What are you going to do with all that time you'll soon have?

[mrbrightside]

I am going to sit down in glorious isolation with no interruptions (for 14 days) and conduct a long overdue review of all my ISA's and pensions.

Oh hang on wait...

[didds]

Not sure which category of unlucky or lucky fits me... I work from home almost 100% of the time, and the occassional day I'd drive to "the office" can easily not happen and it be BAU chez didds wrt remote working via VPN etc ... which in itself is remote support of multiple clients' servers etc in far flung datacentres.

So in the short to medium term anyway Im unikely to see any change work wise. It would be impact on clients' businesses that would affect "us" ...

Socially Im seeing a potential big hit as Im in several local performamce groups - choirs, musical theatre, drama etc etc ... so rehearsals and performances are likely to be hit for a while. We're already investigating remote/web rehearsals.

didds

[SalvorHardin]

Watch DVDs of lots of series that I've already seen but would like to rewatch. Over the years I've built up a reasonable collection. Hill Street Blues, Northern Exposure, Justified, Sons of Anarchy, The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, 19-2, The Brokenwood Mysteries, Lovejoy, etc.

Some of these are on Amazon Prime's "free" service (e.g. Justified, 19-2, Hill Street Blues series 1 & 2) so I'd be streaming them if I hadn't already got the DVDs.

There's loads of decent stuff on Amazon Prime and Netflix. It can be a bit tricky finding it though

Other things: read lots of books.

Other than that I'm just digging in and waiting to see how things develop. Being 56 years young I'm outside the governments range for self-isolation, especially since I live in a fairly rural area. But since I moved in with my parents several months ago, I'm going to behave as if I'm their age when it comes to this topic. No problem as we get on very well.

[pds2008]

Here on the Isle of Wight I have an indoor and outdoor list

Indoor
Box Set/Netflix binge - Chernobyl, Westworld, Narcos, Line of Duty - plus a few others
Spare Bedroom - turn it into a Library, Map and Travel Room - all for me
A Pile of 20 books to get through - sitting in the room mentioned above

Outdoor (House & Garden)
Clear out one shed
Tidy up workshop
Composting
Clear and Clean Driveway
Weeding and Pruning
Plant a few seeds
Build two raised beds for the summer to come

Outdoor (Non H&G)
Complete 12 Island walks - low risk this time of year
Check out a few beaches I have not been to for years - low risk
Continue with my Citizens Advice volunteering - (phone support and email responses - no face to face)
Help a couple of elderly neighbours if they need anything

Lets hope the weather gods are kinder than the Virus gods

Yell

[mrbrightside]

Watch DVDs of lots of series that I've already seen but would like to rewatch. Over the years I've built up a reasonable collection. Hill Street Blues, Northern Exposure, Justified, Sons of Anarchy, The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, 19-2, The Brokenwood Mysteries, Lovejoy, etc.

I really loved 'Northern Exposure' and found it odd it wasn't easier to find or endlessly repeated.

[Howard]

Well today in sunny Hampshire I tried out my new bbq. It cooked a small chicken beautifully. And sitting in the sun with a glass of Chardonnay used up a bit of time. This was only a practice for the summer when a bbq could take up a third of a day.

And the lawn is looking good after its second cut.

Then a stroll to admire the local primroses.

It's getting a bit hectic.

regards

Howard

[jfgw]

Baby boom predicted for early 2021.

(May require couples getting closer than 2m.)


Julian F. G. W.

[sg31]

Baby boom predicted for early 2021.

(May require couples getting closer than 2m.)


Julian F. G. W.

May require a miracle in our house at our ages.

[UncleEbenezer]

Baby boom predicted for early 2021.

(May require couples getting closer than 2m.)

Or exploring novel positions.

Which you'd perhaps be too poorly to accomplish if suffering the lurgy.

[SalvorHardin]

I really loved 'Northern Exposure' and found it odd it wasn't easier to find or endlessly repeated.

I gave up waiting and bought the DVDs about six years ago.

Amazon have the complete series boxed set for about £31. Lots of people complain that it doesn't have most of the original music that was played on the "Chris in the Morning" radio show. I'm not one of them. For me the music was never intrinsic to the show.

For those who've never heard of it, Northern exposure is a 1990s comedy-drama about a Jewish doctor from New York who has to work four years in Alaska to pay off his university tuition. He ends up in a remote small town. Channel 4 used to show it late at night. Here's a trailer:

https://www.imdb.com/video/vi4208508185?ref_=ttvi_vi_imdb_1

[Clitheroekid]

Like Scotia, the one saving grace of this effective lockdown has been its coincidence with the start of the trout season.

I'm lucky to fish on the Hodder, which is a beautiful river, and to be there on a lovely spring day is very heaven itself

I often have it entirely to myself (though I suppose that may change!)

And although it's always exciting to catch a fish it really doesn't matter to me if I don't. Simply being there, amongst the kingfishers, the dippers and even the occasional otter, is one of the most pleasurable ways of spending time ever devised. There's an old saying, "The gods do not deduct from man's allotted span the hours spent in fishing", and I can well believe it.

From a work point of view I'm very lucky. I could, at least in theory, work from home, but I enjoy the daily drive (about 20 minutes) to my office. Being semi-retired I no longer have any staff to worry about, so I'm just as self-isolated at work as I would be at home. Most of my clients are nowadays non-local, and although local clients do call in I hardly ever actually need to see them in person.

On a slightly morbid note I've had a lot of new enquiries for Wills in the last week or so - many more than normal. Again, however, it's very easy to deal with remotely, and I would think I only see about 1 in 20 of the people for whom I make Wills.

