"The April rain, the April rain,
Comes slanting down in fitful showers,
Then from the furrow shoots the grain,
And banks are fledged with nestling flowers;
And in grey shawl and woodland bowers
The cuckoo through the April rain
Calls once again."

Mathilde Blind, April Rain

Best Of

Re: Good TV series for improving your English

Ugh, I'm even old enough to remember a black and white set with only one channel!

mheredge

Re: Can You Name 11 Inventions That Changed the World?

@mheredge it was a difficult quiz and I only could answer to 5 questions correctly.
I think the most important invention is invention of writing. There are many inventors and scientists who could give their experiences by writing or even drawing inventions. I'm sure we know Leonardo da Vinci who was painting his thoughts.

nel

Working from home

Given that maybe a third of the world's population is now being urged to stay at home, many more people are having to work from home. Some of us are used to this or have work that lends itself easily to not having to work in an office, but how do you cope?

Here are some articles you might find interesting to read on the subject.

Suddenly working at home - we've done it for 22 years and have advice
- Your office needs to have a view
- Have an exercise and activity routine
- Have a default activity for when you need a break from work (I make a cup of tea :-) )
- Have a physically separate workspace

5 Tools You Need to Become Remote-Work-Ready
Before installing anything, align on communication:
- How to communicate
- What to communicate
Remote-ready tools

The Tech Headaches of Working From Home and How to Remedy Them
From shoddy Wi-Fi to digital distractions, our tech can make remote work miserable. This article suggests ways to overcome the problems.

The Two Things Killing Your Ability to Focus
It’s not only the fact that you’re looking at a screen for half the day, but that certainly isn’t helping.

Working from home is awesome. Here’s how to excel at it

So why not share your experiences here? Are you able to work effectively from home? What do you find most challenging? Or do you like it and wish never to have to work in the office again (which is very much my case)?

I think my workplace would be so much nicer though with feline company like in the picture!

In Friday's speaking session (27 March 2020) we will be discussing this topic.

mheredge

Personal experience with the coronavirus.

Hello Guys. I’ve been away for a while. I’ll tell you why. In December 2020 I received a call from my 94 year old mother. She said she had had a fever. The next day I went to see her with the doctor and when we entered her living room we found her laying on the floor. She was confused and couldn't do much anymore. Because she didn't cough at all, we didn't think about covid/corona. The days after that I visited her daily for informal care. She was tested and turned out to have covid after all. After a few days her condition became worse and she was admitted to the hospital. After being hospitalized for a week, she was temporarily transferred to a rehabilitation center for further recovery. She has been there for two months. Then the question arose whether it was desirable that she would return to her old house to live there independently. She had suffered a significant setback from the corona, so that didn't seem wise to us. She did not want that anymore herself either. We have now found a new place to live for her. Now she lives in a residential care center. We have decorated her new room with her own things and she is having a great time.

In the days that I helped her at her home, I was also infected with the corona virus by her. That was very intense period of time. I had a fever over 39 degrees for two weeks with a lot of coughing and shortness of breath. After more than a week I was also admitted to the hospital because of my shortness of breath. There they gave me medicines and oxygen. I lost 10 pounds and my physical condition had decreased. Especially the difficulty in breathing was scary. I am much better now. My strength and physical condition are still not quite as they had been before, but I am getting better every day. I'll already went back to work and I do exercises every day to improve my physical condition.

Frank

Re: English Book Club - Nicholas Nickleby

Hello @Paulette @Michouxe @Hermine @Xanthippe @april @Alexa there is a message of Lynne on Discord that she isn't able to run the reading session tomorrow but that we can organize it ( we can do, as before).
I will posted the parts here this afternoon if it is okay for all of you.

Paulette