I was having a blissful couple of hours yesterday, exploring woodland for possible ancient ruins. There were an inordinate amount of brown butterflies flitting about, the light was delightfully filtered through birch and rowan leaves, there was birdsong and best of all, there was the thrill of exploration, imaging the names and occupations of the 1690 poll tax, and the early Kirk Session records transposed onto the very ground I was walking.
And then I stood on a cobbly stone, lost my balance and tipped into a patch of nettles, somehow managing to land flat on my back. I had a moment of dismay when I realised that getting up was going to involve rolling over into more nettles.
I have patches on my arms which, despite cold water and anti-histamine cream are red and radiating heat today. It's a good thing I'm not going anywhere which involves a thermometer being pointed at me. I don't fancy explaining "It's not Covid, honestly, I've been rolling in nettles."
Ooh, ouch! I've not done that for a long time. Getting nibbled by a cleg is bad enough for me (ice pack tied on, anti-histamine and ibuprofen get me through those after a couple of days, barring infection).
I was in one of the older cemeteries here the other evening filming a piece of local heritage for Sunday's online worship offering, and I think council budget cuts have led to a lack of cutting of grass as it was thigh high and while I was doing my best not to walk on graves I kept falling over the mediaeval grave markers which are generally a lump of minimally worked rock now sitting about ankle height.
Can I ask what precautions people here in 'at risk' groups are still taking? Partner and I both fall into quite high risk groups for Covid and have been cautious - doing all visiting outside and socially distanced, but my Mum (she and stepfather both highly at risk) has taken more risks all along (having people in the house with no mask, going to shops etc).
She's now angry with me because I've said I'd be delighted to visit her or her come here but we'd do the visiting outside in the garden and only go inside to use the loo. She refuses to sit in the garden saying my stepfather won't sit in the garden (something I'd never heard of before) and she wants us all to have a meal inside 'like usual'. I think this is unnecessarily risky and my partner is a flat 'no' to indoors visiting at our house or theirs. Are we being massively unreasonable in the current Scots situation?
I don't think either you or your Mum/stepfather are necessarily being unreasonable. Though the rate of infection in Scotland is lower than in England the coronavirus is still circulating in the community, that means that there is still a very small chance that any social interaction you have could be with a carrier and contracting the virus would have significant impact.
There's an argument made that there's an age-related effect on the impact of contracting the virus which many older folk take into account. The elderly mum of someone I know had been ill for a while and was sent a letter telling her to shelter - her response was that she knew she only had a few months to live and she wasn't going to spend those months stuck in the house and was determined that while she was still able she'd get the mobility scooter out to get her groceries from the local supermarket, go round the local park in the sunshine etc. She collapsed in May spending the last few days of her life in hospital where she got a positive test for covid, which was not a factor in her death. Was it unreasonable for her to take that attitude of living the last months of her life as fully as possible, even at the risk of contracting a virus that could end her life a wee bit faster? Though, her children didn't visit during that time (after she died, her husband did move in with his son and the whole household went into a couple of weeks self-isolation) and she wasn't doing much that would present a large risk of passing the virus on back into the community where it was circulating quite freely at the time.
Of course, I've no idea about the health condition of your mum. But an assessment balancing quality of life now with the risk of potentially shortening life or reduced life quality from long term effects of covid19 will be a personal decision that will take into account local conditions (how prevalent the virus is in the community) and personal conditions (current age and health) which could result in different people reaching different conclusions about what is reasonable to do. What would be unreasonable is for someone who has concluded that they're happy with a lower level of social distancing forcing that onto others. Very few would consider it acceptable for a smoker to visit a non-smoker and light up in the living room.
Can I ask what precautions people here in 'at risk' groups are still taking? Partner and I both fall into quite high risk groups for Covid and have been cautious - doing all visiting outside and socially distanced, but my Mum (she and stepfather both highly at risk) has taken more risks all along (having people in the house with no mask, going to shops etc).
She's now angry with me because I've said I'd be delighted to visit her or her come here but we'd do the visiting outside in the garden and only go inside to use the loo. She refuses to sit in the garden saying my stepfather won't sit in the garden (something I'd never heard of before) and she wants us all to have a meal inside 'like usual'. I think this is unnecessarily risky and my partner is a flat 'no' to indoors visiting at our house or theirs. Are we being massively unreasonable in the current Scots situation?
I don’t think you’re being unreasonable at all. The virus is still out there and why take risks at this stage? I do sympathise as I have a couple of friends who, if anything, are at more risk than my husband and I but have been far ‘looser’ than us and not even following the rules set by the government. I know they probably think we’re total wimps, but hey, better safe than sorry, especially when there are alternatives like garden coffees, picnics, etc.
