How has Corona affected your life
 

Out of interest what effect has this dreadful epidemic had on you? The reason I ask is I was talking to a friend who has lost his job, he will need to sell his house ( because he cant afford to keep it on) and his wifes sister is still terribly ill with Covid after several months. Another friend is probably going to get divorced because after several months in lockdown and both working from home they realise they dont want to be together any longer.

I will get this started.

I work for myself and my income has more than halved with no help from the government, luckily my wife has picked up some extra hours so we are paying all the bills.

We have had no holidays or time away.

On a plus I have managed to get a lot of the jobs done on my classic car and the list of jobs on the house is so small now I could probably get them done in a weekend. I forgot how much I hated painting ;)

We now try and go for a good walk or cycle ride at least once a week and try and make Sunday's a day we do something nice even if it is only a takeaway.

My 89 year old mother is worried she will spend the rest of her life in some sort of lockdown. We are hoping we can have a family Christmas more for her than anything.

Over to you. Positives and negatives please.

positives, done DIY without time pressure, found new walks in the forest, time

negatives, holidays and days out cancelled, not going to see our granddaughter who is a few days old, some delay in getting DIY items, not seeing friends

work, I am retired but got myself a zero hour job to get out of the house and talk to people. Any money I earn is mine, before my wage has been family money as is my pension. The money from my zero hour job I spend as I please but will be less then half of 2 previous years. My choice I have not asked for worked during either lockdown, I don't need to work for money.

I therefore consider myself only marginally effected.

For those that are struggling to make ends meet, I feel sorry for you.


macafee2

I’ll keep it short and sweet as I certainly don’t want to rub it it! lockdown hasn’t adversely affected mine or my families life in the slightest as both our works have actually gone over and above, social life has only been slightly affected. We have been very fortunate not to have been furloughed and I’m hugely thankful of our life choices leading up to the present.

Positives

Spent loads more time at home with the family
Stayed on the same pay throughout so saved a load of cash
Had time to complete a few things (but then gave myself a load more work!)

Negatives
Overall none really,
All the money I saved will now be spent next year on a wedding (suppose that should be a positive??)
Bit if a pain going out for food etc

As said, I really feel for those that are having a rough time! Hopefully everything will work itself out soon...

Positives:

Fewer visits to Lakeside and Bluewater.

If Celia sees this there will be negative repercussions. It means more frequent visits to local high streets and sensible shops were you can actually buy something you really want without having to queue around the block for something flimsy you can well do without. I wouldn’t wear it anyway.

Everybody, yes everybody, now says Good Morning! They don’t actually say the exclamation mark but you can hear it! On my daily 3 mile walk for a paper I meet about a dozen people and now, possibly in a Blitz moment, everyone says hello. New acquaintances and possible friends-to-be.

Manners. People are careful about rubbing your nether regions with inanimate objects like trolleys and letting mutts sniff at you. Oh, and coughing all over you.

Never thought I’d be glad of the foreign ‘2 metre’ (shouldn’t that be an ‘er’?) signs everywhere. Now, peeps give you space to turn round and don’t try to read the paper that’s under your arm.

The lottery counter queue is decimated.

Plenty more but the point is made.

Negatives: People are ill. The now familiar scenes are sad to watch and we hope recovery follows but know not all will do so speedily. Loving families are kept apart because managers are scared of being sued. Was there ever a more disgraceful abdication of human decency?

The young have their promise, but the elderly have built it for them, and are still paying.
We could all do with a dose of the best medicine, the truth.

Do you not qualify the the Govt self employed income support scheme grants (SEISS)? If your business has been adversely affected by covid and you have the relevant three years books you should do.

Unless you pay yourself in the form of a dividend scrip as a company director, for which you get the sum total of nothing.


What the pandemic has meant to me, is more time spent walking along the beach with my dog, selling a few things in order that I can keep my staff paid when the company income has been reduced to nothing, and despite having the most free time ever in my career, being unwilling to commit to starting projects due to financial uncertainty.


I'm looking forward to paying the deferred corporation tax, MGD and VAT next year though :getmecoat:


It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas :D


Alf

No change for us here, working as normal, the only plus point for me was the roads were quieter during the 1st lockdown (God I hate that term)

And only slightly jealous of the folk that had a paid holiday, I could have got all my rover jobs done if I had been off work.

Never bought a Toyota!

I've been working from home since March and I'm not expecting the company will go back to normal. I used to love working from home when I got the chance but sitting on my own in our little bedroom is starting to get to me, half & half would be nice.
The missus took redundancy just before lockdown - it started on her last days so she didnt get to say goodbye or having a leaving do. She'd been there for 20 years. Its severely limited her chances of finding another job but financially, bearing in mind reduced costs we're luckier than many. With me working all day its very dull for her, I've actually spent less time in the garage this year so we can spend more time doing stuff together. I'm trying to get her interested in restoring car upholstery :¬)
Saddest thing for us is that we haven't seen her son this year as he lives in Vienna.
Best thing is the amount of walking & cycling we've done.
And Jigsaws
And Decorating.....

Sadly not, I still have some customers who are open so I could not furlough and I get paid in dividends my options are very limited. My accountant is going to have a go at the part time furlough but at best it will be a few hundred a month.

As much as the money would be good as long as we come out of this with our health we will be happy. One of the wifes friends has long Covid and is still off work since March and is unlikely to return this year.