Have you had your vaccine yet? Did you refrain from alcohol for two weeks after?

@HootyTheNightOwl I had mine a lot earlier than I thought I would, I'm guessing it's because I care for an elderly relative.

@BeerMonster Yeah, that would qualify you for the vaccine sooner than you would get it in different circumstances.

I'm still so annoyed with the way that the press is effectively taking the vaccine out of the arms of those of us who need it though and suggesting that people just say that they are a carer to get vaccinated sooner - they're even claiming that you don't need any proof... which should be incorrect because I am registered as a carer in my medical records - that should be all the "proof" that they need.

Even so, I will still have my card with me and I am prepared to show it to any nosy parker who tries to pull anything like that on me.

@HootyTheNightOwl Good point. I avoid the news and press as much as possible because I end up in a foul mood and life's too short...
I should think surgeries are wise to the fraudsters, i had to give lots of details when I registered about 18 months ago so it's probably even more stringent now.

@BeerMonster I notified them nine or ten years ago, so I don't remember what the process was like for me now.

I know that the person I look after is registered at the same surgery, so it shouldn't be too hard to pull up his notes to see the sort of care that I could be providing for him.

@HootyTheNightOwl True, the process shouldn't be too different but I'm imagining they have an eye open for chancers.

@BeerMonster I hope so... the last thing we need is a spike in new "carers" making us have to wait even longer for our vaccines - especially when the government is having to increase supply to my area anyway.

@HootyTheNightOwl Sadly, i think there'll be a different kind of spike by easter with kids returning to school, a disaster waiting to happen.

@BeerMonster They can't stay locked down forever though.

I'm an adult and I'm struggling with staying as close to shielding as possible since last March, never mind trying to put children through it as well.

@HootyTheNightOwl True but the parents should have had some priority with the vaccine, that's how it spreads. Not to mention parents taking kids o supermarkets after school, I see loads where i live so i've been avoiding shopping at that time for a while now.

It's causing me to have mood swings but we all have to deal with it, it's a pandemic and the pandemic decides when it stops unless we use our common sense, sadly a Tory will usually have none of that.

@BeerMonster Where I live, there's no space to social distance outside schools.

I'm deliberately avoiding going out when they kick schools out for that reason.

Left to me, I would cancel the children playing out when they first arrive at school and make the whole school a one way system, which means opening the gates to the playground so that parents can enter through the playground and exit through the main entrance. At the same time, they can give their child's Covid19 test result to a member of staff by the main entrance, too.

@HootyTheNightOwl Good points, regarding schools but what worries me is how they get to and from there. Tories have an idealistic view of mummy and daddy dropping their little darling off at the gate the collecting them later, when in reality most of them crowd on trains or buses, without masks, then those who are taken and met by a parent are usually taken into supermarkets on the way home. I'm adamant that another spike will happen between now and easter, another two months wasted.

@BeerMonster From what I have seen, its usually only teenagers on our buses... and credit where credit is due... most of them have been good with masks. Adults, on the other hand haven't been as good as the teenagers.

Our 10 and unders are mostly near enough to school to not make it worth paying for bus fare to take them to school.

@HootyTheNightOwl I've witnessed loads of kids boarding trains and leaving stations in large groups without masks, it saddens me to think that it will happen again due to Boris failing yet again. Tested or not, they will still spread it.