka from Aldi, or a decent bottle from which I can take a swig while cleaning?

            Don’t tell anyone else, Daisy. As soon as word gets out of a substitute for anything, that’s the next item to disappear from store shelves.

      • The real problem with Corona is that it’s ridiculously infectious. Catching it, from someone who’s already infected, is absurdly easy. And that’s the real danger, that it’s going to spread so quickly and so easily.

        I read a statistic tonight. If you had the flu, you’d be in situations where you might pass it on to 9 or 10 people. With Corona, in the same situations, you’re likely to pass the disease on to *fifty*. So it’s not all on people’s lack of general hygiene.

        Although, yes, that is kind of disturbing.

        • Source please, Windsong? I’d like to see some accurate statistics on how many people who are exposed to someone with COVID-19, and then self-isolate, actually develop the virus themselves. I suppose that would be difficult to quantify.

          • Here’s something I just found.

            “In seven patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new virus, “peak concentrations were reached before Day 5 and were more than 1,000 times higher” than those seen in SARS patients, the authors wrote.”

            Diseases shed, at some point, and with that kind of concentration, the shedding is likely to affect a lot more people, before the initial-carrier even realises that they’re sick.

            https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-sheds-early-in-disease.html

            Oh, this is something I didn’t know. “Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses. Some coronaviruses cause illness in humans and others cause illness in animals, such as bats, camels, and civets. Human coronaviruses generally cause mild illness, such as the common cold.”

            https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/alerts/Pages/coronavirus-faqs.aspx

          • Darn it, I did reply, but the post disappeared. The site must’ve flagged it as spam. Juz, is there a way to get those posts back?

            The shortened version is, the disease sheds like crazy, but the disease also has a much higher concentration early on. What that means is that, early on, before someone even realises they’re sick … they’re a walking cloud of infectious germs.

            So they’re less likely to already have quarantined themselves, and the huge concentration of germs means there’s more chance the people around you will pick it up.

      • Thanks for the links, Windsong. While it’s good to be aware of the viral shedding rate, there is nothing I can do about it, so I choose not to add that to my list of worries. I’m practicing good hygiene on myself and my home, social distancing (dumb phrase) as much as possible, and I figure that is about all I can do to protect myself, unless I become a hermit.

        Most of the newspapers today had articles about hospitals’ possible plans for triage if things get really bad and they’re overwhelmed. Since I’m old and have a pre-existing condition, I think I’ll be toward the bottom of the list of people to try to save if I get sick.

        As frightening as the stats are now, remember that most people recover from COVID-19.

        • I feel the same. Back in 2018, I didn’t have a functioning immune system, yet — despite a bad flu season — I didn’t catch anything at all. It’s about being careful, and washing your hands (two habits which I’ve had since I was a kid).

          Hell, I’m an introvert. I’ve been practicing avoiding the general population since I was 6.

  13. In a very light, not very serious fashion, I worry.
    It always comes as a shock to me when news reports talk of “the elderly” and then in the next breath, talk of “the over 50”. You know, the elderly woman had a car accident, followed by The-fifty-five-year-old ….
    OMG. That’s me. I don’t ever feel like I am “that person” but according to all reporting, I am.
    And then, of course, I do courses/activities where I am in close proximity to very old people. I play cards with 90 year olds, I do italian courses with 60 year old, and I do painting with 70 year olds, and I am about to learn how to grow mushrooms. All the activities have sharing of stuff.
    It’s not that I worry about catching anything but what if I pass something on?
    At the moment I haven’t changed any of my behaviour but then it only takes one idiot. And what if I am the idiot?

    • I first noticed a woman in her early 60s being referred to as elderly on the news. I always thought elderly implied frail.
      Anyhow if 30 is the new teenager, and 60 is elderly, middle age is becoming an increasingly shrinking window.

    • I caught a bit if Paul Murray pouring cold water in it by saying something stupid like” You don’t need to worry because hardly any people die from it”. Tell that to a good many people who are frail and vulnerable. Cold comfort for them. It would kill most of the kids at my son’s (he’s the principal) school. I worry about them as they are all disabled and are frail.

    • I am an organized person. I am the lady at the picnic who brought food, serviettes, aerogard, sunscreen, a picnic rug, a cardigan AND folding chairs. So I’m prepared but not scared. I was raised that way.

