[TobyD]

NB Things that everyone can be happy about, not 'I learnt the saxophone' or something.

Come on, there have to be some good things that have come out of the past year, aren't there? 

[cheque]

Donald Trump lost the US election.

There appear to be working Covid vaccines.

Having to cope with the pandemic has shown that we can do perfectly well without a lot of business travel and commuting.

There was a “coronavirus- good things that happen” or similar thread earlier in the year. Don’t want to repeat everything I put in that but I do think there will be some silver lining-type things largely coming from us all having been in a similar boat due to the pandemic.

I’m well aware that there are that there are negative caveats/ related factors to these things by the way. Loads of other threads to be gloomy in.

[lagerstarfish]

2020 will soon be over

 

[Andy F]

Liverpool won the Premier League.
Man Utd are still crap.
I got up something at the Tor
The house was decorated and garden sorted.
Trump lost. Repeatedly.
 

[Oldmanmatt]

Trump lost.

Otherwise:




And, it marked the 23rd anniversary of Rockwell upgrading to the “Retro” Turbo-Encapsulator, which was significant:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RXJKdh1KZ0w&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1IouwHokXg5jjSg_90XOqveMDz5T0aY0GEfV9RpY9hWU0-IF0bruPnE5k

[Aussiegav]

This will sound odd. But I returned to working in ICU in March and then COVID hit. I’ve been there ever since.
Whilst there was plenty of unpleasantness, I also saw & experienced the power of compassion and humanity. Very proud to of been able to be part of that.

[shark]

Home and remote working are now more widely acceptable. Reduced wasted hours in traffic and better for the environment.

This has been great for Mrs Shark in her new job. Less great for my office property though.

[tomtom]

Yes 👏👏 for less travel. I don’t miss all the travelling for work - and am pleased not to have been on a flight all year.

[Paul B]

Interestingly at Nat's place they're asking people to accept a change in contract so their home becomes their workplace and the intention is to slim their offices down to meeting hubs.

Apparently there's a distinct split in role between staff members as to whether they're in favour of this (general office / consultant types) or not (operations staff). I can't see it long before the former are asked to give up their car allowance though  .

I don't think my place will adopt it really as the directors started the business WFH and now own the premises. They don't really want to go back to WFH as for them that seems like a step backwards. Thankfully for me they're very flexible.

[lagerstarfish]

I'm very glad that I changed jobs before Covid.
Previous job was "low intensity" (LOL) high volume talking therapy and I always hated any time I had to do it over the phone - which is what my old colleagues have been doing since March.
Lucky escape for me.

However, I do see the decrease in travel for other people as a great thing.

[Bradders]

Haha this, 100%.

Guess home-working / reduced travel is the big one for many. I love how quiet the roads are now, and I'm hopeful that there will be a long term positive impact on the environment (or, at least, it helps stop it getting worse).

[ali k]

I love how quiet the roads are now

Have you been on a motorway recently? I would say they’re back to normal levels of traffic.

[SamT]

I love how quiet the roads are now

Have you been on a motorway recently? I would say they’re back to normal levels of traffic.

Yep - and yet only 60% of folks back to work ?!?

Reason - nobody, absolutely nobody is using public transport, choosing instead to drive in their covid safe little bubbles.

Read a piece on this that said just before this November lockdown, traffic was back to pre covid levels, and it predicted a net increase in traffic after things 'go back normal'.

Mate in London has said he's very very reluctant to go anywhere near the tube now, having spent the best part of the last 30 years standing in someone's armpit every morning/evening.


Other than that

- Trump losing
- Increased levels of 'neighborhood engagement'.
- NHS perhaps being given the respect it deserves and a reprieve and from the baying mob of pro privatisation politicians.

[sdm]

Lack of lift sharing must be adding a lot to traffic levels too.

[mrjonathanr]

- NHS perhaps being given the respect it deserves and a reprieve and from the baying mob of pro privatisation politicians.

Sorry to be gloomy (and I agree with a lot of the upsides mentioned above) but I could  not disagree with this more. While we were applauding the selflessness of NHS staff, £22bn was lavished on a useless track and trace. Whilst it operates under the NHS logo, most companies involved - and receiving public money- are private. Here’s a list:
huffington post

Rupert Soames (MP Nicholas’s brother) about his company Serco embedding further in the NHS:
“If it succeeds … it will go a long way in cementing the position of the private sector companies in the public sector supply chain.

