I must have been a bad person in a previous life...

[Sutty]

I've had every jab and booster from day one and have not had covid yet

I know a few around here who refused all the jabs, one spent a couple of months in a coma, one (maybe two) died, all covid related

I work on intensive care, we had lots of non-vaccinated people severely ill or dying during the pandemic, I remember one fairly young couple - I think they both died.
The big difference now is that most of the population has some immunity and the lethality has lessened a bit.
Not gone away (& won't), and new variants will appear, though existing vaccines will almost certainly have a major effect.
Like everything in medicine there can be side effects (and if anyone says not they are lying) but the "side effects" if infection are, for the vast majority, much worse.

 

[Amari]

I work on intensive care, we had lots of non-vaccinated people severely ill or dying during the pandemic, I remember one fairly young couple - I think they both died.
The big difference now is that most of the population has some immunity and the lethality has lessened a bit.
Not gone away (& won't), and new variants will appear, though existing vaccines will almost certainly have a major effect.
Like everything in medicine there can be side effects (and if anyone says not they are lying) but the "side effects" if infection are, for the vast majority, much worse.

I remember the scourge of polio epidemic in S. Wales in the late 1940s - my mother was petrified that me and my brother would catch it - no vaccine in those days. Similarly smallpox, diphtheria, TB, MMR (measles, mumps, German measles [Rubella = congenital deformities if afflicted when pregnant]), cervical cancer in young women.
We must beware of anecdotal antivax stories of side effects from vaccination. Association does not prove causation.
BTW, anecdotally, I have volunteered in all the jab clinics in our local health centre and so was first in line to have the jabs. No covid so far............QED...............!!

 

[Erichalfbee]

cervical cancer in young women.

Quite a few HPV driven cancers.

 

[Sutty]

Quite a few HPV driven cancers.

The vast majority of cervical cancer.

 

[JamezF]

I had all the jabs except the last one. Not sure how I missed out on it, but it wasn't intentional. My wife and children had them all. We've all got it now and it's quite unpleasant. Not as bad as genuine 'flu -- I'd have been grateful for death the first time I had that, but significantly worse than a bad cold.

James

 

[Sutty]

I had all the jabs except the last one. Not sure how I missed out on it, but it wasn't intentional. My wife and children had them all. We've all got it now and it's quite unpleasant. Not as bad as genuine 'flu -- I'd have been grateful for death the first time I had that, but significantly worse than a bad cold.

James

Could perhaps have been a lot worse if not vaccinated!
I hope you feel back to normal (for a beekeeper) soon

 

[JamezF]

Could perhaps have been a lot worse if not vaccinated!

Indeed so. I have no regrets about getting vaccinated.

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

The vast majority of cervical cancer.

Yes and vaccination has had a huge effect

 

[Sutty]

Yes and vaccination has had a huge effect

Ironically it may mean that smears become a thing of the past, but the non-HPV related cases don't get picked up.
It's all a matter of cost Vs effect.

 

[JamezF]

Well, arse, arse, and thrice arse! This is the majority of the damage to the car, though there's also a scratch down the rear panel.

The insurance company have written it off

James

 

[Sutty]

Well, arse, arse, and thrice arse! This is the majority of the damage to the car, though there's also a scratch down the rear panel.

The insurance company have written it off

James

As it will be written off as an uneconomic repair as they would need to replace panels, you could offer to buy it at a very low price (scrapping type cost), take the insurance settlement, patch it up accepting the dents, and reinsure. I did similarly with a rear-ended VW polo years ago. I was in pocket, & still had a viable car, just a bit less pretty!

 

[JamezF]

As it will be written off as an uneconomic repair as they would need to replace panels, you could offer to buy it at a very low price (scrapping type cost), take the insurance settlement, patch it up accepting the dents, and reinsure. I did similarly with a rear-ended VW polo years ago. I was in pocket, & still had a viable car, just a bit less pretty!

It's something I might consider. The pig of it is that we were going to let my son have the car at the end of the summer holidays to take back to uni and I was then going to replace it with a more beekeeping-friendly vehicle. He might be willing to accept the car looking a bit tatty given that he's getting it for free, but getting everything resolved in the four weeks available seems unlikely.