      We still have a trip to Europe paid for and travel insurance will only cough up if we are banned from going.

      • Because Morrison only “suggested” we only travel if it’s essential, it kind of forces us to go. Only a ban will mean we can recoup. Woolif will double check.

        • I hear that some airlines are allowing you to rebook (because otherwise they will go out of business) but that doesn’t cover accommodation. And I would imagine that’s a huge cost.

          • Thanks. I’ll watch.
            I like the Drum. I like hearing lots of different views, although I have been know to scream at the telly.

          • I usually hate TD but at last…some experts on CV. And very interesting about the indigenous too.

  14. Thats me too Bobi. I saw news about a home invasion where the elderly couple were at home at the time. The elderly couple were in their 50s. We were GUTTED by this!

  15. What’s that old Chinese curse about, may you live in interesting tines?

    These ones certainly are interesting. How bizarre is it all? I guess our great-grandparents had to deal with the Spanish flu, so this is ours.

    I have a trivia contest at a local library this afternoon, and then board games day with my nerdy friends tomorrow. I’ll be interested to see how many people actually show up.

    • I am thinking the same thing.
      We are going to the theatre on Thursday. Given that it’s mainly “the elderly “, I will be interested in the empty seats (Capacity is over 500).
      And I have bridge on Monday- all those cards going round and round – and I only have half a container of hand sanitizer.
      Oh well, there’s no point in hanging on to it. The raining day is here.

      • I was asked, and agreed to help with a quiz night. I now think I will just do the art work, help set up and pull out if being there.
        Also I felt obliged to agree to helping with a snag sizzle for the pottery group. Not too keen but I will wear rubber gloves. .soaked in vodka. 😷

        Not scared, just want to do my bit

        BTW, last night’s Drum might need to be streamed. I think it has changed.

      • I have just finished watching it.
        I am now quietly terrified.
        Alert and definitely alarmed.
        And, yes, we have had a woman wearing gloves at bridge for weeks. She works in a hospital.
        Most of us wear gloves in my painting classes but for different reasons.
        Being a hypochondriac has its benefits.
        I have lived o/s many a time and always thought masks were a great idea. Unfortunately, they are out of stock. 🥵

        • It certainly makes you sit up and take notice. No rubbing alcohol left in Bunnings. I have put Vodka into my handwipes/handwashes.
          I’m not scared but I want to be responsible for my bit.

          • Try going to the pharmacy and look for the first aid section. You may find surgical spirit. It is 94% alcohol. Also get a bottle of glycerine/glycerol and with dilution, you will have your own sanitizer. Be quick before others know about this!!!

            When the media and papers mentioned about making your own sanitizer, all the isopropyl alcohol and rubbing alcohols were sold out. I did manage to buy a bottle. It was only 64% alcohol so you can’t add much glycerine or any gel to it.

            Remember with the dilution, you still need it to be at least 60% alcohol.

          • Thanks Littlepetal. I will try Monday morning. Did you see The Drum Friday night? Spot on, although I would have been even tougher on the govt for putting us in this position.

          • Thanks, LP.
            I have glycerin because of painting …. again.
            Who knew? (Does a little dance).

    • According to that reliable source, google, I can use vinegar or methylated spirits as a substitute for rubbing alcohol.
      Apart from the smell, any thoughts?

      • I just washed floors with Dettol and white spirits. I usually use Dettol and the WS helps quick drying. But this.is.kind of noal for me.

      • As a last resort, maybe you can use methylated spirit. But some have methanol which is quite toxic. Could be absorbed into the skin.
        I use vinegar a lot for cleaning but in this instance it is not good enough to kill the virus. Just my thoughts.

      • Happy with those thoughts.
        I do have enough sanitizer for a month or so but who knew people would just become crazed idiots.
        And always happy to be self-sufficient.

  16. Phew, so we are basically quarantined in France. -.- All schools, unis, kindergartens, creches are close. Every office who can do it should implement home office for the employees.
    Tonight they decided to close all shops, cinemas, restaurants, clubs, bars, all tourist sites. They only keep supermarkets. pharmacies and gas stations running.

    It feels really weird, like we are entering an apocalypse here. :S
    But, I have a buttload of new books, Netflix and Prime and Sims. I study a bit French, but they have already cancelled my exams until further notice.

