Coronavirus

[Rich B]

I’ve got my full set up - monitors/arms/dock/etc at home, but we’ve set up our office so we can use it from Monday if we want. I might do the odd day there for the social aspect rather than anything else.

We like to do a monthly pub crawl too, so we’re considering doing it with a bag if cans each...

[DeskJockey]

I've got keyboard, mouse, dock and monitor already. All but the dock are mine, so I'm toying with the idea of asking about the monitor. My 15(ish) year old Samsung 22" is fundamentally fine, but the 1680x1050 resolution is getting a bit low with all the stuff I need onscreen. Can't have a massive monitor anyway, but can probably fit a 27" one on the desk. Am a bit jealous of my boss's 40" 4k one, but no way it can fit.

[Beany]

I've got keyboard, mouse, dock and monitor already. All but the dock are mine, so I'm toying with the idea of asking about the monitor. My 15(ish) year old Samsung 22" is fundamentally fine, but the 1680x1050 resolution is getting a bit low with all the stuff I need onscreen. Can't have a massive monitor anyway, but can probably fit a 27" one on the desk. Am a bit jealous of my boss's 40" 4k one, but no way it can fit.

Must admit, I'm finding that having a 1680x1050 secondary screen to my 1080p one is becoming a ballache for the same reason - particularly as many of the main interfaces I work with are optimised for 1080p. And of course it works best when they're on separate displays.

I'm pretty sure that asking my work to supply me with a 1080p screen at home would be met with derisory laughter however

[Barry]

I could see this whole thing was going to be a fairly long term affair so I took all my kit home when we were sent home. Just had no room for the chair. Glad I took my kit home too, a nice 32" 4k monitor and two side 21s is a lot better than my cheap personal kit Reckon if I kick-off I can get them to let me collect my chair too.

As for going back, they're talking about back to the office more than offering WFH conversations so I suspect they're hoping to return to the old way, rather than use this opportunity to have a good look at how we can/should work. We're proving its possible to do most of our work from home, so I'd like to think half a week at home, half in the office would at least be on the cards. The economic and ecological savings are worth having IMO.

[ZedLeg]

3 days in the office and 2 at home is what I’m going for when we have the conversation about going back. I can do a lot of my work from home but there’ll be days when I need to be there when the warehouse is back running at full capacity.

[NotoriousREV]

I intend on pretty much never being in the office as there’s not much need. There’s only me and one other from my team in the Manchester office anyway, the other 10 are based in London. 3 days a week I’ll probably be on customer site anyway once things are back to “normal”.

[duncs500]

Been into the local town centre for a walk around a couple of weeks now (it's a nice town centre). It's fascinating to see different businesses interpretation and efforts to work around the rules. Some have made no effort, and are closed when they could easily be doing business, some are doing ok, and some have come up with good solutions and are doing a roaring trade.

I wonder whether it's more beneficial for some businesses to stay shut and pick up whatever government subsidies they can.

I think one issue is consistency, places that were open one time and then you go back looking for a good product seem randomly closed and others open that weren't last time.

[integrale_evo]

A lot of places are closed and furloughed their staff because they don't think they'll get enough trade to cover their costs if they open.

You'd think now there's a bit more freedom for people to move around places would start to make an effort to find ways to open safely.

[Rich B]

Yeah, there’ll be rates relief and all sorts I expect if they remain closed.

[duncs500]

No doubt. I think the lack of consistency for businesses is the surprising, you see people queuing up one week, and closed the next. I guess that they're just trying to find a balance that works. Definitely some people are more entrepreneurial than others, if this went on longer and the government subsidies dried up, you can already start to see who would find a way to make it work, and who would give up.

[Nefarious]

Yeah, there’ll be rates relief and all sorts I expect if they remain closed.

Interesting side note on rates relief - a few of the commercial property investors have been suggesting that rates relief could ultimately be harmful to the recovery of high street retail, as up to now different rate levels have been a big barrier to mid-sized retailers moving to out-of-town locations. With those barriers removed, and struggling retailers looking for economies of scale, more could move, devaluing both the trading potential and the property value of those that remain.

[Ascender]

I still find it weird that England are planning on opening schools so soon with 300+ deaths while countries like Spain with 2 deaths aren't considering it for some time yet. Lockdown seems to have definitely ended up here with loads of kids out on bikes and hanging around like it was a normal summer's day yesterday, so I guess the cat's out the bag and only a big second wave is going to change that.

One of my wife's doctor friends was saying that just over a week ago their ICU was empty of covid-19 patients, but its crept back up this last week to being full again unfortunately.

[V8Granite]

I wonder if we are near a tipping point for a possible economic recovery and if it lasts another 2 or 3 months we are really screwed ?

Dave!

[Gavin]

I still find it weird that England are planning on opening schools so soon with 300+ deaths while countries like Spain with 2 deaths aren't considering it for some time yet. Lockdown seems to have definitely ended up here with loads of kids out on bikes and hanging around like it was a normal summer's day yesterday, so I guess the cat's out the bag and only a big second wave is going to change that.

One of my wife's doctor friends was saying that just over a week ago their ICU was empty of covid-19 patients, but its crept back up this last week to being full again unfortunately.

Seems like a lot of people have just decided it is over. Not seen people cuddling in the streets but saw the daughter of friends meeting two pals off the bus yesterday. Her parents are both Consultants, on a Surgeon and one a Paediatrician.

It doesn't take an expert to see what is coming in a few weeks.

[Mito Man]

I’m blindly optimistic it will be alright, there hasn’t been much of a second wave in other countries has there? Just a slight creep up in cases?

[Rich B]

It doesn't take an expert to see what is coming in a few weeks.

more people telling us a second wave is due in a few weeks?

EVERY time something changes someone on here says it.

[Gavin]

I’m blindly optimistic it will be alright, there hasn’t been much of a second wave in other countries has there? Just a slight creep up in cases?

Even a slight creep is shit if your Mum or Grandad dies though.

Looking at what Drs are saying now, the risk is pretty small of death itself so yeah, I will probably be fine, my kids may well be fine but one of my best friends has a daughter recently diagnosed with T1 Diabetes so she is apparently far more at risk of harm.

98% of us could probably manage being sensible, it is the 2% that go to the beach and jump 200 feet into the sea or get together in huge groups for parties that will no doubt cause problems.

[Gavin]

It doesn't take an expert to see what is coming in a few weeks.

more people telling us a second wave is due in a few weeks?

EVERY time something changes someone on here says it.

Yup, could be. The joys of leaving in a world full of information I guess, everyone is an expert. I have no idea if we will see a second wave but we do seem to be rushing headlong towards relaxing rules. Some countries that have been far more successful than we have at containing the virus, testing and tracing etc are going more slowly.

Only time will tell and we can all just hope we get through it OK as do our loved ones.

[duncs500]

It doesn't take an expert to see what is coming in a few weeks.

more people telling us a second wave is due in a few weeks?

EVERY time something changes someone on here says it.

This.

[Carlos]

I’m blindly optimistic it will be alright, there hasn’t been much of a second wave in other countries has there? Just a slight creep up in cases?

There's a lot of evidence that it doesn't survive long in a high UV environment so this run of weather will have surely helped.

My 15yr old daughter has been going out on her bike or running with dogs everyday this week and it turns out they are swimming in the local reservoir and it's alright as she's more likely to die there than from Coronavirus. She probably has a point