And how are you beating the boredom?

As for me catching up on some overdue pattern making for some tooling. Anything to get out of tiling the kitchen which has now been added to the "to do list" the wife has issued me! 

I am asthmatic, with other breathing issues so my wife and I are in voluntary isolation. However, it is impossible to get delivery time slots from Sainsburies and I am currently holding on the phone 60 minutes and waiting to inform that that I am in the vulnerable category. I had a nice e-mail from their CEO telling me to do so, but it took all day to get the number to answer.

I have been designing various models and updating older designs.

3D printed some bits for my daughter and doing a few rough test prints.

Most definitely not in self isolation, for official  reasons but mrs EC has purchased me this..........



She says it sums me up perfectly 

Whilst I've not been officially classed a "vulnerable" yet I have agreed with the boss to do long term working from home during the day with network connection to my office 'pooter.  I then relinquish the room to junior overnight so he can carry on with his Commercial Music course final year stuff as best he can with Uni closed down. 

The train room is now full of large amps, speaker cabinets, drum kits and bass guitars so not likely to be much progress on the layout for a while - you can just see it at the back. It was due to be at NGSE too!  Yes that 8 string monster on the left is a bass not a standard guitar!

We have been  in self isolation since last Monday as I am 73 suffer with high blood pressure and diabetes ,and Val did have a head injury and was in hospital two years ago with pnuemonia and  still has chest problems so we are at high risk  ,our son works for Chiltern Railways at the ticket office at Gerards Cross and it is now open plan with NO GLASS partition between him and the customers so is only 18 inches away from their faces ,he didn't want to risk bringing the virus back to us even if he didn't get it he could be a carrier .
Both him and our eldest son have been really worried but have been really good bringing essential supplies to us and leaving them on the top step and having a chat with us from at least 2 metres away .
My wife has been sowing ,doing colouring and spring cleaning ,I have been keeping her supplied with tea and sandwiches ,doing the hoovering  watching tele , D V Ds and keeping in touch with friends and playing solitaire .
AND WE HAVNT HAD A RAISED VOICE YET .
SO to everyone please STAY IN , and STAY SAFE  this NOT just having a bad cold this is very serious ,and should not be taken lightly it's NO JOKE it's a killer .
Regards and best wishes
Bob and Val Tidbury

Mine is not an essential job, I don't sell or distribute food or medicine, I'm just a tech in a small firm and we have been told everything will be fine by the bosses, and until we are told by the Scottish government (because the boss is a nationalist puppet) that we have to close, we are going to keep working.
My wife, on the other hand, is now working from home so I now have to thoroughly wash myself and change my clothes when I get in the door at night to prevent passing anything on.
Go figure 

I am currently deemed to be 'Key Personnel', although this could change by the end of the week.

Last year, I had Pneumonia. I only had 5 of the 13 anti-bodies needed to fight chest infections, but the Pneumovax I had prescribed (normally for 70 plus and I'm in my late 50's) put my count up to 11, which was deemed to be good enough! Touch wood, I've been fine for nearly a year now, Although I did get 'flu just before last Christmas.

Mizzy Gizzy has been preparing to WfH since last week, and she has now been told by her boss not to come into the office from now on....

Living alone in a retirement block flat, at the far end of the building from the road I'm pretty isolated to start with; presumably vulnerable, 86 on Thursday, type 2 diabetic, COPD (aftermath of 40 years smoking) I take  a trip out to Tesco and/or Lidl about once a week, when I run out of milk. Residents here usually have a coffee morning on Mondays, this week only 5 of us turned up usually up to a dozen, but no coffee or tea was served so no contact, we sat well spaced out in the residents lounge and had a general moans session, which shop still has whatever.

As usual at such gatherings I'm reminded of an old Hoagy Carmichael song "Talking is the woman, listening is the man"

My wife is classed as vulnerable. She has asthma, but that is well controlled and does not put her in the high risk category. However, that combined with rheumatoid arthritis and the drugs that she is on to suppress her immune system, certainly do. The children are no longer in school. I am no longer going to the office. Shopping is all we are going out for now, but we are not being overly restrictive on that - I am still going to get DIY bits and pieces as our kitchen is in bits at the moment.

