[tomtom]

Amongst all the bad news - behaviour everywhere is being modified with some positive outcomes.
For me:

I’m certainly being more careful what I use and what I throw away. A teeny bit of the wartime thrift my parents grew up with

I’m going to spent a whole lot more time with my boy (looks like I’ll be major childcarer)

I’m going to cook a lot more - and be more creative.

I won’t be driving 500 miles a week for the foreseeable future.

Our road is quiet And outside is lovely (in the tiny garden) - no cars around, noticeably less fumes - and planes in the sky are unusual rather than the norm.

[Yossarian]

I still haven’t found out if my freelance contract is ending at the end of the month yet (entirely dependent on a virtual meeting this coming week) but I really hope that the overall freelancer / rights situation gets an overhaul before too long. There are so many people making a lot of noise about it that I think / hope it’s inevitable.

I also hope that remote working becomes normalised as a result of all this. In the design world it seems that many entirely digital studios are now all or semi remote / decentralised, but most graphic design companies are wedded to the entire studio being present in central London at the same time. I would have a much brighter future if I could work from home 4 a days a week rather than commute for 4hrs a day.

Our kids (8 and 5) are already learning to (and struggling with) adapting to having to keep themselves occupied. They are planning FaceTime with their mates, and today they have been painting with watercolours, doing online maths and had a walk to the (fairly deserted) beach.

I’m still stuck with an antiquated desktop that’s fine for illustration and design, but if I am going to carry on getting paid (but without the cost of commuting to London) I will buy a new iMac and start animating (one of my NY resolutions).

If the job goes, I have plenty of book and illustration ideas / proposals to work on. A better scenario that the TV production designer chum I chatted to across the road yesterday - I can’t see any TV filming happening for a while...

[Oldmanmatt]

My kids (and for once all four, without arguing) are in the garden pulling out brambles as thick as my wrist and hacking back shrubs that are doing fair impressions of Ents.
Polly is spending Mother’s day pressure washing the patio slabs and we’re making a dent on the war zone we laughingly called a garden. The winter storms had really done for it.
We’ve pulled two trampolines and a paddling pool out of the trees and shrubs.

We’ll have dinner Grandma later.

Via WhatsApp video call.

And the grave.

Is just a hole in the ground. We can go there any time.

[cheque]

I said on another thread the other day that lots of people in the organisation I work for could work from home but never do for some reason. Now they’ve got to they’re almost certain to do it more in future- scale that up and I think we’ll see a positive impact on a much bigger level.

I was so fucking happy as my life got gradually back to normal (or established at a new normal) after my accident- I don’t think I’ll ever take things for granted in the same way I used to. I like to think that we’ll have that on a more collective level as things improve, which can’t be a bad thing.

A lot is made of the character-building effects of the blitz on those who lived through it. Perhaps this can do similar for those of us who are around now but possibly with less nationalism involved.

It occurred to me yesterday that I have a lot of time to edit unfinished footage that I was expecting to not get round to once the route climbing weather came back.

We’re probably all going to be a lot more hygiene-conscious from now on. Can’t be a bad thing.

Myself and my other half both got new guitars in the winter and I started teaching her to play and getting back to the level where I used to be myself. We’re going to be like bloody Van Halen.

We’ve pulled two trampolines and a paddling pool out of the trees and shrubs.

Years ago, when me and my mates were coming up to moving out of the house we’d lived in since we were students we realised we’d better sort out the bramble situation in the garden- after two days work we discovered that it was twice the size that we thought it was and right at the back there was a bench that we had only the faintest memories of. 

[jwi]

I am well impressed by this: https://www.isinnova.it/easy-covid19-eng/

If you have a 3d printer you can manufacture C-PAP masks for sub-intensive therapy by buying an over the shelf "Easybreath" snorkeling mask from Decathlon, download the drawing and print the link valve. Voilà! You have a non-certified bio-medical device, to be used only if non certified masks can be had. If you have a printer and are willing, the link above can also connect you to hospitals in need.

When the developers contacted Decathlon they were immediately provided with the CAD drawing of the mask.

A prototype has been tested successfully by the Chiari Hospital.

[Murph]

More time with the kids is good and bad but yeah bits of it are good. Global warming might have been slowed down by a bit. Fingerboarding is cool again. 

[Fiend]

Good thread tt.

I'm being even more sedate as an Audi driver, and deliberately more courteous, to just try to keep up some common decency. And doing the same in other interactions.

I'm also being more dilligent and receptive in online interactions to try to keep a sense of communication and togetherness.

I also realise I've been right for the last 20 years in promotion exploration of off-piste climbing areas and not always going to bloody honeypots!

[Andy F]

The garden will finally get the seeing too it desperately needs (cut the hedge back today, dug out some triffid level weeds).
The upstairs rooms can get decorated.
The gable end can get painted.
The lesson planning for the next year can get done.
Come September, things should be in a much better place.

[a13c]

Good thread. I feel in need of some positivity!

Dolphins in Venice!

[205Chris]

I am well impressed by this: https://www.isinnova.it/easy-covid19-eng/

If you have a 3d printer you can manufacture C-PAP masks for sub-intensive therapy by buying an over the shelf "Easybreath" snorkeling mask from Decathlon, download the drawing and print the link valve. Voilà! You have a non-certified bio-medical device, to be used only if non certified masks can be had. If you have a printer and are willing, the link above can also connect you to hospitals in need.

