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Post by channonite on Mar 31, 2020 7:22:59 GMT
Outskirts of Winchester. All is quiet, home schooling cracking on with a very grumpy teenager and a slightly more positive 11 year old. I'm still working and the Mrs too. I've cryogenically frozen 750 staff as of tomorrow as business is closed for sales (although remain open for essential repair services for key workers with a merry little band of heroes). Will stay working for the foreseeable as still lots of customers communicating, heartbreaking watching a lifetime of work crumbling to dust. Made progress on DIY at the weekend, the garden will look good and the bike is getting ridden like Seabiscuit. The dog is saying "no more"! I think every understands a month, can probably tolerate another, but any longer than that you could see some real issues. Businesses will still spend cash and some will run out of it. very quickly. I would be getting hold of padlocks and securing up your household, there will be some desperate people out there. What is just as scary is how we ramp back up, everyone (mostly the Premier League players) seem to think this is some binary deadline where all is fine the day after, but a long period of transition will be needed where the support 'probably' disappears. Then you will see the true cost of this. Stay Safe everyone.... Very fair comment about what comes next. Everyone is so fixed on survival, that little attention is being paid to further down the line. Sobering thought about people getting desperate and probably very true.
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budidgary
First Team Player
Blimey
Posts: 411
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Post by budidgary on Mar 31, 2020 8:03:05 GMT
Had our first case t'other day, at work. That is to say, it is the first case where I have actually known someone to get it. They closed our office and sent in a team to disinfect. The decision thereafter by JLL was to close out floor totally for 14 days minimum.
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Post by arfurdent on Mar 31, 2020 9:55:54 GMT
Went to Aldi early and not much of a queue but a big one when I left. Asda was a joke and I gave up until tomorrow
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Post by channonite on Apr 3, 2020 7:35:08 GMT
Shopping is getting a bit easier in stores around here, conversely online shopping is getting more difficult. The only one of the ones we are registered with (all of them, except for Tesco, as they are too far away to be of much use) that we have managed to book any slots with are Asda and they have introduced new restrictions overnight on both deliveries and click & collect. Now you can only book a slot up to 7 days ahead for either, which means nobody can book anything for several days, as it was already full for the next two weeks. The other restriction is that once you have actually managed to book a slot, you can only amend your order once in the two days before your order is due. Presumably this is all to give IT breathing space to scale up the software's capabilities to deal with the huge increase in demand and for the stores to train up the extra people they have hired. the supply chain seems to be coping, as the shelves seem stacked again now.
I would expect that this experience is repeated across the other supermarkets. Does anyone have experience of any other supermarket's online delivery and/or click and collect services?
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Post by flashman on Apr 3, 2020 8:51:55 GMT
Shopping is getting a bit easier in stores around here, conversely online shopping is getting more difficult. The only one of the ones we are registered with (all of them, except for Tesco, as they are too far away to be of much use) that we have managed to book any slots with are Asda and they have introduced new restrictions overnight on both deliveries and click & collect. Now you can only book a slot up to 7 days ahead for either, which means nobody can book anything for several days, as it was already full for the next two weeks. The other restriction is that once you have actually managed to book a slot, you can only amend your order once in the two days before your order is due. Presumably this is all to give IT breathing space to scale up the software's capabilities to deal with the huge increase in demand and for the stores to train up the extra people they have hired. the supply chain seems to be coping, as the shelves seem stacked again now. I would expect that this experience is repeated across the other supermarkets. Does anyone have experience of any other supermarket's online delivery and/or click and collect services? Apart from not getting on to the sites! This was in The Times yesterday: Ocado model fails to work in a crisis, leaving the big supermarkets to clean up Simon Duke Thursday April 02 2020, 12.01am, The Times Coronavirus could prove to be a defining moment for online retailers. Demand has ballooned with large parts of the world’s population ordered to stay indoors. Consumers are scrambling for goods to safeguard their health, livelihoods and sanity while cocooned in their homes, snapping up face masks, laptops, exercise mats and much more. Ecommerce companies are raising their capacity to fulfil orders. Amazon is hiring 100,000 workers in North America. Instacart, a US grocery service, wants to add 300,000 contractors to its delivery crew. But while the immediate imperative is to ship essential items to households, Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, and other ecommerce chiefs will be fixing their gaze on the horizon. They will view the Covid-19 pandemic as a chance to accelerate the shift from the high street to online shopping. The coming weeks will test them as never before. On the face of it, Ocado, Britain’s online retail champion, should be in a strong position to