December 2020 chit chat

Wot - no chit chat?  Everyone's too busy stuffing chocolates from the advent calendar into their mouths to chat??!

I'll go first: wish me luck.  IKEA have delivered a room-full of Billy bookcases to me and I'm now in flat-pack hell!

Billy bookcases are great - and they can go anywhere! Enjoy - and hope your recycling bin is big enough!!?

Recycling?  Don't even talk to me about recycling!  I've already got enough cardboard in the garage (waiting to be broken down so it fits into the recycling box) to triple-cover the entire garage floor and run some up the walls if I wanted!  More to come.

I just love IKEA's Billy bookcases, we've got them at our office and both our kids' bedrooms. For our office, we combined Billy bookcases with Pax wardrobes and extricable kitchen cabinets to store our food provisions like cans, pasta etc (we've got a very small kitchen), and since they've got the same front, they really match and look as if they wrre the same system.
By the way: We've got an IKEA advent calendarwhich offers two vouchers - apart from the really good chocolat

Any advent calendar that has something good in it is great!

I give ethical chocolate ones where the company concerned plants trees for every purchase

Hey Lizzy--- you guys getting the predicted blizzard Thursday?   Or is it just us lucky new Englanders??

PP - You're not alone. They're predicting @8 inches tomorrow. I guess then it'll move on up to you guys. Maybe by the time it hits you it won't have too much left to dump on you. Fingers crossed! Can this year get much worse? (A white Christmas is pretty, but by the time Christmas comes around this will just be slush and puddles - unless it snows again, Heaven forbid!)

Katie - It sounds like you've got your hands full! Will you have help setting the bookcases up? It's a pain, I know, but think of how good it will feel when they're all in place. (Maybe think of them as an early Christmas present? Or a big advent calendar to fill with your favorite things?) Good luck!

Snowing here in DC.  Got a good dusting so far.  Probably will change over to some form of rain by afternoon and turn this pretty white blanket to slush.  Oh well.  At least it’s pretty so far.  Good luck Lizzy, annemarie and PigPen.  Sounds like you guys are getting the bulk of it.

Yeah, last I heard they're predicting up to a foot of snow. Except for the weathermen (who are practically orgasmic over this) it's just Mother Nature adding insult to injury. Did my shopping yesterday so I can hunker down for a while - but how different is it really from the last 10 months? Just messier and colder. This year just needs to end.

I did all my shopping yesterday now waiting for it to start. It is supposed to start at 3 pm  and snow until 10 tomorrow morning.
That forecast can change I hope it does , I'm a winter baby and don't like the cold at all.

It isn't the cold so much - and not even the snow. It can be really beautiful when everything is covered in white fluff - especially at night. What I hate is the aftermath - the plowed up mounds of gray mush along the curbs, the puddles of slush and ice at every corner and the ice under everything that makes it treacherous to walk. I know the snow has to be cleared away in order for people to get around, but we hardly have time to appreciate the beauty of the snow before it gets churned into an ugly mess.

Anyway, it is what it is. Rant over.

Lizzy,
there are lots of advantages when living in big cities. I've just realized a big  advantage of living in the countryside when I read your post: I walk about 100 yards, and then I'm in the fields where the snow is allowed to stay until it melts away. 

I've just had a zoom meeting with about 20 people from our British twin town and ten from our twinning association, we talked for more than one hour and were just happy to be able to see and talk to each other again! We made plan for a visit in fall 2021 and really hope that it will be possible to be travelling again by then...

Carol - It sounds lovely where you live. I fell asleep last night to snow falling and woke this morning to a "cleaned up" neighborhood with snow already piled at the curbs and shoveled off the sidewalks.  All grey and ugly. I know it has to be done, but I wish it could have waited a bit.

Having a twin town seems like a great way to make friends across borders.  It sounds like it's been going on for a while. How did it get started?

