CaaC (John)

Aye, he went to the local garage that does groceries and whatnot and he said that was quieter, he went to Tescos yesterday evening around 1900hrs and he said it was quieter, I don't feel too bad now as I reckon I must have had a 24-hour bug whatever but I have not been out for 3 days and if I do venture out it will be early morning to Iceland old age pensioner time. Our daughter who was a nurse once and a carer for the elderly is checking on me and the wife constantly by phone asking if we are all ok and symptoms of coughing etc and if we need anything she will get it and drop it off at our front door as she won't come in just in case she catches anything and gives it to our grandsons, it's hard on me and Liz not seeing them but we are lucky nowadays as we have video camcorders on our mobiles and laptops, just seeing their smiling faces and having a natter with them brightens us both up.

Our son has just got back from doing some shopping for us and he said he avoided Tescos as they were only allowing one shopper in at a time, shop, then leave before the next person is allowed in and he said the queue was stretching from the back of the store's car park and onto the footpath way back, similar to this below.

As mentioned by @nudge a few days ago, we still have not heard from @Cicero since March 18th, I hope the guy is ok?

NASA picks SpaceX to deliver cargo to the Lunar Gateway In the next few years, SpaceX will fly cargo to an orbit farther than where the ISS is. NASA has awarded the space agency with a contract to deliver critical cargo, scientific experiments and other supplies to the Lunar Gateway, which will serve as the staging point for missions headed to the lunar south pole under the Artemis program. SpaceX is the first commercial provider the agency has chosen for the project, and it's guaranteed at least two missions when the station is up and running in lunar orbit. NASA expects to start building the lunar outpost in 2022. The space company will use a variant of the Dragon capsule -- different from the one it's using for ISS missions -- that can carry more than 5 metric tons of cargo for its Gateway missions. It will fly on top of the company's super-heavy lift launch vehicle, the Falcon Heavy rocket. Unlike current Dragon capsules that only stay docked to the ISS for a few weeks, the Gateway capsule will stay at the station for six to 12 months at a time. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said in a statement: "Returning to the Moon and supporting future space exploration requires affordable delivery of significant amounts of cargo. Through our partnership with NASA, SpaceX has been delivering scientific research and critical supplies to the International Space Station since 2012, and we are honoured to continue the work beyond Earth's orbit and carry Artemis cargo to Gateway." https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/technology/nasa-picks-spacex-to-deliver-cargo-to-the-lunar-gateway/ar-BB11QqOH?li=AAnZ9Ug

Wee Kaiden going for a walk this morning when it was quiet and no one was out and about, I was talking to him 3 hours ago on Video Cam and he said " I put my Spiderman Suit on granddad that way I wouldn't breathe or spread this virus thing on anyone.

Neanderthals ate sharks and dolphins Neanderthals were eating fish, mussels and seals at a site in present-day Portugal, according to a new study. The research adds to mounting evidence that our evolutionary relatives may have relied on the sea for food just as much as ancient modern humans. For decades, the ability to gather food from the sea and from rivers were seen as something unique to our own species. Scientists found evidence for an intensive reliance on seafood at a Neanderthal site in southern Portugal. Neanderthals living between 106,000 and 86,000 years ago at the cave of Figueira Brava near Setubal were eating mussels, crab, fish - including sharks, eels and sea bream - seabirds, dolphins and seals. The research team, led by Dr João Zilhão from the University of Barcelona, Spain, found that marine food made up about 50% of the diet of the Figueira Brava Neanderthals. The other half came from terrestrial animals, such as deer, goats, horses, aurochs (ancient wild cattle) and tortoises. Neanderthals 'dived in the ocean' for shellfish Brain-boosters? Some of the earliest known evidence for the exploitation of marine resources by modern humans (Homo sapiens) dates to around 160,000 years ago in southern Africa. A few researchers previously proposed a theory that the brain-boosting fatty acids seafood contributed to enhanced cognitive development in early modern humans. This, the theory goes, could help account for a period of marked invention and creativity that started among modern human populations in Africa around 200,000 years ago. It might also have assisted modern humans to outcompete other human groups such as the Neanderthals and Denisovans But the researchers found that the Neanderthal inhabitants of Figueira Brava relied on the sea on a scale comparable to modern human groups living at a similar time in southern Africa. Commenting on the findings, Dr Matthew Pope, from the Institute of Archaeology at UCL, UK, said: "Zilhão and the team claim to have identified 'middens'. This is a shorthand for humanly created structures (piles, heaps, mounds) formed almost entirely of the shell. "They are important as they suggest a systematic and organised behaviour, from collection to processing to discard." Dr Pope, who was not involved with the current study, added: "In later periods across the world, coastal shell-hunter-gatherers seem to invest in these structures in monumental ways, even having burials within them. "So to describe these accumulations as 'middens' is a bold and loaded step. "Certainly, they make a strong case that these are comparable to similar accumulations in the Middle Stone Age of Africa." The study is published in the journal Science. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52054653

He said he is working from home, aye, No 10 with all the mod cons and staff waiting on him hand and foot.

I' me hanging out ok, just crashed out on the sofa for about an hour or so that helped but this virus thing if it is that is like having the flu before I had my yearly flu jab and I got the flu it would knock me for six with symptoms just like this, headache, coughing, sweating, my body aching all over, lucky we have our son staying with us but he has hibernated into the bedroom so he does not come near me.

Cheers @Stan I am reverting back to when I had the flu before jabs and sweat the bastard off, I have 2 hoodie jumpers on, 2 tracksuit bottoms and a blanket wrapped around me, I feel like a bloody Eskimo, the wife gave me some hot honey and I will rub some Vicks on my throat and chest if it is that virus it won't beat an old warhorse like me lol.

