Covid-19: How is it affecting you?

[Jay]

Currently in day 5 of isolation. My eldest boy had a bad cough. We have 3 other kids. Luckily work have said i will be paid for my isolation, so not too bad.

My new bus is being delivered on thursday, well excited. Im going to miss the old one, but cant afford both.

Main problem i can see is trying to resist ordering stuff to modify. Must resist.

Stay safe everyone and hopefully this will all blow over.

J

 

[Phil_G]

Very badly. Our family business is a boarding kennels, we have had nothing but cancellation calls this week.
No one is going away now, flights & holidays cancelled, people self-isolating. We have almost no bookings.
We're going to struggle as this is our only family income and the outgoings remain huge.
Its my Birthday today, 65 and I might have to get a job stacking shelves (if theres owt left to stack!)

 

[VanDamMan]

Currently in day 5 of isolation. My eldest boy had a bad cough. We have 3 other kids. Luckily work have said i will be paid for my isolation, so not too bad.

My new bus is being delivered on thursday, well excited. Im going to miss the old one, but cant afford both.

Main problem i can see is trying to resist ordering stuff to modify. Must resist.

Stay safe everyone and hopefully this will all blow over.

J

Yes agree...stay safe...laughter is a great medicine ( lots of bad humour..some mine) but however you deal with it ..keep smiling

 

[tintim]

I think anyone who says they're not impacted now would be telling pork pies. My family fall under the high risk category! Wife NHS HCA, son at college and uses public transport, daughter at primary school.... Me I've been working from home for the last year so its status quo for me. Fortunately our immediate family don't have any underlying health problems. We're keeping an eye on our elderly neighbours

Its all about working together as a community, stay safe everyone!

 

[alter]

.... happy birthday Phil !! .... in a little more than a month I am 67 years old, luckily I am retired after working non-stop for 45 years .. we hope that health remains and allows us to enjoy the time left ... for the moment the virus keeps us at home ....

 

[Jay]

Feel free to add you corona related humor.

I would tell you all a corona related joke, but i don't thing you will get it.

 

[VanDamMan]

Feel free to add you corona related humor.

I would tell you all a corona related joke, but i don't thing you will get it.

Take a look at thread below yours....What have you listened ...bad taste I know ...but how quick a song is spun

 

[Nigel W]

Both oldies retired but with some health issues. We have shut the gate to the house and locked ourselves in for the long haul. Bought 30litres of fuel for the garden tools so our garden will be immaculate, the bedroom will be decorated and we just hope we will be able to go the France in September as usual.
The wheels on the camper will not have turned for a year!
It’s going to be a very long, difficult, strange year and we really feel for the youngsters who are not as fortunate as us and will struggle financially.
We may be old and at risk but I would rather that than have the worries our young families must face.

 

[Tourershine]

This has had a huge effect on my business too last night alone I lost nearly £3k worth of pre-booked work.
I'm working for the public on Caravans and Motorhomes and almost all of my customers are of an age where they are extremely worried, which I totally understand. No matter how much I try to convince customers that we do not need any contact with anyone, so long as we can access their Caravans or Motorhomes, the latest news direct from the PM is just having a devastating effect on my work. We are still doing the odd job here and there, but in the 13 years i've been trading, March, April and May are always fully booked months in advance. March 2020 has around 25% booked, April has 3 jobs currently, and May is empty, something i've never seen before. There is nothing I can do about it, and I have no idea what's going to happen. I'm gambling on this easing up in a max of 6-8weeks, then my normal early year rush starting later in the year, meaning we will extend our year hopefully.

It's not easy for any business at the moment, and the reserves i've put away for times like this are depleting fast simply because we are only at the start of our season, so still using the reserves from last year. I have around 2 months before I either pack up or adapt elsewhere.
We are only in the early stages of this disaster and those that made jokes about it initially, including myself, are quickly realising that this isn't a joke and this will have huge implications on all of us.

