deegee

I popped into Waitrose in Stirling earlier and noticed TK Max next door has gone full “March 2020” with Max capacity signs and a woman (wearing PPE like it was a nuclear war) counting in customers. Heads have totally gone in government and whilst retail have had to implement these guidelines, it’s a “message of fear” causing more harm than good, in my opinion.

Cheers mate. We are COVID covered with the holiday, whatever that actually means in reality. If cancelled, I guess we’ll just kick the holiday back a year tbh. The agents don’t really have a clue, understandably so we’re not sweating too much until we get to January and will need some clarity either way.

We have booked (last summer) a “once in a lifetime” fortnight in February to the Caribbean; week in hotel in Barbados with a week luxury cruise type thing. Couple of family reasons why we booked this but regardless it’s now starting to look unlikely to happen. A few days in a Scottish bed & breakfast in mid winter, however nice they may be, wouldn’t be a substitute tbh.

We were in Matalan in Bishopbriggs exactly a year ago and that was when we had similar stuff going on in Scotland. I clearly recall we could buy tinsel, Santa Claus hats and decorations as they were homeware but 100% they taped off clothing, so you couldn’t buy a pair of pants as that was “non essential”. In places near my home in Stirling, I could go to any supermarket and buy greetings cards and any other shite, however small independent shops selling same stuff were closed for months.

There was a few reports in the Daily Mail, from shoppers leaving B&M’s (in Newcastle & around Tyne & Wear from memory). Snoopers taking photos of folk leaving the stores with “non essential goods” from memory. What a time to be alive!

Especially when you’ll need a Scotch egg meal to sit indoors in middle of March.

To be totally honest, I’m in same boat and was saying tonight it makes eff all difference whether we have a Turkey roast next Saturday or push it back a couple of days. Tonight the kids are out and the other half is too. I’m home alone but expect they three will come back later and the house will be riddled with COVID by breakfast-time lol.

Whilst I personally think this has been a serious “heads gone” few weeks for the government, I can concede that stopping Premier League matches from this weekend might reduce transmission, mainly from fans’ movement and congestion in bars etc. No way should less attended lower leagues be stopped unless they had a squad riddled with the virus. . The top league could, all being well, resume a week earlier in mid January and catch up Boxing Day fixtures then. Play New Year fixtures that midweek after resumption, even if that means a Celtic Rangers game being moved. I am not suggesting this is what should happen, however based on the mood in the room at Holyrood as well as gigs and English matches being cancelled everywhere, it’s not difficult to see what will be getting proposed after this weekend.

Don’t be so ridiculous. You weren’t expecting her to give a straight answer? She deflected the question to Methadone Mick and in turn both droned on without actually saying anything.

...and the 3rd guy (the Scottish reporter from Sky?) seems to be in his car lol. Probably on his way for a boozy pub lunch.

That’s actually a very good point. The Steps show was 25 days ago. Even allowing for this being the start point of the variant, there is a week or two’s caseloads that should have manifested into hospital cases by now.

They can all go and f**k themselves. Bunch of waffling, gibbering chimps; Sturgeon, Methadone Mick and the journalist gimps. The only reason folk are staying in this week is to see relatives next weekend. As said above, folk will revert to their normal behaviour and habits after Xmas and not give a crusty shite.

Everyone losing their minds over what is essentially a roast dinner next Saturday! As said in here; vulnerable, elderly, unwell folk may be best advised to self- shield as that’s just normal common sense. Why the entire country is having fear and restrictions launched at us from all sides, makes neither any sense nor health/ societal benefit.

Things like this remind me why I don’t do any social media (aside from browsing the occasional football forum etc). Nearly 2 years and 3 jags in, and with hospital numbers well down on this summer’s figures, you have to wonder if these lunatics’ views are actually the norm for majority of the population? It is very worrying how fearful the narrative has made folks.

Adults that go looking for presents aren’t right in the head, in my opinion. Christmas gifts are for kids and maybe a wee something for your old parents as a thank you etc. We are off on holiday in February and have agreed we’d rather wait till then and maybe treat each other, if there was something we see when away. Otherwise I’m cooking a lovely turkey roast next weekend, the grown up “kids” will get their little presents and we will all head round to her relatives and get pissed in the evening.

An amazing and starkly candid post about the reality of one of Scotland’s main industries. It’s not all about boozing, clubs and discos ; there is a massive part of our hospitality economy that is daytime and tourism driven, as well as literally thousands of hotels and accommodation bases which are part of this industry. I am not a prolific poster but have noted Frankie’s posts in this topic. It has been an ill- thought and poorly handled management by our government and guys like Frankie and his staff are bearing the economic brunt.

