River Cruisers: How Are Things Where YOU Are?

[pacmom]

Good morning,

A bit of normal yesterday was greatgrandson  Sam's 8th birthday.  We got to celebrate in person!!!!!! Some mask wearing, but who cares.  A lovely afternoon. Hadn't seen them since July.

Now it is time to give back.  Need to sign up to help in the vaccine clinics.  Retired nurse, need to give these hardworking people a short respite.

Take care, stay safe and well.  Enjoy the coming Spring with the change to DST tonight.  Par

[Coral]

9 minutes ago, pacmom said:

Good morning,

A bit of normal yesterday was greatgrandson  Sam's 8th birthday.  We got to celebrate in person!!!!!! Some mask wearing, but who cares.  A lovely afternoon. Hadn't seen them since July.

Now it is time to give back.  Need to sign up to help in the vaccine clinics.  Retired nurse, need to give these hardworking people a short respite.

Take care, stay safe and well.  Enjoy the coming Spring with the change to DST tonight.  Par

Thanks for volunteering!

 

Sounds like yesterday was amazing! Hope you have more great days like that!

[notamermaid]

11 minutes ago, pacmom said:

Good morning,

A bit of normal yesterday was greatgrandson  Sam's 8th birthday.  We got to celebrate in person!!!!!!

What a lovely day for you all! So good to read, all that happiness that I see in my mind's eye. I did not know that the US changes this weekend, our date is 28 March.

 

notamermaid

 

[gnome12]

10 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

What a lovely day for you all! So good to read, all that happiness that I see in my mind's eye. I did not know that the US changes this weekend, our date is 28 March.

 

notamermaid

 

Yes. North America moved the spring change two weeks earlier and the fall change one week later a number of years ago.

 

I’m doing an online series with London Walks that goes Sunday’s at 7 in the UK. For 2 weeks it is an hour later here, until they catch up with DST. 

[sharkster77]

Our 11-14 yr old rescue dog (we've had him for 6+ years) could not walk yesterday.  It was like he had no strength at all in his hips and rear legs.  He was lying there trembling.  With great difficulty we got him in the car and to the vet.  A vet tech carried him in (all 57 lbs of him!).

 

10 minutes later, they walk him out and he has a spring in his step!!  Apparently the stress of entering the vet office kicks in an adrenaline rush and his pain got shut off.  He certainly has lots of arthritis in his back and hips, and they gave us a pain killer and an anti-inflammatory, but today he is no worse for wear!

 

Gave us an unbelievable scare.  When in the back of your mind you fear having to make "that decision", yesterday was quite an emotional rollercoaster.  The pain killer makes him a bit groggy, but he sleeps most of the day anyway, so that's par for the course.  With both of us retired and COVID sheltering, our daily walks with the dog have become part of the new routine.  Guess those walks will have to be shorter now.

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Notamermaid here is the link, the date is the anniversary of the first lock down. 

Thank you for the link. I have not heard that we are doing anything like that, but there is a plan for a kind of memorial service or something but kind of "after" the pandemic.

 

Today is my little work anniversary. On 13 March I worked the last time before our lockdown. I was away from work for twelve weeks. This is what I wrote on that day in the thread on the Rhine, not knowing yet that we would soon close all shops, etc,, i.e. that our lockdown was coming:

 

quote:

"People have uttered the word "surreal" on this board several times in the last week or so. Yes, that is how it feels. And a combination of science fiction of the unpleasant kind and a post-war scenario of the mild kind spring to mind. Life is slowly coming to a stand-still. I fall asleep thinking about Coronavirus, I wake up thinking about Coronavirus.

 

In Rhineland-Palatinate indoor events of over 75 people are prohibited. Yesterday afternoon, a shopping trip took me to a half empty town. It is a strange mood that is coming out in places. It feels like an invitation for unruly behaviour of the mad or the ones that do not care.

 

There are no church services. Restaurants are still open but do not seem to have many customers. People are afraid to stand close or sit close. I picked up some food at a local restaurant that has no delivery service. It was almost empty. The situation is difficult. It will push some local clubs to the point of bankruptcy. I am planning to donate some money to such a club of music friends, they will struggle, having had to cancel a major (for them) event.

 

Schools will be closed from tomorrow, so a teacher I know is setting up distance learning for his students. A relative has gone into home office. And me? At short notice, my office building is closing down. I do not know how this will work for me in practice yet. Much to sort out next week...

