Has 'Good morning' acquired a new meaning in these pandemic times?

ixion

MerylStreep

ElderlyPerson
So you want social interaction but only through online forums, yes? I get that.
So why not join in some of the other threads. Are politics, climate change, brexit, the royle family, Afghanistan, travel, tv, books etc etc your thing.
Life doesn’t just have to be about covid. You might find that if you joined in some of these threads it might, just might, take your mind off covid.
Give it a try.

Hear hear MerylStreep!
Let's see you popping up elsewhere and contributing to other topics.
On Mick's daily Good morning thread, you can greet the day, tell us what the weather is like with you, share with others how you intend to spend your day...

And thank you, finally, for acknowledging that it is not solutions or views that you are seeking, but human interaction.

That was a brave admission.

EP has started many threads. languages for example.

It was never an opportunity for a good discussion. I struggle to believe that you think a simple “good morning” has acquired new meaning The vast majority of people will still see it as the simple polite everyday greeting it has always been. It isn’t code. Nor is it an early warning signal for you to go and hide from the postwoman.

What you do EP, is repeatedly start topics which are essentially about your fear of Covid and the extreme lengths you are still going to to avoid human contact.

You couch everything in terms of your fear and then studiously avoid answering any post which offers encouragement, explanation and practical advice. People take time and trouble to write and you ignore what they say. You often resort to evasive, monosyllabic responses and riffs on topics that have nothing to do with the subject.

No-one is expecting you to do anything. What people are advising you to do it to have the vaccines you will have been offered months ago then you can stop living in fear and dread.

I’ve wondered at times whether you deliberately start these threads to propagate fear in other people at a similar level to your own and whether you are just another anti-vaxxer dressing it up as something else.

If you are living this way because you don’t want the vaccine then say so. If you are happy living the way you do and are happy to do so for the rest of your life - because Covid is going to be around that long - then say so then people can stop trying to be helpful.

ElderlyPerson
With respect you made the OP all about you. Have you noticed that it is littered with the personal pro noun i
We didn’t need all that information, you could have just expanded your last paragraph a little ( I did say a little, not War&Peace ?)

Thank you for posting.

The title of the thread.

Has 'Good morning' acquired a new meaning in these pandemic times?

The final paragraph of the first post in the thread.

So, after what happened yesterday, I am wondering if 'Good morning' has now acquired the additional meaning of 'I am politely drawing my presence here to your attention and politely stationary so that we may have mutual social distancing in these pandemic times'.

I have kept out of this discussion because I wasn’t sure what your aim was in posting it Elder.y Person. The thing that stands out to me in your initial post is that you seem to be afraid of being near other human beings and have to “rush” into your house and shut yourself in if anybody speaks to you. Having read your latest post I see that wasn’t what you wanted to discuss. Perhaps if you’d explained that in your initial post, and used a more relevant title, you would have got the discussion you wanted, rather than the concern and advice that you did get.

Like I said upthread ElderlyPerson, there are a million ways to live a life and if the way you're living yours suits you, that's all that matters. You don't need to explain yourself to anyone.

That's Gransnet, once you start a thread, you have no control over where it goes, as most of us have found out to our cost at sometime or another.

I started this thread because I thought that I may have observed an interesting aspect of the way that people have adapted and social behaviour has changed during the pandemic.

Like early on when people would turn up outside supermarkets at 5.00 am and form a quiet orderly queue with people spaced two metres apart winding round a large car park, waiting for the supermarket to open at 6.00 am.

No mob pushing and shoving, polite behaviour. Yes, queueing as typically before the pandemic but now spaced out. Everybody doing it, a new way of doing things.

So I wanted to discuss whether becoming stationary and saying 'good morning' as part of social distancing etiquette is widespread and maybe other aspects, like the way these new ways spread across the country. How deliveries have changed in ways unimaginable before the pandemic arrived.

Yet the thread has become focused on me personally and my situation.

