Live data from Hacker News

I Miss My Bar

imissmybar.com

121–130 of 470 posts

Re: I Miss My Bar

#121
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in between the two groups. I live with my partner in a mid-sized house in the centre of a small city. Financially I'm doing great, I've worked throughout and there's literally nothing to spend the money on. My mental health is starting to deteriorate though. I'm not sleeping well most nights, I've turned very much inwards, I feel angry and despairing a lot. Part of the current problem is that we don't have a time…

There is actually a provisional timetable now: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9267563/Roadmap-loc...

[deleted]

Re: I Miss My Bar

#122

I miss being spontaneous about going out. I’m not even sure what restaurants are still open, what bars have gone out of business, why can’t we return to normal already?

It's a great opportunity for non-commercial spontaneity, choosing not between "what bar to go to", but which direction to walk in, and really taking in reality.

It is, but then when your paranoid friends only want to walk around it gets old quick, and isn't ideal on shitty days. Even a coffee inside or shooting some pool would be fine.

Re: I Miss My Bar

#123
post #50

I think the psychological toll of the lockdowns in different countries is highly underestimated. I myself have no real economical shortcomings due to the lockdown, but even as a person who is normaly a total loner and who can spend weeks completely alone on a excessive hiking trip i am slowly going crazy... For my wife, who is a highly social character, its even worse. And i am not the only one in this mindset... wha…

Different countries, and different situations. Living in a big old house in the country with your family? Your life is probably basically the same as it always was. Potentially better, depending on the work situation. Okay, sure, you're not going on as many holidays, and depending on how strict the rules are where you are, dinner parties are off the cards. Living in a flat as a single person in the big exciting city?…

What a weird comment. You think people with families don't miss their social lives? You think it has been easy? People aren't meant to spend so much time together. Not to mention work and full-time child care don't really go together.

I'd say if anything, I considered maintaining a social life to be a form of self-care, one I was already struggling to get enough of.

> A month or two more and I'm going to be in the 'pitchforks and torches' group

Why wait a month or two? I'm not saying I agree with you, but nothing's going to change in 2 months. I'm pretty sure nothing's going to change in the next 5 years.

Re: I Miss My Bar

#124
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same in the Netherlands and any restriction introduced for whatever reason is forever. For instance, when bars had to close at 22:00, people would flood the supermarkets to get booze for drinking at home. So they made a rule that supermarkets can’t sell alcohol after 20:00. Now the bars have been closed for 3 months. Think anyone would remove that now useless limitation on selling alcohol after 20:00? Think again!

UK Government 2020: It seems that most people are catching coronavirus in private homes. makes pubs shit to be in with distancing rules and masks etc people start to socialise at home more It seems that most people are catching coronavirus in private homes. closes pubs earlier people start to socialise at home more It seems that most people are catching coronavirus in private homes. close everything else, make meetin…

> I literally cannot come up with an explanation for this that isn't conspiratorial. For all of Boris' fluff, I don't believe that our Government is this incompetent or stupid - there has to be an ulterior motive here.

I do believe the PM is this incompetent and stupid. He's demonstrated a total lack of belief in anything, and is utterly spineless.

(Un)fortunately, the same cannot be said for some of his staff. There's a certain special advisor who drove to a castle (and got a raise) who has an interesting history when it comes to his views on eugenics.

Re: I Miss My Bar

#125

Maybe it's the rural setup where I'm from, but I'm glad that in 2020 and 2021 I barely visited bars. Summer was spent by lakes and forests, drinking beers, cocktails, appetizers, and eating freshly grilled BBQ for a fraction of the price, having quality time in the sun with friends. I don't miss commercial society, I don't miss their tropes and their rituals. Fake friendship and banter from people hanging around to g…

[deleted]

Re: I Miss My Bar

#126
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Different countries, and different situations. Living in a big old house in the country with your family? Your life is probably basically the same as it always was. Potentially better, depending on the work situation. Okay, sure, you're not going on as many holidays, and depending on how strict the rules are where you are, dinner parties are off the cards. Living in a flat as a single person in the big exciting city?…

What a weird comment. You think people with families don't miss their social lives? You think it has been easy? People aren't meant to spend so much time together. Not to mention work and full-time child care don't really go together. I'd say if anything, I considered maintaining a social life to be a form of self-care, one I was already struggling to get enough of. > A month or two more and I'm going to be in the 'p…

> Why wait a month or two?

Because I have just about enough left in me, and by then, in the UK we will have vaccinated the groups which make up ~99% of preventable mortality.

