TradeShark Diary, 19th May 2020

The big news of the day was that my Twitter account has been unsuspended! OK that’s only big news to me. It has been a quiet news day. It was suspended on the 28th March. No reason was given and I have had nothing but automated replies to my appeal. As the suspension came almost immediately after I posted a link to a blog post with “coronavirus” in the url I assume that was the real reason. Social media were getting a bit jumpy at the time about sites posting misinformation about the virus.

The email arrived just before 5am. I wasn’t expecting to see my follower count restored in “an hour or so”. They did briefly return around midday but by the time I had tweeted about it they were gone again!

The hedge at the bottom of the front garden needed trimming. That makes both the hedge and the garden sound huge. They’re not. When I was removing the other bushes I didn’t trim the hedge as much as it needed and with the hot weather and the occasional downpour it has gone a bit crazy. It didn’t take too long to cut it back. The bit that was most in need of attention was nearest the street. I swept up the clippings and was scooping them into a bin bag when I saw what looked at first like a flat bit of plastic. It wasn’t until I had picked it up that I realised it was a used condom. Dirty bastards. I don’t know if it was in the hedge or had just been covered up by the clippings. Either way I didn’t want it in my hand. I wished myself happy birthday quite a few times while I washed my hands.

Sue hurt her back at work on Sunday. They are expected to move patients and beds around more often than normal at the whim of the bed manager. Most of the covid19 positive patients that they have (I think 22 of them) are mostly around 20 stone or more and can’t move themselves. I’m sure that porters should be helping with moving beds but they are refusing to go anywhere near patients even with full PPE. She is due back in work tomorrow. I told her she was going to make her back worse if she worked as it was certain that she’s be asked to move the heffers around again. I advised her to phone in sick but to make sure she told them why. That way if she is OK for Saturday’s shift they might be a little less likely to ask her move the beds. She felt really guilty but took my advice.

I just checked the Twitter followers (2:15) and they’re all back! At 2:17 they’ve all gone again! I’m sure they know what they’re doing.

I have had an excellent couple of days on the football. I’m about 800 up. The pre race practise has also gone well although with small stakes. Still I’m making a couple of quid a race. When I dabbled with trading in play I managed to lose £100. That’s not really a surprise as I have no idea what I’m doing. I learned enough to confirm that I should leave that alone. I got a bit cocky when the first few were winners. Classic scenario! Every day’s a school day.

I am wanting to have some gravel delivered for the front garden. The prices for a bulk bag vary quite a bit from £190 to £130 but then I saw that Wickes do it for £50 delivered! That was a couple of weeks ago and every time I check their site they have 1 in stock but won’t let you order it for delivery. I contacted them and was told the site is wrong and they don’t have any. They don’t know when they will have some in and I should just keep checking the site. If they gave a shit I’m sure they could check when a delivery was due but they claim not to have that info. Since then I found another place that sell it for a similar price but they don’t answer the phone or emails! They do claim to be open.

I think it’s beer o’clock. Stay safe.