I'm not high risk. I went into somebody's house for the first time on Friday, mostly because of my above mentioned roll amongst nettles. I went in primarily to run my arms under cold water, but then stayed in for a coffee.
It was my cousin's birthday yesterday and we stayed outside in their garden. Nine people, none of us high risk. My cousin waved a fan over his birthday cake to put out the candles, to avoid blowing on the cake. We used hand sanitiser a couple of times, e.g. when handing round plates and forks to eat the cake.
Nobody outwith the North East family has been inside our house yet; we've had a few people in our back garden, and we'd let someone in to use the toilet, but wouldn't invite someone in for coffee yet (unless of course they were covered in nettle stings and sticky willie!)
I have begun doing a very little bit of indoor pastoral visiting, but only one household in a day- if that - and only those who have been the most cut off by being not online and too deaf to make much of the phone either. That latter means I can't phone first, so just have to turn up, but I do ask if they are happy for me to come in - weather lately has been a bit hit or miss - very much miss this morning. It is about weighing the quality of life with the risks, and for the people I have been or will be visiting usually the quality of life has been very much impinged because they don't understand what is going on. But I will not let them give me a cup of tea (not doing which makes them uncomfortable, and makes a point about risk).
To answer @Louise's question, I think that in your own home you can make the rules, even for your parents, and if you are not happy with the rules they make or fail to make for their home, then you have to say "Sorry, but I don't think we will be coming just yet." But I can say that, not having any parents to tangle with any more - for which I have been very grateful during these months.
I'd be in the hyper-cautious, only do what you're happy with, group. Mr F is high-risk, so he's only gone out this past week (even at the cost of hirpling about on an infected toe for quite some time). Our sparse socialising has all been outdoors.
We will probably continue in this minimalist mode for the foreseeable tbh. Well, apart from having workmen in to do the kitchen and hall at some point - but you tend to stay out of their way in any case.
Thanks that's all very useful and a good selection of approaches. Also the different attitudes of different age groups is an interesting one. I think that despite mum being very active early 70s with relatively good health and lots of socialising (but one or two things that do really multiply covid risk) that she has an attitude akin to this of not wasting time not enjoying yourself, while for us it's something we can (we think) easily navigate while being cautious but to throw caution to the winds could bring utter catastrophe, if we got unlucky, because we have a few things that multiply risk. So it's not an attractive trade off for us at all.
Yes - I anticipate the advent of a BT engineer on Thursday. They politely told me that I would need to keep out of the room whilst he was working.
Sniffs in a hurt manner... It will probably be a technician they send out. That's the person who actually knows what's going on. The engineer sits in the office getting paid twice as much to think he/she knows what's going on. I am an engineer.
Perfectly sensible response @Louise . Plus I m quite liking the smoking in a non smokers home example.
Here we are both in a risky group, me higher than Mr Alba.
So for us No One in the house but we have had coffee on the patio with friends here. Helpfully the patio is at the front of our house!
Having been very ill a few times , I have neither time nor inclination to explain to persistent folk. Even if those folk are older than I am, and /or related to me.
We're gradually easing things with the family, probably due as much to meteorological factors as medical ones: since late June or thereabouts the weather's rarely been conducive to outdoor anything.
We had an Indian takeaway at my brother's the other night - the first time we've eaten in anyone else's house since March - and it was lovely.
It's my great-niece's birthday tomorrow, and we're going round to deliver pressies; I'll be surprised if it'll be what my old school used to call "outdoor weather"!
I had a very socially distanced excursion today, to visit the Quaker Burial Ground at Kinmuck. I used hand sanitiser after opening and closing the gate, but I'm fairly sure no-one had touched that gate for days / weeks / months. The Burial Ground was completely overgrown. I didn't venture into the further corners for fear of tripping over a hidden gravestone and having another close encounter with a nettle patch.
I hope this is just lockdown overgrowth. I haven't been there before but photos suggest it's normally well-kept.
Elizabeth Fry visited in 1838. I suspect she would be unimpressed if she saw it today.
We will need to look at how to record the sermon and other selected parts of the service when we have a visiting preacher so that everyone gets the same sermon.
Our shack has a recording device (I think it's a laptop now) hooked up to the microphone system. We've recorded (audio only) the sermon for the last several years, and post on the website. The computer is in the sacristy, and someone nips in just before the sermon to start the recording by hand.
Guess what? A Thundery Strum is now forecast...although no time is specified, and, as I write, there is not a cloud in the sky. It is, however, just a trifle hazy - or Aze for Eat, as my old Nanna would say.
