Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 31 May 2020

Diane:  No problem.  I'll try not to start it a day early!!  :-)    There's a huge shortage of welders, so your nephew has made a good choice.  

Did yoga during the national network news this evening, but emerged in time to watch  the BBC World News and then the PBS News Hour.  

I see they've got a new suspect in the Madeleine McCann case.....

aquilareen said:

They don’t like DownUnder people or They are doing maintenance overnight (your time). Every night? I may be back later, site permitting, to report on today’s photo escape.

Morning AQ Annette and all

Tis nothing to do with you or anyone else,just an infuriating RSPB   IT Doh!

See HERE

If you can wait 2 Mins or more for each click Grr!!!!

Hoping Mc Canns could get some closure....

Good Morning, after spending an interminable time trying to get everything to load.... there is a lot of frustration on the board about glitches in the system again. I daren't even click on SunnyKates link as it might delay me by five minutes!

Dry here but much cooler and very cloudy. I spent yesterday on the phone to two people who live alone and are finding it very difficult now that the lockdown has gone on for so long. It's cruel that there is no solution to this. Actually, I do feel that the way they have loosened things is too quick and the directions for us are too vague: surely if people can now travel, they should have put a ten mile restriction on everyone, except for getting to work?

My OH and I are decided on being very cautious about what we do and don't do, for some time yet.

Things continue to be slow on here with no explanation...
I've heard that grandson Callum is returning to work tomorrow. Sadly, five out of ten of the guys he works with are being made redundant. Same with youngest son in law, his job is safe but 15 out of 35 in the team are facing redundancy.

Hi! Abandoned all attempts this morning, site was being too slow to even try!

PAT – I think I also should reply to that msn link with “No comment”!!

LYNETTE – you are right, the garden is so enjoying the rain – can hear things growing – especially the peas – yumm!

AQ – sorry you couldn’t tell us about the trip with camera, but glad to see you decided to escape again.

DIANE – well done with the decision about Nephew’s high school graduation - and good that he has not been denied a celebration by current happenings and can proceed with his welding course. Safe travelling.

LINDA – things are not being “eased” so fast this side of the border, but we have all decided to stay as we are anyway. Just seen three men from different households gathering in one garden for a head-scratching session – young resident has called in his father to help, and neighbour jumped over the fence to give his expert opinion! J had his weekly virtual meeting this morning and has been added to another pupil’s “Team” for Maths help – this means he isn’t expected to do any more study courses.

HEATHER – sorry about the redundancies - even although your family members are not directly affected, I imagine it would put them on edge for a few months.

OH is slowly being domestic today, but I am not pushing him to evict the dust bunnies around the house! He has just ordered an ice-cream delivery for tomorrow, and we have ordered some M&S food boxes, expected Saturday (shan’t order much from Wiltshire now that M&S have started in this area).

Re Slow threads..

Mike had a conversation with RSPB this morning, and whilst they could not offer any quick fix,they do understand.
and have posted the following

"Dear Members

We’re aware that many of you are facing problems with slow loading web pages - we understand that this is causing frustration and we’re extremely sorry that this continues to happen.
We want to assure you that we are treating this as a top priority to fix. Unfortunately we are unable to promise a quick fix solution, but please be assured that we are working hard on finding the solution as quickly as possible and we will keep you updated as we find out more.

Thank you again for your patience, and we will be in touch with an update as soon as we can.

Rebecca Taylor,

Head of Digital Products"

Good morning all.

Heather:  Good for Callum.  This business will have serious long term repercussions.  My grandson's coworkers were all put on shorter hours initially, then some were let go (it's a fairly small company), but he and a colleague are now working full time and he is even working overtime.  I'm assuming the cost of having just two mechanics employed full time is less than paying all the benefits, etc., involved in retaining more staff even at shorter hours.  It's great for him, but must be awful for his former colleagues.  

SunnyKate:  Thanks for the link to the RSPB IT issue.  I'm thinking these kinds of problems are part and parcel of the shutdown, with some folks working from home but without all the IT tools they might have if everyone was in the office.  We had a question about accessing online info about a retirement account and the representative - working from home - said it would take a day or two to get the answer.   No point in getting upset.

Very cool and cloudy here today.  Lovely.

And a happy day to all

SUNNY KATE - thanks. Had a look there after making my successful post! Would have been better if they told us sooner - not that they are really saying anything!

ANNETTE - what your Grandson's company is doing does not seem right, but at least he is benefitting from it!

LIMPY - HI!

OG: I agree. I know the owner tried to keep everyone's hours at a level where they could retain health benefits (don't get me started on the U.S. healthcare system - the costs play a huge role in employer expenses), but they've lost so much business, a heavy percentage of which was the maintenance/scheduling of tour buses and area school buses, so perhaps it wasn't sustainable from that and other standpoints. My grandson once told me the company's annual accident/liability insurance bill for the buses ran to millions! He's a hard and reliable worker with some advanced driving and mechanical certifications, so maybe that made him more versatile than some others. Who knows....