Covid-19 - The silver lining (Positives!)

[sem34090]

I really do hope that this sees a permanent reduction in international air travel.

[Reorte]

3 hours ago, Andy7 said:

The big one for me as mentioned by PatB is, if people are now working from home and still achieving results then this should become the norm. This leads to a lot less journeys to work bringing less harmful CO2 and potentially more family time together as travelling time removed and flexible working hours utilised. There will be many other benefits centred on this as well.  

 

There are a lot of people working from home now and finding it rather unpleasant. I really hope that it doesn't become the norm because whilst it suits some people and is a sensible request right now it certainly doesn't suit everyone at all.

 

I'd like to see some alternatives explored (which aren't suitable for the current situation anyway), such as lots of small local shared offices, so there's still some time and distance between work and home, but it's walking distance, and I regard increasing isolation as an issue.

Edited March 25, 2020 by Reorte

[Reorte]

1 hour ago, big jim said:

Silver lining.......No one had mentioned brexit for weeks 

I mentioned Brexit once but I think I got away with it.

[tomparryharry]

1 minute ago, Legend said:

I think this is a bit of a Reset button .  Maybe the Ctl-Alt-Del for the world .

 

For us I think there's much more appreciation of the NHS

I do think the country is generally pulling together - look at the way people are coming forward for the NHS, healing the tedious BREXIT wounds

I wonder if people working from home will become more the norm when all this is over . Do we need so much travel, do we need so much expensive central office space.

Carbon footprint got to be reduced .

 

Maybe its just caused us to pause and really think what our priorities are . That cant be a bad thing

 

Yes:- Very true. The one thing I've noticed is having a security guard, of all places, at Aldi. He's here to ensure that the abuse that staff sometimes receive, doesn't.  As far as the NHS are concerned I'd suggest a very strictly enforced draconian set of rules whereby people who threaten these ladies are dealt with very severely. Spray the miscreant with a purple dye, with a lifespan of 2 weeks. It'll show society at large that we have a person within our midst who can, or will, disadvantage the greater populace. 

 

There, I'll get off my soapbox now....

[Oldddudders]

As a retired olde ghytt, 71, being incarcerated in my 1850 tumbledown cottage in an acre is hardly hell. I should have been travelling to the UK tomorrow, but Sherry and I agreed a couple of weeks ago that travel via Paris and London was unwise, and Eurostar is now expecting to run 3 trains instead of the usual 15 or so, so lockdown is sparing me a substantial risk of infection. And there is no food of any sort on board - the deprivation! I have opted for vouchers against future trips. I imagine the airline industry will be decimated by the present situation, which may mean a boom for Eurostar when things recover. As trainwatchers, we should be hoping so. 

[Butler Henderson]

17 minutes ago, Reorte said:

There are a lot of people working from home now and finding it rather unpleasant. I really hope that it doesn't become the norm because whilst it suits some people and is a sensible request right now it certainly doesn't suit everyone at all.

On leave this week but it is something my boss does not understand, because it saved him a hours+ commute a day he cannot understand those, particularly who live on their own, who are less keen particularly when the commute is very short. I know a number of work colleagues were concerned at being isolated for the whole working week, even those who work at home a lot, especially being a job where you can get some pretty nasty awkward calls / emails and need someone to talk to just to regain a bit of sanity. People were trying out the laptop webcams last week as a way of trying to stay sane.

[Reorte]

With no pubs a weekend without a hangover will be a silver lining! (forgot to get any from the supermarket and I've got enough food in to not need to go to the supermarket until next week).

[JinglingGeordie]

In the surgery where I work, our mental health consellor has advised  that a great many of his patients whom he was helping with anxiety and depression are coping extremely well.  Granted he is getting worried well referrals but froma  totally different demographic.

 

I agree with the comments above about greater appreciation of the NHS and the many "thank you for what you do" has done a lt to kick out the sneering attitude synonomous with one midmarket tabloid.

 

 

[Stubby47]

From the gov website:

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-mots-for-cars-vans-and-motorcycles-due-from-30-march-2020

[tractionman]

12 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

There is a substantial drop in air pollution with people sequestered at home. This was observed in China and we can anticipate it in other places as well.