At that point, the moral argument of "go outside and you're putting people at risk" completely falls apart in my view.

If there are variants which escape the vaccines, then at that point it's game over since I know I definitely won't be able to make it through another year.

Re: I Miss My Bar

#127
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a weird comment. You think people with families don't miss their social lives? You think it has been easy? People aren't meant to spend so much time together. Not to mention work and full-time child care don't really go together. I'd say if anything, I considered maintaining a social life to be a form of self-care, one I was already struggling to get enough of. > A month or two more and I'm going to be in the 'p…

> Why wait a month or two? Because I have just about enough left in me, and by then, in the UK we will have vaccinated the groups which make up ~99% of preventable mortality. At that point, the moral argument of "go outside and you're putting people at risk" completely falls apart in my view. If there are variants which escape the vaccines, then at that point it's game over since I know I definitely won't be able to…

[deleted]

Re: I Miss My Bar

#128
post #50

I think the psychological toll of the lockdowns in different countries is highly underestimated. I myself have no real economical shortcomings due to the lockdown, but even as a person who is normaly a total loner and who can spend weeks completely alone on a excessive hiking trip i am slowly going crazy... For my wife, who is a highly social character, its even worse. And i am not the only one in this mindset... wha…

Different countries, and different situations. Living in a big old house in the country with your family? Your life is probably basically the same as it always was. Potentially better, depending on the work situation. Okay, sure, you're not going on as many holidays, and depending on how strict the rules are where you are, dinner parties are off the cards. Living in a flat as a single person in the big exciting city?…

Yes, it's terrible. Even those of us who are "coping" aren't coping terribly well. But ironically the disconnection has made the costs of the disease invisible as well. The zoom funerals. I personally know a couple of people who are now effectively long-term disabled with respiratory issues - well enough to leave hospital, but their previous lifestyle can't come back.

The death toll dwarfs every single "disaster" in UK modern cultural history. Aberfan, Lockerbie, Dunblane, Piper Alpha, Grenfell, Bloody Sunday, Hillsborough, Herald of Free Enterprise, Marchioness, Titanic, Lusitania, Harold Shipman: COVID exceeds all of those put together. Invisibly. Any given one of those is dwarfed by the daily COVID death toll.

A rate that starts to rival wartime deaths. At the recent peak the death toll for 19 January was almost one HMS Hood per day.

Re: I Miss My Bar

#129
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand your sentiment but for me the realization is different. For me seeing the streets of my capital city completely empty at beginning of lockdown, as well as the trams and buses (even though you could ride them), made me realize that I was living in an environment that is fundamentally not pleasant. That it was people that made it alive. Without people, I saw that this city which I always thought of as "the…

Wasn't that something we all knew already? People are what make cities worth living in, the point of living in a city is to be close to more people, and that naturally involves some compromises (though I'm all for non-grey buildings and minimising the space devoted to cars - something my city is fairly good at).

I was living in the center of a major city on the east coast when the pandemic hit. I was renting a 400 sq ft apartment, but that was ok because I really only slept there — the coffee shop nearby was my living room, the park was my backyard, the restaurants my kitchen. That’s city life.

With all of that gone, the 400 sq ft apartment stopped being livable. That apartment wasn’t cheap, but I was able to afford to buy a house in another part of town. So I did — as did every other person in that downtown area that I knew.

Those areas are now severely depopulated to the point it’s not safe to walk around in after dark, despite being one of the nicest areas of town a year ago. Businesses are continuing to fail because their customers keep moving away. City centers will be absolutely dead for a decade or more. People are underestimating the long term impact to cities because office workers aren’t coming back en masse any time soon either — if ever. People are what makes a city great, and they’re not coming back for a long time.

Re: I Miss My Bar

#130

When I see stuff like this it reminds me just how different I am to many people. It feels like I'm an alien trying to understand a new civilisation. I used to go to "bars" and the like, but it was only to meet women and get laid. Now that I've secured the means to reproduction I don't have to force myself through that hell any more. Sites like this suggest there is something attractive about such places even if you t…

“Secured the means to reproduction”, sure does sound like something an alien, trying to act human, would say about finding a partner. A lot of people, especially in pub cultures like the UK socialise at their locals, they don’t just go there to aggressively pursue sex with strangers. It’s where they meet their friends after work, where they go to watch sport on the weekend etc.

I know. I live in the UK. I literally started my comment saying how different I am to other people and people keep replying about how not everyone is like me. Is reading comprehension really this bad or am I just rubbish at writing? I'm always happy to learn if it's the latter.
Post reply on HN