Although it may sound a bit self-serving to say so, if the CV does push people into making a Will it'll have served a useful purpose, as I regularly have to deal with the fallout of estates where people have failed to make a Will. Particularly these days, with so many couples being unmarried, the rules of intestacy (i.e. who gets what if there's no Will) can have devastating effects on families, but most people assume they're immortal, or that living together creates a `common law marriage' – for the avoidance of doubt there's no such thing!

For the still long evenings I've taken out a free trial subscription to Netflix, with every intention of cancelling it at the end of the trial period. My main motivation for doing so was to watch The Crown. I started watching it at a friend's over Christmas / New Year, and became hooked. I'm only on about episode 6 out of 30, so that's a treat to look forward to. I might also get round to watching Breaking Bad, as I liked what I saw of it a couple of years ago.

Someone mentioned computer gaming. I've never seen the attraction (apart from Flight Simulator, which I might invest in) as it's always looked like some ghastly slaughter fest, to be played only by teenagers, but if anyone knows of any `civilised' games please let me know, as I'm always open to new experiences.

So overall, on a day to day basis I don't really foresee any huge changes. The biggest one will probably be that I'll have to forego highly enjoyable trips to the pub and restaurants, and I really do worry as to how - or even if - they'll survive. They would have been looking forward to the spring after a fairly lean winter, and it's exceptionally cruel that this will hit them just as they were hoping to build up some trade.

And, of course, foreign travel’s now not an option. It's upsetting, as I'd normally be looking forward to my first trip to Ibiza in a couple of weeks, and I've always loved it there in the spring, before the huddled masses arrive. But in the overall context of things it's hardly disastrous.

I think the biggest question - and I've seen no authoritative answer yet - is how do we know when we're safe to emerge, both safe in the sense of not catching CV ourselves and in the sense of giving it to others?

I think that many other Fools are in a similar situation to me - debt-free, and even with much-diminished assets no real financial concerns. But I feel desperately sorry for younger people whose jobs / businesses may be at risk and who have rent and mortgages to pay, and families to look after. Once again, we Boomers will probably have a relatively easy time of it compared to them, and recognising that privilege I would certainly be willing to pay more in tax to help them out.

Anyway, good luck to all fellow Fools. I certainly think this community will do a lot to keep up morale - though I just hope we don't suddenly see regular posters mysteriously disappearing!

[sg31]

Sorry CK, I can only give that a thumbs up once. It deserves more.

I'm not a fly fisherman, just a very coarse angler but that is a lovely stretch of river.

[swill453]

And, of course, foreign travel’s now not an option. It's upsetting, as I'd normally be looking forward to my first trip to Ibiza in a couple of weeks, and I've always loved it there in the spring, before the huddled masses arrive. But in the overall context of things it's hardly disastrous.

We're just back (yesterday) from 3 weeks in south east Spain. With hindsight it was accidentally masterful timing - the lockdown was announced there on Saturday, we managed to avoid the feds and still had a day out walking on Sunday, and Jet2 sent out a "mercy" flight to Alicante on Monday which took us back to Edinburgh at our scheduled time.

If we'd been coming home even a day later then things would have been disrupted a lot more. As it was we had a little stress after hearing Jet2 flights to Spain on Saturday had turned around in mid air back to the UK, but nothing more than that.

We also had 3 weeks of almost perfect weather, and it started raining there yesterday!

I must say we looked back as we took off and wistfully wondered how long it would be before we returned. Or even when we'd be in a plane again.

We missed all the panic buying here of course, luckily we've a couple of weeks supply of bog roll in house.

Scott.

[roger4]

CK. Try CivilizationVI.

Roger

[terminal7]

CK

Breaking Bad(62 episodes) is a must - then you can view the precursor series 'Better Call Saul' (40 episodes). Before you know it . . . let's hope so.

T7

[Rhyd6]

Next Tuesday we're going to attempt to do our usual quiz online. 8.00pm send out picture round and table quiz answers to be emailed back at 8.30pm when first round of 20 questions will be sent out, answers to be emailed back at 9.15pm when 2nd round of 20 questions sent out to be returned by 10pm. Hopefully all marking will be done in time for results to be announced at 10.20pm. 10 bonus points if you are doing the quiz on your own and of course Scouts Honour that you won't cheat and look anything up. Fingers crossed it will work

R6

[scotia]

Next Tuesday we're going to attempt to do our usual quiz online. 8.00pm send out picture round and table quiz answers to be emailed back at 8.30pm when first round of 20 questions will be sent out, answers to be emailed back at 9.15pm when 2nd round of 20 questions sent out to be returned by 10pm. Hopefully all marking will be done in time for results to be announced at 10.20pm. 10 bonus points if you are doing the quiz on your own and of course Scouts Honour that you won't cheat and look anything up. Fingers crossed it will work

R6

Good luck - and if it works, and nobody cheats, then you can hand on your scheme to those Universities which have promised to carry out on-line examinations.

[EverybodyKnows]

CK. Try CivilizationVI.

Roger

Civilization VI is good but I much prefer Civilization IV. The visuals on Civ IV are more intuitive.

That said, I have lost many a day (read weekend) to both games.

[Watis]

CK

Breaking Bad(62 episodes) is a must - then you can view the precursor series 'Better Call Saul' (40 episodes). Before you know it . . . let's hope so.

T7

Have worked through Breaking Bad and just started watching Better Call Saul. So far so good.

Just wanted to mention that you don't want to watch the film 'El Camino' before you've finished Breaking Bad as it is a sequel and will give too much away.

HTH,

Watis

[Andy46]

Apparently i'm considered a key worker so will still have to work, probably still have to go to the office, although might be told to work from home. The jobs gone really quiet though so I use the word 'work' loosely. If last week is anything to go by i'll end up with much more free time. I'd sort my finances out but little point since my retirement fund has now been decimated with the stock market decline. So all thats left is DIY