    • I have a friend whose trip was cancelled by the agency.
      She is pleased.
      She was trying to pull out but her friend was insisting that they go.
      It was not a country that had a problem but a country that was closing its borders.
      I find Scott from Marketing difficult to listen to. It’s like he’s exasperated with me.

        • Keep us posted Zhee. I wish Australia would follow France and Spain’s examples. For instance, in WA people have been allowed to get of cruise ships and come ashore unchecked.

          • Germany just followed France’s policies.
            But we will have another Macron speech tonight. Rumour has it we have curfews and more or less complete lockdown coming. :/

  17. We were able to get some isochol online that will arrive in March. 70% alcohol. We have enough medical spirits to last until then. Crazy times.

    • 😂😂😂😂. Me too.

      I would love to wear this to the shops. My friend has worn one. She’s a home owner landlord in Bunbury.

      Cleaning out the meth house.

      • I was at my board games day, today, and — while some people were hesitant to do hugs — it was a pretty full session, we had about 14 people in the room. And the shops looked a little quiet, but it was hardly dystopian by any means.

        Still. I have Lego. I have books. I have a working internet connection, and I have a DVD set of a new TV show (47 episodes worth) to work through. I’m all set for my social isolation.

  18. I just ran into (not literally) a flat earther, anti-cancer I know. Don:t worry everyone. The Corona virus is a beat up. A conspiracy to manage the masses.
    His flat earther partner is coming back from Bali this week. And how many more idiots do we have?

  19. I’m going to have a whinge now. I’m tired of going to the grocery and not being able to get the most mundane ordinary items because the zombie apocalypse has frightened the shit out of everyone, resulting in common sense going out the window.

    Since there are more important things to worry about, like my health, I will adjust to the new normal and re-think how to use what I have, substitute or do without. There will be more laundry to wash, and I haven’t figured out yet what to use instead of laundry detergent.

    Latest item to be rationed, mince. Pasta, tomatoes, and mince – is everyone planning to survive on spaghetti bog?

    One of my neighbours has offered to take me to Woolies 7-8 am shopping hour reserved for official oldies and people with disabilities. I’ll wait a couple of days and then ask customer service how those restrictions are working. If it is the usual opening-time scrum, except with old people and disabled people, I’ll pass. Don’t want to be rubbing shoulders with 200 bozos of any kind, all scrambling for loo rolls or flour. Ration cards, anyone?

    If soap and water is good enough to keep my hands clean, sugar soap with maybe some tea tree oil will be good enough to clean my bench tops and door knobs.

    Rant over. Sorry, guys. Stupid pisses me off and there is more stupid going around right now than disease.

    • It’s crazy. No mince today, the flour has gone away….
      It may get worse. But I am thinking if anything kills us, it probably won’t be starvation.
      I wonder if people have a freezer full of mince.

        • Dave, have you got a senior’s card? We can go get mince then sell it for $1 000 per kilo. It’ll happen.
          No wait…everyone can go buy an Angus burger.

          Oh that’s funny. Hughsey just showed a pic of supermarket shelves and the only food left was…..vegan. 🤣🤣🤣 I usually buy mince for my dogs but they can go vegan.

          • Yes, I have Senior’s Card.. I’ll get the mince and extend it with dog food and hawk it to lemmings who wake up with Today. I may even cut it with laxative so more shithouse paper is sold. Folks could disappear and up being sold as meat/ mince. It’s happened before.

          • I’ve heard in Italy a senior’s card puts you at the bottom of the queue for treatment, so we might as well enjoy our mince and toilet paper while we can.
            Schools remain open so I have 6 school age grandchildren who can kill me. Still, they have already chosen the stuff they want when I’m dead. 😛

    • Agree, Von, the stupidity is astounding.
      Heard on the radio that your prediction in the fourth paragraph was pretty spot on. You were wise to wait and see.

  20. Crazy days. We learned this in high school biology.
    When the population exceeds the habitat…… oh wait survival of the fittest. 🏋️‍♀️
    Interesting times we find ourselves in. Like a movie.

