In these unprecedented times where we aren't allowed to leave the house (except for a few things), what are you doing to fill your time?
I work from home, so things haven't really changed much for me, the only thing that's really changed is all the paperwork I would go to the office to pick up is being scanned and emailed instead.
The other part of my job is organising events, so obviously that has had to stop, although I've been working at moving things online with the help of video-conferencing and it seems to be going alright, when this all blows over we'll probably keep it up as it's more convenient for clients.
With the time that I would usually spend going out on my adventures, I'm instead 'playing' with all the tools I've acquired recently. I'm also getting back in to 3D modelling and 3D printing now I've had time to get it back up and running.
Im hosting a couple of online quizzes to try make some income. Accepting donations lol.
(27 Mar 2020, 2:00 pm)idiot wrote [ -> ]Im hosting a couple of online quizzes to try make some income. Accepting donations lol.
That's one thing I miss, not being able to go to Pub Quiz! Tuesday night staple that was!
I miss hosting then... And the income lol
(27 Mar 2020, 5:22 pm)idiot wrote [ -> ]I miss hosting then... And the income lol
I like writing quizzes, but I hate hosting them!
(27 Mar 2020, 5:27 pm)streetdeckfan wrote [ -> ]I like writing quizzes, but I hate hosting them!
Is all your questions about NSA on the X21?, "What was the date, the last time the X-Lines X21 had NSA?"
(27 Mar 2020, 5:33 pm)Michael wrote [ -> ]Is all your questions about NSA on the X21?, "What was the date, the last time the X-Lines X21 had NSA?"
Nah, more like "How many different interior specs will the X21 have when the new StreetDecks arrive?" and "How many times can I ask Dan the same question without getting banned?"
Seriously though, I have snuck in a few public transport questions and sometimes people even get them right!
Husband is working from home on a pretty full schedule. He's a software developer so most of his work is pretty portable. Most of their work is for Sweden, at the moment and he was needing to do a training course in Germany but, obviously, that can't happen, now. Hopefully the course providers will find a way to deliver a version of it remotely, though that won't enable him to familiarise himself with any of the hardware involved.
Meantime, I'm on a constant quest to keep 3 hungry males filled up according to their, in 2 cases pretty narrow, specifications and to keep the younger 2 from killing each other. Luckily, we live on the edge of aykley woods and the nearby nature reserve. Took littlun for a scramble up the hill next to the dli, yesterday.
The forecast for this weekend is bloody cold, so hopefully there won't be too many idiots interpreting their one form of exercise as driving off somewhere for a jolly with thousands of other people, putting too much strain on the police and losing us that particular freedom.
Losing all sense of order and sanity...
As somebody who spends a lot of their time out and about for various reasons, suddenly going from that to only being able to go out for about an hour a day to partake in a walk is taking it's toll on my mental health a bit leaving 14-15 hours a day to try and occupy myself with and failing miserably.
I have been making frequent archive postings to my Flickr and Instagram accounts so check that out if you're interested:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/127079988@N02/
I'm still working from home, but aside from that I've:
* Started playing Championship Manager 93/94 again
* Watching archive stuff on WWE Network
* Watching stuff on Netflix
* Playing on the Switch
The novelty is likely to wear off soon, so I might even take Jimmi's lead and start uploading some photos again.
I've just picked up a sweater I abandoned about 85% complete, over 8 years ago. Not even sure if it'll actually fit me, once I've finished it but it's been taunting me for too long.
(27 Mar 2020, 8:31 pm)BusLoverMum wrote [ -> ]I've just picked up a sweater I abandoned about 85% complete, over 8 years ago. Not even sure if it'll actually fit me, once I've finished it but it's been taunting me for too long.
I've found I've been cooking meals from scratch a lot more. The issue with the house is it's literally a 2 minute walk to McDonalds, Subway or KFC. Same with LIDL and Aldi, I would just wait until I was hungry then buy what I fancied, which usually ended up being something quick and easy like a Pizza or pasta, or a McDonalds wrap!
Since it's literally impossible to buy pasta any more and you can only eat so many pizzas, I've been forced to actually plan meals.
I normally bake my own bread, but it's also impossible to buy yeast, never mind the flour.
(27 Mar 2020, 10:00 pm)Adrian wrote [ -> ]For anyone that likes old computer games, try:
* Old DOS based games: https://www.myabandonware.com/
* DOS emulator to run the said games: https://www.dosbox.com/
Clearly you download stuff at your own risk, but I've had no problems. 
The only old game I could ever get in to is Manic Miner, that game is just so addictive!
(27 Mar 2020, 9:06 pm)streetdeckfan wrote [ -> ]I've found I've been cooking meals from scratch a lot more. The issue with the house is it's literally a 2 minute walk to McDonalds, Subway or KFC. Same with LIDL and Aldi, I would just wait until I was hungry then buy what I fancied, which usually ended up being something quick and easy like a Pizza or pasta, or a McDonalds wrap!
Since it's literally impossible to buy pasta any more and you can only eat so many pizzas, I've been forced to actually plan meals.
I normally bake my own bread, but it's also impossible to buy yeast, never mind the flour.
And fresh pasta. Markses had that, earlier this week.
Sainsburys had bread flour, yesterday, so it's getting better. I've got a big packet of doves farm yeast which I use in my breadmaker. Without yeast, you can always set a sourdough starter going.
(28 Mar 2020, 8:45 am)BusLoverMum wrote [ -> ]Sainsburys had bread flour, yesterday, so it's getting better. I've got a big packet of doves farm yeast which I use in my breadmaker. Without yeast, you can always set a sourdough starter going.
Hopefully Aldi will start to get it back in. My breadmaker started tripping the electric so I've just been making it in the stand mixer and shoving it in the oven. If I'm particularly bored I'll knead it by hand!
