Life in Time of Coronavirus 11

Every day seems the same now.

Every day at 5pm there is a Corona briefing - rarely given by the PM usually some poor government minister who has to try to defend their record and the chaos since Dominic Cummings broke the rules. It was actually Boris today - no-one sees him from one week to the next - he only comes out because he has to attend PMQs and get his weekly grilling from Sir Keir Starmer. No-one knows what he does for the rest of the week. he is never prepared for the questions or briefing he does do. Seems to make it up as he goes along.
The most damning nws recently was today when one of his scientific advisors said the it the lockdown had happened just 1 week early the death toll - currently over 50000 would have been HALVED.  
BBC News

"The number of coronavirus deaths in the UK would have been halved if lockdown had been introduced a week earlier, a former government adviser has said.

Prof Neil Ferguson, whose advice was crucial to the decision to go into lockdown, said the outbreak had been doubling in size every three or four days before measures had been taken."

It is true that we are one of the worst affected countries in the world.

In other news - now that my windowsill peppers are growing so well, Nathan bought me an avocado growing kit. Just need to take the stone out of an avocado and peel off its skin - and put it in this avocado boat and float it in some water. In 1-3 months it will sprout and start to grow into a tree. I'll let you know how that goes!

Have finished another 1000 piece jigsaw - this one with shelves of Christmas books. It was fun to do - might do it again nearer Christmas!

Laura has now ordered a Marvel 1000 one - so we are making a start on that one. It says it is "impossible" - but there are so many faces and outfits it shouldn't be too difficult to get it done.

We are going to have a massive collection of jigsaws by the time we are allowed out and things get back to normal - if they ever do!

The last Zoom meeting at the theatre was a bit dispiriting - as now most staff have been put on furlough "for a period of pause and reflection" The Board Meeting last week sounds like it didn't go so well. Fiona said they could see a few "cons" with her plan of opening again in September. However the refurb is actually going ahead this week - we have been sent plans and an artist's impression of the new auditorium with its new purple seats. At least there will be SOME activity at the theatre over the summer. Not sure when I will be called back in again. Still no news from the government when theatres can reopen.

Boris is considering reducing the 2m distancing rule to 1m - under pressure from businesses - but our Covid R rate is still too high to consider that safe just yet.


Still streaming 3 quizzes a week on Mixer - as well as hosting a Community Games Night online on Saturday nights for people from Interference and the quizzes to play some silly Jackbox games - which you can join in via your phones. I enjoy that - although it was better when Rubbafish was doing it (he started it) but he is struggling right now and not feeing up to it. So, Nathan has to set it up and take control. It is still fun though.

Life in the Time of Coronavirus 10

 On Monday - with the lockdown regulations being relaxed - we were allowed to see up to 6 people in your garden as long as we still stay 2 metres away from each other. So, I got to see Dominic and Sharon! I let them come in through the back gate into the yard - and they sat on our swinging seat.

They had just been over to Endon to drop some medication off for my dad. They'd chatted to him through the door - he didn't come out to them.

It was lovely to see them both and have a proper conversation. Much nicer than a phone call. They both looked really well - they are walking over 10000 steps everyday. They have discovered a lake behind JCB full of ducks and another at Hales Hall. They stayed less than an hour - maybe I might go over to Cheadle soon and visit their garden.

The next day we had a special delivery - arranged by Nathan's dad. It was a Survival Pack - from Lymestone breweries! It was delivered by Brad who said that he was doing okay. He has 2 pubs - one in Stone and ne in Newcastle which are both closed at the moment. He said that they had always meant to set up an online shop for their brewery - and had never got round to it. Now they have had to in order to survive. He said it was going pretty well - in fact sometimes better than when he was selling to places like Wetherspoons and had to wait 48 days for payment - this way he gets paid within a couple of days!

The pack contained bottles of Lymestone beer, Stray Cat cider and crisps! he'd even included two glasses, beer mats and some puzzles. it was great!

The weather has been gorgeous - but it changed today (Wednesday) L and I made a chocolate chip banana loaf which was yummy. We didn't go for a walk as it was rainy. We are almost finished with our latest 1000 piece jigsaw - which is of shelves of Christmas books! We are running out of jigsaws!

 

Life in the Time of Coronavirus 9

Apparently the Health Secretary (or Death Secretary as he's being called on Twitter) Matt Hancock has said we can start to loosen the lockdown and see up to 6 people outside . Boris said we can have bbqs - but Chris Whitty stood awkwardly next to him in that Daily briefing looked very uncomfortable and added that we had to still observe 2m social distancing and bring our own food plates condiments - and if you have to go in the house to the loo - wash everywhere down afterwards! Doesn't sound much fun.