The one thing I took away from Sturgeon’s speech today was her specific comment she wasn’t making a political point but she wanted UK Government to support her preferred options with additional finance etc. At that point it was 100% an entirely political point and has been the focus of discussion in the media since. I watched The Nine on BBC Scotland and that was first question to Swinney. It basically sums all this up since winter this year; all political driven, with marginal science or medical basis and sadly on our doorstep, we have two of the biggest manipulators of this virus for their own gain, Sturgeon and Boris down the road.

I’m sure there was; I remember reading this earlier this summer, however I guess it didn’t fit the narrative and was probably suppressed. There was more than likely a few quiet words said to friendly journalists to ignore that specific report. When you think about it, it makes total sense that we want better ventilation to shift airborne virus particles yet we actually force more micro compartments within offices and restaurants etc with these damned plastic shields.

If I understand this right, all retail and hospitality will essentially be mandated to resurrect the one way system, limit numbers (without actually saying “social distancing”) and reinstate plastic screens that may have been removed in the past months? All required for this weekend, a week before Christmas and where many shops/ bars/ hotels have struggled with chronic supply and staff shortages! It’s going to be a shit show and if not enforced, may be roundly ignored, however risks shop managers, bar owners etc getting a criminal record if prosecuted. However I’m sure the cops have more to deal with this weekend than a bar being full or a shop having a load of Christmas shoppers drop in. I had hoped we had left these obtuse rules/ guidelines behind us such as 6pm closing, non- vertical drinking, scotch eggs for dinner, coffee shops doing takeaways in January with a crowd huddled on the pavement etc.

I agree. In hindsight, she ought to have been more positive and enthusiastic in her tone and messaging when we were rolling back on restrictions this summer. Tbf she is very popular and has many folk hanging onto her every word, therefore a change of tone and some stern advice now would probably have been better received. Sadly the drip- drip constant doom laden tone and threats have left many of us absolutely jaded and tone deaf to more restrictive instructions. You are right about folk making their own decisions; wouldn’t really bother me if I missed xmas due to COVID tbh, however we are off on holiday in February and I’ll be mega careful and basically not going out licking walls for the fortnight beforehand.

I’m really not sure that advising folk to limit household gatherings will have an impact whatsoever tbh. My other half and er family are all SNP supporters and compliant (with all the mask pish, which to their annoyance I roundly ignore). However they’ve all said Sturgeon can go eff herself as we’ll be having a big family Christmas gathering regardless. Unfortunately the government will well know this will be the norm, so I suspect she’ll go for usual suspects; vaccine passport for all hostility as well as gyms etc and maybe even an extension for passports for all sports stadiums. I can’t see any limit on numbers as that would require money she doesn’t have.

She is a pathological liar and surrounded by an assortment of cuckolded sycophants. If anything, if shows a flaw in our electoral system and an incredible lack of any credible opposition, when she is allowed to operate a semi- dictatorship and a total disregard to the immediate economic health of the nation; all in the pursuit of her vanity and desperate need for independence, otherwise her followers may well turn on her. Tbh it’s no different down south and who could have predicted a pandemic would have been hijacked on all sides of the UK for political preservation.

A bit like Eddie Home’s procrastination this summer until Newcastle came calling, I can’t really understand what Alex Neil is expecting or waiting for tbh. His “high water Mark” was several years ago with Norwich and he was punted once the fans’ goodwill (and board’s patience) evaporated. I suppose he did fairly well at Preston, as it’s probably the least forgiving league in Europe, and he had them comfortable for a while. None of this however translates into him getting anywhere near a Premiership club or even a Fulham/ Bournemouth type team, so I’d have thought Hibs would be a great opportunity for both parties to rebuild and progress. McInnes would be a really good option too for Hibs but I haven’t a clue if he fancies another shot in England or a media career.

I hope that you get to enjoy your gig mate. It’s these relatively small things that we should be looking forward to and enjoying, and it’s not too far or being overly dramatic to say it’s these social experiences that helps happiness and wellbeing. I’m long past my nightclub days but it’s unfair that teenagers/ 20 somethings, who have given up 2 years of their lives continue to be harshly treated by the government.

It’s 100% definitely a political circus and has been since the start of the year in my opinion. Boris is using this as a last roll of the dice diversion tactic, since his own backbenchers and the influential men’s in grey suits seem to be getting weary of him and his usefulness. Unfortunately for the UK population, Sturgeon and Starmer seem to be wanting to go balls- deep in even more effing restrictions. As someone wrote the other day, have a look across the Irish Sea to get a glimpse what Scotland would be like with further, more prolonged virus restrictions , if we were independent now!