 

Take care, look after the elderly and the vulnerable and if your spirits are down: sing. The Italians are doing it well. Perhaps, initially, keep your windows closed still. If the situation gets worse, organize your neighbours and open the windows.

 

notamermaid"

 

unquote

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

@gnome12 Do you mean you join guides online live? Or is this some airing online i.e. not live? Sounds interesting, that would be nice to have a look at, I keep meaning to do one with a guide when I am in London, but it never seems to work out.

 

notamermaid 

 

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

@gnome12 Do you mean you join guides online live? Or is this some airing online i.e. not live? Sounds interesting, that would be nice to have a look at, I keep meaning to do one with a guide when I am in London, but it never seems to work out.

 

notamermaid 

 

These are live sessions. You see the other participants, and can interact with the guides live before and after the session. (During the presentations you can comment via chat, which is generally commented on after.) The benefit of virtual walks is that the things that they show aren't necessarily within walking distance. But the guides do lots of research, and show maps, pictures, and pre-recorded video sections to illustrate their talk. I have done an 8 part history of London from prehistoric times to the Victorian Era, followed by an 8 part history of 20th century London, and am now doing an 8 part series called London A-Z; we did the letters A, B, and C this past week. I have also done a virtual walk of 1000 years of Jewish London, as well as one called The Thames around Richmond; Hampton Court to Kew, and one called Curtain Up! The Story of Theatreland. I have also gone further afield with Visits to Venice and Florence.

 

In all cases while the research and the presentation have been prepared in advance, the guide is speaking live. (For the series however, you do get a recording after the session that you can watch again or watch if you were unable to attend the live lecture.)

 

[djh1959]

Finally, the vaccines are starting to be rolled out here in Australia.

 

My parents are both booked in to get their first shot next Tuesday, which is fantastic, as they are both almost 80 and have other conditions too.

 

Under 70s, which is hubby and myself, will probably have to wait until June, but we have only two cases right now in our state, so that is fine for us.

[Canal archive]

Gnome12 here I am a proud Londoner born and bred and I’ve never heard of these, absolutely wonderful. You would have loved moving around the city with my mum it was certainly an experience. Mum knew the alleys, byways, nooks and crannies like the back of her hand. We were once in a hurry to get to a theatre and she says follow me off we went within five minutes we lost her, we did eventually meet up. She always said she learnt the ‘town’ during the war, ‘blitz’ out of necessity, before she joined the Wrens. My childhood memories include (when the wind was in the right direction) hearing the lions roar from London Zoo. CA

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, Canal archive said:

Gnome12 here I am a proud Londoner born and bred and I’ve never heard of these, absolutely wonderful. You would have loved moving around the city with my mum it was certainly an experience. Mum knew the alleys, byways, nooks and crannies like the back of her hand. We were once in a hurry to get to a theatre and she says follow me off we went within five minutes we lost her, we did eventually meet up. She always said she learnt the ‘town’ during the war, ‘blitz’ out of necessity, before she joined the Wrens. My childhood memories include (when the wind was in the right direction) hearing the lions roar from London Zoo. CA

Every time I am in London (the last time August 2019) I make a point of doing London Walks tours live. There are a whole bunch every day of the week, morning, afternoon and evening (when it is possible to get together) led by incredible Blue Badge guides. I did a Spies and Spycatchers walk, a walk showcasing Brunel's London, a British Museum walk, and a tour of Westminster Abbey. They are incredibly knowledgeable and tell the stories really well. The virtual tours are a little different; in some ways they can be better because they aren't limited to geography, but you don't have the same ability to see the place, and since I don't know London that well, it is harder to get a sense of the whole neighbourhood.

[notamermaid]

@sharkster77 How is the patient?

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

We once did a London Monopoly run in teams, (a Guiding/Scouting thing) three or four youngsters and an adult, one of the lads in our team was a Liverpudlian and I decided to ask a policeman for directions this lad was horrified even as a Scout in his world you didn’t voluntarily talk to a Bobby. CA

[sharkster77]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

@sharkster77 How is the patient?

 

notamermaid

 

It is unbelievable---it's as if the scary stuff of last Friday never happened!!  He's going in for an ultrasound in a couple of weeks.  Vet thinks it might be Cushing's disease.  Looking at a list of the symptoms, it could be possible.  She stated that old dogs can manage pain due to arthritis, etc., but other conditions may "distract" their bodies from managing the old age aches and pains.  Honestly, you would have thought his hind quarters were paralzyed---they could support NO weight.  Baffled, amazed, but all in all happy, at least at this point.  We'll see how it goes moving forward.  He was a rescue so we don't know his true age, estimated to be between 10-14 yrs old.  We've had him 6.5 yrs.