More detail about Serco’s position: https://www.nhsforsale.info/private-providers/serco-new/

[SamT]

    ..  I did prefix the notion with a 'perhaps'.

[cheque]

The Black Lives Matter movement, or more accurately the renewed forcefulness that that message has been expressed since June.

[mrjonathanr]

Sorry Sam; they make me pretty cross tbh

Difficult for a Liverpudlian this - but have we had Marcus Rashford yet?

[Bradders]

I love how quiet the roads are now

Have you been on a motorway recently? I would say they’re back to normal levels of traffic.

Yeah loads, although I suppose when I say quiet I mean it's possible to drive the whole time at 70. Can't remember the last time I was stuck in traffic. Example yesterday I was on the M62 past Manchester and into Leeds between 5-6pm; even on a weekend I'd normally expect that to be pretty slow and there to be reduced speed limits in place, but was totally clear.

Went to the Lakes a few times during 2nd lockdown and it was bliss. Empty roads the whole time.

N=1 of course

And I accept it probably won't last 

[tomtom]

Here (S Manchester) - on local roads rush hour is much shorter (only lasts 40-60 min - if that tbh) and is less intense/busy. Previously it was drawn out from 4-6/6:30 in the afternoon.

I’ve only been out a few times at peak times on Motorways but they’ve all been quieter - as in busy but moving rather than busy and jammed.

Hope the move to wfh will mean some of those reductions are longer term - when people go back to public transport.

[andy popp]

Have driven on a total of six days this year (though there may be a couple more coming up). I love not having a car.

[TobyD]

Liverpool won the Premier League.
Man Utd are still crap.
I got up something at the Tor
The house was decorated and garden sorted.

NB not just things that are good for you!

Trump losing is definitely good, even his supporters can keep having rallies and passing around coronavirus to each other, which seems to keep them happy. 

I'd say roads are about as busy as ever now, judging by what I've experienced on motorways. Sheffield probably has less traffic within it though.

The first lockdown empty roads were bliss, as was the stunning spring weather.

 

This will sound odd. But I returned to working in ICU in March and then COVID hit. I’ve been there ever since.
Whilst there was plenty of unpleasantness, I also saw & experienced the power of compassion and humanity. Very proud to of been able to be part of that.

That's genuinely nice to hear. My experience of working in the community for the NHS until September was of total disorganisation,  managers happily WFH while telling clinical staff to go and do more and more work in worse conditions with less support and generally not actually practice their profession but be a sort of emergency social care service.  I'm happy that I've now left it.

[T_B]

Some people who might not otherwise have done so have discovered the Great Outdoors.

I met one of them the other day and she described how until Lockdown she’d been an “indoor gym person”. Now her and her boyfriend get out walking in the Peak.

I’m really struggling to think of much else. There are so many downsides to this pandemic. A move to more flexible working suits some people, but not all. Companies looking to do away with their offices aren’t necessarily thinking about the welfare of their employees! Clearly there are huge cost savings to be had. I can see this being a big issue in 2021.

[mark20]

There seems to be more Christmas decorations / lights on peoples houses, presumably because more people are staying at home, which is quite nice

[Paul B]

A lot of my family have decided that Christmas celebrations together aren't necessarily sensible and have decided that buying and posting presents is going to be too much hassle and are therefore outing to donate to charity instead (/vs).

[petejh]

If you were to ask 'things to feel happy about in 20xx'  in any year would it be hard or easy to pinpoint especially happy things at a whole population level? Genuinely not sure.

2020: we experienced the most serious virus pandemic since Spanish Flu in 1919 and civilisation didn't completely fall apart. We'll move on with the memories and the psychological/emotional/financial scars and soon enough there'll be generations who don't remember it at all.

Spring was nice.

[Fiend]

The first lockdown empty roads were bliss, as was the stunning spring weather.

NB not just things that are good for keen cyclists. For other people the lockdown was a miserable cunting shit of a time.

