Chat about Novel Coronavirus - 2019-nCoV - COVID-19

Was not the impression I got from the 6am news chatshow thing they have now.

Finally seems like someone somewhere in politics is asking the question:
"Why can't local authorities have the data they need in a more timely fashion?"

Maybe they refined it, but they were definitely stressing "possible" on the Today Programme and news broadcasts

Has anything said about kids and masks in shops? Not that we'll be taking the wean to shops much, but are toddlers expected to wear masks?

<11 y.o exempt
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-safer-travel-guidance-for-passengers#exemptions-face-coverings

My 4 year old is oddly excited by the concept of wearing a mask, especially as it means it is another thing she can wear in clashing colours to everything else she wears...

Cheers - wasn't fancying trying to get him to wear one.

Pub installs electric fence around the bar to encourage patrons to maintain social distancing

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-53389977

A chief of police said on the radio that it was laughable if a shop called them and expected a officer to turn up and issue a £100 quid fine for a first offence for not wearing a mask.

Well that’s massively unhelpful. Presumably shops will be managing the situation themselves and only calling the popo if people kick off. It’s not that hard to ask people to leave if they can’t behave. I genuinely don’t see the issue. Every public facing place I’ve ever worked has managed some sort of legislative conversation without the sky falling in.

I don't understand immune systems at all, so you're absolutely right - I got no indication from the reporting that the findings were fairly normal or expected.

(barbers not hairdressers)

What's the difference?

If we exclude the trendy faux-barbers that have sprung up like wide fire:

Hairdressers generally:

• are booked by appointment
  
• seat you in a seating area and give you a coffee while you wait for your appointment
  
• wash your hair
  
• take a min of 30min to cut your hair
  
• cost >£25
  
  

A lot of which adds risk, but the appointment system would allow better risk management than a barbers queue and cab rank system, as well as likely a lower number of customers.

I'm not sure we have the distinction in Oz. I've always used barber/hairdresser interchangeably.

Shit, the Brits must've thought I was taken for a ride after I'd seen a "hairdresser" and left looking like I'd been sheered. Baa-rgain!

Barber = hair cuts for men (no coffee, no talking, in and out as fast as possible, nose hair, eyebrows and ear hair gets trimmed as a matter or course)
Hairdresser = hair cuts for women (very coffee, maybe even a glass of wine/prosecco, much talking, 2 hours min, scalp hair only)
Unisex hairdresser = haircuts for men and women (some talking, maybe a coffee, longer than you'd like, 50/50 on general head-based hair management)

Purely anecdata, but that's where I'd put the divide.

I've never been offered a drink in a hairdressers, possibly a cup of water once. Definitely never a coffee.
I feel like I've been doing something wrong.

My barber gave me beer last time I was in. Then another night we went back to his shop and took a load of drugs. He fell off a motorbike recently so now other people have bought the shop, they still have beer though I think.

Used to work in a coffee shop that was next door to a hairdressers. Went in one day for the convenience, got a hand massage while getting my hair cut. That was odd but quite soothing.

Bought myself some hair clippers and a decent pair of scissors a few months ago and am just going down the DIY route from now on. No need to awkwardly talk about weather or sport while being held captive ever again.

My anecdata is pretty limited. I didn't have a professional haircut until the age of 15 - my mother insisted on cutting my hair. There's a reason why I don't let anyone see childhood photos of me unless they've signed an NDA first.

No need to awkwardly talk about weather or sport while being held captive ever again.

Pre-lockdown my barber knew the rules - five pound tip if I could be in an out within 15 minutes saying nothing other than 'the usual', 'that's great' and 'keep the change'. Lockdown haircuts take longer, look worse, but involve no talking other then the occasional 'oh faaaaaak' when I get the hand holding the mirror confused with the hand holding the clippers.

I didn't have a professional haircut until I was 22, I think. Shrug.
I also haven't had one in at least 10 years so if the coffee thing is relatively recent that'll be why. Or I just went to cheap hairdressers.

You haven't missed much. It was pretty shit coffee IIRC.

Being a baldy 22 is about the last time I had a professional haircut. Clippers all the way since then.

There is a fourth option where the place has stylists who specialise in mens or womens hair. No reduction in talking, beer and coffee available (and prosecco against the owners better judgement, but this is only offered by the stylist who demanded it). Longest I've been in the chair was 90 mins, but I have longer hair than most people of any gender.

I haven't had a haircut for a couple of years now.

I guess the places I went to here were either barbers or unisex hairdressers. One cost a fiver but closed down so I started going to the "hairdresser" who cost maybe 15 quid, but I got annoyed never being able to get my hair cut NOW, ie. day before a race, so I bought my own clippers and got the missus to do it.

we went back to his shop and took a load of drugs.

I'm definitely going to the wrong hair-care parlours...