 

Thank you for asking.

Edited March 17, 2021 by sharkster77

[Daisi]

6 hours ago, djh1959 said:

Finally, the vaccines are starting to be rolled out here in Australia.

 

My parents are both booked in to get their first shot next Tuesday, which is fantastic, as they are both almost 80 and have other conditions too.

 

Under 70s, which is hubby and myself, will probably have to wait until June, but we have only two cases right now in our state, so that is fine for us.

 

Glad to hear, we are starting our seniors that live on their own now as well.  My parents (in their 80's) have their first shot at the end of the month.  Those of us under 60 have to wait until August or so for our chance, but that's ok with me...by the time we get them, they will have so much down to routine that there wont be any glitches!

 

Hope your parents have no problems.

[gnome12]

2 hours ago, Daisi said:

 

Glad to hear, we are starting our seniors that live on their own now as well.  My parents (in their 80's) have their first shot at the end of the month.  Those of us under 60 have to wait until August or so for our chance, but that's ok with me...by the time we get them, they will have so much down to routine that there wont be any glitches!

 

Hope your parents have no problems.

I was lucky enough to be in the 60-64 group in Toronto where they were immunizing with AstraZeneca before it got approved for 65+. I got my first shot on Monday. 
 

Good luck to all who are still waiting; I hope immunizations can speed up in the next quarter. 

[notamermaid]

We are waiting for the EMA to assess the perceived problem with the AstraZeneca vaccine. Meanwhile, in Rhineland-Palatinate at least but probably elsewhere similarly, while Tuesday appointments were cancelled, today continues with the Pfizer or Moderna in its place. Not too bad, a short setback. We will see what EMA says tomorrow.

 

Our health experts have published the statistics that tell us about active pulmonary diseases in Winter. They say that this Winter has seen the lowest incidence ever recorded. Anybody still think that masks and social distancing do not work? Whatever the effect in detail on covid-19 may be, they certainly work against catching nasty stuff.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[Canal archive]

Sharkster77 I sincerely hope your elderly gentleman will be okay. 
We've got to 25 million vaccinations hopefully we’ll soon get the call for our second jab. We’ve just been told this will slow down, (because of supply) for about four weeks, for first jabs. I really don’t know if I believe some of the news at the moment because if it’s correct I worry for our travelling to Europe in the future. CA

[notamermaid]

Supply is still an issue in the European Union, AstraZeneca happening or not. Johnson & Johnson is supposedly delayed due to the fact that there is some sort of export ban from the US. An export ban is not true if the company fulfills the contract in the US. But the Defense Production Act plays into this. The EU has ordered millions of J&J doses. Hopefully this will be sorted to everybody's satisfaction ("and pigs fill fly" says that negative part of my brain).

 

Here is some info: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/11/us/politics/coronavirus-astrazeneca-united-states.html

 

Whichever way you turn it, we as Germans are sitting right in the middle of it, as the EU's richest ("be best at everything and give to everyone!") and most populous nation and geographically with nine borders. I know I am repeating this, but just doing so to remind people that being an island or a few-borders-nation can be an advantage...

 

Vaccination daily average increased well over last week's daily averages - but so has the daily case load.

 

On a positive note: my godmother was phoned personally by social services if she has received a jab yet, if not they would come round to her with the mobile team as she cannot drive or be driven to the centre and lives alone. She has not received one and I am glad this is being sorted out. The help teams are doing so much, it is lovely to have them.

 

Elsewhere, some GP's have started vaccinating in their surgeries, but that is still difficult to accomplish in many places due to the shortage. Local administrations are urging a reduction in paperwork, I am sure this will come.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[Coral]

Everyone at my employer (school) has been invited to 2 large clinics last week and 2 this week - so whichever we could get to. Plus we had the option of going through the Federal pharmacy program in the past 2 weeks. I chose to go the pharmacy route.

 

Amongst the people I have spoken to (and of course this is a topic of conversation as we are all getting it and people are taking vaccine selfies) - it seems that those who got Johnson & Johnson (one vaccine) seemed to have worse side effects after - most came to work the next day and then went home. Though they are fully vaccinated quicker compared to those of us wo have to wait for our 2nd vaccine. Those of us who got the Pfizer and Moderna seemed to fare better with the first vaccine as far as side effects. Though we have heard that we will probably have a worse time with the 2nd vaccine.