It was 28 C as I drove past Aviemore after asking a funeral at Inverness crem. Not a day for a clerical collar.
I was listening as I drove to the First Minister’s briefing, with wee Jason (well, he was wee when I sang in a teenage choir with him way back when, in fact he was still a boy soprano when he joined). I am always impressed with the way they handle it, and that they tell us when they don’t know.
Gardened myself into a state of advanced puggle. Still a tray and a half of bedders and a heuchera to go in, grass to cut, wood to saw... another (cooler) day.
I can't help thinking it might have worked a little better if the worker in the film was wearing a mask, while he was in the engine shed working in reasonably close proximity to the camera operator and (briefly pictured) at least one other person.
Ah - but you don't know (a) how far away the camera person was standing, or (b) whether the other person was a member of the worker's family (or bubble)...
Ah - but you don't know (a) how far away the camera person was standing, or (b) whether the other person was a member of the worker's family (or bubble)...
No, I don't - and nor does anyone else watching the video. Which is why our safety people are always paranoid about any videos we make at work - they want to make sure that not only are we actually following safe practices, but we also don't in any way give the impression that we might not be.
I'm not saying that the guy in the film wasn't being safe - I'm saying that it would give a better impression had he been wearing a face covering. Particularly given the content of the film.
And I'm a bit surprised that whoever decided to make the film didn't think of that.
We had tea and cake outdoors with a pal in the little community garden behind our house and took pics of the beautiful iridescent rosemary beetles (I think they're some kind of introduced pest - but they're very pretty, like little jewels.)
Mr Nen and I are just back from a week in beautiful Scotland and are grateful for the friendliness and welcome we received. I did have visions of Nicola Sturgeon turning us plague-ridden English people back at the border...
Somebody on a genealogy FB page I follow posted a "mystery" photo which was amongst her family photos. It was labelled "Rev Norman McLeod 1861" but she couldn't find anyone of that name in her family tree.
I recognised it as being "The Great Norman" , author of the hymn "Courage, brother, do not stumble", who was famous enough in his day to warrant a statue in Glasgow. I suggested her family had his photo, not because he was family, but because they admired her.
The OP is baffled by the concept of greatly admiring a clergyman ...
From Scotland, a most remarkable and newsworthy clip: https://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-53719477
A prominent politician saying categorically that her government got something wrong, taking the blame, APOLOGISING, and setting out steps to put it right.
It simply couldn't happen here, in the Sad Southlands...
Mr Nen and I are just back from a week in beautiful Scotland and are grateful for the friendliness and welcome we received. I did have visions of Nicola Sturgeon turning us plague-ridden English people back at the border...
Dear Nenya,
I am so glad you had a welcome. My part of the Highlands has become so busy, especially at weekends, that when I wrote the thought for the week for the local paper today, I was moved to write about loving our neighbours and our enemies! We are seeing so many people here all at once - not spread out over months as they usually are. And after the eerie but lovely quiet of lockdown, the contrast is more stark.
Actually the visitors are nearly all in a just a few places, and when Mr Cats and I headed off the known paths this weekend, we still had a lovely solitary time in the hills.
Somebody on a genealogy FB page I follow posted a "mystery" photo which was amongst her family photos. It was labelled "Rev Norman McLeod 1861" but she couldn't find anyone of that name in her family tree.
I recognised it as being "The Great Norman" , author of the hymn "Courage, brother, do not stumble", who was famous enough in his day to warrant a statue in Glasgow. I suggested her family had his photo, not because he was family, but because they admired her.
The OP is baffled by the concept of greatly admiring a clergyman ...
There's a good description of him in Ron Ferguson's biography of his grandson, George McLeod (the founder of the Iona Community). He would certainly have had many admirers for his work among the poor in Glasgow, so that might explain the earlier attachment to photo.
Not badly but had no internet this morning because of flooding in Edinburgh (which is nowhere near me!). Worst thing is a derailed train south of Aberdeen, which seems to be a major incident, though the details are still emerging.
Torrential rain here (north of Aberdeen) but no flooding in my village. However if my husband wasn't working from home, he wouldn't be able to get to work - his route is flooded.
Praying for those in the derailed train; a route I travelled weekly before lockdown.
Too early for any definite news re the train derailment, though I expect bulletins will be updated regularly throughout the day.
Modern trains are incredibly well-built, in the main, and the chances are that casualties will be relatively light - depending on how one defines a 'serious injury'! I hope so, anyway.
There is already speculation that the storm may well have been a contributory factor.
The surprising news is that the weather hasn't forced the closure of the Rest And Be Thankful ... but probably only because the rain last week caused a landslide closing it and it hasn't reopened.