I've never been that much of a fan of sourdough bread. I don't mind sourdough pizza but I find the bread a bit too much!
I play Solitaire a bit. I am also reading some books I still have but haven't read for a few years. I can spend a bit of time I would have spent on transport days out reading transport books and magazine articles.
I may get to hear other BBC Radio Newcastle shows online to make up for other radio presenters being off air for now.
Got a hairy bikers' creamy chicken korma bubbling away.
Sadly I found out that the little Indian grocery near us has had to close because the store is too small to allow adequate social distancing.
(28 Mar 2020, 5:23 pm)BusLoverMum wrote [ -> ]Got a hairy bikers' creamy chicken korma bubbling away.
Sadly I found out that the little Indian grocery near us has had to close because the store is too small to allow adequate social distancing.
Ooh, korma is the only curry I can tolerate. It's not the lack of heat (I love hot food), I just prefer 'boring' foods!
I made a chicken and chorizo in a cheesy white sauce pie last night. Although rather ironically, I made a vegan pastry for it! ?
No idea what I'm making tonight, but those Mozzarella sticks in the freezer I bought from Costco have been staring at me for a few days!
(28 Mar 2020, 5:30 pm)streetdeckfan wrote [ -> ]Ooh, korma is the only curry I can tolerate. It's not the lack of heat (I love hot food), I just prefer 'boring' foods!
I made a chicken and chorizo in a cheesy white sauce pie last night. Although rather ironically, I made a vegan pastry for it! ?
No idea what I'm making tonight, but those Mozzarella sticks in the freezer I bought from Costco have been staring at me for a few days!
I wish I could still eat cheese. It does unspeakable things to me.
This korma is far from boring! Some of the other recipes I have include a ton of green chillis.
(28 Mar 2020, 6:46 pm)BusLoverMum wrote [ -> ]I wish I could still eat cheese. It does unspeakable things to me.
This korma is far from boring! Some of the other recipes I have include a ton of green chillis.
When I drink green or blue milk, I get 'poorly', but with red milk, cheese and butter I'm fine, which with stored deciding to no longer stock red milk is a bit of an issue because I need my coffee
I wish I couldn't eat cheese, but when I'm making a Pizza it's one handful for the pizza, and one handful for me! ?
(28 Mar 2020, 7:09 pm)streetdeckfan wrote [ -> ]When I drink green or blue milk, I get 'poorly', but with red milk, cheese and butter I'm fine, which with stored deciding to no longer stock red milk is a bit of an issue because I need my coffee
I wish I couldn't eat cheese, but when I'm making a Pizza it's one handful for the pizza, and one handful for me! ?
I used to be like that with cheese but it's amazing how quickly it loses its appeal when it suddenly starts triggering the sort of migraines that have you decorating the bathroom at 3am. Chocolate, too.
At least I still have my curries, though, even if the outcome does sometimes make social distancing remarkably easy
Might be worth you giving lactofree milk a try, btw.
(28 Mar 2020, 8:24 pm)BusLoverMum wrote [ -> ]I used to be like that with cheese but it's amazing how quickly it loses its appeal when it suddenly starts triggering the sort of migraines that have you decorating the bathroom at 3am. Chocolate, too.
At least I still have my curries, though, even if the outcome does sometimes make social distancing remarkably easy
Might be worth you giving lactofree milk a try, btw.
When I was younger I was referred to a dietician by the doctor because I had issues with certain foods, dairy products being one of them, so I was basically told to cut everything out and get reintroduced to them to see what I had an issue with, I also had some tests done and I wasn't lactose intolerant. Then again, it is a fairly common thing to become lactose intolerant as you get older.
While my memory ain't the best, I think it turned out that my issue was more with textures than anything, still to this day I can't eat food that has 'bits' in it. I went off IKEA hotdogs for about 10 years when I ate one with a hard bit in. Foods that 'pop' like oranges are also a no-go, mushy foods make me gag as well. Weird thing is, if I make the food from scratch, I'm fine with it!
I've recently really got in to Almond milk, although it's still no match for the real thing!
I had £14 in donations tonight hosting my quiz. Had £22 on Wednesday. Off food shopping tomorrow morning lol.
(28 Mar 2020, 9:37 pm)idiot wrote [ -> ]I had £14 in donations tonight hosting my quiz. Had £22 on Wednesday. Off food shopping tomorrow morning lol.
Stock seems to be slowly coming back in to the shops now, hopefully people have either realised there's no need to panic buy, or they've ran out of room to keep all the bog roll!
I'm going slowly insane (well perhaps even more insane). I'm a Lecturer in Computing Science and I've been working from home for the past week, using Microsoft Teams and Zoom to hold meetings and run practicals for my students. The majority of the students I teach/supervise on my Software Engineering team project module are from China so the logistics of ensuring that teams still work together (albeit remotely) is a challenge. Plus naturally the student are worried about exams but I can only reassure them so much.
I'm also a councillor for where I live, and I have been distributing some council leaflets on what services are available for those on lock down and/or unable to get help. It has got me out of the house for a bit. Otherwise I've been binge watching stuff on Netflix and Prime video.
(27 Mar 2020, 8:00 pm)Jimmi wrote [ -> ]Losing all sense of order and sanity...
As somebody who spends a lot of their time out and about for various reasons, suddenly going from that to only being able to go out for about an hour a day to partake in a walk is taking it's toll on my mental health a bit leaving 14-15 hours a day to try and occupy myself with and failing miserably.
I have been making frequent archive postings to my Flickr and Instagram accounts so check that out if you're interested: https://www.flickr.com/photos/127079988@N02/
Know that feeling I have depression and this certainly does not help especially when I would be out a few times out.
I am try to keep busy with game consoles iPlayer and reading but been stuck in a flat it's difficult.