When the developers contacted Decathlon they were immediately provided with the CAD drawing of the mask.

A prototype has been tested successfully by the Chiari Hospital.

Stuff like this restores my faith in humanity

[Fultonius]

For me, I have a lot of "hopeful" positives that I think may happen, and hope will:

• Reduction of the usual 40,000 UK deaths from vehicle air pollution (obvs not overnight)
• Rekindling of the love for the NHS. Maybe we'll start considering it worth funding properly?
• Some serious consideration from both left and right about the libertarian aspects & socialist aspects of UBI
• Many more people learning that time with family, in the garden and doing other things can be more rewarding than too much career chasing.

It's certainly bringing our family closer together. Despite my sister being stuck in Antigua (I know, I know, there are worse places to be stuck...but hurricane season...) with a boat that needs sailed back across the Atlantic with no crew...

[Muenchener]

I also hope that remote working becomes normalised as a result of all this. ... I would have a much brighter future if I could work from home 4 a days a week rather than commute for 4hrs a day.

My employer has had a fairly flexible working from home policy for a while, which I have generally not chosen to take advantage of. Now that I'm getting more used to it I probably will for a couple of days a week. I mostly commute by bike or public transport, so it's not a environmental issue for me, but I could certainly come to appreciate the extra couple of hours a day.

We’re probably all going to be a lot more hygiene-conscious from now on. Can’t be a bad thing.

For the last few years I've suffered from persistent low grade coughs & snuffles for months over practically the entire autumn & winter. I had no idea until now that things like hand washing & face touching were so important - not that I didn't wash my hands, but I had no idea they played a significant role in respiratory tract infections. I will be following a lot more of the advice in this uphill athlete article in future.

[tomtom]

Railways to be re-nationalised! (Well for 6 months at least). Suspect there may be some overhaul at the end of all this - which will probably be a good thing.

[SA Chris]

Progress on the bouldering wall in the garage, may even get it done this week.

No ironing and preparing school uniforms
No getting schoolbags ready, getting kids up, dressed and breakfasted
No shaving
No getting to work commute faff
Went for a run at 8 am, chilly breezy morning, stopped to appreciate wild waves at Newtonhill Beach, both the dog walkers appreciated my distancing and not petting their dogs, and were friendly and courteous.
Shower in the morning is something I rarely have time for
Time to spend with the kids.

[peewee]

Eurovision has been cancelled 

[Somebody's Fool]

Railways to be re-nationalised! (Well for 6 months at least). Suspect there may be some overhaul at the end of all this - which will probably be a good thing.

Some things that undoubtedly would help deal with a crisis like this in future:

National Care Service to free up hospital capacity
Properly funded NHS
Publicly owned Royal Mail
Publicly owned trains
Publicy owned buses
UBI
Fast broadband to whole country

[Oldmanmatt]

Eurovision has been cancelled 

Phew.

My sister has been barred from entering the Hospital and ordered to work from home.

[steveri]

The air is sparkling out there.

[petejh]

Classic routes at euro sport crags will reach a certain level of polish 6-12 months further into the future than they otherwise would.

[Will Hunt]

This has been mentioned above, but to paraphrase. My grandparent's generation was defined by their great national struggle: the second world war. It is often said that their children and my generation had no unifying struggle or challenge. There have already been some great examples of how people have rallied and worked together to fight against the disease. We will probably look back on this as being our great generation-defining struggle - but the enemy is a microbe, not another country, and we "win the war" by looking out for each other and through scientific endeavour rather than by dropping bombs on and shooting bullets at other people.

One hopes that isolationism (see Trump, Iran) will be exposed as shite, and a new light is shone on the value of international co-operation. I also hope that we don't end up having to live with a long-term shame that the developed world sorted itself out and left the developing world to sort itself out unaided.


And then there's all sorts of opportunities for trying out new ways of doing things. Normally these ideas (UBI etc) are tossed out as too much a deviation from the status quo. Now that that is gone, maybe we can do things differently. More home-working is an obvious one, but there's other ideas such as starting the school year at a different time etc.


Most importantly of all: I have a board in my garage; Ben has no training aids whatsoever. It is my sincerest hope that when we emerge to the rock he will be a complete weakling and I will be a complete beast.

[tomtom]

You nearly sounded positive there Will - nearly 😃

[i.munro]

Unfortunately we already have a 'great (inter)national struggle',  one that makes both the current problem and the second world war look like a picnic and the current  situation seems to be completely distracting us from that .

[Will Hunt]

Unfortunately we already have a 'great (inter)national struggle',  one that makes both the current problem and the second world war look like a picnic and the current  situation seems to be completely distracting us from that .

I'm guessing you're talking about climate change. The other positive is that this might demonstrate that international co-operation can work, and that actually we can do radical change if the stakes are high enough. I know what you mean, but the time-scales are different. Climate change will kill more but likely over a longer period and perhaps in less obvious ways. The impact of Coronavirus is much more acute and immediate.

[Muesli]

Tory government ministers can now be regularly heard haranguing the public about the dangers of selfishness and the wonderfulness of the NHS.



Who would of thought it.

[i.munro]

Good guess! They're threats of  a completely different magnitude.
This is callous but from the point of view of a species both homo sapiens and I suspect every other species have seen much, much worse and bounced back!
Even from the point of view of a civilisation it's a minor one compared to the black death and smallpox.

Climate change ls perfectly capable and looks  increasingly likely to end both our civilisation and then our species and relatively soon.