The problem is the R rate - which is how many people get infected from each infected person is supposed to be below 1 before you do this. It is only just under that - but we are still getting way over 300 deaths per day. I am not sure if I trust this instruction.

As Dominic Cumming is still in the newspapers every day - with criticism of his actions mounting - Boris is trying to give people something to distract them. He knows how much we are missing friends and family - and he is trying to just deflect attention from all the calls for him to sack his SPAD DC.

In other words it is a political decision - not one guided by the science. He'd rather have extra people die than lose his special advisor - and that is disturbing.

So, our instincts are to continue to stay home as much as possible I can't see that I will be called into work for a while yet - as who would want to be in a theatre full of other people in an enclosed space yet? Or ever? So I will stay home as long as I can.

Laura has had emails from her work that say they are putting in distancing and safety measures in place and bringing a few people at a time. She doesn't know when she will go back though. She has been refused a mortgage extension though - while she is on furlough - so if her flat purchase does get ready for completion - she no longer has a mortgage! It has already taken over 12 months - it seems like it is never meant to be!

I don't like the idea that once she does go back to work - she will have to move back to her rented flat. It would be risky for us if she stays here and is working with loads of other people. We'll have to see.

Little Easter Bunnies

Posh Fox for Sharon

Lemon Biscuits

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dom and Sharon have asked if they can come round one day next week. They have to go over to Endon to take my dad his latest batch of medication. So I aid thy could come into the back garden and we can distance and have a chat. I am actually really excited to think we can see them again. They have been isolating really well - and so I trust them to be okay. They still have Nathan's birthday gifts - and I have their Easter Eggs here. Well, kind of. I got them little Easter bunnies crocheted by Tracy - and each with a Cadbury Crème Egg inside. I did eat the eggs though - so I have ordered some more from Amazon!

I still have the fox head that I knitted for Sharon too. Would be lovely to see them.

Me and L have been baking again - this week two types of cookies - lemon drizzle ones that I made and choc chip pnut ones from Lol.We are gong to emerge from lockdown much fatter than when we went in!

Life in the Time of Coronavirus 8

Getting a bit fed up of lockdown now.

All this week there has been nothing on the news except how the (special advisor to the) PM Dominic Cummings has been breaking lockdown and driving to Durham with his sick wife and child. Then had a day out to Barnard Castle for his wife's birthday. Quite extraordinary - given that he was the guy who made the rules and the slogan STAY HOME SAVE LIVES. Needless to say everyone is livid - but BoJo will not sack him. He really doesn't have a clue what to do without him I guess.

I think Marina Hyde explained it best in The Guardian

Here I have had a second staff meeting via Zoom with the New Vic. Still not a lot of concrete information - given that the general consensus is that theatres will be one of the last places that will be allowed to reopen - and who knows what restrictions will still be in place.

The Plan A - is to commence productions from September. They have put together a new schedule some of the plays we were going to put on and a few one night events they have managed to reschedule. They are not selling tickets or letting the public know yet - as there is no guarantee that it will happen.

They know they may need a Plan B ( and possible Plan C) - but haven't come up with that yet.

One good bit of news is that the refurb may still go ahead over the summer. The company that is making our new seating has reopened its factory - and the colour has been chosen - a deep purple! The tenders for the new toilets have been received and some are now coming in for the new stage. So, the theatre will be all ready for the next 30 years. 

The furlough scheme is still being used - and we may have that extended after June - or some of us may be asked to come back part-time. I am already employed part-time - so I am not sure when I will be back. Unless we get the go ahead for our new September Programme I guess there's not a lot for the Box Office to do. Will have to see what transpires!

Me and Laura have been doing lots more baking - and we are also running out of jigsaws. Just ordered another 100 piece one - with lots of books on it. We started that one today! 

Here are photos of our lemon drizzle biscuits and chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies. Both were delicious. 

The weather has turned gorgeous again - so we had a barbecue on Bank Holiday Monday (was like every other day - except N didn't have to work from home!) We have a new swinging seat which was delivered by Amazon. 
The other photo is Grumbles enjoying snoozing in the sunshine by the window.

Life in time of Coronavirus 7

Laura and I went for our daily walk today - decided to do a longer one than usual so we walked to the theatre and back. I quite often walked to work - it takes 28 minutes there - so we were out an hour. It was quite sad to walk past my theatre and see that the posters outside were still advertising the shows that were on the day we had to close. It was 39 Steps and I had bought loads of tickets - as I as going to see it with Janet, Jane and Gill on the Wednesday and Nathan, Laura and N's parents Dilys and Colin at the weekend. It was going to be a treat for Dilys for Mother's Day - but of course it never happened.