I wrote that I wondered how to survive. The use of the word survive was picked up. Yes, survive. If one is in a safe, warm environment with money coming in then one can do hobbies, appreciate art, and so on.

But if one is unsure of one's safety, or unsure of having a roof over one's head in a few weeks time, or wondering if one can afford food, or wondering if one will ever get a job again, or whatever, then survive becomes front and centre, other things have to be left out.

What are some people expecting me to do? Hire a limousine with a driver and go to a nightclub? Go to a disco? Play football in a Sunday football league? Go to a pop festival? Go surfing in Cornwall? What exactly?

Another thing I have noticed is that opportunities for people who do not live in the middle of big cities have increased as the pandemic has put events online, rather requiring attendance physically in person.

So this thread has gone disastrously off-topic and the opportunity for an interesting discussion not focused on the situation of an individual human being has been lost.

A pity, a lost opportunity for a good discussion, but there we go.

EP your post made me feel really sad. If you don’t have friends or family to take you for your Covid-19 jabs, please contact AGEUK. They have befriender volunteers who would take you to your nearest vaccination point wearing a mask if necessary.

MrsEggy (love your name)
“Making the most of the maybe limited time we have left to enjoy life.”
that’s been our choice and the attitude of my more elderly relatives.
We are still masked in shops, I still wipe the computer keyboard and carry hand sanitiser -you never know who sneezed on that handrail or door but apart from work, I’m still out and about.
EP I’m sorry you’re still so worried. You need to do whatever you feel keeps you safe. It would be great if you could get out and about to shop or have a chat if your physical state allows it, before the long cold winter arrives again.

EP I’m saddened by, but respect your choices.
I would be concerned, as someone previously noted, you may have an accident at home, or, as you receive prescriptions, with no check ups, conditions may deteriorate.
However, it’s not for me to judge, I wish you good health.

I'm only 60, but on the the critically vulnerable list. Life has been very closed for m e and remains so. We all need to make decisions as to preventative care, and we all need to make these decisions in the light of our individual risk factors.

Elderly person.
Please do whatever you are comfortable with regardless of whatever else is posted in response to your first post.
No one can say you are wrong doing what you do.
I am still doing many things I never ever thought I would have to do since the pandemic started. I regularly wash down food shopping before putting in cupboards and fridge.
I’m currently in an hotel for a four nights break. I have cleaned all surfaces, door handles etc etc with anti bac.
I stil carry anti bac hand sanitizer and use it as required. IE entering dining room, bar etc etc. I have still to see anyone in the hotel use anti bac hand sanitizer as often as I do.
To be honest I used it regularly pre-pandemic whilst travelling and whilst out and about.

I don’t believe it would be a waste of EP’s time Growstuff and I have no idea why you should think that. You really are incredibly rude.

Germanshepherdsmum

*Growstuff*, EP says nothing to help us to understand his situation but is happy to start a thread which shows him to be paranoid in the extreme. I felt he thought the behaviour he described was quite normal for the times. We have collectively shown him that it isn’t. He doesn’t reply to questions that would give some insight into his situation, as to how he got around pre-covid for instance, after he stopped driving. He may very well have become agoraphobic before the pandemic and I believe he is now, also I have long suspected autism is at play neither of which is anything to be ashamed of and if any medical condition is mentioned on GN other sufferers pop up and sympathy is given. A discussion with his GP, which has been encouraged by me and others, may well enable him to be vaccinated at home and get some help with real human interaction even if that’s just saying ‘Good morning’ rather than literally running away from people. If he doesn’t do that he will spend the rest of his life running away, as covid will be with us for years to come. That is a very sad waste of a life, however it’s his life and his choice. He is, I believe, lonely but there’s another assumption I’m making. I would simply like to see him take the first step towards safety and release from the prison he’s made for himself.