  21. Can I also show my irritation?
    I understand staying away from my friend who has elderly parents ( her Mum is 97 – not elderly like me) but I am not going into lockdown until I absolutely have to. We only have 2 cases here ( 3 if you include Peter Dutton – as we do).
    The number of people attending Bridge yesterday was down by half but there was sanitiser as we walked in the door, between hands and as we left. Seems reasonable. And, as one couple said, you can die once or you can die every day. (He has Parkinson’s and this is his only outing).
    And we are talking about 4 months of self imposed exile here.
    I can’t do that. The repercussions for me would be worse than the actual virus. I’ve always had plenty of eucalyptus cleaning products and tea tree antiseptic in the cupboard. I have supplemented it with peroxide (no rubbing alcohol to be had anywhere).
    I have lentils and cans of tomatoes in the cupboard so I have enough food to last me until the apocalypse (note to self: Frozen onions, I must buy onions. Lentils can be delicious but must have onions).
    Just let me out.
    People aren’t thinking. I won’t say they are idiots. I would say it’s because they don’t know that there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Perhaps it’s because I was raised by people who come from the country?
    So it’s is only dog food which is the issue for me. Apparently it’s made in France. However, they can chew on my bones for months.
    We have theatre tickets for tomorrow night. If it’s not cancelled, I am going. I will be the cranky, not elderly, woman sitting in the corner by herself.

    • I understand how serious social isolation is, but all I’m thinking of is all those small family businesses who are going to go bankrupt very quickly with zero customers and zero income. And that absolutely sucks.

      Does anyone think that banks or landlords give a damn about the corona virus? They’ll be expecting mortgage repayments and rent payments regardless. It’s no good avoiding one disaster and winding up homeless and enmployed as a result. Besides, I’m due $700 for the sole purpose of keeping the economy ticking along.

    • Going to the theatre this Friday and next Thursday. Both are regional theatres so under the 500.
      I think in the (reasonable) attempt to “flatten the curve”, authorities and the media have created the hyper-anxiety, often by using inflammatory language, and by forgetting to point out the certainty of normal life in the future.
      The overused and non-factual “unprecedented” has given way to “cancelled” as the new panic word.
      I have to laugh at the fact that if 90% of Australia became sick at the same time, there would still be plenty of food and consumables, but people somehow think that they need to lay in for a siege of twelve months. Seriously, though, we need to give thanks every day for living in a country of abundant wealth, and find ways to share what we can with the poor countries who do not have our resources to meet a challenge.

      The funniest thing is that the supermarkets will now not take returns of unopened products just because you changed your mind (ie the crisis passed). Bulk buyers are now stuck with their stockpiles. I can see big garage sales including piles of grocery items!
      Buying shares in grocery chains now.

    • I also have enough pulses to last me a long time. If no fresh onions or garlic, just use onion powder and garlic powder.

      I wonder how often these people who stock up actually cook!

      I wonder whether laundry powder will go next.

      Maybe people should use this opportunity to eat less.

      • “Maybe people should use this opportunity to eat less”

        Way things are going, they’ll start eating each other soon, when the fast food chains go belly up.

        I’m lucky that the “elderly” are too tough to eat.

  22. “Way things are going, they’ll start eating each other soon, when the fast food chains go belly up.”
    Lock up your dog BDD, they may be after the poor darling.

    I have locked up my chooks in our underground bunker! To stop stampede from neighbours trying to steal the eggs and chooks!

    • Good idea.

      I went down with the seniors this morning. First thing; I should have slapped someone for not wanting to see my seniors’ card. Well that was a whole lot of money wasted on plastic surgery. 😫
      Second; at the entrance stood the stood managed straddled (well not straddled exactly) by two big strong guys who looked like security. 😯
      Thirdly; the race was on. It was almost like Benidorm Bastards. (Watch it). Anyhow it was Granny and Grandad races with trollies.

      • That’s disappointing. For some reason I thought we oldies would demonstrate some courtesy and common sense. I’ve read that shelves were still pretty bare, while people expected them to be fully stocked. That hit of reality may have generated “every man for himself” attitudes.

        Ha, my local shopping centre’s early opening was just on ABC news. Every person the reporter questioned bitched, whinged, and griped. Shame on them. I hope staff weren’t abused.

  23. I just knocked back work today due to CV. I don’t see how a class of kids can not be spreading diseases. I’ll be poor now. Woolif will continue until the govt closes schools.