Comments
I was having a blissful couple of hours yesterday, exploring woodland for possible ancient ruins. There were an inordinate amount of brown butterflies flitting about, the light was delightfully filtered through birch and rowan leaves, there was birdsong and best of all, there was the thrill of exploration, imaging the names and occupations of the 1690 poll tax, and the early Kirk Session records transposed onto the very ground I was walking.
And then I stood on a cobbly stone, lost my balance and tipped into a patch of nettles, somehow managing to land flat on my back. I had a moment of dismay when I realised that getting up was going to involve rolling over into more nettles.
I have patches on my arms which, despite cold water and anti-histamine cream are red and radiating heat today. It's a good thing I'm not going anywhere which involves a thermometer being pointed at me. I don't fancy explaining "It's not Covid, honestly, I've been rolling in nettles."
I was in one of the older cemeteries here the other evening filming a piece of local heritage for Sunday's online worship offering, and I think council budget cuts have led to a lack of cutting of grass as it was thigh high and while I was doing my best not to walk on graves I kept falling over the mediaeval grave markers which are generally a lump of minimally worked rock now sitting about ankle height.
Ouch! And Double-Ouch!!
I, too, have fallen backwards into nettles (years ago, in my Yoof), so I sympathise...hopefully, the irritation will soon cool off and pass away.
Exploring beautiful woodland for ruins does indeed sound a sublime and delightful occupation, though.
Can I ask what precautions people here in 'at risk' groups are still taking? Partner and I both fall into quite high risk groups for Covid and have been cautious - doing all visiting outside and socially distanced, but my Mum (she and stepfather both highly at risk) has taken more risks all along (having people in the house with no mask, going to shops etc).
She's now angry with me because I've said I'd be delighted to visit her or her come here but we'd do the visiting outside in the garden and only go inside to use the loo. She refuses to sit in the garden saying my stepfather won't sit in the garden (something I'd never heard of before) and she wants us all to have a meal inside 'like usual'. I think this is unnecessarily risky and my partner is a flat 'no' to indoors visiting at our house or theirs. Are we being massively unreasonable in the current Scots situation?
There's an argument made that there's an age-related effect on the impact of contracting the virus which many older folk take into account. The elderly mum of someone I know had been ill for a while and was sent a letter telling her to shelter - her response was that she knew she only had a few months to live and she wasn't going to spend those months stuck in the house and was determined that while she was still able she'd get the mobility scooter out to get her groceries from the local supermarket, go round the local park in the sunshine etc. She collapsed in May spending the last few days of her life in hospital where she got a positive test for covid, which was not a factor in her death. Was it unreasonable for her to take that attitude of living the last months of her life as fully as possible, even at the risk of contracting a virus that could end her life a wee bit faster? Though, her children didn't visit during that time (after she died, her husband did move in with his son and the whole household went into a couple of weeks self-isolation) and she wasn't doing much that would present a large risk of passing the virus on back into the community where it was circulating quite freely at the time.
Of course, I've no idea about the health condition of your mum. But an assessment balancing quality of life now with the risk of potentially shortening life or reduced life quality from long term effects of covid19 will be a personal decision that will take into account local conditions (how prevalent the virus is in the community) and personal conditions (current age and health) which could result in different people reaching different conclusions about what is reasonable to do. What would be unreasonable is for someone who has concluded that they're happy with a lower level of social distancing forcing that onto others. Very few would consider it acceptable for a smoker to visit a non-smoker and light up in the living room.
I don’t think you’re being unreasonable at all. The virus is still out there and why take risks at this stage? I do sympathise as I have a couple of friends who, if anything, are at more risk than my husband and I but have been far ‘looser’ than us and not even following the rules set by the government. I know they probably think we’re total wimps, but hey, better safe than sorry, especially when there are alternatives like garden coffees, picnics, etc.
It was my cousin's birthday yesterday and we stayed outside in their garden. Nine people, none of us high risk. My cousin waved a fan over his birthday cake to put out the candles, to avoid blowing on the cake. We used hand sanitiser a couple of times, e.g. when handing round plates and forks to eat the cake.
Nobody outwith the North East family has been inside our house yet; we've had a few people in our back garden, and we'd let someone in to use the toilet, but wouldn't invite someone in for coffee yet (unless of course they were covered in nettle stings and sticky willie!)
To answer @Louise's question, I think that in your own home you can make the rules, even for your parents, and if you are not happy with the rules they make or fail to make for their home, then you have to say "Sorry, but I don't think we will be coming just yet." But I can say that, not having any parents to tangle with any more - for which I have been very grateful during these months.
