[COVID-19] - Things to do when under lockdown

[Bada-Bing!]

Yup loads of that kind of thing going on.
.

Yeah, just having a quarterly tax update and been told any employer caught abusing the furloughing scheme will be subject to repaying the full grant back and an automatic 100% penalty. It's a money laundering offence as well, so any employer will be fcuked. There's a snitcher's hotline, but I would just leave it to the accountants preparing those employer's accounts/returns/PAYE to deal with it, as they will be obliged to report it to NCA.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

BBC has released a ton of set images for use as zoom backgrounds,
Pretty cool!

The joy of sets

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I didn't realise you're eligible for a tax refund/different tax code if you're having to work from home due to Covid - all backdated.

I've just claimed, literally took a few clicks (I already had a gateway account - if you don't that adds a few more clicks)

Claim tax relief for your job expenses

Claiming tax relief on expenses you have to pay for your work, like uniforms, tools, travel and working from home costs.

www.gov.uk

 

[ncurd]

It's worth a whole £1.20 a week...I'd rather it was feeding kids....

 

[ncurd]

Just to reply to Olly's post (might be deleted) I am already donating money to fare share. I'd rather I didn't have to that's what my taxes are for.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Yeah I deleted cause I thought it sounded a bit snippy, apologies

I get what you mean, but the Tories aren't going to do it so I'll just take my money back and forward it on - £10 to Fareshare does 40meals and this covers half my direct debit

 

[McTallshort]

I didn't realise you're eligible for a tax refund/different tax code if you're having to work from home due to Covid - all backdated.

I've just claimed, literally took a few clicks (I already had a gateway account - if you don't that adds a few more clicks)

Claim tax relief for your job expenses

Claiming tax relief on expenses you have to pay for your work, like uniforms, tools, travel and working from home costs.

www.gov.uk

Well yeah. You are using your own electric/WiFi etc

 

[Bada-Bing!]

got to love Andrew Cotter and commentary on his two dogs.

 

[Yulia]

Has anyone really learned a foreign language/read a lot of classics/started to manage a healthy lifestyle during all those months of lockdown?
The only new thing I started to do is to watch rugby sometimes, reading its rules and trying to understand it better

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Has anyone really learned a foreign language/read a lot of classics/started to manage a healthy lifestyle during all those months of lockdown?

I've been half-heartedly doing Japanese on duolingo, if that counts?
I've played a lot more video games than I did previously, as well.
Healthy lifestyle? ........no comment.

 

[Yulia]

I've been half-heartedly doing Japanese on duolingo, if that counts?

Ah yes! That's a difficult language I think.
Damn, I feel myself even worse after your message although, I practice my English a little bit on here,so a bonus point for me

 

[ncurd]

I took up running last year long before the lockdown. I suppose the only thing is I've kept on it despite not being able to run with people or do races. I've lost a bit of pace over the summer but that's coming back now and I did do a Marathon (2/3 run, 1/3 walk).

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I lost about 6kg and got a lot stronger, although the last few weeks haven't been great in that regard. Read/listened to a lot of stoic philosophy and now the history of Rome too.

Picked up some bad habits too now.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Damn, I feel myself even worse after your message

I wouldn't,
I went pretty hardcore into trying to get the basics before I went there in March, since then I've just been doing the bare minimum so the app will stop sending me notifications to do my daily practise

If we're talking COVID times in general, not the actual lockdowns - I was hitting the gym pretty hard when it was open and was happy with the strength progress and was starting to work more towards losing some weight (was more interested in getting my lift numbers back up initially) and now lockdown pt .2 has hit, and I've barely left my desk chair since

 

[RedruthRFC]

Has anyone really learned a foreign language/read a lot of classics/started to manage a healthy lifestyle during all those months of lockdown?
The only new thing I started to do is to watch rugby sometimes, reading its rules and trying to understand it better

Sort of, I learned Python in lockdown 1. Like a fool, I haven't used it since, so I'll be getting back into it soon and am trying to come up with a couple of projects to keep my hand in.

+1 on the gaming thing. I bought a new laptop before the ropey old one I had drove me insane and have probably logged more hours since March than I did in the last 15 years!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I learned Python in lockdown 1.

How'd you find it?
I've heard it's a bit weird at first, because of no brackets(?) but then pretty user friendly after?

I've been meaning to give it a crack for a while (even bought a couple of courses on udemy) but I don't use it at work so other languages take priority, unfortunately

 

[Which Tyler]

My piano playing was going well... until the gardening project started; then my study got re-purposed as a storage room
I did complete a couple of 6-week course type things on learning new stuff; and of course, haven't had an opportunity to put them into practice at all, and have pretty much forgotten everything again by now.
I did get a lot of reading done though.

 

[ncurd]

How'd you find it?
I've heard it's a bit weird at first, because of no brackets(?) but then pretty user friendly after?

I've been meaning to give it a crack for a while (even bought a couple of courses on udemy) but I don't use it at work so other languages take priority, unfortunately

It's a scripting language it's great for doing small inconsequential things. But it's not strongly typed and it allows you to get away with stuff that will break once you actually deploy it because you haven't properly exercised the code and theres a typo.

I think it's great if you know what your doing and you use it right. I'd never reccomend it for someone learning how to program because it will lead to a lot of sloppy **** that will have to be beaten out of you if you get a job and you come across code reviews.

Should note the main language I'm using currently is C++ doing embedded work and most of my career has been C/C++/C#.

 

[Leinster Fan]

How'd you find it?
I've heard it's a bit weird at first, because of no brackets(?) but then pretty user friendly after?

I've been meaning to give it a crack for a while (even bought a couple of courses on udemy) but I don't use it at work so other languages take priority, unfortunately

I did a bit of python with college a while back, never done any programming/coding before so no idea how it compares to others but I thought it was all fairly user friendly.

 

[ncurd]

Should note never ask a software engineer their opinion about programming languages or source control they have OPINIONS