8 ms·

I miss being spontaneous about going out. I’m not even sure what restaurants are still open, what bars have gone out of business, why can’t we return to normal

I miss being spontaneous about going out. I’m not even sure what restaurants are still open, what bars have gone out of business, why can’t we return to normal already?

psychstudio 6y ago
Death and disease?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
forgotmypw17 6y ago
It's a great opportunity for non-commercial spontaneity, choosing not between "what bar to go to", but which direction to walk in, and really taking in reality.
- _uwiz 6y ago
  This is illegal in my country.
  - forgotmypw17 6y ago
    My condolences on your loss of freedom. May you find a way to move about freely in the near future.
  - tomcooks 6y ago
    Which country more or less is it? When the hot season will arrive will you be able to go out and make an impromptu bar with friends somewhere free (public squares, forests, beaches, etc.)
    - oarsinsync 6y ago
      Predicting the future is difficult. After the overall incompetence of leadership that 2020 brought in many western countries, making any rational predictions about 2021 is irrational in itself. Based on their website, GP is likely in the UK. There’s vague hope based on vaccination rates, but given the number of self-inflicted own-goals by this government, anything more than vague hope now feels like setting oneself up for disappointment.
      - _uwiz 6y ago
        Vaccination has literally fuck all to do with this. Our restrictions are randomly generated. It's illegal for me to have a friend over because they made it illegal. We have adverts trying to scare people into working from home, as if that's a choice. The government is literally trolling us, just showing us that we'll do whatever as long as there's propaganda backing it. Fuck this reality.
        Sorrop 6y ago
        I live in Greece and what you describe is very much applicable here too. Especially the part about government trolling us. Fuck this reality.
        tinus_hn 6y ago
        Same in the Netherlands and any restriction introduced for whatever reason is forever. For instance, when bars had to close at 22:00, people would flood the supermarkets to get booze for drinking at home. So they made a rule that supermarkets can’t sell alcohol after 20:00. Now the bars have been closed for 3 months. Think anyone would remove that now useless limitation on selling alcohol after 20:00? Think again!
        _uwiz 6y ago
        UK Government 2020: It seems that most people are catching coronavirus in private homes. makes pubs shit to be in with distancing rules and masks etc people start to socialise at home more It seems that most people are catching coronavirus in private homes. closes pubs earlier people start to socialise at home more It seems that most people are catching coronavirus in private homes. close everything else, make meeting up outside illegal people start to socialise at home more It seems that most people are catching coronavirus in private homes. I literally cannot come up with an explanation for this that isn't conspiratorial. For all of Boris' fluff, I don't believe that our Government is this incompetent or stupid - there has to be an ulterior motive here.
    - _uwiz 6y ago
      UK. I don't know, indefinite lockdown. It's currently illegal to sit on a park bench. I'll do it anyway, of course, but it might not be legal. [redacted] 97 days since it was last legal for me to have a friend over for a cup of tea. You know in the movies where at some point the psychotic main character thinks "I'm not the crazy one, it must be them"? I flip flop on this every other hour.
      - dTal 6y ago
        I think we should be clear. The lockdown, in more or less its current state, is necessary. Without it we will see a spiralling death toll, the collapse of health services, and many people saddled with chronic conditions for life, yes even the "young". I personally know some. Their lifestyles will never be the same. However, it didn't have to be this way. The UK practically beat the pandemic over summer, and then snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by persistently ignoring reality. Reopening schools, Eat Out To Help Out, failing to stop international travel - these are the things that led to the current situation. Get mad, by all means. But place the blame where it belongs. We are doing the right thing now, in order to deal with the idiocy of before.
