Do you ever feel this will never be over?

FranT no words can ever express deepest feelings of sympathy and concern for you but I am sure along with so many of us on here we are all thinking of you and hope you can come through this with some semblance of hope and peace within yourself. May the sunshine through for you very soon for all of us.

FranT, I am so sorry for your loss. Anything I can say would be inadequate. My condolences to you and your family.

We have a family member very poorly, with serious underlying conditions, and the rest of the household not knowing if they will get it too. I am particularly worried for my daughter and her new baby. Feel scared all the time.

Bless you FranT. You must be heartbroken. Sending you love and hugs. ?

Fran I am so sorry to read your post. Please accept my sincere condolences. What a truly awful time you’re having. Unbelievably sad for you and especially for her 4 children. All I can do is wish you strength and courage at this terrible time xx

FranT, My deepest sympathy on the loss of your daughter -- and at a time that is already so redolent of memories of those no longer with you. No words are adequate at times like this. So i will say no more.

My Daughter died on Monday from the Corona virus, she was a 47 year old key worker. Being a Transport Manager, she was in contact with HGV drivers from all over the Country. She leaves 4 children, who will now grow up without a Mum, and she will never see them develop into adults, or indeed get the chance to be a Grandma herself. It would have been my Husband birthday yesterday, and his 3 year memorial tomorrow, so I feel I've hanging on a thread, especially when I see selfish morons congregating in parks etc, why can they not get it into their thick skulls that it will all be over with quicker if they just stayed home!

My grandson will celebrate his 13th birthday tomorrow at his dads home,..with his 8 year old sister and no mum . She’s at her home without him as she’s in ‘shielded ‘. No one goes in ,and she doesn’t come out... it must be breaking her heart. I know it’s breaking mine. But she must remain away from the kids so she can remain alive for all his other birthdays .

I've had a really bad day today. Woke at four with what i assume was a panic attack, done nothing much all day. Some days are like this for me! Other days I'm fine. I can't see any end to it and feel quite despondent but try to think about others who've lost loved ones.

Good post Happiyogi.

We have a campervan Hetty. We bought it last September and have only had two nights away in it. But we have used it for birdwatching days out (Before Coronavirus) - completely self contained. Own loo, kitchen and even somewhere for an afternoon nap. When we are released we’ll feel more secure in it.

Condolences to everyone who has lost family or friends in these unprecedented times.

I didnt live through WW2 so have no personal experience of those years. However, I feel something has happened to our characters in the decades since then. There have been huge improvements in living standards, life expectancy and opportunity (though these have been going into reverse for many people in recent years).

But I don't think it has made all of us resilient. I think we believed the advertising which told us we were worth it and that we shouldn't deny ourselves the treats and the travel and the comforts. But as the saying goes - just cos you can, doesn't mean you necessarily should. So, many overconsumed and thought that the good times, like the ravaged planet, would never end. And the realisation that what many believed was a solid, guaranteed existence could be swept aside by a tiny, invisible virus from the other side of the world is difficult to bear.

But, most of us are not being sent to fight in the rat-infested trenches for years, or becoming displaced peoples, or starving. People have had to endure those kind of long-lasting, life-changing privations since the beginning of humanity. Most of us never had those experiences, thank goodness. So I think we took a lot of our privileges and good fortune for granted. And now we're discovering the harsh truth of you don't know what you've got till its gone.

We want our familiar lives back. But we've only had four or five weeks of this new reality. In the last war, people had to endure that many years, without most of the luxuries that most of us have these days.

I'm only thinking out loud here, but I suspect we'll find the journey out of this easier when we can accept that actually not everything should go back to how it was before, if we're all to survive and thrive in a new way. It's been highlighted in a very graphic way that our priorities as a society must change. I'm taking comfort and hope from the many stories of bravery and generosity. A life where our collective and personal focus is the welfare of us all sounds pretty attractive right now.

Everyone needs to get a grip. Don’t think too deeply. Enjoy the day. Enjoy the little things in life. Be grateful for your health. Avoid people and rediscover your relationship with yr husband. Do all those jobs that you’ve put off for years . Set a target each day. Make a list. Tuck off the jobs. Stay positive . Breathe. Above all we have fantastic scientists working round the clock for a vaccine. Be patient. Something the BBC is not.

BlueSky, I know what you mean..I'm not sure I'll ever want to be in a crowd again. I used to use public transport all the time but don't think I will again. I'm planning to drive again, having stopped. And DH and I are considering getting a campervan for holidays.

Twig my thoughts and prayers are with you.

Urmstongran
Are you alluding to the AI project that google and china have been working on for a few years.

Just would like to add my best wishes for your father Twig at this worrying time for you and your mum. This must be so tough for you both. I hope he pulls through. x

Greymar, Try and get yourself into some routine, it is not easy for anyone at the present time but I think it will pass if people stay home that way the virus will NOT be spreading further. Today I have helped my husband clean the patio ( a thing I have never done in our 52 years of marriage) I surprised him as I knew how to use the machine. I stick to what I normally do in the mornings (mundane tasks) and I find this helps .

Good to know a lot of people feel the same way. I don't think I ever want to go near people in shops or reastaurants again!

Small Caribbean islands face enormous problems if CV takes hold. They don't have the facilities to deal with a major outbreak.

Sorry to hear your worrying news, Twig.

Twig - I’m so sorry about yr poor father being so ill.((hug))

NeispurgeonO - whereas this virus is very easy to catch, it has a comparatively low mortality rate. Your idea of half the population dead is just not in any way correct. Yes, it is expected that over the next few months about 70 -80% of the popultion will get this virus some having virtually no symptoms, most having a week or wo ofbeing really unwell, at at home, A small minority needing hospital care and a proportion of them will die. But, even with the death rates as they are today, it nothng like your projections. You are scaring yourself, and your post may scare many others.
For those who have lost dear family members of friends from this, it will never completely go away. But neither does the ion-going death rates for cancer and such things like heart attacks, which take place day on day, year on year.
The current lockdown is to make at attempt to spread out the number of people catching the disease over several months, and thereby hoping to have enough hospital beds and Intensive care beds for those that require them.
Until such time as both a vaccine and a drug treatment is available, it will not fully 'over'. But that is likely to be 12-18 months, and slowly we will be released from lockdown, maybe for a few weeks then have to go back in for a further week or two. But normality - as we knew it before this is not on the horizon

Twig = I pray your father is on the road to recovery.

Twig how desperately worrying for you, I hope he will recover

The actual virus won't just disappear around the world. Townships of South Africa, slums in India and favellas in South America will be incubators for the virus. I suspect that long after lockdown we'll still be very cautious. Long distance travel will be less likely as a leisure pursuit.