Okay, for those of us who are fortunate enough to be working from home, share with us a pic of your home work space.![]()
Here's what my classroom looks like now.
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Okay, for those of us who are fortunate enough to be working from home, share with us a pic of your home work space.![]()
Here's what my classroom looks like now.
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People should already be using their best judgement when out in public to avoid catching this virus (and other viruses), and sightings posted here are not forcing anyone to go out if they don't already intent on hunting down a particular figure. This way, going to one store for a guaranteed purchase (thanks to a sighting posted here) is much safer than visiting several stores hoping to find a particular figure.
Realistically, if we shut down the sightings section because it might be seen to be encouraging people to go out in public, it would have to be shut down for a minimum of 9 months, until there is a cure or vaccine to make it 100% safe to go out in public again (and as long as 18 months). It would also mean not posting a lot of news topics as well, as they would also be encouraging people to hunt down those toys as soon as they are released during the next year and a half.
As much as toys appear to be a non-priority item, they have a very useful property to the mental health of others, so I want to maintain these fansites as much as possible, so that no matter how bad things get, fans can still get away from it all for a while, and entertain themselves here.
People don't seem to realise that with a partial lockdown of society, that allows for the virus to continue to exist until a vaccine or cure is produced, any level of isolation they put themselves in right now, will have to be done for at least 9 months, and I don't think a lot of people can survive that without without doing something more than just watching TV or internet, or be able to survive with just the things you already have at home. Especially if you have kids, they are going to need new toys to keep them entertained over the next year at home.
People need to keep their minds and bodies stimulated during this lengthy period of self-isolation, and while the official infection rate is still only at 0.02% of the population, if they can safely go out and acquire additional recreational items to keep them occupied and distracted from the anxiety and worry of the virus, then the next 9-18 months will be a lot more survivable.
(even if the actual infection rate is ten times today's known amount of around 2000 cases in all of Australia, that's still one person out of every 500-1000 people in your daily life... and with most of those cases being from people returning to Australia and those they came into contact with, your odds of catching it with social distancing, limited touching of public objects and constant hand washing after touching anything before touching your face, is less than being killed in a car accident or being bitten by a shark)
As they said after September 11 - be alert, but not alarmed. Which means, keep yourself informed by the official sources (to be alert of what needs to be done), and not follow comments or myths by non-official sources (to be alarmed of what is not true). This is a serious virus for those who are vulnerable to it, but then, so are many other viruses that we experience here every year that kills hundreds of people, so we should always have been practising measures to prevent the spread of all viruses, not just for this one, and then let our standards slip later when this one is gone.
I'm sorry but the bottom line is that you should not be going out shopping for toys. Period. Even if it's only to a specific store, on one occasion. If multiple people did this, then the whole idea of social distancing goes out the door.
There's a questionable line if you're going to stop by Big W, Target, etc. at a shopping centre when you're already out grocery shopping. Personally I'm minimising the amount of time I'm out necessarily. Food and other essentials only. No window shopping.
Toys. Are. Not. Essential. Items. Especially for adult collectors.
Our medical and emergency services staff are putting themselves at risk so that our health system doesn't collapse. It's insanity to jeopardise this for the sake of toys. Buy online if you have to and avoid going out unless necessary.
Supporting the economy is a moot point right now IMO. They're cutting back staff anyway. And with most of the country out of work, people aren't, or shouldn't be, spending money on unnecessary things like toys. A roof over their heads and food is what's important. We're not headed for a recession, it's gonna be a depression.
Natural light and toys don't mix.The fan is there to help air circulate. Also, I'm only in there during lessons - otherwise I'm on my desktop that's next to my back door for other work.
I only do opportunistic window shopping for toys when I'm out buying essentials, and honestly, it feels safer in those stores than in supermarkets. Obviously supermarkets are going to have people in them buying essentials, but when I go to toy aisles and toy stores I'm literally the ONLY customer there. So yeah, social distancing still being completely observed. I'm also wearing a mask and I wash my hands frequently (I also shower and dump my clothes in the laundry straight after getting home). When shopping for essentials I'm going to be around a lot of people, even at 1.5m distance (but sometimes closer because you can't maintain that distance all the time, e.g. passing people in supermarket aisles etc.), but when briefly popping into toy aisles and shops, these places are completely deserted. And I'm only in there for a few seconds - take mental note of what toys are there to report it on the sightings thread then leave. It's not like in previous days where I might loiter and stare at toys through the packaging etc.
It helps that when I do my grocery shopping really early in the morning; even ordinarily there aren't too many people shopping for toys at 08:00~09:00.
I'm also willing to aggressively defend my 1.5m personal space when I'm in public. I haven't needed to do it yet, but if anyone were to violate this space when it's avoidable, I am more than willing to use my booming teacher voice to strike fear into their soul.
P.S.: Maybe I should invest in some deliberately stinky perfume and wear it to keep others at bay.![]()
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Today's new federal restrictions include - no more than 2 people together in public that aren't from the same house, and we are only allowed to go shopping for necessary items now... which means we could get in trouble if we are caught buying any toys.
I think that would prompt non-grocery stores to close down now, as there wouldn't be enough "essential" items for them to make enough money to stay open.
I wonder if this will mean Post Offices will close up now as well, as they are privately owned franchise stores, so if they aren't doing enough business at the moment, they might follow Myer's example and shut down for a while.
WA is also looking to close their borders... not that there would be a lot of land traffic across the WA border, so with international travel shutting down, it will pretty much close down their airports completely.
With every person arriving into the country being quarantined for 14 days at a hotel, it should mean the focus can be shifted towards responding to and limiting "community spread" cases (ones spread between people who haven't been overseas).