Today I had my first sessions of “hybrid” teaching with a few students in the class room but the majority online. It worked surprisingly well, including the student presentations. Two sessions were post-grad, one was undergrad – all groups were happy with the experience. So I am reasonably optimistic that next week’s online teaching will be okay too. We use Zoom conferencing software.
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100% the hifi shops will close, just the same as all the other non essential shops.
The problem isnt them shutting for a few weeks or even months, its if they ever re open again as with whats going on, i dont think expensive hifi purchases are going to be on many people’s lists, and probably not anytime soon
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I’m not certain that will be allowed… You have to get to them first.
Yes, very moving - and very peaceful at the same time. Is that the Somme, or Belgian Flanders?
It’s on the Somme at High Wood. This was a particularly bad place and many more of the fallen lay undiscovered in the wood behind me and the surrounding fields.
St Valery sur Somme is a lovely little place. Seals in the estuary.
We have a concert on Saturday, over 200 tickets sold at £20 each. The government are expecting venues to cancel but have not told them to. What if the band arrive, need paying, yet everyone wants their money back? It’s not thought through properly at all. A friend at yoga owns a pub and has no customers but must pay her rates. Maybe the help out fund can help but how many businesses will fold before help arrives. We have cancelled two B&Bs today. How will my yoga teacher manage if nobody goes to classes. Thousands and thousands of small businesses, which form the fabric of our lives, are in such a precarious state, in the U.K. and all over. Once the virus runs its course, the repercussions will be felt for years and years.
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St. Valery sounds nice Nigel.
My wife runs her own sports massage business in a garden room we built last summer. It’s literally hands on so I expect her income to stop immediately with no redress. Fortunately I am retired and the mortgage is paid but things are about to get a little tight.
I have my pension and we can live comfortably on that. Other than the fact that I might catch the virus and die I’m not worried about me. It’s all those people whose income stops in its tracks. Macron has said that no business, large or small, will fail because of the virus. Let’s hope the U.K. steps up and provides that reassurance.
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My UK uni has suspended all face to face teaching from today.
So I’ve been reorganzing all the modules I run.
This hits immediately after a long strike, so it’s chaos here.
A bold claim.
But in practice that could be difficult to sustain either in France - which does not control the ECB - or in the Eurozone as a whole within the current financial system.
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300b€ have been pledged by the French government (in the same address). This will increase the National debt, which already stands at 2,000b€. But it’s largely irrelevant at times like these.
And St Valéry is a lovely place…
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Unfortunately, decisions are being made in crisis mode, act now, manage repercussions later. Probably not much else can be done. Macron can make promises to the cows come home, but the rest of us will have to battle it out in the real world.
If that was a B reference I won’t respond, other than to say it sounds as if your view on that particular topic may not align with mine. My query was simply wanting to know to which member states the EU ruling or guidance extends, because I gave a son presently in Ireland, due to leave soon but not just yet, but it might force his hand.
Unfortunately I think you’re right, and anything that can maintain some of these things without putting people at risk would be a good thing - the difficulty is knowing what is tge right balance.
An interesting observation earlier. When you come into our little road when it’s dark, you can usually see the landing lights of four or five planes as they approach Gatwick, which is about 30 miles away. Tonight, none whatsoever. I’m one who believes air travel is far too cheap and vastly over used. So at least the poor planet gets a brief respite. And if a few airlines go down the tubes and prices rise that is only a good thing in the broader scheme. Not for the individual staff of course, that goes without saying.
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This might be a bit late… in the present crisis, there’s about one week left to make the right decision.
You might be right. I think following the science has been a good move. We can only hope they are the right scientists…
A friend of mine is a respected epidemiologist, working for one of Switzerland’s best public hospitals (Lausanne). I spoke to him on the phone yesterday: he clearly thinks the belief in “herd immunity”, in this specific instance, could be disastrous.
Back to the hi fi shops – my ‘go to’ dealer is one I work with long distance. So it’s easy to carry on in the face of social distancing. He’s made me a few offers recently I couldn’t refuse, and “free shipping” are magic words!!