We will probably continue in this minimalist mode for the foreseeable tbh. Well, apart from having workmen in to do the kitchen and hall at some point - but you tend to stay out of their way in any case.
The living area of the Ark is, in effect, only one room, so I shall exile myself (probably with ALE) to the wheelhouse...
I guess that erring on the side of discretion as regards socialising - even with Family - is better than being under-cautious.
Sniffs in a hurt manner... It will probably be a technician they send out. That's the person who actually knows what's going on. The engineer sits in the office getting paid twice as much to think he/she knows what's going on. I am an engineer.
Here we are both in a risky group, me higher than Mr Alba.
So for us No One in the house but we have had coffee on the patio with friends here. Helpfully the patio is at the front of our house!
Having been very ill a few times , I have neither time nor inclination to explain to persistent folk. Even if those folk are older than I am, and /or related to me.
Life is not guaranteed.
(Sorry, that sounded snarky.... not meant to)
We had an Indian takeaway at my brother's the other night - the first time we've eaten in anyone else's house since March - and it was lovely.
It's my great-niece's birthday tomorrow, and we're going round to deliver pressies; I'll be surprised if it'll be what my old school used to call "outdoor weather"!
I hope this is just lockdown overgrowth. I haven't been there before but photos suggest it's normally well-kept.
Elizabeth Fry visited in 1838. I suspect she would be unimpressed if she saw it today.
Our shack has a recording device (I think it's a laptop now) hooked up to the microphone system. We've recorded (audio only) the sermon for the last several years, and post on the website. The computer is in the sacristy, and someone nips in just before the sermon to start the recording by hand.
I think...
35C at the moment...
Guess what? A Thundery Strum is now forecast...although no time is specified, and, as I write, there is not a cloud in the sky. It is, however, just a trifle hazy - or Aze for Eat, as my old Nanna would say.
https://www.facebook.com/ScotRail/videos/vb.291549024202481/356636301990191/
I was listening as I drove to the First Minister’s briefing, with wee Jason (well, he was wee when I sang in a teenage choir with him way back when, in fact he was still a boy soprano when he joined). I am always impressed with the way they handle it, and that they tell us when they don’t know.
Very neat! Nice one, Scotrail...
I can't help thinking it might have worked a little better if the worker in the film was wearing a mask, while he was in the engine shed working in reasonably close proximity to the camera operator and (briefly pictured) at least one other person.
Just sayin'...
No, I don't - and nor does anyone else watching the video. Which is why our safety people are always paranoid about any videos we make at work - they want to make sure that not only are we actually following safe practices, but we also don't in any way give the impression that we might not be.
I'm not saying that the guy in the film wasn't being safe - I'm saying that it would give a better impression had he been wearing a face covering. Particularly given the content of the film.
And I'm a bit surprised that whoever decided to make the film didn't think of that.
I did, but am not counting on a reply.
O I say - I do apologise. I thought it was Leorning Cniht who linked to the video. My bad.
We speak as one on this.
Quotes file (even if it requires a bit of on-screen translation for the non-Scots)!
I recognised it as being "The Great Norman" , author of the hymn "Courage, brother, do not stumble", who was famous enough in his day to warrant a statue in Glasgow. I suggested her family had his photo, not because he was family, but because they admired her.
The OP is baffled by the concept of greatly admiring a clergyman ...
https://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-53719477
A prominent politician saying categorically that her government got something wrong, taking the blame, APOLOGISING, and setting out steps to put it right.
It simply couldn't happen here, in the Sad Southlands...
Dear Nenya,
I am so glad you had a welcome. My part of the Highlands has become so busy, especially at weekends, that when I wrote the thought for the week for the local paper today, I was moved to write about loving our neighbours and our enemies! We are seeing so many people here all at once - not spread out over months as they usually are. And after the eerie but lovely quiet of lockdown, the contrast is more stark.
Actually the visitors are nearly all in a just a few places, and when Mr Cats and I headed off the known paths this weekend, we still had a lovely solitary time in the hills.
There's a good description of him in Ron Ferguson's biography of his grandson, George McLeod (the founder of the Iona Community). He would certainly have had many admirers for his work among the poor in Glasgow, so that might explain the earlier attachment to photo.
Praying for those in the derailed train; a route I travelled weekly before lockdown.
I expect to find the garden a bit squelchy when I get into it, and the interior of the shed wet (the roof leaks).
Modern trains are incredibly well-built, in the main, and the chances are that casualties will be relatively light - depending on how one defines a 'serious injury'! I hope so, anyway.
There is already speculation that the storm may well have been a contributory factor.