        _uwiz 6y ago
        Unfortunately, 300 days in, I am neither mentally capable of adhering to restrictions, nor do I have the trust any more to follow through if I did. For me, it's the risk of death and/or a chronic condition, or the certainty of psychosis. Hourly reminder that it's been almost 100 days since it was last legal for me to have a friend over for a cup of tea. Best of luck, glad you're holding up well; sorry that I've failed you.
      - tomcooks 6y ago
        That sucks, had no idea you couldn't spend time outside over there. I can understand the ban on having friends over, but not allowing people to spend time outside is a recipe for disaster. UK having what seems to be the most potent variant of the virus doesn't help, and the island factor either. Try to be strong, and don't let cabin fever tell you otherwise.
- renewiltord 6y ago
  Yeah but you can't meet strangers. We're all bubbled in. And I love my friends, they're my pillar of peace in this pandemic, but there is a different part of me that craves the interaction with strangers in strange places.
  - forgotmypw17 6y ago
    It's a great opportunity to connect with non-humans: mushrooms, plants, insects, birds, mammals. When is the last time you have even looked at one of them closely, let alone formed a close relationship? It is something we humans have done our entire existence, until recently, yet many today go their entire life without such an experience.
    - slaymaker1907 6y ago
      I know you're trying to be helpful, but these kinds of posts just come off as incredibly condescending and out of touch. Lack of nature is not considered to be actual torture, but complete isolation from other people (solitary confinement) is.
      - forgotmypw17 6y ago
        I apologize if that came off as condescending. That is exactly what I mean, however, you are writing off non-human companionship and interaction as worthless, when it can bring endless joy and comfort when humans are not available.
        throwanem 6y ago
        It's not the same, in a way that matters. I grew up outside a small rural town, running barefoot all over creation every chance I got, and most of the time by myself. These days I'm a wildlife photographer by avocation, and over the last couple of years I've gotten deeply into macro - I take pictures of wasps while they're doing wasp things, and as a result of that, I'm not only no longer afraid of them, I've kind of fallen in love with them. They are at this point by far my favorite insects, and high up among my favorite animals overall. I like them better than most mammals at this point, and some of the best pictures I've ever taken of a spider wasp, I got in my backyard last October. Aside from that, research papers on wasp ethology have been a gateway into entomology as a special interest, to an extent where if I had it to do over I might go into that instead of software engineering. I've even learned to make and bind books from scratch, initially because I wanted paper textbooks instead of PDFs. All of that means a great deal to me. None of it makes up for the fact that, over the course of the last year, I've only been able to spend a few hours in the company of a friend, and none in that of colleagues. I'm somewhat solitary by inclination, and I think that makes it less hard on me than on most. But even for me, it's been hard. I can't imagine what it's been like for anyone who came into this both alone and without the good fortune of knowing how to be satisfied with their own company. These aren't good circumstances under which to have to learn that, and even the most cursory glance at the comments in this thread overall is enough to show that the success rate has probably not been high. Yes, every so often you get someone like me, who can feel good for days about the pompilid wasp who turned up in his home office for an impromptu visit. Every so often you get a Birdman of Alcatraz, too. To suggest that everyone should just instantly be a Birdman - I mean, I get that you're trying to help, and I respect that. But you seem not to have given any thought to how to make your advice potentially useful to someone whose perspective differs greatly from your own. It's an easy mistake to make - I do it often enough myself. But it's still a mistake, and it's why the criticism you're getting is warranted. The intention is obviously good, but the execution needs a deal of improvement.