We also had tickets for the Birmingham Hippodrome to see The Book of Mormon - for Nathan's birthday treat - but of course that was cancelled too. In fact I am wondering if we will ever see it now. After three months of lockdown many theatres are warning that they are going out of business as they have no income - from  ticket sales, café and bar takings or donations. Among these is Shakespeare's Globe - so if they are struggling I can only imagine what our own New Vic is going through. The problem is that even if theatres do open later in the year - if we still have social distancing rules then that is not financially viable for us to put on shows. In an auditorium that can fit on 500+ people - we would only be allowed 70!

Also, even when rules are relaxed many older people will still not want to risk going out. I would say a large percentage of our regular customers are retired - so I think the revenue would still not be enough to keep the theatre going. I am not sure I will ever work there again! Once the government stop the furlough scheme - will they have the money to pay my wages again?

Theatres in Trouble

In other lockdown news - we have finished the Gothic jigsaw at last! Took 3 of us weeks to do it! There were 1000 pieces - but so many looked the same!
We have another 1000 one - but it is all about the 80s and have lots of words, logos and faces on it. Should be done much quicker!

Life in the Time of Coronavirus 6

Had a staff meeting via Zoom the other day. It was the first time I had used that kind of software - I had no idea what I looked like on camera - or even if my whole head was on there. I did se one or two others from Box Office - glimpsed Lou and Lyndsay. Looked like Lou was in the theatre and Lynds was at home. Random staff just popped up on my screen before we started - not sure why!

When it started I saw Hayley from HR and she handed over to Fiona at home. She was having rouble with her internet connection - so kept disappearing - in the end she did audio only. Her house looked lovely and light though. All white with lots of bookshelves. Maybe it was one of those Zoom faux backgrounds that you can download. I wanted to get a gallery view so I could see who else was listening in - but I couldn't see what to press and didn't want me to pop up on everyone's screen.

 The gist of the meeting was that they have got a new schedule of plays and concerts that could start from September - but they can't go ahead and make it public until the government say that they are allowed to open. No-one knows when that will be. Fiona did say that those of us that are on furlough will be asked to use some of our holidays while we are off as they don't want people coming back and being owed loads of holiday or lieu time.  

That was all they could say really. Pete had said a couple of weeks ago that some theatres he knows have decided to abandon everything until their Christmas shows.  

After that meeting there was an article in The Stage by Cameron Macintosh saying that West End Theatres won't open before 2021 - unless the social distancing rules are relaxed soon.

Tasty Lemon Drizzle Cake

Pale green fences - much brighter!

One resident in the Insect Hotel!

Still keeping busy painting the fences in the yard and baking. cooking loads. All three of us are in for all three meals a day. I've never spent so much time in the kitchen! 

Life in the Time of Coronavirus 5

Yesterday I had a Zoom meeting at work! I had never used Zoom before - and it looked like not many other staff had either! I downloaded the app and logged in with the Meeting ID that our HR department at the theatre had sent me. I managed to get in - and saw various other staff - some from Box Office I aw Lou and Lynds - waiting for it to start. No idea who could see me! Fiona - one of the Directors kicked off the meeting with an update - although she had terrible internet connection so she kept dropping out. Eventually she had to go to audio only. It was nice to see her though - and her house looked lovely!

The gist was that they still have no idea when theatres will be allowed to open again. A very few staff are in the building - including some BO who are not furloughed. They are getting through refunds and have raised £11000 for the theatre asking customers to donate their ticket money rather than having a refund - to help keep the theatre going.

Us staff who are on furlough were told that we may be asked to take some holiday during this time - and TOIL time - as they don't want us to be owed loads of time off when we get back to work. They are also looking at training for us while we are off.

Tracy - head of HR said they would be holding coffee mornings online for people to pop in and have a chat with colleagues. So we don't forget who our colleagues are! No-one can go into the building for any reason unless they call ahead as strict H&S rules are being followed

They have a tentative schedule for shows from September - but can't release that to the public until we definitely know we can open by then. Everything is up in the air.

After the meeting I saw a news article from The Stage which said that theatres probably would open until social distancing was o longer needed - probably next year!

Today (Tuesday) I had to drive to Hanley to deliver some documents to my dad's solicitor. They are his original deeds which couldn't be trusted to the post! I had arranged with his solicitor Natalie - that I could just put them through the door of their Hanley Office. Laura and I parked at Tesco - expecting to see a queue in the car park - but it was really quiet. I think the panic buying had subsided now. it was scary in the first week of lockdown to see empty shelves at our local Sainsbury - something we don't even see at the busiest Christmas time.

Shelves in Sainsbury 18th March 2020

It was like walking through a ghost town, as Hanley itself was also deserted - very strange for such a usually busy town. No shops open - except for Wikinsons - where there was a socially distanced queue outside - most people wearing masks. Life is pretty much like being in some zombie apocalypse film now - it all seems so unreal!