I woke up this morning with a headache, coughing and feeling like shit, I can't say it's the wine I had last night as that never normally affects me the morning after but if it's that fucking virus then you can stick it, it feels like the old flu symptoms I got years ago before I started getting my yearly flu jabs.

Just said on the news they want everyone one at 20.00 hrs tonight to stand outside their front doors and clap their hands for all the health workers who are working during the crisis? why not all just sing a song.

Manchester United, Tottenham and Arsenal have been placed on alert with the news that Napoli are set to listen to offers for Polish striker Arkadiusz Milik, 26. (Calcio Mercato via Team Talk)

You must have read my brain as I was going to ask yesterday or the day before I can't remember and thought it's only a week so hang fire, I hope he is ok.

Kiss the Girls (1997) with Morgan Freeman from a novel by James Patterson, a good film and the book is just as good a 9.0/10.

Last-survivor of transatlantic slave trade discovered Her 83-year-old grandson, Johnny Crear, had no idea about his grandmother's historic story. In the 1960s, he had witnessed violence against civil rights marchers in Selma, where protesters had been addressed by Dr Martin Luther King. On discovering his grandmother had been enslaved, he told BBC News: "I had a lot of mixed emotions. "I thought if she hadn't undergone what had happened, I wouldn't be here. "But that was followed by anger." FULL REPORT

Fossil worm shows us our evolutionary beginnings A worm-like creature that burrowed on the seafloor more than 500 million years ago may be key to the evolution of much of the animal kingdom. The organism, about the size of a grain of rice, is described as the earliest example yet found in the fossil record of a bilaterian. These are animals that have a front and back, two symmetrical sides, and openings at either end joined by a gut. The discovery is described in the journal PNAS. The scientists behind it say the development of bilateral symmetry was a critical step in the evolution of animal life. It gave organisms the ability to move purposefully and a common, yet successful way to organise their bodies. A multitude of animals, from worms to insects to dinosaurs to humans, are organised around this same basic bilaterian body plan. Scott Evans, of the University of California at Riverside, and colleagues have called the organism Ikaria wariootia. Mammal study explains 'why females live longer' Earth's deepest ice canyon vulnerable to melting Electric car emissions myth 'busted' It lived 555 million years ago during what geologists term as the Ediacaran Period - the time in Earth history when life started to become multi-celled and much more complex. The discovery started with tiny burrows being identified in rocks in Nilpena, South Australia, some 15 years ago. Many who looked at these traces recognised they were likely made by bilaterians, but creatures' presence in the ancient deposits was not obvious. It was only recently that Scott Evans and Mary Droser, a professor of geology at UC Riverside, noticed minuscule, oval impressions near some of the burrows. Three-dimensional laser scanning revealed the regular, consistent shape of a cylindrical body with a distinct head and tail and faintly grooved musculature. Ikaria wariootia ranged in size between 2mm and 7mm long, and about 1-2.5mm wide. The largest of the ovals was just the right size and shape to have made the long-recognised burrows. "We thought these animals should have existed during this interval, but always understood they would be difficult to recognise," Scott Evans said. "Once we had the 3D scans, we knew that we had made an important discovery." Ikaria wariootia probably spent its life burrowing through layers of sand on the ocean floor, looking for any organic matter on which it could feed. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52019468

As mentioned, I had to go up the chemist and pick up my asthma pumps, I said to the receptionists you had no driver to deliver because he has the virus according to my doctor's surgery and I had to pick the prescription up myself, she said no, our driver has COPD so he had to stay indoors for 12 weeks, I said I have COPD? she just looked at me and shrugged her shoulders with a funny look on her face.

@nudge, any tips, size, colour?

I am allowed to go up the chemist to pick my prescription up and shop for bits and pieces, lucky our son is staying with us and can drive me around.

Bloody hell, I ordered 2 asthma pumps from the docs last week and the local chemist would pick them up from the surgery as per normal and deliver them here, they have not arrived yet and tried ringing up the chemist shop but got no answer as the phone was permanently engaged, I rung my surgery up and the receptionist there said the chemist shop was inundated with phone calls so they took the phone off the hook. Plus she said the driver who normally delivers has been tested as positive and is now in isolation and I will have to arrange to pick the prescription up myself or arrange for someone else to, looks like our son will have to drive me up there to pick them up, my other prescriptions are due shortly too and one of them is my COPD pump, I have 14 days puffs in the one in the medicine cupboard.

For all you Liverpudlians, you might want to read the below to keep you happy while your title hopes are in limbo at the moment. Jurgen Klopp: Liverpool manager's journey from Black Forest to heroic status at AnfieldJens Haas still remembers the first Jens Haas still remembers the first time he suspected his schoolmate Jurgen Klopp had the mind of a football manager. They were 11 years old, being driven to play football for SV Glatten's youth team, listening to their beloved Stuttgart's latest Bundesliga match on the radio. Young Jurgen began to analyse Stuttgart's tactics - and suggested a couple of substitutions to alter the course of the game. Moments later, the commentator confirmed that Klopp's suggested switches were being made. FULL REPORT

Dead quiet up here and not many out and about but there is still a bit of humour going around here in Edinburgh. https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/Greyfriars-Bobby/

Our son has come home early from his taxi job and he said it's bloody dead around where he does his taxi bit with all the pubs & clubs closed, bought me in a few lagers and the wife a Mothers day cake and a bottle of wine and then went into his room because he did not want to be to close to us because he has been doing his taxi bit and might have picked something up, looks like we have a caring son.