It actually started after WW II when my area was British occupation zone. The British general made friends here, and when he returned to his hometown, he invited his German friends. These friendships continued and spread out, and at a certain point both town councils decided to make it official.
I first got in touch with this twinning in 1981 or 82 when my swimming club started an exchange with a swimming club in our twin town. I made some friends (my 'British mom' passed away this January), my sisters and parents also went there and hosted guests and also started going there privately. After meeting my husband, we both went, and even my twins go there. In 1993, our town council decided to start a private twinning association. I'm the secretary ever since it started, and we've been organizing trips to and visits from our twin town. We hope to continue these exchanges next summer. 

It definetely enriched my life and widened my horizont and still does, and I'm really thankful for that.

Carol - It's fascinating that something  that started so long ago is still going strong and has grown into something so positive. I hope you'll be able to see each other again soon.

On a different note, did anyone see the presentation of "Kinky Boots" on The Shows Must Go On today? Terrific ensemble company and a wonderful performance. It was just the right medicine for a dreary winter day!

PAN - Is the connection between the new strain of the virus and the increase of cases conclusive? I wonder if that means you're still susceptible even if you've been vaccinated. Lord, will this never end? 

I'm so sorry you won't be able to really celebrate the holidays after you came so close. It does seem as if the people of the UK are taking this much more seriously than a lot of people over here. So many here still won't even wear a mask.

Our schools are in the same boat as yours. My friend's daughter is a teacher and therefore considered an essential worker. As such her children can attend classes in a community center where they have help with their online classes on days they don't actually go to school - except - someone in the community center tested positive. Now the center is shut down and the kids have to quarantine until after X-Mas so they can't attend school either. Lovely! (NOT!) The kids are miserable because they miss their friends. Their mother is going crazy worrying about them missing so much school, and my friend is getting up at the crack of dawn to watch the kids while her daughter and son-in-law go to work. So many people are in the same situation - or worse, because they don't have anyone to watch their kids. It's a mess.

Hoping things get better quickly and you guys can enjoy a more normal Christmas.

Just to answer your question first, Lizzy, no

but that is of course after the two doses a month apart. A logistical and practical night

mare for all concerned I imagine, on top of everything else.  

Britain is taking all of this seriously for the most part. For instance after the announcement by

Boris yesterday there aren't many cars on the road today - but it is Sunday. People here for

realise that our Public Health System will suffer if we don't and no-one will

access a bed or a doctor - for anything! Hospitals are seeing increasing figures and it's laid outl

bare for all of us with these daily Government briefings.  Nobody is pretending it's okay as per

DeSantis who I believe hid some paperwork to keep Florida open.

I'm quite pragmatic about the Christmas thing - it will be safer! - but we'll be doing lots of Zoom with the children who are scattered.

And it's not the Blitz with bombings and roofs falling in and water pipes shot to pieces, is it?

Gosh, I have written an essay!


Ps loved the Fauci story about Father Christmas today!!































































































































All the school children who cannot attend school must stay at home to learn online and join in

the same lessons and mums and dads who work are doing their work at home too. I think there'll be a lot

of offices which won't be needed at the end of all this!



Jigsaw puzzles and games have come into their own!

Essential workers' children and children of teachers go into school into  

their different levels - it's not necessarily their mother But they are all in the same place. Often

those regarded as vulnerable at home are there too. If they don't have computers at home they

are supplied by the education authority and take them home. I get that parents are worried, but I think

they'll catch up. And at least we're not being bombed or losing our roofs and running water. It's not a

war in that way!

PAN, I wish more people here had your attitude to the virus. There are still too many who don't follow guidelines and can't seem to realize that they're only prolonging the problem.Someone even wrote to The Daily News today from Australia to say the US virus problem isn't so bad! Idiot!!!!! Apparently drumpf's lies have taken root outside the US, too.

The problems with the educational system here vary from state to state, and even from one town to another. Really from one school to another. People who are working at home with kids who are learning remotely have discovered a new respect for what teachers do. :DIt's about time, but it won't last long after things get back to normal - if they ever do. I know NYC is using this as an opportunity to make some long needed changes.