capitalise on the crisis. For two decades, it has specialised in delivering groceries to households — a service tailor-made for mass isolation. Yet the company envisages a quite different future for itself. Last year, Ocado sold half of its domestic business to Marks & Spencer for as much as £750 million. It is using the proceeds to expand its technology division, which licenses its automated warehouse knowhow to overseas grocery chains. Ocado has struck deals with seven retailers, including Morrisons in Britain and Kroger in the United States. If Ocado’s domestic operation is a shop window for potential partners to view its offering, they won’t be overly impressed with what they’ve seen so far. The crisis has exposed worrying limitations in Ocado’s business model. Last month it was forced to shut its website for several days after being inundated with orders. Existing users have taken to social media to complain that they’re having to wait too long to secure a delivery slot. Ocado has had to slam the door to new customers. It would be churlish to criticise Ocado for failing to predict the pandemic, but it was ill-prepared for the stampede of orders. Before coronavirus, it made about 350,000 deliveries a week. Now each of its 800,000 regular customers wants a weekly delivery and order sizes have doubled. Because of a fire at a warehouse last year, Ocado’s three remaining centres were already running at full tilt. Last month Duncan Tatton-Brown, the finance director, said that it would not have been able to cope even “if we had five or ten times the capacity”. His comment is illuminating, pointing to an inflexible business model that struggles to respond to unforeseen spikes in demand. Ocado is highly capital-intensive. Its futuristic storerooms, where robots pick and pack orders, must be run near to full capacity to be profitable. It can’t afford to have too much slack in the system. Surprisingly, grocers such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s have proved more nimble. They have been able to put more boots on the ground to restack empty shelves and pack online orders in-store. Supermarkets have become pick-up hubs and mini-distribution centres as grocery chains keep the nation fed. Of course, the economics of delivering foods to people’s homes from a local store are unpalatable. By automating the process, Ocado’s model is more lucrative on paper. But what’s the point in having the most efficient system when you can’t respond to rising demand? On the stock market, Ocado trades on a par with fast-growing technology companies. Yet its business model is simply not as scalable as a social network or a software developer, which can propagate a product around the globe at the push of a button. Its heady valuation remains one of the market’s great mysteries. Simon Duke is Technology Business Editor of The Times
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Post by spot51 on Apr 3, 2020 9:11:48 GMT
I have never trusted online ordering. Have always shopped for myself and therefore watched the "order fillers" pushing their carts round supermarkets. They always grab the item from the front of the display which suggests you'll need to eat a week's groceries by the day after tomorrow. I only ever buy stuff with long use-by dates (best before is just advice - not a rule). That way we can eat stuff from the refrigerator for the whole week. Freezing is not an option. Our freezer is jammed to the gunwales with the Brexit Stockpile so we will need to create some space in it before trusting our neighbour to shop for us.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2020 10:33:01 GMT
Sainsburys have now shot to the top of my favourites having managed to get an elderly person's delivery slot next Wednesday for me and our 90 y/o neighbour. I've been surfing supermarkets quite a bit recently and had only managed a very short notice one (less than 24 hrs) with Tesco. After days of cursing Sainsbury's under my breath they posted a new phone number (automated) for elderly, existing customers. And it worked. Waitrose seem fully booked until the 29th June, Ocado is a non starter; M&S have closed their 'Food to Order" service; Asda slots appear to be full too. So thank you Sainsburys AND an even bigger thank you to our village shop. There are too many farm shops around here to starve but not all deliver which can be tricky if you are among the most vulnerable.
The dog is best placed as we had six weeks of his supplies that we would have taken to the kennels if we had gone to Australia. I can't say that we had any previously stockpiled stuff for Brexit - I don't think that it ever crossed my mind that that might be necessary. Although I'm sure that those who did were grateful for it. Beans and beetroots being planted in the garden greenhouse yesterday; although I suspect we will be nearer normality (or whatever will pass for that) by the time they are ready. We should all be using our smartphones and big brother app to ensure that we don't mingle with the lurgy carrying unfortunates by then.
Stay healthy y'all
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Post by Sir B3na1i on Apr 4, 2020 7:40:13 GMT
Sorry I've been quiet. Hope you're all doing well with this total fecking pain in the arse shit c*n* of a virus and its restrictions.
I've been working from home for almost three weeks and it's been ridiculously busy with everyone wanting a Teams or Zoom meeting. My job is largely going to meet people or them coming to me and then working up proposals to work together. That's still happening, but I also now have responsibility for some business continuity for the centre plus I have to manage my team remotely. It adds to the workload and means rather than being out and about I'm stuck in a chair all day. Back is in bits. MrsB is a hairdresser self employed but not for long enough so doesn't qualify for the govt help. This is a pain but we're ok.
