Coronavirus winners - an upbeat thread
Coronavirus winners - an upbeat thread
Author
Discussion

jakesmith

Original Poster:

9,496 posts

195 months

Friday 1st May 2020
quotequote all
To offset the concern, anger, confusion, sadness of this situation I was thinking about some areas where people are winners or have positive outcomes etc. Here are mine let’s try and keep this one lighthearted if possible(!)

- I cut my own hair with clippers weekly to grade 0 as I have little hair and feel it more honest. Have done this for years. My hair regime has been unaffected by CV

- I spent 3-4 hours tracing and successfully fixing an interior rattle in my car that has bothered me for over a year which I would not have had time to do before

- I have decorated the house with the extra time available

- I have lost nearly 2 stone dieting as I was determined to come out of this with something positive to show for it

- have sold a load of old stuff on eBay for good prices and suggest you do the same as things are selling very quickly for good prices as people at home bored

Zetec-S

6,677 posts

117 months

Friday 1st May 2020
quotequote all
I'm not furloughed but working from home, so my positives are:

- Saving £50 a week on fuel to/from work (I've only been into the office 3 times in the past 6 weeks)
- Not having to get up at 5.30am to walk the dog and get ready to leave by 7 (dog gets a longer walk at lunchtime)
- Saving a fortune as the only takeaway open is Dominos with a reduced menu which doesn't appeal to us hehe
- Being around to take in parcels rather than relying on neighbours or having to go to the local post office depot
- At the age of 39 finally grown a beard. Never did it before as it always looked scruffy for the first couple of weeks while growing it out.

Floydey

116 posts

178 months

Friday 1st May 2020
quotequote all
These are the types of threads I'm actually enjoying at the moment, there are hidden benefits out there if you're willing to look for them...

- around 3/4 weeks ago my daughter took her first steps, it was around 3pm on a weekday and if I was at work I would have missed it
- as others I'm sure, I've managed to decorate a fair amount, and repair a few fence panels that have been broken for years
- Whilst my wife is furloughed and I've been hit with a 20% pay cut, we were able to take advantage of the mortgage and loan holidays, whilst this is not an ideal situation it has improved our 'free cash' and result was we paid off credit card debt this month, all being well next month we'll be in a position to have hallway/carpet/banister done
- last of all, its forced both my employer and our client to accept that WFH is a genuine option when things return to normal, hopefully we'll carry on with this as we normally have around 120-150% overcapacity on office seating

Its not all been bad!

Zetec-S

6,677 posts

117 months

Friday 1st May 2020
quotequote all
Floydey said:
- last of all, its forced both my employer and our client to accept that WFH is a genuine option when things return to normal, hopefully we'll carry on with this as we normally have around 120-150% overcapacity on office seating
Very good point! Hoping the same for my employer. We're not too pushed for office space but when everyone is in or we have area managers and people from other offices on site we end up double/triple parking in the office car park.

TwistingMyMelon

6,488 posts

229 months

Friday 1st May 2020
quotequote all
Shaved my hair with pet clippers ...It went wrong and it didnt suit me, but I tried it and could get away with wearing a hat for a few weeks, plus we had a good laugh.

Still got work coming in thats great

Had loads of quality time with my kids and seen my youngest (2) grow up from home

Finally got round to starting my garden on the cheap, had to be creative as didnt want to go out and it looks good

Stopped pety arguments with friends and realised how important they are

The weather has been great!!

milkround

1,333 posts

103 months

Friday 1st May 2020
quotequote all
This chap feels like a winner with his vehicle mods. All thanks to CV19 - even posted on Facebook how much he loves the hi viz tape all over his scooter.






All you need to do is sign up to an app and you can also rock around dreaming you are some sort of paramedic.

Pebbles167

4,486 posts

176 months

Friday 1st May 2020
quotequote all
I've had time to:

Go on long bike ride,
Mend the fence,
Help my daughter with her homework,
Change my gearbox oil,
Bake a cake,
Watch an anime series with my daughter,
Strip my track car out and paint it,
Read a book,
Finish a video game,
Take part in an evening quiz,
Have a decent chat with my parents,
Get an early night with my girlfriend,
Have an online group chat with my mates.

I've been able to do all this in a week where I'd normally have done maybe one of these things at best. Whilst I'm sad about the current situation, I feel rather happy about my relationships and hobbies.

Hopefully most people can find something to enjoy at this trying time.




FunkyNige

9,739 posts

299 months

Friday 1st May 2020
quotequote all
Zetec-S said:
- Saving a fortune as the only takeaway open is Dominos with a reduced menu which doesn't appeal to us hehe
We have a Friday night take-away as a treat during lockdown, a couple of weeks back we had a Dominos, it arrived and we sat down to eat. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door and the order turned up again! I tried to tell the guy we already had the pizzas but he just shrugged and said keep it, result!