- tomcooks 6y ago
  Exactly. Just like with open source software, if you don't like something make your own instead of creating cargo cult around the ashes of a mediocre past.
- 74d-fe6-2c6 6y ago
  Legally, though, in solitude. In Germany only one person can officially visit another household. I think that is excessive bullshit which is why I do break this rule occasionally.
  - jeofken 6y ago
    Good! The relationship between you and the Bundesrepublik is a non-voluntary one, where you never signed a contract with them to follow their laws. It’s a state created by the victors of the last great war. There is no moral responsibility to please people who are in your life involuntarily
    - 74d-fe6-2c6 6y ago
      With your attitude you have to be willing to not use tax-funded hospitals, community-financed health insurance or state-sponsored cultural events. Not sure if I'd like to take that step. There has to be a healthy balance in the relationship between society and citizen.
      - jeofken 6y ago
        The same argument applies to a slave being fed and housed by their master. I think it’s very healthy to avoid some government funded “services”, such as having children far away from government schools. If you are not paying, you are the product.
    - mellavora 6y ago
      Did you ever read Leviathan (Hobbes)?
      - jeofken 6y ago
        I’m familiar with it as being ethically relativist (no universal eternal ethics) and arguing that man needs to be ruled to live in peace. Would you recommend spending a couple of weeks on it? If so, are there translations to modern English, or is the original easy to understand for us in this century?
- LandR 6y ago
  In my country, the UK, you can be fined for going a walk to a park if it isn't the closest park to your home. Basically if the police want to be arses to you they can ask you where you are going and why you are where you are, if they dont like your answer you can be fined. There was an article in the BBC a while back about two friends that met up for a walk in the country side, they drove to the meetup point. It wasn't the closest place they could have walked so they got fined. Also IIRC, they were carrying a cup of coffee each so the police said technically they met for a picnic.
  - richrichardsson 6y ago
    After the furore surrounding that everything was overturned and they apologised [1]. > if the police want to be arses This is what's completely wrong about the situation. Police officer had an argument with their spouse that morning and is in a shitty mood? Police officer was bullied at school and is using their power to punish the kind of person that looks like their bullies? Any number of entirely random things can change the "rules". Not good. [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-55625062 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-55625062
  - Nursie 6y ago
    > Also IIRC, they were carrying a cup of coffee each so the police said technically they met for a picnic. It's both sad and hilarious that going for a picnic is currently a criminal act.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - DoingIsLearning 6y ago
    What I think is under discussed is the fact that we allow for all of these social restrictions measurements but yet air travel across all the EU countries is still allowed.
    - karlerss 6y ago
      Air travel worldwide is just fine. In airport transit zones all you need is a mask. We flew from Northern Europe to South Asia a week ago and the flights were filled 60-70%.
- brailsafe 6y ago
  It is, but then when your paranoid friends only want to walk around it gets old quick, and isn't ideal on shitty days. Even a coffee inside or shooting some pool would be fine.
tomcooks 6y ago
There's no normal, there's only what you create now
Gibbon1 6y ago
Saw blurb that Marin county thinks they've vaccinated 68% of everyone over 75. And 50% of 65-75 year olds. Everyone in a long term care facility plus staff. They had an average 60 active infections in January, this month it's 4. Bay Area Counties are starting to extend eligibility to essential workers. Same time noises are that the amount of vaccine shipped is going to double in the next few weeks.
luxuryballs 6y ago
https://time.com/collection/great-reset/ https://time.com/collection/great-reset/