For me it's the exact opposite, although most places of business have closed down, thousands across the region laid off (philly airport let go of between 600 and 1000 workers), I however still have to report to work, the Railways are classed as essential services, they have cut service and reduced our work week (50% pay cut and 40-60% cut in hours, they did give us 3 days a week off).

I feel lucky and unlucky, the former in that I am still able to work, the latter because it exposes us to many potential carriers, some of us may not even show symptoms, many people still riding the trains are health care workers and public sector worker all of whom are in the high risk groups for contracting it.

At 69 years and 7 months old I'm under the age limit - just! Combine that however with my triple bypass operation in 2018 then I'm classifying myself as vulnerable!
Haven't been outside for eight days until this morning whereupon I had to pop my repeat prescription into the local doctors surgery. I'm told there is an "app" where even that can be done on-line but I enjoyed fifteen minutes of glorious Kent sunshine instead. I'm viewing the walk to the medical centre as an outing  as I will in a couple of days look forward to the trundle to the chemist to pick my stuff up.

I am however concerned about my hair! I really should have had it cut a couple of weeks ago. If we have to go 12 weeks at least before it can be done it'll be on my shoulders. I really don't fancy a man bun or a pony tail.

Alec.

I'm also an asthma sufferer (late onset three years ago) and have immune system problems. Sheila has a habit of catching any bug that's going, so the decision over three weeks ago to keep ourselves to ourselves was an easy one to make.
I alone go to do the shopping, but am limiting to once a week at the most, and I make sure I'm in a supermarket for the minimum time possible. We've tried Home Delivery and Click&Collect, but after wasting countless hours trying to get a slot for either, we've given up.
Sadly today's foray to our local Sainsburys was a farce. Unfortunately they seem to have a plentiful supply of shelving, but no eggs, butter, paper rolls of any type, few fresh veg, and very few tins of anything. Looks like a 24 mile round trip to Tesco tomorrow, probably equally as farcical judging by reports.

Ah well, at least I can go to Screwfix (only Click and Collect available now) to pick up a new Combi Drill so I can start working on a few projects.

Garden is a nice distraction and keeps me sane, and being in a little village off the main roads means regular walks and cycle rides can be done without fear of meeting anyone most days, especially now as folks here seem to have got the message.

We've lived here for over 6 years, and at times it feels like we've been isolated for most of them anyway, so the current situation is like water of a duck and a drakes back.

Lorraine and I are both 65 and in good health but we have taken the decision to err on the side of caution.
We live in a small village with lots of local walks where it is easy to go for 5 or 6 miles (which we do most days) without seeing anyone else.
The coast is only 4 miles away and there are some lovely quiet walks there too so I guess we are luckier than most.
We used to go supermarket shopping twice a week but have decided that we'll go just once (on Wednesday mornings) for the foreseeable future.
We have a village shop that is fairly well stocked and the owner keeps some essentials "out the back" for locals. Strangers coming in asking for a pack of 24 toilet rolls get short shrift.
We have a large allotment, which is 5 minutes walk away, so hopefully we can still work on  that to keep us amused.
Plus, of course, I have my various model railways.
I have however taken the decision not to attend my local model railway club until things improve as it's just not worth taking any chances.
So....it's just the two of us for a while and to be honest, we are quite happy with that.
Keep your spirits up everyone.
Martin

I am fortunate to have a mate who works at a local farm shop just as the panic buying all kicked off, he put aside 4 sacks of maris piper spuds for me when they selling out. These are getting shared out to my boys and their family's.

I guess now is the time to dig out the bottom of the freezers and use up food that gets overlooked, we have some few joints that will make stews etc.

Andrea and myself are in voluntary self-isolation, as we both have a few health issues between us that mark us as vulnerable.

I am still working from home, though I don't know for how long. The current job involves providing tech support for some very non-essential retail businesses, who have shut their doors today.

Electra Rail is still functioning, though I am not able to take any new print orders for now. I will shortly be updating the website with a very long list of vinyls in stock. As long as the Royal Mail keeps going, so will Electra!