  24. Don’t jump on me for saying this, but, guys, take it serious. The French did not and we are in complete lockdown now starting 3 hours ago for the next 15 days. We are allowed to walk a dog, go for a run, go to the supermarket, if work forces us, we can go to work. But in doing so, we need to fill out a form stating what we are doing. If we do not have the form with us (printed, digital or hand written), the police can fine us starting with 38 Euros and up to 135 Euros. They have about 100.000 police women and men out to perform checks.
    All cinemas, restaurants, bars, shops and tourist sites as well as theaters/operas are closed. Only open: gas stations, supermarkets, banks, post office. Public transport gets reduced, we are not allowed to buy tickets anymore from the driver, they want us to either buy it via SMS or app, to minimize the risk for the driver.

    The situation in France is dire. We have over 5000 cases, apparently 400 are in critical state. Nearly 130 people died from Covid19. We are crashing hard like Italy. Yes, Australia is far off, but everyone also though: Pff, what will happen? Italy is really far away. *cough cough*

    And I have developed a passionate hate for crazy food and toilet paper hoarders. I hate them as much as anti-vaxxers, because they completely lack common sense.
    Food banks suffer from that behaviour, older and poor people are the ones usually who do not have the luxury to check 5 supermarkets until they find a mothertucking pack of toilet paper or pasta.
    I haven’t hoarded food and I don’t want to. There is enough food, but people think it is the end of the mothertucking world.

    Stay home if you can, you decrease the risk of getting sick, you decrease the impact on local hospitals. The nurses and doctors here are at their limit. And to add on that, if you are risking an infection, they might soon be forced to make a decision on who gets treatment first and who doesn’t. This will weigh on their shoulders, regardless of why they had to make those decisions.

    • Do you mind if I copy and paste this on FB. I have been following on the news all about Italy and Spain. France has been mentioned less.
      I have already put myself on semi lockdown and quit teaching. I am frustrated that our govt has been slow to act all the way. But people don’t always have to wait for the govt. You can act. You can take precautions. You can remove your children from school. I’m not doing this for myself but because in self isolating, we can save others.

      • Sure, but please correct my typos then. 😛

        Sorry that I got mad, unfortunately we still have too many people who do not take it seriously. If you go on FB, there are people who claim this is just a ploy by the government. Especially Americans are spreading those conspiracies. Sure, that is why China and Europe are letting thousands of people die. -.-

        Last night one if our neighbours had a little Paddy’s Day bash. Most time on his balcony until one other neighbour entered into a shouting match with them for being irresponsible arseholes. He threatened to call the police. Either he really did or they listened and decided to break up the party because it was very quiet afterwards.

        I am not worried about myseld tbh, but I am worried on the impact I might have on others if I am careless and fall sick. As I mentioned above, I don’t want to see nurses and doctors being forced into making the decisions on who lives and who they have to let die. 🙁

        And the thing is, in France you can stay home, they have a lot of measures in place to support those affected.

        Please stay safe with the rest of your family, Daisy! <3

        • This from my friend who has friends and tellies in Italy ……..
          Our relatives work for the Red Cross in Italy and told us to multiply by 10 (even more) just how bad the situation really is!

          They said we must URGENTLY close all schools because they found children were asymptomatic. This means children didn’t display symptoms of cororona virus but were infected and then infected each other. They also ignored social distancing requests and didn’t take the virus seriously, often joking with each other and saying it was only an old person’s disease. These children then went home and infected their parents and grandparents. They said delaying school closures will only significantly increase the spread of the disease.

          Politicians need to understand that families, parents and the community will find solutions to ensure health workers and food providers can keep working. People can think and make wise decisions for themselves. People need to be self-isolating yet at the same time keeping themselves and others healthy by eating and exercising well and getting fresh air and sunshine to boost their immune systems.

          Panic buying is allegedly a result of governments not provided accurate and honest information and the fear and worry of not having access to food etc can weaken people’s immune systems.

          Our Italian relatives said the tsunami of illness coming our way is far worse than what the media and politicians are reporting. They said they are exhausted with all the body bags being sent directly for cremation without anyone permitted to see the deceased. They said the death rate in Italy is massively higher than what is being reported.

