Kate @griffinkate@sunbeam.city

I've finally worked out why I've never been "randomly" chosen for a COVID test by the Zoe app when so many of my friends have been tested multiple times.

It's because it's not random at all. They only send tests to people reporting vaguely COVID-like symptoms within the app. (Seems like everybody but me already knew this!)

A long shot, because Masto seems to be a magical place where long shots work: does anyone want old copies of Cycling UK magazine from the past few years? Will post (within the UK) if you either refund me the postage or donate the equivalent to a charity of your choice.

Otherwise I'll just put them in the recycling.

Trying to prepare for my first Welsh class since before Christmas and I literally can't even find my textbook. 🤦 So not up for this.

But as all my social groups reassemble themselves over on Signal, it has been a bit unsettling to discover that so many WhatsApp groups have members I never even knew about because they didn't introduce themselves when I joined and have been completely silent for the months I've been a member.

I suppose it's a timely warning to be careful what you say, even amongst friends, because you never know who's listening.

But also: why do this? At best, it's the kind of laziness that makes extra work for yourself: you CBA leaving a group so you just put up with endless notifications that you ignore. At worst, it's fucking creepy. Silently following other people's conversations knowing that they don't even realise you're there.

The process of getting people to switch from WhatsApp to Signal has proved much easier than I expected. I thought it would be the same level of difficulty as trying to persuade people to give a shit about climate change, but it's been almost as easy as telling colleagues there's free cake in the break room and inviting them to help themselves. Practically a stampede.

This lockdown feels so different from the first one. Cars everywhere. We talk about "lockdown fatigue", but I think it goes deeper than just being tired of the whole thing. I think British people have lost the sense that what they do makes any difference.

Hundreds of psychological studies have shown that results and feedback are motivating, while not seeing any results is deeply demotivating. Well, we've changed the way we live, we've trashed the economy, we've stayed away from loved ones and we're still hitting record numbers of cases. No wonder people are feeling like there's no point.

I don't know what the answer is. I don't know how you get the public to un-learn the lesson that making the effort isn't worth it.

Just had my first experience of using the PayPal Buyer Protection service. Hmmm.

I don't think they make it clear enough that your initial message will be sent just to the seller you have a problem with, and that PayPal won't look into it until you've gone through that step.

They make it clear that the other party will see your message, but not that PayPal won't. So I put together a statement of what's happened and added my unanswered emails to the seller as evidence...but what was the point of that when it was being sent directly to the seller? They've already seen and ignored those exact emails!

Hopefully I can move on to the next step soon and actually get PayPal involved and reclaim my money.

So far this year I've read one and a half Colm Toibin books. God willing, by the time I've read a few more perhaps I'll stop mixing him up with Cormac McCarthy.

I keep making double quantities of rice etc so I don't have to bother cooking again the next day, but then I just..eat all the foodz in one go. Oh dear. May try bigger portions!

Amazing how many households contain multiple teenagers who all look roughly the same age and choose to hang out in the park instead of the house they all definitely live in together. 🤔 Congratulations on your fresh-air-loving quintuplets, Mrs Jones.

Bilbergia windii flowering like billy-o!