In that case, mind your own business and stop using language such as "making a prison" and "paranoid". Seeing a GP would be a waste of everybody's time.

mistymoocake

Covid-19 dropped to the 24th leading cause of death in England in May, new figures show.

A total of 333 deaths were due to coronavirus in May, the equivalent of 0.9% of all deaths registered in England, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The leading cause of death was ischaemic heart disease (3,780 deaths), followed by dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (3,711 deaths).

The majority of people getting so ill they need to go to hospital or who die there are people who have not been vaccinated. If you are vaccinated, I would think you were more likely to be killed in a road accident than die of COVID.

I think that people are being polite and trying to get others to come out of hiding a bit more and engage with the world so that life can slowly recover. Trust is now needed and a bit of courage.

So much good and supportive advice on here I won't reiterate. However to put in my tuppence-worth a couple of other points:

It has been widely reported that avoidance of other people is weakening everyone's immune response and that's for all forms of infection, not just colds and flu. So, by not being vaccinated and not visiting the GP, and not starting to mix gradually with other people, you could be putting your physical health at risk.

I ventured out on Sunday for my first day out since my husband and I have been self-isolating prior to his knee surgery. I was wondering what would happen about our group's customary greetings (usually a hug). The very first bear hug I received was from a lovely member of the group who is a senior medical member in one of our hospitals. If he has no fears of infection, then that says a lot to me.

Please start to enjoy life again, rather than be afraid of it.

How weird your ideas and behavior is. For years to come this pandemic will leave its mark and we will leave the hermits that are left in its wake alone. As nearer than 80 than 70 I certainly do none of what you outline, I said hello to my postman when out and took the packages from him, have never stopped shopping, going by train or bus, or eating out. Have certainly been vaccinated and do still wear a mask when necessary only. Say Good morning, Hallo, Hi loud and clear we are a long time dead.

Mistymoocake you can’t catch covid from your post or your groceries. That has been known for a long time. Wash your hands after handling them but please don’t live in this state of terror. Covid will be around for years and you can’t live like this forever. The daily figures for new cases and deaths are well publicised and deaths have never been ignored but I can’t imagine you want them to be headline news every day in order to perpetuate the state of terror. Have you been fully vaccinated? You don’t mention that.

In the summer, in England and Wales, around 9000 - 10,000 people die every week. Latest ONS figures for the week ended 31 July 2021 showed that 10135 people died and only 4% involved Covid.

I'm just like you Elderly Person. We still wash everything down
stay as far away from people as we can. Was quite upset when tesco stopped doing crate liners and keep asking drivers to stand back but mostly shop from Morrisons as still have bags
Post is left for days until opened etc. Will talk to people in the street though not that we are out but will be at least a couple of meters if not more away and always ware a mask. I have been known to open the front door in a mask in case they don't have one. There were on average I think 87 people thet died each day last week. If a coach crashed there would be news flashes and investigations and it hold less than 87. Why is the loss of life ignored now.
Yes I agree we need to get back to working and socialising but
it could still be done safely not a free for all.

It’s possible to imagine when in a state of anxiety that all people are transmitting the disease, that each and every one of them poses a serious threat to your health.
The solution to this is the vaccination. Build up your own “ring of confidence”.
Go out and interact with people. Your life will be enriched. The more you make an effort, the more chance there is that you’ll have someone to go out with and someone to meet. Start with returning greetings, pursue an interest or hobby (modern foreign language?) but overcome your shyness. You have plenty to talk about on GN, so just imagine the person you’re chatting to is one of us.
You’ll be fine. We are.
???

It's one thing being careful and another being paranoid. I'm over 80 and therefore being careful but I don't want to hide away from the world. Good morning is just a friendly greeting. Also, I've had two vaccinations so feel safer.

GraceQuirrel

You are completely overthinking all this. Calm down woman!!!

Op is a man Grace

The thread is now in the Daily Newsletter, so ElderlyPerson is going to be deluged by folk who haven’t RTFT.

EP hope that you are okay