 

Reduced vehicle traffic should reduce total CO2 output as well.

 

glad cycling as exercise is still being encouraged by the govt, and the roads are a lot quieter in my area at the mo making a bike ride all the more pleasant, though I do think people are driving faster as there is less traffic!

 

another positive is more family time, though this may test out patience in due course!!

 

modelling time too of course, and making kits bought yonks ago--so long ago one of my adhesives had gone completely solid in the bottle :-(

 

cheers,

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sem34090]

Quieter roads are certainly making cycling a pleasure - I'm enjoying that whilst I can.

[RedgateModels]

On 25/03/2020 at 10:07, Reorte said:

With no pubs a weekend without a hangover will be a silver lining! (forgot to get any from the supermarket and I've got enough food in to not need to go to the supermarket until next week).

 

I would regard alcohol as essential supplies .......

 

I did stock up though last week 🙂

 

 

Edited July 12, 2022 by RedgateModels

[Oldddudders]

With a Nivea chaser?

 

[RedgateModels]

5 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

With a Nivea chaser?

 

 

I don't want dry cracked hands with all this handwashing ......

[Oldddudders]

1 minute ago, RedgateModels said:

 

I don't want dry cracked hands with all this handwashing ......

Very apposite. My mum would sometimes apply it to chapped lips when we were kids. Which reminds me : 

 

Sheriff is standing outside his office when a stranger rides into town, and hitches up his horse outside the saloon. He then goes round to its back end, lifts its tail and kisses its arse. The sheriff is across the street in double time - we don't want that sort of thing in our fine town! "Say stranger - did I see you kiss your horses arse?" "Sure did - I've got chapped lips!" "Does that cure them?" "Nope - but it sure as hell stops me lickin' 'em!" 

[Mallard60022]

After all this is done I suspect almost everything will return to how it was just a few, short weeks ago. I say that with sadness as this is now the time to reappraise the way things have become over the last coupe of decades, not just in the UK but across the Planet. However, that is a huge ask.

What would be really good for us in the UK is that people just appreciate and recognise the many who have been lost, neglected, ignored and/or insulted during the last ten years or so. Our good friend, a carer for the elderly was just  few weeks back classed as 'unskilled' by a thoughtless and ignorant Politician. That same person is today having to (and wanting to) go to the houses of old and vulnerable people with often multiple needs with zero protective equipment and little Official guidance. There must be, as several have stated, recognition that both the Health and Care Services are on the cliff edge of collapse (and yet being involved in an unbelievable set of situations to deal with) and MUST be rebuilt and funded appropriately so that this sort of panic and chaos never, ever happens again. All the b0ll0ck# spouted about Public Service, Public Servants and those things that we have just taken for granted for far too long, must stop.

The silver lining, which is something that happens towards the end of a storm, must be that the  long, hard look  at the way this Country is run and the way we as citizens behave, if not I can see big, big problems for the future. 

If the World does wake up and smell the stench of corruption, greed and posturing by self obsessed persons that supposedly lead and definitely control the money, then this whole bl00dy mess will have been for nowt.

Now, I know this will get reported for being political but I don't actually care as I have let it go as they say in Counselling.

A very annoyed and actually very frightened 'Duck'.

[The Johnster]

4 hours ago, eastglosmog said:

my Milkman is having a bonanza, order books full and overflowing.

The 2 metre distancing rule means he's missing out on one of the perks of the job, though...

[The Johnster]

13 hours ago, Dava said:

Tim Martin of Wetherspoons

Would be a kn*b but those are useful.  Waste of planetary resources, shouldn't be given the oxygen of oxygen, never mind publicity.

[Steamport Southport]

Milkman? I thought those ripoff merchants went the same way as the pop wagon. Go to the supermarket, it's cheaper.

 

Absolutely no silver linings IMO.

 

Just wait for the recession, hyperinflation and the massive unemployment  which is currently over 100,000 extra per day according to the BBC earlier, so many the JCP staff can't cope.

 

You can't even go to Spoons to drown your sorrows....