I miss being spontaneous about going out. I’m not even sure what restaurants are still open, what bars have gone out of business, why can’t we return to normal already?

psychstudio 6y ago

Death and disease?

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

forgotmypw17 6y ago

It's a great opportunity for non-commercial spontaneity, choosing not between "what bar to go to", but which direction to walk in, and really taking in reality.

_uwiz 6y ago
This is illegal in my country.
- forgotmypw17 6y ago
  My condolences on your loss of freedom. May you find a way to move about freely in the near future.
- tomcooks 6y ago
  Which country more or less is it? When the hot season will arrive will you be able to go out and make an impromptu bar with friends somewhere free (public squares, forests, beaches, etc.)
  - oarsinsync 6y ago
    Predicting the future is difficult. After the overall incompetence of leadership that 2020 brought in many western countries, making any rational predictions about 2021 is irrational in itself. Based on their website, GP is likely in the UK. There’s vague hope based on vaccination rates, but given the number of self-inflicted own-goals by this government, anything more than vague hope now feels like setting oneself up for disappointment.
    - _uwiz 6y ago
      Vaccination has literally fuck all to do with this. Our restrictions are randomly generated. It's illegal for me to have a friend over because they made it illegal. We have adverts trying to scare people into working from home, as if that's a choice. The government is literally trolling us, just showing us that we'll do whatever as long as there's propaganda backing it. Fuck this reality.
      - Sorrop 6y ago
        I live in Greece and what you describe is very much applicable here too. Especially the part about government trolling us. Fuck this reality.
      - tinus_hn 6y ago
        Same in the Netherlands and any restriction introduced for whatever reason is forever. For instance, when bars had to close at 22:00, people would flood the supermarkets to get booze for drinking at home. So they made a rule that supermarkets can’t sell alcohol after 20:00. Now the bars have been closed for 3 months. Think anyone would remove that now useless limitation on selling alcohol after 20:00? Think again!
        _uwiz 6y ago
        UK Government 2020: It seems that most people are catching coronavirus in private homes. makes pubs shit to be in with distancing rules and masks etc people start to socialise at home more It seems that most people are catching coronavirus in private homes. closes pubs earlier people start to socialise at home more It seems that most people are catching coronavirus in private homes. close everything else, make meeting up outside illegal people start to socialise at home more It seems that most people are catching coronavirus in private homes. I literally cannot come up with an explanation for this that isn't conspiratorial. For all of Boris' fluff, I don't believe that our Government is this incompetent or stupid - there has to be an ulterior motive here.
  - _uwiz 6y ago
    UK. I don't know, indefinite lockdown. It's currently illegal to sit on a park bench. I'll do it anyway, of course, but it might not be legal. [redacted] 97 days since it was last legal for me to have a friend over for a cup of tea. You know in the movies where at some point the psychotic main character thinks "I'm not the crazy one, it must be them"? I flip flop on this every other hour.
    - dTal 6y ago
      I think we should be clear. The lockdown, in more or less its current state, is necessary. Without it we will see a spiralling death toll, the collapse of health services, and many people saddled with chronic conditions for life, yes even the "young". I personally know some. Their lifestyles will never be the same. However, it didn't have to be this way. The UK practically beat the pandemic over summer, and then snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by persistently ignoring reality. Reopening schools, Eat Out To Help Out, failing to stop international travel - these are the things that led to the current situation. Get mad, by all means. But place the blame where it belongs. We are doing the right thing now, in order to deal with the idiocy of before.
      - _uwiz 6y ago
        Unfortunately, 300 days in, I am neither mentally capable of adhering to restrictions, nor do I have the trust any more to follow through if I did. For me, it's the risk of death and/or a chronic condition, or the certainty of psychosis. Hourly reminder that it's been almost 100 days since it was last legal for me to have a friend over for a cup of tea. Best of luck, glad you're holding up well; sorry that I've failed you.
    - tomcooks 6y ago
      That sucks, had no idea you couldn't spend time outside over there. I can understand the ban on having friends over, but not allowing people to spend time outside is a recipe for disaster. UK having what seems to be the most potent variant of the virus doesn't help, and the island factor either. Try to be strong, and don't let cabin fever tell you otherwise.
renewiltord 6y ago
Yeah but you can't meet strangers. We're all bubbled in. And I love my friends, they're my pillar of peace in this pandemic, but there is a different part of me that craves the interaction with strangers in strange places.
- forgotmypw17 6y ago
  It's a great opportunity to connect with non-humans: mushrooms, plants, insects, birds, mammals. When is the last time you have even looked at one of them closely, let alone formed a close relationship? It is something we humans have done our entire existence, until recently, yet many today go their entire life without such an experience.
  - slaymaker1907 6y ago
    I know you're trying to be helpful, but these kinds of posts just come off as incredibly condescending and out of touch. Lack of nature is not considered to be actual torture, but complete isolation from other people (solitary confinement) is.
    - forgotmypw17 6y ago
      I apologize if that came off as condescending. That is exactly what I mean, however, you are writing off non-human companionship and interaction as worthless, when it can bring endless joy and comfort when humans are not available.
      - throwanem 6y ago
