Stay Home Stay Safe (Part 10)

[suey]

We have a cousin who cleans the cabins that are provided for the workers on a fruit farm. She tells me that they work like demons, have low living costs while they are here, work for the season and take the money back to their families. They can live well for the rest of the year on what they make and return again the following year. Would our lazy so and so’s do that...not a chance.

Would you?

You know what Mike, we older folk have a different view on work ethics and a sense of doing what’s right.  My husband is 70 he said yesterday he’d be happy to help if it saved food from rotting on the field. Thankfully we won’t have to put that to the test as all farms here are arable, beef or dairy!

I was also trying to make the point that because we all want and expect cheap food wages are low and not worth getting out of bed for.  I applaud anyone who is willing to come here, work like they do in order for their families at home to have a better life.

[Mike in Cumbria]

You know what Mike, we older folk have a different view on work ethics and a sense of doing what’s right.  My husband is 70 he said yesterday he’d be happy to help if it saved food from rotting on the field. Thankfully we won’t have to put that to the test as all farms here are arable, beef or dairy!

I was also trying to make the point that because we all want and expect cheap food wages are low and not worth getting out of bed for.  I applaud anyone who is willing to come here, work like they do in order for their families at home to have a better life.

I think I certainly come into the "older folk" category!
Unlike a lot of people who slate youngsters off as lazy, I have worked on farms and in forestry, doing long hours of hard physical graft. I'm not work shy, but I can tell you, I wouldn't want to do that work on minimum wage or, worse still, zero hours contracts.
I couldn't agree more though that the problem is that we all expect food to be cheap. That shouldn't    come at the cost of exploiting workers, whether UK born or immigrants.

[pharmaT]

Whilst I have met many lazy people over the years I don't buy into the idea that young people today don't have a work ethic.  I don't think there any more lazy or overly entitled people in that generation than there are in any other generation. 

I have read reports of locals applying for fruit and veg picking roles and have either received no reply or being rejected right away.  There is the other issue for many, they have been in a job for years and have been furloughed, their contract demands that they do not take on any other paid work while furloughed.  It's a bit of a risk to get sacked from a long term job for the sake of a few weeks minimum waged work.  Many of those who are furloughed are not however sitting around doing nothing I know many of them are doing voluntary work to help with the current situation.  For example, delivering food packages to those who are isolated, collecting prescriptions for the elderly.  I also know many young people home from uni who are looking after younger siblings so that their keyworker parents can continue to go to work despite childcare being greatly reduced by the pandemic.  So they are needed at home.  My 2 aren't working, legally they are too young under current labour laws but the older one in particular is continuing to train for her athletics using adapted workouts that she can do in the garden and is doing all of her school work with extended study on top.  She is also helping her younger sister with her school work when I am busy with house work.

Then there are my colleagues.  Many of them are in their 20s.  Today, newly graduated doctors (some as young as 22.5) will hit the wards.  They've had their courses cut short missing their preparation for practice modules which helps with their confidence, they've graduated 3 months early and are hitting the wards 4 months early they will be working long days literally facing death.  Student paramedics have volunteered for the Nightingale hospitals, student nurses have opted in to go out on the wards and work extra to help.  Yes nursing attracts a higher proportion of mature students in comparison to many other courses but some of these students are still in their teens.  They will be working the same long hours as the permanent staff

[Llwyd]

I'm just wondering what conditions of work, together with wages, the people who come to the U.K. to work have in their home countries. I understand that here, compared to their own country, they are well paid and that is the reason they come and they are able to support themselves/their families.
I could hardly contain my excitement when I found out that live on-line streaming of darts matches will take place tonight, with the participants playing in their own houses. In fact I was that excited I almost did some painting so I could watch it drying. 
Today, Mark Drakeford, the First Minister of Wales, announced that, if necessary, Wales would go it alone in pusuing an exit strategy from the mess we are in. Now then, I'm not quite sure how this would work; if England, which is not a million miles away from where I live, eases restrictions but the Welsh government doesn't, just what is there to stop me travelling the few miles to reach the border and escape into England?.
Of course the opposite could also occur by Wales relaxing restrictions before England. So do we end up with guards on both sides of the Welsh/English border to prevent incursions?.
The U.K. must not divide itself like this. We must act as one, you know it makes sense but I think Drakeford is just trying to appear tough. I just wish he wouldn't.
 

[pharmaT]

I'm just wondering what conditions of work, together with wages, the people who come to the U.K. to work have in their home countries. I understand that here, compared to their own country, they are well paid and that is the reason they come and they are able to support themselves/their families.
I could hardly contain my excitement when I found out that live on-line streaming of darts matches will take place tonight, with the participants playing in their own houses. In fact I was that excited I almost did some painting so I could watch it drying. 
Today, Mark Drakeford, the First Minister of Wales, announced that, if necessary, Wales would go it alone in pusuing an exit strategy from the mess we are in. Now then, I'm not quite sure how this would work; if England, which is not a million miles away from where I live, eases restrictions but the Welsh government doesn't, just what is there to stop me travelling the few miles to reach the border and escape into England?.
Of course the opposite could also occur by Wales relaxing restrictions before England. So do we end up with guards on both sides of the Welsh/English border to prevent incursions?.
The U.K. must not divide itself like this. We must act as one, you know it makes sense but I think Drakeford is just trying to appear tough. I just wish he wouldn't.
 

Scotland has said the same.

[Roobarb]

They need their heads banging together, too much posturing and points scoring going on. Doesn't "We're all in this together" have any meaning for them?

[DianaCanada]

I am worried that if the U.S. eases restrictions we will be pressured into re-opening the border.  Where I live we are between two of the hardest hit states, New York and Michigan. This possibility scares me.

[Llwyd]

In post #144 on Stay Home Stay Safe (Part9) I complained about the selfishness of joggers not respecting the two metre rule as they pass.
Well, today's episode has not only reinforced the belief that joggers are selfish but now I believe them to be half-wits with nothing between their ears. Let me tell you what happened today.
My wife and I were walking two abreast, as we do, on the footpath. We saw another person walking towards us so we fell into single file and, at a reasonable distance from the oncoming person, moved into the road. The other person tucked into a gateway. Now then, as we reached the other person and drew more or less level, a jogger came from behind us, running on the footpath in the same direction as my wife and I were walking, and, no more ado, ran between us and the other person. She seemed totally oblivious to the fact that we and the other person were "socially distancing" and carried on as though we had parted just to oblige her. Unbelievable, what a half-wit; although I'm sure she didn't care as long as her run was uninterrupted.  She totally ignored the advice which was shouted at her as she carried on in her blissfully ignorant way.
Tomorrow we should have been going to Liverpool Philharmonic to see The Hollies, along with dinner out and a B and B overnight stay. However, it has been re-arranged but on a date inconvenient for us, so we ain't going. I think we should spend tomorrow night with a glass or two of wine listening to Alexa playing a selection of Hollies records; #Gigs @ Home to make up for it. Sounds good to me.
 

[Maiden Stone]

Lwyd, I'll sing Hollies' songs along with you. I would have attended a Hollies tribute concert earlier this year but I was avoiding gatherings in case I caught something.