Time flies and it will soon be show time. As usual I am planning to go on the opening Saturday. Anyone else thinking of visiting?

 

Dunno. The “visit us” emails started about a week ago. I didn’t much enjoy it last time. I can’t stand crowds at the best of times but I need a new monitor and it’s the only place I know that you can see some working.

 

Yes it's at the planning stage .

 

Me neither. I got dragged along to computer and electronics shows for work over the years and regarded it as penance for my numerous sins.

 

I've never really regarded it as that crowded, with exception of the cafe area around lunch time. But that's my take on it as one who never regarded Hong Kong as crowded.

 

I’ve spent most of my life in rural Devon so 10 people in the pub at lunch time seems like a crowd

 

TPS is a long way to go, from Devon

 

Sadly, it looks like Ricoh-Pentax will not be exhibiting again. I can't see them on the current list of exhibitors.

 

Well that's me booked for Saturday.

 

I've bought a ticket to the Chase Jarvis talk, plus a copy of his book. Also bought rail tickets for half the journey on the "split my ticket" basis, so only got to buy the first part of the journey on the Saturday... 7.30am departure from my local train station into Reading then change to Cross Country trains. Just hope that the lines are not closed due to flooding

 

Car for me and it's about a 90 min drive. Bringing a packed lunch to avoid the queues at lunchtime.

 

The following is on the BBC News website now: don't be surprised if conditions like this are in force in the UK (or at least some parts of it) very soon.

In France all public gatherings have been banned in parts of Oise, the area north of Paris at the centre France's coronavirus outbreak.

But the mayor of Montanaire, one of the towns affected by the ban, defied the move and allowed a market to go ahead on Sunday.

Cancelled events across France also include the final day of the Paris Agricultural Fair and a fireworks display in the southern city of Nice - both were due to be held on Sunday.

Switzerland has also banned large gatherings. The General Motor Show and the Basel Carnival are among the events affected.

In Italy, Europe's worst-affected country, five Serie A football matches are not being held this weekend.

In rugby, Ireland postponed men's and women's Six Nations games against Italy in Dublin next weekend.

And Qatar has cancelled the opening MotoGP race of the season, which was due to be held on 8 March, because of travel restrictions on visitors from Italy, a centre of the outbreak.

 

I'm crossing my fingers and appreciate that there is a risk that the UK also bans all "Public meetings" which may include this show.
If all goes to plan, though, I will also be bringing a packed lunch.... in France, the Louvre museum did not open today (1 March) due, it seems, to staff concerns over the corona virus; I hope that Brummies are made of sterner stuff (no offence intended)

 

Well to my knowledge, Covid 19 isn't as yet circulating in the general community, which makes contracting the virus remote as at this stage. Things may change very rapidly of course, however in my experience large gatherings are a minor issue compared to catching things while working, shopping and socialising. Small enclosed spaces are a nightmare for spreading bugs. Let's not forget this is a respiratory disease and droplet transmission is highly likely in tightly enclosed areas, something HMG is under playing at the moment by putting hand washing at the top of their prevention list.

In my opinion the most likely place to contract Covid 19 will be at the workplace, which is why it will be uncontrollable, something authority will never tell you, with the hope always that it will eventually burn itself out.

As a Myeloma patient with two stem cell transplants under my belt, plus almost dying of viral pneumonia, which has a far higher mortality ratio than Covid 19, I'm highly aware of the dangers. Although not currently immunsupress, for an unknown reason we Myeloma patients are highly susceptible to developing chest infections, in fact it's one of the two main killers.. Therefore I shall be taking strict and appropriate measures as Covid 19 makes ground.

As of today the NHS says the risk to individuals in the UK remains low.

 

NEC is hosting Crufts, starting/started today, 5th March, so there's hope for us yet !

 

Should we worry about the dogs?
There is already a suspicion that the virus has crossed one 'species boundary' to infect humans.

 

Gutted - just announced that it's been cancelled. I may get a refund on my ticket in due course but not on the rail ticket :-(

For some of us who suffer from depression, this is the highlight of the year, I've been looking forward to it since last year's show and this is a huge setback. I checked earlier today and it was still on, so this is really bad news at a bad time with next week-end's plans all in tatters :-(

 

You can still use the rail ticket . . . . why not have a day out in Birmingham!

 

Given the circumstance it may be that you can get your train ticket refunded (less admin charge) or repurposed when the new date becomes available. Worth investigating.

 

I've read about people cancelling holidays and postponing weddings. The difficulty must be balancing the risks to the minority of people who appear to be at risk of being killed by the virus (as compared to the majority who appear not to be) against your right to enjoy an event like this. Perhaps caution is the safer option this year.

Currently (09/03/20 at 9.06 pm) the NEC website shows that the Photography shows is still planned, but other shows have been 'postponed'. Hopefully this web page is likely to be updated.

https://www.thenec.co.uk/whats-on/