StevieD71

Petrol has been 102.9 at our local Sainsburys for about 3 weeks now.

We are lucky enough to have a park running along the River Bann just a couple of minutes walk from the house. It's still very much in the town (Coleraine), but it was really peaceful and quiet when we had the dogs out last night.

Taking my mum down town for some shopping and popping into our favourite cafe for a cappuccino and one of their excellent scones. Also, impromptu lunch dates with my wife. The days when we are both off work together and decide to go somewhere for a nice lunch instead of having sandwiches in the house.

I washed both cars this morning. Seems like the local birds had been using mine for target practice.

Tampere station, Finland, on the evening of Friday 7th July 2017, waiting for the train back to Helsinki after a day trip on our holiday to Särkänniemi amusement park. I was happy just sitting in the station watching the trains come through and took a wander down the platform to take photos of these SR-2 class locos stabled there.

Fence now painted, inside and out. £30 eBay sprayer turned out to be a good job. My wife had already done the panel fences between us and the neighbours and both sheds with a brush, so that's the whole lot done. Next job is black masonry paint on the windowsills.

Bloody minded Ulsterman versus back fence weeds. I'm claiming a moral victory and the fence is now cleared and ready for painting. That can wait until tomorrow because my wonky knees are done for the day.

I don't have any photos, but I made roasties from scratch for the first time yesterday, and very nice they were too. I always thought they were a bit of a black art and used Auntie Bessies frozen ones, but, using a googled recipe from the BBC good food site it was actually quite simple. I'll definitely make them again.

My silver lining has been adding a couple more pets to the menagerie. As well as the dogs, guinea pigs and fancy goldfish I now have a couple of Russian dwarf hamsters. I work at Pets At Home which is still open as an essential service for pet supplies, but has taken the pets off sale for the duration. This has led to a lot of small furries being looked after in stores (any stores with exotics returned them to head office) which were not going to be sold on and more now unrequired animals coming from our breeders (the last litters before all this kicked off). As a result the company has allowed collegues to adopt animals free of charge and is providing grants to help with set up costs (hutches, food etc). They are also providing 6 months free vet care through our Vets4Pets. I've been considering hamsters for a while now, so this has been my opportunity to take the plunge. I'm currently off work for 12 weeks shielding due to my asthma ansd propensity for chest infections so had to make my first trip into work in weeks to collect them (with all due precautions taken obviously) Meet Bubble and Squeak

I knew I shouldn't have looked at the PlayStation store sale. GRID for £13.74 was just too good an offer to resist. It's a more arcade like than GT Sport or Project Cars, but the first impression with a couple of custom races is that Codemasters have got the racing spot on, as always. Oh how I wish they would redo the Toca 2 for the PS4.

I'm another one who has invested in a set of Wahl clippers and who has a wife who cuts my hair once a month. Saved me a fortune over the last 10 years.

I was a postie from 2001 to 2016, when I was medically retired due to my increasingly dodgy knees. When I joined it was a service and when Ieft it was a business. I'm glad I'm out of it and when I meet former colleagues they tell me I was lucky to get out when I did.

I managed to secure home delivery slots at our local Asda for the 1st, 7th and 14th of April. One of them has next week's full (depending on availability) shop and the others are secured with one item, ready to be amended closer to the time. It bugs me slightly that I had to use Asda because I usually shop at Tesco, and have used their home delivery service in the past, but I'm just glad I managed to get the slots I have.

Everyone is getting the generic "stay at home" message. The government may not know your number, but your service provider does. My missus is with 3 and got the message first thing, but Vodafone didn't get it to me until mid afternoon.

My brother manages an off licence. He has just dropped off some essential medical supplies on his way home from work. Jim Beam for me, Honey JD for the boss.

I was diagnosed with sleep apnoea a few years ago and given a C-PAP machine. I couldn't believe the difference it made. If I fall asleep without it now I toss and turn and wake myself continually. It's a fantastic and genuinely life changing piece of kit.

It's been doing the rounds and has popped on my Facebook feed continuously since last night, so I'd say it's pretty certain that it is going viral.

I've just seen a picture on my Facebook feed of White Park Bay, which is not too far from me. The car park is bunged. One of my friends commented that it's never that busy on the best summer days. F**kwits the lot of them. We have started taking the dogs for short walks again, as they were getting bored in the garden (i'm just thankful we have a decent sized garden), but we are waiting until 9pm when it is quiet and staying well clear of anyone we meet.

It was suggested on the old cars thread that I put some photos of the Fiat Coupe I ran for a few years in this thread. So here they are. It is a 1998 2.0L 20V n/a model and these pictures were taken on the evening we prepared it for an Italian car show and the following day at the show. I put the tricolore stripe on it to cover an unslightly scratch on the bonnet which had been badly touched in by a previous owner. While I had it I had the gearbox rebuilt, put on a sports exhaust, chipped the ECU, replaced a various worn out mechanicals and generally had a great time driving it. It still needed quite a lot of niggly jobs done when something in the drivetrain went pop and my wife called time on my midlife crisis. It was nick named Big Bird and I wish I still had it.

I've played a few rounds of Warzone. It looks fantastic and plays nicely. 41st is my highest placing.

I didn't realise that Coleraine was an exotic name until I phoned NHS 111 on Tuesday. I had to spell it four times for the guy on the phone and even then he was struggling to pronounce it. (Coal-rain, its not difficult). Having said that, the BBC national news presenters used to mangle it on a regular basis during the troubles. We did have a road near here that was called the Murder Hole Road, but was changed a few years ago to the less exciting Windy Hill Road.

I had a Radeon card a few years ago which behaved the same way. It worked perfectly with the drivers that came on the CD in the box, but wouldn't accept any updated drivers at all.

So, after my post and questions last night things have moved on somewhat today. I called NHS111 this morning for advice and was told I should carry on as normal but avoid any public spaces!?! Useless altogether. Since that other events have taken over. My 14 year old daughter developed a cough, which initially sounded like the one she sometimes has with her asthma (a sufferer like her dad), but became dryer and more persistant and her temperature rose and stayed high. This prompted a call to the out of hours doctor service, a 3 hour wait for a return call and a lenghthy conversation witha nurse, who, as well as discussing my daughters symptoms, was concerned that I sounded a bit wheezy. The upshot is my daughter's symptoms all point to Covid-19 and the house is now in isolation for 14 days. I have also been instructed to contact my own GP tomorrow to discuss whether I should isolate further as my age, asthma, previous chest infections and arthritis mean I am borderline vunerable.

Hence my confusion. I take Symbicort morning and evening which is the steroid controller and have Salamol easibreathe which I use at least once every day. The pleurisy I had when I was in my early 20's wiped me out for almost a month and I've had the flu jab ever since. I feel that my asthma is kept in reasonable check by the inhalers, but do the other factors make it severe or chronic?.