        It's not the same, in a way that matters. I grew up outside a small rural town, running barefoot all over creation every chance I got, and most of the time by myself. These days I'm a wildlife photographer by avocation, and over the last couple of years I've gotten deeply into macro - I take pictures of wasps while they're doing wasp things, and as a result of that, I'm not only no longer afraid of them, I've kind of fallen in love with them. They are at this point by far my favorite insects, and high up among my favorite animals overall. I like them better than most mammals at this point, and some of the best pictures I've ever taken of a spider wasp, I got in my backyard last October. Aside from that, research papers on wasp ethology have been a gateway into entomology as a special interest, to an extent where if I had it to do over I might go into that instead of software engineering. I've even learned to make and bind books from scratch, initially because I wanted paper textbooks instead of PDFs. All of that means a great deal to me. None of it makes up for the fact that, over the course of the last year, I've only been able to spend a few hours in the company of a friend, and none in that of colleagues. I'm somewhat solitary by inclination, and I think that makes it less hard on me than on most. But even for me, it's been hard. I can't imagine what it's been like for anyone who came into this both alone and without the good fortune of knowing how to be satisfied with their own company. These aren't good circumstances under which to have to learn that, and even the most cursory glance at the comments in this thread overall is enough to show that the success rate has probably not been high. Yes, every so often you get someone like me, who can feel good for days about the pompilid wasp who turned up in his home office for an impromptu visit. Every so often you get a Birdman of Alcatraz, too. To suggest that everyone should just instantly be a Birdman - I mean, I get that you're trying to help, and I respect that. But you seem not to have given any thought to how to make your advice potentially useful to someone whose perspective differs greatly from your own. It's an easy mistake to make - I do it often enough myself. But it's still a mistake, and it's why the criticism you're getting is warranted. The intention is obviously good, but the execution needs a deal of improvement.
tomcooks 6y ago
Exactly. Just like with open source software, if you don't like something make your own instead of creating cargo cult around the ashes of a mediocre past.
74d-fe6-2c6 6y ago
Legally, though, in solitude. In Germany only one person can officially visit another household. I think that is excessive bullshit which is why I do break this rule occasionally.
- jeofken 6y ago
  Good! The relationship between you and the Bundesrepublik is a non-voluntary one, where you never signed a contract with them to follow their laws. It’s a state created by the victors of the last great war. There is no moral responsibility to please people who are in your life involuntarily
  - 74d-fe6-2c6 6y ago
    With your attitude you have to be willing to not use tax-funded hospitals, community-financed health insurance or state-sponsored cultural events. Not sure if I'd like to take that step. There has to be a healthy balance in the relationship between society and citizen.
    - jeofken 6y ago
      The same argument applies to a slave being fed and housed by their master. I think it’s very healthy to avoid some government funded “services”, such as having children far away from government schools. If you are not paying, you are the product.
  - mellavora 6y ago
    Did you ever read Leviathan (Hobbes)?
    - jeofken 6y ago
      I’m familiar with it as being ethically relativist (no universal eternal ethics) and arguing that man needs to be ruled to live in peace. Would you recommend spending a couple of weeks on it? If so, are there translations to modern English, or is the original easy to understand for us in this century?
LandR 6y ago
In my country, the UK, you can be fined for going a walk to a park if it isn't the closest park to your home. Basically if the police want to be arses to you they can ask you where you are going and why you are where you are, if they dont like your answer you can be fined. There was an article in the BBC a while back about two friends that met up for a walk in the country side, they drove to the meetup point. It wasn't the closest place they could have walked so they got fined. Also IIRC, they were carrying a cup of coffee each so the police said technically they met for a picnic.
- richrichardsson 6y ago
  After the furore surrounding that everything was overturned and they apologised [1]. > if the police want to be arses This is what's completely wrong about the situation. Police officer had an argument with their spouse that morning and is in a shitty mood? Police officer was bullied at school and is using their power to punish the kind of person that looks like their bullies? Any number of entirely random things can change the "rules". Not good. [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-55625062 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-55625062
- Nursie 6y ago
  > Also IIRC, they were carrying a cup of coffee each so the police said technically they met for a picnic. It's both sad and hilarious that going for a picnic is currently a criminal act.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- DoingIsLearning 6y ago
  What I think is under discussed is the fact that we allow for all of these social restrictions measurements but yet air travel across all the EU countries is still allowed.
  - karlerss 6y ago
    Air travel worldwide is just fine. In airport transit zones all you need is a mask. We flew from Northern Europe to South Asia a week ago and the flights were filled 60-70%.
brailsafe 6y ago
It is, but then when your paranoid friends only want to walk around it gets old quick, and isn't ideal on shitty days. Even a coffee inside or shooting some pool would be fine.

tomcooks 6y ago

There's no normal, there's only what you create now

Gibbon1 6y ago

Saw blurb that Marin county thinks they've vaccinated 68% of everyone over 75. And 50% of 65-75 year olds. Everyone in a long term care facility plus staff. They had an average 60 active infections in January, this month it's 4. Bay Area Counties are starting to extend eligibility to essential workers. Same time noises are that the amount of vaccine shipped is going to double in the next few weeks.

luxuryballs 6y ago

https://time.com/collection/great-reset/ https://time.com/collection/great-reset/