          We should have acted weeks ago and we had the Italian, Chinese, Hong Kong and Singaporean experiences as precedents, bad and good responses – so we have no excuses for not knowing what was coming our way.

          We are removing our child from school today; we have told the school what the Italians have recommended.

          We are not listening to the politicians anymore.

          We are listening to the people on the battlefield in Italy.

          • A fruend of mine is Portuguese and has friends over there being a doctor and a nurse. He said as well it is far worse than what you see on TV. 🙁

            So, since yesterday the death toll rose to 175 people, 7730 are infected.

    • I agree Zhee. Australia have the chance to flatten the curve, but we are not. We need more action.

      • 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 Brussel. The thing that alarms me is the complacency around me.
        I qouldn’t be alarmed if everyone was paying attention to what’s happening in European countries and being safe here.

  25. I had one of the lovely ones home yesterday.
    She had an abscess on a tooth and it came out.
    I spent my day trying to entertain her. She was bored up to the wazoo. What am I going to do when the schools close down?

    • City folks are getting selfish. Here in Sydney there are people on chartered buses and go to the country towns and wiped out their supplies of everything, dry goods and meats. How shameful.
      MR LP saw someone with 14 dozens of eggs. Most probably these people don’t even eat 1 dozen of eggs a week

  26. Also yesterday, I went to the senior’s shop and the manager was at the entrance and he didn’t want to see my senior’s card. “You bastard!”

  27. If it helps any, one of the little ones (9) said that she’s never washed her hands so much in all her life.
    The school makes them sanitise as they enter and exit every class, every time they go to the loo, and once more for luck.
    In addition, there is a no touching rule, which is hard for the girls but not the boys. I think it might feed into the Respect game that they are playing. Out of everything comes some good.
    I’m thinking it might be better that they are there than home with me.
    I’m still listening to all the views on this one. I’m the one in danger – again, not that I am elderly, just cranky.

    • And PS, Singapore kept their schools open and they are ahead of the game.
      And yes, I know it’s mainly because they are a lovely, orderly, clean country but we can be – as demonstrated by our obsession with toilet paper and rubbing alcohol.

      • Interesting about Singapore. Maybe it’s because they did everything else right. I heard countries with high rates of testing have been faring better.

        I am out having a coffee. For my sanity. But in a paper cup.

      • Agree with how Singapore control the spread. Schools still open. They check their temp before class and after class.
        In Vietnam, the people are all playing their part. They wear masks, practice social distancing. Their infections rate is low.

        There are many unknowns.

    • I think schools should stay open until the April holidays, and a decision made after that, taking into consideration the numbers of sick people then. Kids are screaming little germ-bags at the best of times. But the health of teachers and school staff also has to be considered, doesn’t it? It’s hard to know where to differentiate and where to stop showing extra consideration. We can’t all be number one. We have to accept that this crisis is not going to go away anytime soon, and we need to deal with that. Full stop.

  28. I went grocery shopping today and did pretty well by hitting umpteen shops. It took me three hours and I was exhausted when I got home. Didn’t get any meat, didn’t bulk buy anything, but I got enough by substituting – no rice, get couscous, no potatos, do without. It’s a new mindset.

    What I did notice is more people doing social distancing. It should be called unsocial distancing. On the bus, people got on, looked around, and took a seat at least two seats away from anyone else. In the stores, we walked toward each other in the aisles, then veered away as we got close. I’ve been doing that for weeks where possible, but I felt like cheering. One young man was in a vegetable aisle at Coles. coughed a chesty cough without covering his mouth, and he was quickly left alone in that aisle. I wanted to go and punch his shoulder and lecture him, but refrained. Wonder if we’ll go back to the way things were when this is over?

    • “Wonder if we’ll go back to the way things were when this is over?”

      Probably. I’ve only been at home for 3 days, and that’s enough to remind me how I felt trapped in these four walls for most of my 20s and hated every second of it.

      I’m gonna go for a walk tomorrow, I just need some fresh air. As long as you keep your hands to yourself, I mean, people are all giving other people a wide berth, so it’s not like you’re *not* going to be socially isolated, even when walking down the pavement.

      • You need to get out. We have been going for walks and I went to pottery today. Only 3 ladies there. I like my chances better than a class of 25-28 kids in a classroom.

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