 

[bullracing]

both Self employed. after a rough winter with very little work we used all our savings. Work just picking back up but as you can imagine it wont be long till it dies again!
We have pulled our kids from school just in case to stop the spread to us. This is not to stop us getting it but to delay it. We atleast need a few weeks to bury our head in work and try and get some funds squirrelled away for what could be over 4 weeks off plus whatever the lockdown might cause.
We are a hardy country so we will get through it, its going to be bloody tough though.

 

[sparkzer]

I have around 2 months before I either pack up or adapt elsewhere.

I'm not sure what services you normally do but thinking of diversification, perhaps offering a 'deep clean' hygienic option inside the caravans might encourage people to carry on having their vans detailed on the outside?

I'm in the fortunate situation of being employed by someone else so awaiting on instructions from above but i'm currently on paternity leave...seems like we got out of the hospital with our new baby just in time!

 

[The Van Cave]

We are only in the early stages of this disaster and those that made jokes about it initially, including myself, are quickly realising that this isn't a joke and this will have huge implications on all of us.

I could've quoted your whole post, but chose what I felt is perhaps the most poignant part. I made light of this situation in the early stages too, but have spent the last few days and weeks realising that it is going to be more serious than I had imagined it might be.

Whatever happens, as a country and perhaps as a species we are heading into a period of real uncertainty. No-one really knows how this is going to play out, or ultimately how dangerous it will be for any of us. Computer simulations/models etc will tell the experts so much, but whether we like it or not we're all in this and just have to hope that it passes relatively quickly and without causing too much damage, by which I mean any type of negative impact.

I work as a self employed contractor in the aerospace industry and if I am not at work I'm not earning. It seems more and more likely that I will be out of work for an extended period and be running through my financial reserves quite quickly.

However, if I end up a little poorer, or even a lot poorer, but still in good health and with those I love around me when this is over then so be it. I've had no money in the past, I'm lucky to be pretty comfortable today, but if it goes back the other way it isn't the end of the world. Let's hope that's as bad as it'll be for any of us. Unfortunately I think it may be worse than that for many.

One thing that is for sure, the time for jokes is over.

 

[Jay]

@Tourershine. Sorry to hear your struggling. Hopefully it will pick up. I think we were all guilty of making light of it at the beginning. I only found out yesterday i should be paid, much as i hate the company I work for, they have really stepped up when its needed. I was starting to panic, what with 4 kids (3 special needs) a massive mortgage and having signed on the line for the new (too me) bus.

Hopefully there may be something put in place to help struggling businesses like yourself. On a positive, after isolation people will be keen to hit the open road.

 

[Sjacko20]

I work in aviation but so far only some shift changes and child care changes but I fear the worst is still to come like any tourism based industry.
I feel for all you guys who are self employed, hopefully the latest pledges of funding from the government will help you weather the storm a bit. Good luck to you all

 

[Chris Joyce]

It will have massive implications for my business.
We manufacture and supply blinds and shutters and the core part of our business is measuring and installing at customers houses.
We had our best week of the year last week enquiry wise, the past few days have been dead.
We have some work to continue with for a few weeks but without the phone ringing we will soon run out of work and cash flow.

very worrying times for everyone, I can only hope it gets better quickly.

stay safe everyone.

 

[cgtmiles]

I really wish everyone well in the coming weeks and months.

It’s very worrying both in terms of health and wealth. I’m lucky enough to work from home and I work for a big company and so hopefully secure but my wife is a nurse and so I’m quite worried about her

 

[Bobby Turkalino]

In my business we are at best 2 weeks booked in advance, on Monday we had no work Thursday and Friday now fully booked.

Seems that people are bringing moves forward to beat when things come to a halt, that said saw 7 estimates today and another 7 tomorrow.

Have discussed with owner possible ways to stay afloat, short time, pay cuts and other things.

Some of the bigger players in the removal business are faring worse, much larger cost base and all European work and corporate moves have fallen off a cliff.

Really feel for the self employed, they need support as much as any of us.

Stay safe and hang on in there.

 

[Sabre]

 

[cgtmiles]

 

[Pete C]