 

It would be interesting if what we experienced is the norm or not. It is a relief to know that your coworkers all got vaccinated at the same time frame as you did.

 

If we went through the county to get our vaccine - we did not have to show an insurance card. If we went through the Pharmacy program, they billed our insurance for the administering the vaccine and my insurance paid them $16 for it.

 

Our county is moving on to grocery store individuals, funeral employees, food processing, transportation, postal employees and public transit.

Edited March 18, 2021 by Coral

[Coral]

8 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Our health experts have published the statistics that tell us about active pulmonary diseases in Winter. They say that this Winter has seen the lowest incidence ever recorded. Anybody still think that masks and social distancing do not work? Whatever the effect in detail on covid-19 may be, they certainly work against catching nasty stuff.

 

It is amazing how I have not had a cough at all this past year!

 

I am starting to think when I saw people wear face masks in Japan when I traveled there years ago - that those individuals were brilliant! Why didn't they let the rest of the world know how great they work. I may continue this if I am around those who are coughing or during flu season.....

 

I have a huge appreciation at this time for medical personnel (and other professions) who must wear surgical face masks for a large percentage of their day. It gets tiring and I know it is temporary for me but they have to do it for a living.

[Coral]

9 hours ago, gnome12 said:

I was lucky enough to be in the 60-64 group in Toronto where they were immunizing with AstraZeneca before it got approved for 65+. I got my first shot on Monday. 
 

Good luck to all who are still waiting; I hope immunizations can speed up in the next quarter. 

Congrats! I also wish everyone good luck!

[notamermaid]

It has been reported here in Germany that those getting the AstraZeneca reported typical side effects like raised temperature, muscle aches, etc. In one hospital half the staff was off work the following day. But it seems to be a 24 hour thing. I can only say something about the first jab and think not too many people have had a second shot yet. I have only heard that the Pfizer shows few side effects the first time, a bit more the older you are, with second jab a bit worse but not as much as the AstraZeneca. But that is more anecdotal.

 

The AstraZeneca problem is down to a very rare occurrence in the general public which is higher in the vaccinated people but still very rare. I heard in the news today that there are ten of these in Germany and one of those is in Rhineland-Palatinate, a 40-year-old (young!) woman who is recovering in hospital.

 

Those that have received the AstraZeneca are advised to monitor themselves for a strong headache and report it to their GP.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited March 18, 2021 by notamermaid
Added info

[Coral]

11 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

It is unbelievable---it's as if the scary stuff of last Friday never happened!!  He's going in for an ultrasound in a couple of weeks.  Vet thinks it might be Cushing's disease.  Looking at a list of the symptoms, it could be possible.  She stated that old dogs can manage pain due to arthritis, etc., but other conditions may "distract" their bodies from managing the old age aches and pains.  Honestly, you would have thought his hind quarters were paralzyed---they could support NO weight.  Baffled, amazed, but all in all happy, at least at this point.  We'll see how it goes moving forward.  He was a rescue so we don't know his true age, estimated to be between 10-14 yrs old.  We've had him 6.5 yrs.

 

Thank you for asking.

I am just getting caught up! I am so sorry for your pup! Glad he is feeling better - hopefully it is not Cushings.  Hope it is a strained muscle or something.

 

I absolutely love dogs and it is killing me not to have one right now. My last one I took her out of state for cyber-knife (SRT) radiation 2x to prolong her life from a cancer diagnosis. What we do for our "best friends".

Edited March 18, 2021 by Coral

[sharkster77]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

I am just getting caught up! I am so sorry for your pup! Glad he is feeling better - hopefully it is not Cushings.  Hope it is a strained muscle or something.

 

I absolutely love dogs and it is killing me not to have one right now. My last one I took her out of state for cyber-knife (SRT) radiation 2x to prolong her life from a cancer diagnosis. What we do for our "best friends".

Thanks @Coral, our old-man dog has an extremely elevated liver "number", for lack of a better word, in his blood work.  Could be caused by Cushings (which can be treated with meds, I understand), or a tumor (hoping that's NOT it, obviously), or something else entirely.  We'll know in  a couple of weeks when they ultrasound his liver and adrenal glands.