MG CHRIS

9,322 posts

191 months

Friday 1st May 2020
quotequote all
Saved about 250 quid in fuel this month decided to give up my unit and moved stuff to a storage container site which will save me £250 next month and the same in fuel depending when I go back to work. Also saved a bit in not buying tools for work usually £50 a week and not going to Gregg which is right next door to work so have saved about £20 a week on that.
Next up is selling up on my race stuff and looking to get a house later on in the year hopefully prices come down a bit.

dmahon

2,717 posts

88 months

Friday 1st May 2020
quotequote all
I think I’ll make some positive changes after this. I’ve always been a bit of a workaholic, but think I’ll value friends, family, hobbies and leisure time a bit more going forward. Work seems kinda pointless at the moment and I regret wasting so much time on it when I could have been enjoying the simple things in life more.

Anyone else getting a better outlook as this is going on?

MG CHRIS

9,322 posts

191 months

Friday 1st May 2020
quotequote all
dmahon said:
I think I’ll make some positive changes after this. I’ve always been a bit of a workaholic, but think I’ll value friends, family, hobbies and leisure time a bit more going forward. Work seems kinda pointless at the moment and I regret wasting so much time on it when I could have been enjoying the simple things in life more.

Anyone else getting a better outlook as this is going on?
Yep the same from Christmas till this kicked all ive done is work or go on courses for work a lot of people I haven't seen since x-mas of before.
May even throw the idea to work when we get back to normal to go too a 4 day week and recoup the hours in that 4 days and have 3 days off.

dmahon

2,717 posts

88 months

Friday 1st May 2020
quotequote all
MG CHRIS said:
dmahon said:
I think I’ll make some positive changes after this. I’ve always been a bit of a workaholic, but think I’ll value friends, family, hobbies and leisure time a bit more going forward. Work seems kinda pointless at the moment and I regret wasting so much time on it when I could have been enjoying the simple things in life more.

Anyone else getting a better outlook as this is going on?
Yep the same from Christmas till this kicked all ive done is work or go on courses for work a lot of people I haven't seen since x-mas of before.
May even throw the idea to work when we get back to normal to go too a 4 day week and recoup the hours in that 4 days and have 3 days off.
Im similar, considering early retirement or looking for something part time and easy.

Just questioning deeply what I want out of life and I think it’s a good thing to have pushed onto me.

XCP

17,610 posts

252 months

Friday 1st May 2020
quotequote all
Bought a jigsaw from a charity for £10. Having completed it, sold it on Ebay for £19.

Zarco

20,373 posts

233 months

Friday 1st May 2020
quotequote all
XCP said:
Bought a jigsaw from a charity for £10. Having completed it, sold it on Ebay for £19.
Winning.

MG CHRIS

9,322 posts

191 months

Friday 1st May 2020
quotequote all
dmahon said:
MG CHRIS said:
dmahon said:
I think I’ll make some positive changes after this. I’ve always been a bit of a workaholic, but think I’ll value friends, family, hobbies and leisure time a bit more going forward. Work seems kinda pointless at the moment and I regret wasting so much time on it when I could have been enjoying the simple things in life more.

Anyone else getting a better outlook as this is going on?
Yep the same from Christmas till this kicked all ive done is work or go on courses for work a lot of people I haven't seen since x-mas of before.
May even throw the idea to work when we get back to normal to go too a 4 day week and recoup the hours in that 4 days and have 3 days off.
Im similar, considering early retirement or looking for something part time and easy.

Just questioning deeply what I want out of life and I think it’s a good thing to have pushed onto me.
Not anywhere near retirement yet only 10 years in to my working life but this has deffently made me re-prioritise things and maybe not do as much work as I have been doing recently. Think we get so tide up in work and making money in the end its only a figure in your bank account. If all your doing is working its almost pointless having that money.

Vanden Saab

17,441 posts

98 months

Friday 1st May 2020
quotequote all
The first Covid patient admitted to Poole hospital was sent home today after 5 weeks on a ventilator.

jakesmith

Original Poster:

9,496 posts

195 months

Saturday 2nd May 2020
quotequote all
It’s made my parents adopt proper tech and learn to use it... painful but they’ve now got iPhone iPad desktop webcam that I set them all up with and they’re now running their business from Zoom! Quite satisfying.

jimmyjimjim

8,088 posts

262 months

Saturday 2nd May 2020
quotequote all
Vanden Saab said:
The first Covid patient admitted to Poole hospital was sent home today after 5 weeks on a ventilator.
A friend of a friend got sent home three days ago after 35 days in the ICU. He was readmitted yesterday.

oilit

2,782 posts

202 months

Saturday 2nd May 2020
quotequote all
finished a patio i haven't laid for 2 years, and finished putting the skirting boards and decorating two rooms I had converted in a loft 5 years ago.

Which meant I had a lot of time to think about life, and I also have decided for a change - the early retirement thing was very interesting when the sun was out and it was warm - less so when its colder and wetter as it has been this week.

jakesmith

Original Poster:

9,496 posts

195 months

Saturday 2nd May 2020
quotequote all
jimmyjimjim said:
A friend of a friend got sent home three days ago after 35 days in the ICU. He was readmitted yesterday.
Is that upbeat? Sorry to hear though