 

 

 

Jason

[The Johnster]

I have thought for a very long time that there is too much air travel and that the sheer volume of it is proof that it is far too cheap and is probably being subsidised in some covert way, but then I am a bit of a conspiracy theorist.  Bear in mind I can recall Howard Hughes, the US government, and the 'Moho' project (google it, children), which may explain some of it...

 

But if what comes out of this experience is proof that the world can cope very well thank you without business travel in an age of videoconferencing, and that you are not actually entitled to a holiday in a warmer country, this will be a lasting benefit and very much a silver lining.  To take the primary route, Europe to the Eastern Seaboard of the US, this was only 60 years ago mostly served by ocean liners, entirely so 100 years ago with the added traffic of immigration to the US.  Aircraft now carry the equivalent of a week of this traffic every hour, and while it has increased, I cannot believe that the traffic demand has increased 168 fold in a century.  My own experience of transatlantic travel is that many a/c run more than half empty.  I know World population has increased considerably in this period, but the bulk of this is among poor 3rd worlders who cannot afford air travel.

 

We really need to rethink this; one of the major benefits of the internet should be a massive reduction in the need for travel, especially international and intercontinental travel, and a benefit of this situation could be that we are forced to address this.

[bourneagain]

1 hour ago, RedgateModels said:

 

I don't want dry cracked hands with all this handwashing ......

The importance of hand washing, especially after going to the toilet. Long may that continue.

[EddieB]

There does seem to have been a marked reduction in knife crime.  Hopefully there’s also a reduction in prostitution and drug dealing.  

 

There’s less abuse of hospital A & E services.

 

I’ve not had a call from “Microsoft” and only one to renew my Amazon Prime since infections spread to India.

 

 

[Joseph_Pestell]

49 minutes ago, Mallard60022 said:

After all this is done I suspect almost everything will return to how it was just a few, short weeks ago. I say that with sadness as this is now the time to reappraise the way things have become over the last coupe of decades, not just in the UK but across the Planet. However, that is a huge ask.

What would be really good for us in the UK is that people just appreciate and recognise the many who have been lost, neglected, ignored and/or insulted during the last ten years or so. Our good friend, a carer for the elderly was just  few weeks back classed as 'unskilled' by a thoughtless and ignorant Politician. That same person is today having to (and wanting to) go to the houses of old and vulnerable people with often multiple needs with zero protective equipment and little Official guidance. There must be, as several have stated, recognition that both the Health and Care Services are on the cliff edge of collapse (and yet being involved in an unbelievable set of situations to deal with) and MUST be rebuilt and funded appropriately so that this sort of panic and chaos never, ever happens again. All the b0ll0ck# spouted about Public Service, Public Servants and those things that we have just taken for granted for far too long, must stop.

The silver lining, which is something that happens towards the end of a storm, must be that the  long, hard look  at the way this Country is run and the way we as citizens behave, if not I can see big, big problems for the future. 

If the World does wake up and smell the stench of corruption, greed and posturing by self obsessed persons that supposedly lead and definitely control the money, then this whole bl00dy mess will have been for nowt.

Now, I know this will get reported for being political but I don't actually care as I have let it go as they say in Counselling.

A very annoyed and actually very frightened 'Duck'.

 

It will not return to normal anytime soon.

 

The economic consequences are huge already and people will not have as much money to spend. Those of us in the leisure and hospitality industries, only just recovered from the 2008/10 financial crisis, are going to be in great difficulties for at least a couple of years. That will be fatal to many businesses, I suspect. I think that we will lose a lot more pubs and many of the newer small breweries.

[eastglosmog]

5 hours ago, Reorte said:

With no pubs a weekend without a hangover will be a silver lining! (forgot to get any from the supermarket and I've got enough food in to not need to go to the supermarket until next week).

One of our local pubs (the best one for beer) has introduced a take away service from an outside window.

[TheQ]

84 days paid sick leave is one bonus. 

The reduction in the back log of work on house and garden will good,  however some will be held up if I can't get stuff.. 

It's a good practice for retirement,  and the 84 days is 13% of the days till I retire.

I'm getting a suntan sitting on the bench in front of the garage working on various bits for the boat. 

There's an outside chance I might get the boat rebuild finished in the 84 days if not this year..