I was supposed to be changing jobs in June but I've decided to stay and take the counter offer from my place, I have 19 yrs service and that just might be useful after all this.
Both sets of parents are struggling with not seeing their families but we have to stay away for their sakes.
Best wishes all
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budidgary
First Team Player
Blimey
Posts: 411
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Post by budidgary on Apr 4, 2020 8:03:10 GMT
We are now on curfew from 10 pm. to 4 am. and there was a news item this morning saying they are considering 24-hours curfews if the spread does not stop. I hope they realise the implications of a 24-hour curfew.
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Post by spot51 on Apr 5, 2020 15:27:46 GMT
Seems the IOW is a Covid hotspot based on 999 calls. Yesterday the island was a mere "Hospital Desert" but overnight the Scots Guards put up a new 200 bed unit in the grounds at St Mary's. Drew will look out for it when he goes up there on Tuesday. Thankfully, the Dialysis Unit is in a different building detached from the main hospital and the doors are always locked.
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Post by channonite on Apr 5, 2020 18:01:49 GMT
Seems the IOW is a Covid hotspot based on 999 calls. Yesterday the island was a mere "Hospital Desert" but overnight the Scots Guards put up a new 200 bed unit in the grounds at St Mary's. Drew will look out for it when he goes up there on Tuesday. Thankfully, the Dialysis Unit is in a different building detached from the main hospital and the doors are always locked. Just shows the level of hypochondria, in Wiltshire we clearly realise that there is feck all point in phoning up!
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Post by spot51 on Apr 5, 2020 18:59:58 GMT
Seems the IOW is a Covid hotspot based on 999 calls. Yesterday the island was a mere "Hospital Desert" but overnight the Scots Guards put up a new 200 bed unit in the grounds at St Mary's. Drew will look out for it when he goes up there on Tuesday. Thankfully, the Dialysis Unit is in a different building detached from the main hospital and the doors are always locked. Just shows the level of hypochondria, in Wiltshire we clearly realise that there is feck all point in phoning up! There are certainly too many thickos here. They voted Leave and keep electing Tories FFS!
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Post by arfurdent on Apr 6, 2020 5:54:31 GMT
Looks like a record nominee list for the Darwin Awards this year
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Post by yateleysaint on Apr 10, 2020 14:36:04 GMT
Hi guys!
The local Germans seem to be enjoying themselves. I just went out for a walk with my daughter and there were loads of cyclists and joggers around. There are people roller-skating past our house all hours of the day. The weather has been lovely for about a fortnight but I’m not sure some people are taking it as seriously as they should.
I’ve been teleworking since the end of February and I’ve been trying to go for regular runs in the nearby fields just to stay sane. This long weekend is going to be a bit weird as we’re all off for the best part of a week and no one will have work as a distraction.
I’ve been using Amazon to build up my DVD/Blu ray collection as none of my favourite films seem to be on the various streaming services. Man, I’ve got good taste. I’ve also been buying a few CDs as I still haven’t been able to get my record player to work out here.
I’ve been placing regular Amazon orders as there’s only so much we can carry back from our weekly shop, it breaks the day up a bit when you get a parcel and I’m trying to minimise outings.
I had to order my wife a new laptop for her uni work but then she found out that they weren’t going to be required to complete their final assignment due to all the disruption. You’d think the Open University would be immune but apparently not.
We’ve been going for a big food shop once a week but my favourite supermarket is now keeping numbers down by ensuring that there’s one trolley for every two people. That’s a pain when there’s three of you shopping together as you meet at the till and find you’ve double up on everything. Being German, they won’t accept any deviation!
They haven’t had any bog roll for about a month so I’ve got a big load (ahem!) on order from Amazon. It’s due on Tuesday but we should have enough to last until then.
I was so pleased that Saints had set such a good example with its treatment of club employees that I ordered some Saints tat online earlier for the first time in a long while. Postage was a bit steep but I was quite restrained and stuck to sale stuff. I was going to be back for the Man City game so I figured that I could safely spend the money that would have gone on a match ticket and refreshments. I’m looking forward to the 0-9 against Leicester being wiped from the record books.
Bleiben Sie gesund!
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Post by channonite on Apr 23, 2020 18:22:36 GMT
The continuing decent weather has made the whole 'staying at home' thing not much of a big deal. Hours have been spent out in the garden and all the indoor projects have had little time spent on them. The weather will go back to normal soon enough. In the meantime we are making the most of it.
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