[andy popp]

Some members might remember that in late 2016, when I was living in the US, we hosted the first of several groups of refugees who stayed with us - four young men from Eritrea. We got particularly close to this group, and one of them in particular, who eventually came to live with us permanently. We also got to know many others in the local Eritrean community - there were a lot of fun times! Anyway, A, who was living with us, got into a special program that led to a high school diploma, a driving license and vocational training. He came top of his class and got a full scholarship to the local community college for a two year associate's degree. From there he graduated to Penn State and in 18 months will graduate with a full four year degree in accounting. We speak all the time but he rang today to tell us he'd met someone he wants to marry. So, sometime around two years from now there's going to an almighty wedding party somewhere in West Philly. Nothing, and I mean nothing, could possibly have made me happier this year.

[SamT]

That's mega Andy!

[TobyD]

The first lockdown empty roads were bliss, as was the stunning spring weather.

NB not just things that are good for keen cyclists. For other people the lockdown was a miserable cunting shit of a time.

Surely everyone appreciated the weather though. That is being rather offset by the awful weather at the moment, however. 

[TobyD]

If you were to ask 'things to feel happy about in 20xx'  in any year would it be hard or easy to pinpoint especially happy things at a whole population level? Genuinely not sure.

2020: we experienced the most serious virus pandemic since Spanish Flu in 1919 and civilisation didn't completely fall apart. We'll move on with the memories and the psychological/emotional/financial scars and soon enough there'll be generations who don't remember it at all.

Spring was nice.

Yes I think I largely agree with you,  that's a pretty positive outlook on it as well.  Sometime soon this will all be a memory.

[36chambers]

The first lockdown empty roads were bliss, as was the stunning spring weather.

NB not just things that are good for keen cyclists. For other people the lockdown was a miserable cunting shit of a time.

Surely everyone appreciated the weather though. That is being rather offset by the awful weather at the moment, however.

I resented the glorious weather whilst locked in my shitty little urban house.

[teestub]

Surely everyone appreciated the weather though. That is being rather offset by the awful weather at the moment, however.

You’re kidding! The best extended period of great climbing conditions in years, only to be enjoyed during our one mandated walk daily.

[Oldmanmatt]

Some members might remember that in late 2016, when I was living in the US, we hosted the first of several groups of refugees who stayed with us - four young men from Eritrea. We got particularly close to this group, and one of them in particular, who eventually came to live with us permanently. We also got to know many others in the local Eritrean community - there were a lot of fun times! Anyway, A, who was living with us, got into a special program that led to a high school diploma, a driving license and vocational training. He came top of his class and got a full scholarship to the local community college for a two year associate's degree. From there he graduated to Penn State and in 18 months will graduate with a full four year degree in accounting. We speak all the time but he rang today to tell us he'd met someone he wants to marry. So, sometime around two years from now there's going to an almighty wedding party somewhere in West Philly. Nothing, and I mean nothing, could possibly have made me happier this year.

Just brilliant. Guy must be something exceptional. BZ for being there to hold that foot in place at such a crucial moment. A slip there might have sent him off on a very different path.

[IanP]

Surely everyone appreciated the weather though. That is being rather offset by the awful weather at the moment, however.

You’re kidding! The best extended period of great climbing conditions in years, only to be enjoyed during our one mandated walk daily.

Just to say the weather was pretty epic in 2018 if you were a sport climber! I'm crossing my fingers for spring / early summer dry spells becoming a thing!

[nai]

I'd be much happier if this thread was titled Reasons to be Cheerful

[tomtom]

This is a reason to be cheerful. Lockdown filmed Spoof sci-fi series-let by James McAvoy.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CAGDnhMlNt9/?igshid=97xhdo9jqptc

[TobyD]

I'd be much happier if this thread was titled Reasons to be Cheerful

Then UKB would get sued for copyright infringement by Ed Milliband though.

[mark s]

I want to find a positive from the virus. For me it's job security. We are making the carrier liquid that makes up the majority of the Pfizer vaccine. We make pharmas and this has brought investment they will use for other projects also.

[andy popp]

Guy must be something exceptional.

Yeah, he's something else.

[nai]

I'd be much happier if this thread was titled Reasons to be Cheerful

Then UKB would get sued for copyright infringement by Ed Milliband though.

It'd make me happy when ukb won that case with the jury grooving along to Ian Dury in court then the judge telling Miliband what a waste of time it had been