As far as working at home making offices redundant, it's already happening here. People from politicians to building owners to community boards are trying to re-imagine the real estate sector post-covid in a way that will benefit both community members and the economy. I think the biggest problem might be keeping businesses from scaling back their employees.

You're right that it could be a lot worse. We've got face-timing and Zoom and Skype and a bunch of other ways to connect with family and friends. We can get almost anything we need (or want) delivered to our doors and  - even if drumpf's government won't help- there are lots of good-hearted people who will. I just keep hoping that everyone will have the best possible holiday under the circumstances.

I don't understand people. I was told covid is nothing but the flu and to get a grip.

So basically you don't listen to the scientists and doctors who have explained this is not true.

At this point I can't see this ending anytime soon. I think honestly we need to get used to our new normal

for me it's simple I'm not taking off my mask and neither is anyone in my family. As for the shot

they need to do more research before I will take it.

In Germany, we had been on a 'light' shutdown since November 2nd, meaning that restaurants, gyms, museums and public swimming pools had to close. It was top priority that - in contrast to the shutdown in March - schools and kindergardens were to remain  open as long as possible. Chancellor Merkel, as a scientist, predicted an exponential rise of number of infections and deaths, but the prime ministers of our sixteen different federal states decided differently.

Angela Merkel was right, so we're on a harder shutdown since last Wednesday. Families had the right to take their kids off from school to be able to self-quarantine before meeting with grandparents at christmas (they have to do home schooling, of course), and only essential workers have the right to send their kids to kindergarden. All shops - apart from supermarkets, pharmacies and drug stores are closed, so you see empty shopping areas instead of busy and crowded ones.

Since their lungues are pre-damaged, my kids are at home since November 2nd and get their homework via e-Mail, apps and zoom conferences. It's not easy for any of us, but it's safer for them, and they don't mind.
For the holidays, it's difficult to be able to combine my parents' wish to see my sisters and me with our families with our wish to protect them as much as possible. So there will be one day for each family with our parents, and we all are as careful as possible anyway.

It will be different holidays...

little known fact.....

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December.

Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring.
Therefore, according to EVERY historical rendition depicting Santa’s reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl.

We should’ve known……ONLY women would be able to drag a man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost.”

Lol, so true Pigpen.

Makes sense to me!

Hey, how's the weather up there? Snowy?

Didn't think I'd be the first, but here goes:

To all our COH friends, MERRY CHRISTMAS! May you have everything your heart desires and may the New Year keep you happy, safe and well!

Merry Christmas to everyone .

Merry Christmas, COHers!! A couple of hours over seven days from now, we get to turn the page on 2020. That's a gift to all of us - those of us who survived, that is.

A very Happy Christmas everybody!! Wishing you all well - and stay safe!

.

Happy Christmas one and all ...

But please please .... wear your mask ... when you leave your home wear a mask...

Who knows - I don’t BUT the next mutation might be The One .... that takes us out...

This virus is making a mockery of us, we’re  losing, make no mistake ....

The simplest things are the hardest to do/impose... wear a mask ...


#ZeroCovid

I hope all our COH friends had a Merry Christmas.  A different holiday this year than all others.  Hope all of you made the best of it and found a way to celebrate safely.

If anything is going to do us all in it will be our ignorance to the truth.  Yes, please everyone wear the damn mask and listen to the scientists so we can all get through this catastrophe.

Let’s hope we will see light at the end of the tunnel in 2021!

Amen, Donna!

Lizzy, have you seen The Graham Norton Show yet?

The next one here comes along on New Year's Eve...............

PAN, I saw it this weekend. The Piers Morgan Show had posted a couple of clips on their YouTube channel last week, but no B&B. Finally aired the whole thing this weekend. Have to say I was a bit let down. Not enough talk time with either George or B&B. Still, I'll take what I can get!