James

 

[Wilco]

How on earth is that uneconomical to repair? Such an unsustainable system if it's truly uneconomical to do so.

 

[Sutty]

It's something I might consider. The pig of it is that we were going to let my son have the car at the end of the summer holidays to take back to uni and I was then going to replace it with a more beekeeping-friendly vehicle. He might be willing to accept the car looking a bit tatty given that he's getting it for free, but getting everything resolved in the four weeks available seems unlikely.

James

Not that unlikely - it's an easy fix for the insurers & a quick local respray + new wingmirror

 

[Pembroke]

Well, arse, arse, and thrice arse! This is the majority of the damage to the car, though there's also a scratch down the rear panel.

The insurance company have written it off

James

Buy the car back from the insurers, get a secondhand door and mirror from a scrap yard changing them over should take someone who knows which end is which on a spanner about a day and off to uni goes your son.

Does it matter if the door isn't 'in colour' well that's up to your son.

 

[JamezF]

How on earth is that uneconomical to repair? Such an unsustainable system if it's truly uneconomical to do so.

The chap who runs the local bodyshop reckoned it might cost £700 for the repair work if I took it in privately. I bet the kind of place the insurers would use might easily charge double that and there'll surely be other "overheads". They might even look at it and decide they'd replace the entire door at even greater expense. The car might be worth £2,000-ish, perhaps £2,500 at the very most. I'd not be entirely surprised if their first offer for writing it off came in at somewhere around £1,750, so it might seem quite an appealing option to them.

Looking on ebay I might be able to get a complete door from a breaker, even in the right colour, for £200 which makes it look tempting to buy the "wreck".

The down-side to buying it back and repairing it from my point of view is that I'll have to tell the next insurers it's a Category N write-off and they'll almost certainly load my premium as a result. Probably make it worthless by the time we've finished with it too, but I don't tend to get rid of cars until they're worthless anyhow

James

 

[Sutty]

The chap who runs the local bodyshop reckoned it might cost £700 for the repair work if I took it in privately. I bet the kind of place the insurers would use might easily charge double that and there'll surely be other "overheads". They might even look at it and decide they'd replace the entire door at even greater expense. The car might be worth £2,000-ish, perhaps £2,500 at the very most. I'd not be entirely surprised if their first offer for writing it off came in at somewhere around £1,750, so it might seem quite an appealing option to them.

Looking on ebay I might be able to get a complete door from a breaker, even in the right colour, for £200 which makes it look tempting to buy the "wreck".

The down-side to buying it back and repairing it from my point of view is that I'll have to tell the next insurers it's a Category N write-off and they'll almost certainly load my premium as a result. Probably make it worthless by the time we've finished with it too, but I don't tend to get rid of cars until they're worthless anyhow

James

It's some years ago now but it didn't seem to affect my subsequent premiums.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

How on earth is that uneconomical to repair? Such an unsustainable system if it's truly uneconomical to do so.

I have a friend who used to buy write-offs and do proper repairs. Ha was telling me a while ago that scrap yards/dismantlers have killed the repair business as they give silly money for the damaged vehicles.

 

[pargyle]

Expect an insurance premium increase of 30 - 40% for insuring a Cat N write off. I looked at buying one when I swapped my car recently ... made no sense to me and the additional premium made less sense than buying one that had not been written off when amortised over a few years of ownership and the inevitable reduced value of the vehicle in the future.

I have a sneaky feeling that it's the insurers who are making the repair of write off's less desirable ... why ? I have no idea.

You can, if you wish, challenge the write off - get a competitive estimate and encourage the Insurers to have the vehicle repaired. My son has just done this after a no-fault accident when the insurers wanted to write the car off ... he's argued about it and finally got them to agree to have the car repaired at the local BMW main agents ... who gave him an estimate £5k below the one the insurers were working on ! There's something smells in the way cars are so easily written off these days.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I've had Covid for the first time over last two weeks, which has mostly been crap.

James

Here you are
"Dubbed BA2.86, the new Omicron spin-off comes hot on the heels of the EG5.1 “Eris” variant – named after the Greek goddess of strife – which first elbowed itself onto the Covid scene in July"