For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By eltonioni
#1789462
Order DVLA forms

You cannot currently order application packs or forms online because of coronavirus (COVID-19).


https://www.gov.uk/dvlaforms

:scratch:
By Spooky
#1789676
Another couple today...

Supermarket only had two checkouts open out of fifteen “because Covid”

Car dealership “closed until a vaccine is found” according to the notice on the door.

Whole front end of one shop was fenced off with Covid protective metal fencing forcing visitors to walk out into the road for 30m to get in. Great fun with a pushchair :?

Oh well, hopefully the madness will end soon rather than this New Normal nonsense.
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By skydriller
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1789697
Spooky wrote:Whole front end of one shop was fenced off with Covid protective metal fencing forcing visitors to walk out into the road for 30m to get in.


They've done something similar at the entrance to the Bordeaux Ikea.... for some unfathomable reason the entrance is "funnelled" so that where previously you could have wandered in socially distanced....but now everyone has to bunch up in a queue to get in .... :roll:
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1789701
eltonioni wrote:
Order DVLA forms

You cannot currently order application packs or forms online because of coronavirus (COVID-19).


https://www.gov.uk/dvlaforms

:scratch:


I fell foul of this ludicrous situation. I was due my second 70+ renewal and to keep my small truck and minibus rights I can only apply by post.

Can't download forms, can't phone or email, webchat hard to get hold of and useless. In the end I complained to my MP and to the credit of his office I got a call from the DVLA complaints department 2 days later and they did a great job of sorting things out.

Turned out the problem was that they couldn't all go the office because of Welsh distancing rules and they can't work from home effectively because all the back office processes are still on paper :roll:
By Bill McCarthy
#1790545
Talking to our local butcher the other day, he said that his turnover has increased by a factor of three. It seems that under lockdown, people with time on their hands have learned, or are learning to cook again.
By Spooky
#1791450
Had a few more ‘Covidisms’ yesterday.

1) several entrances to the shopping centre are closed due to Covid. Apparently this is to protect us. Maybe Covid is drawn to electric doors? So rather than the auto doors, we have to walk around the centre, into the busy roads, cross the busy roads, and use doors with handles.

2) hoped to buy a pizza from the Asda ‘Design your own’ counter. I waved to the pizza lady texting on her phone who informed me “You need to fill out the form with what you want then post it in the box. You then return later in about 40 minutes to collect it. It’s to help stop Covid”. I thanked her for the information but decided not to bother with it.

I didn’t think shopping could become more tedious
flybymike, Flyin'Dutch' liked this
By Boxkite
#1791465
Bill McCarthy wrote:Talking to our local butcher the other day, he said that his turnover has increased by a factor of three. It seems that under lockdown, people with time on their hands have learned, or are learning to cook again.

Or they don't want to deal with the restrictions and crowds at Asda.
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By skydriller
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1791485
OK, so in France you have to wear a mask to enter a shopping center and when sitting in the seating area inside the entrance. Yet 100m inside this shopping center you can go to coffee shops with seating in the same shopping center space (ie its a counter only) and dont have to wear a mask... :roll:

Regards, SD..
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1791495
skydriller wrote:OK, so in France you have to wear a mask to enter a shopping center and when sitting in the seating area inside the entrance. Yet 100m inside this shopping center you can go to coffee shops with seating in the same shopping center space (ie its a counter only) and dont have to wear a mask... :roll:

Regards, SD..


It may sound daft but it's a reasonable compromise in terms of reducing risk overall but permitting coffee drinking to be accomplished.
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By eltonioni
#1793385
Pretty certain that this will affect just about everyone here, due Covid and not going back to work.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/20 ... pay-virus/
Treasury officials are pushing for the largest tax rises in a generation to plug the gaping holes in the public finances, in a move being resisted by Downing Street, The Telegraph can disclose.

The proposed quintuple whammy of tax increases would enable the Exchequer to raise at least £20 billion a year, and some could be introduced as early as in the Budget.

While no decisions have been made, multiple sources have told this newspaper that proposals under active consideration include aligning capital gains tax (CGT) with income tax, slashing pension tax relief, raising fuel and other duties, the introduction of an online sales tax and a simplification of the inheritance tax system.

Some or all could be introduced to pay for the Covid crisis, to finance general government spending pledges and to compensate for the reduced tax take caused by a shrunken economy.

However, the proposals have been met with fierce opposition in No 10, with senior figures said to be instinctively opposed, and expressing frustration that officials are failing to present other options, such as cutbacks to Whitehall departments’ current spending budgets.



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By Propwash
#1793391
Given the amount of government spending to support individuals/firms during the pandemic it has always been clear that once over, the massive accumulated debt would have to be addressed somehow. At the risk of straying into politics (but not party politics specifically) the inevitable battle between those who would raise taxation and those who would cut public waste and spending in order to do so will be a rerun of the aftermath of the financial crash over a decade ago. It will be interesting to see which side prevails because that will be a good indication of how much power still resides with the government and how much with Whitehall departments. I suspect a combination of both approaches will be adopted, but neither will be without pain for many.

None of this will be unique to the UK.

PW
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By Miscellaneous
#1793392
Meanwhile our passing paces and lay-bys are littered with tents, motorhomes and the mess they leave, whilst they serve only to cause inconvenience with few putting much in to the community. And to top it all the foreigners holiday is being subsidised by the British taxpayer through the eat out to help scheme. :roll:

Admittedly it's small fry in the scheme of things financial, however it's the principle that grates. :evil:
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By Bill Haddow
#1793393
We've all known for months that this was coming. The axes are being sharpened and the rakes straightened because both implements are going to be used, the only question is which will be used where.

Bill H
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By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1793409
What's needed now is a DIY Marshall plan. This seems to be gaining traction across the channel albeit patchily. It would be the ultimate irony if the major beneficiary of the original Marshall plan screwed up because of misguided dogma.
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By eltonioni
#1793426
The thing about the Marshall Plan is that there was a friend to lend from. Not sure that you’ve thought that one through unless you’ve got a hotline to the Golgafrinchams.