StevieM

Or negative news, in this case...which is...positive. Either way, I’m glad everyone is ok.

As far as I can see, there's only two of us (on that thread at least) who don't have smartphones. I have a basic mobile, but @unixman_again doesn't have one at all. I'm not sure what you mean by 'manage without one'. Manage to do what?

This is all I could see: I hope that wasn't the special message for the poor 'graduates'! Edit: It's working now. Most excellent!

I bought a new AA one from a garage, earlier this year. Should have paid more for a better one, as it doesn't have enough detail. I don't have satnav, anymore, since I ditched my smartphone.

I've just done this for my lunch, today. I couldn't get Parma ham, so I had to make do with Serrano ham. It's definitely worth those extra steps! Absolutely delicious! I served it with a baby spinach and kale side salad, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Next time, I won't include the lemon and herb olives, though. That was one extra flavour too many. I then finished off with a couple of large espressos. I've not tried your version...yet. The paprika has me thinking that using thinly sliced chorizo might also be an option...

Unless I’m very much mistaken*, you don’t need either to run JavaScript. (*And I, very often, am!)

Over the last few springs, I've become rather obsessed with asparagus for the short time it is available. I usually griddle mine with a drizzle of olive oil and serve with the either of the following: Good quality sliced ham (fresh, not from a packet!), lightly fried eggs (because I still can't poach eggs to save my life!), wholemeal toast and Hollandaise sauce; Smoked salmon, soft scrambled eggs, wholemeal toast; both options seasoned with a good sprinkling of freshly-ground black pepper. This year, I've also discovered that it goes well in wraps, with houmous and a few salad leaves! And it's vegetarian/vegan friendly! Asparagus! So much more than funny smelling wee!

Still got the link to my other meme, though.

I, too, am asthmatic and when the lockdown first began, I had emails from a few members of staff asking if I was working from home as they were concerned about my welfare. Our LA has advised 15 June at the earliest for re-opening. When/If that happens, I'm hoping to continue to work mostly from home, even if it means going in some evenings and/or weekends (like I already have done on the odd occasion). In case of a real emergency, I can get to school in about 15 minutes, if absolutely necessary. I'll cross that bridge when it comes to it, though. @witch - Have you contacted the school to explain your position and ask them what they expect from you?

Mmmmm! Sounds delicious... although I'm not sure about instruction 2. Although a heatproof bowel can come in handy if you like a bit of chili with your chocolate.

Lockdown is over, didn't you know? Boris relaxed the rules a bit, but we all know that what he really meant was that it is perfectly safe to just do what you like now. Hence the swarms of teenagers congregating in parks and on the streets. And the large groups of families coming together for bike rides and picnics. At least, that's what I saw yesterday. Boris (opening a box of inches): Here, help yourself to one. Joe Public (taking 63,360 of them): Oooh, don't mind if I do. Ta very much! Oi, lads! Come and help yourselves...

In case you haven't seen these government documents, which were published/updated yesterday: Our plan to rebuild: The UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy Coronavirus outbreak FAQs: what you can and can’t do Actions for educational and childcare settings to prepare for wider opening from 1 June 2020 Coronavirus (COVID-19): implementing protective measures in education and childcare settings What parents and carers need to know about schools and other education settings during the coronavirus outbreak

My dad used to really wind me up by saying 'Steak and Kidley pie'. 'Dad, it's kidney - not kidley!' To which he would reply, 'That's what I said, diddle I?'

Thanks for posting that. I was getting a little concerned that I was in a minority of one! While I am missing some of the social aspects of life (going for a pint with friends, going to concerts, etc) and worrying about my elderly mum, I'm also really enjoying being at home without as many of the day-to-day pressures of life. Mentally and emotionally, I'm in the best place I've been for a few years. I'm really not looking forward to things going back to 'normal' (whatever normal is). I think I'll cope even less than I did before.

The 5 has been changed from a 6 to make her look stupid...As if she needed any help with that!! I've just made myself look stupid...and I didn't need anyone's help with that either!

After my Hitchhikers binge, I trawled through my books looking for Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, but could only find The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul. Instead, I read Stig of the Dump (meh) before moving on to 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' by Philip K. Dick (which is well worth a look if you haven't read it). While the basic concept is the same as Blade Runner, it is a very different narrative. The character of Rachael Rosen is a complete contrast to the submissive Rachael in the film. I'm now reading C. S. Lewis's 'The Magician's Nephew', before working my way through the rest of The Chronicles of Narnia.

I'm not saying, necessarily, that it was wrong to wait to impose the lockdown, by the way; I'm just offering an opinion as to why. I do think that there were other things that could have been done earlier, though, rather than just the three actions shown in the video, but we'll have to let history be the judge of that.

The cynic in me also thinks that one of the reasons for delaying in the lockdown was so that the curve would go up sharply enough (or, to put it more bluntly, enough people would get infected and die) for Joe Public to begin to grasp the seriousness and be scared into compliance.

I took my mum to the hospital, yesterday, for her routine blood tests. She was so happy just to get out of the house and see the blue sky. On the way home, I decided to take her for a short (20-minute) drive down a few country lanes and along the coast overlooking the Mersey estuary, the Wirral peninsula and the Clwydian hills. You'd think I'd taken her on a world cruise, bless her. On a related note, while I was waiting in the hospital car park for her, a car pulled up and a couple of excited nurses ran over. The driver opened the boot to reveal a few boxes of, what I can only assume to have been, PPE. "I'll go and get a wheelchair," said one of the nurses, with a huge smile on her face. "We should get a photograph of this," said the other. I hope that, once these troubling times are over, we will all remember the joy that we can all take from the little things that make such a big difference and continue to be grateful for them.

Aren’t all bikes be-spoked?

I’ve just read the complete H2G2 trilogy for the first time since I was a teenager. In fact, it may even have been the first time I’ve ever read all 5* books, as I don’t think Mostly Harmless had even been published last time. Pure genius! *I don’t class ‘And Another Thing...’ as canon.

I’d buy one of these posters:

Taken during my daily walks this week: I wish I'd set the shutter speed a little faster on this one (and that it would post the right way up!) After my cool/annoying thing last week, I managed to get these low-quality snaps from much further away*: (*so far away that auto-focus wouldn't lock on to them and I had to switch to manual.)

Even better - just don't answer the door!

Just checkin'!