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Thread: Will we return in 2021?

  1. #51

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    Anyone got suggestions of how to lose a years worth of lockdown weight in a few months
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  2. #52
    Web Guru Marc J's Avatar
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    In case you missed it - Every Little Helps, as they say!

  3. #53

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    Insurers are often good places to see what 'risk' is ahead.

    There's obviously been lots of talk about the 'mass reopening' this summer.

    I notice behind the scenes, that the entertainment industry is becoming increasingly less confident about reopening.

    A number of festivals and theatres have asked for the Government to underwrite insurance for them in case they are forced to close again, despite having incurred costs selling tickets for shows this summer.

    The Government have refused to underwrite any such insurance, and naturally, the insurance companies themselves won't touch it with a bargepole.

    I think their refusal to underwrite the insurance for these entertainment sectors tells me everything I need to know about this summer.

    Still mildly optimistic, but still preparing myself for the worst to occur again this summer... (I sadly, still predict limited weddings this summer without evening entertainment).

  4. #54
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    This is what's worrying and confusing me.

    NOT a politically motivated response in any way, shape or form, but the fact that GOVUK aren't prepared to back the entertainment industry in any way such as underwriting the big festivals (the cost is a drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things) suggests that they're unlikely to be allowed to go ahead this year.

    That doesn't bode well for us little men at the bottom of the stack sadly. I can see the remaining bookings I have for this year eventually ebbing away and either moving to next year or cancelling completely.
    All this despite falling deaths, vaccines which are reported to be 90+% effective at stopping this thing in its tracks, and a public which are desperate to return to the normality they remember from a couple of years ago.

    I have very little confidence in things returning to normal this year at the moment. The scientists are still insisting things like distancing and masks are here for a couple or more years yet....and that alone is going to kill what we do.
    The annoying bit is, the government don't seem to be able to distinguish between a "wedding reception" (you know....the evening party), and a "wedding breakfast" and seem to use the former to describe the latter at every opportunity.

    Something's not adding up in my little brain cell

    Will 21/6/21 be the date to remember in the diary? Sadly, I don't think so

    We'll have to wait and see what the test events they're planning (I think nightclubs in Liverpool and Manchester from memory) throw up...but I personally suspect just a couple of transmissions from those will be enough to slow things down and put a stop to any grand re-opening on 21st June....just my personal thoughts....

  5. #55
    Dinosaur Excalibur's Avatar
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    I bet your glass is always half empty too, Wayne. ( Like me if I remember, it's usually drained to the dregs )

    Don't be a prophet of doom! As I opined somewhere earlier, I don't think the general public will tolerate another summer lockdown/restriction of liberties. The amount of enquiries I'm seeing for events that are still technically not allowed is amazing. Now whether as upright, law abiding, morally blameless citizens we decide to work at them.........................

    Young Vectis reckoned there's a tidal surge of bookings pressurising the dam, and at some point soon, the dam will have to become a sluice, at the very least. There will be work, I'm sure, but perhaps not as big events as usual, and as many. I'm ready, I've got my Maui GO's now, for the small weddings. ( Interestingly, Maui have started a new sales pitch. On the side of the box, it proclaims proudly that it's for events of 100 people. While I'd agree entirely with that claim for a pair, because I've done it often, to achieve it with just one? ).
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  6. #56
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    Quote Originally Posted by Excalibur View Post
    I bet your glass is always half empty too, Wayne. ( Like me if I remember, it's usually drained to the dregs )
    You've been drinking with me....it's ALWAYS full and KEEPS being refilled

    Quote Originally Posted by Excalibur View Post
    Don't be a prophet of doom! As I opined somewhere earlier, I don't think the general public will tolerate another summer lockdown/restriction of liberties. The amount of enquiries I'm seeing for events that are still technically not allowed is amazing. Now whether as upright, law abiding, morally blameless citizens we decide to work at them.........................
    Not being a prophet of doom at all sadly....just a realist.

    I see a lot of real human beings on a daily basis, ranging over a LOT of age ranges, some of them even trying to reorganise weddings (it's amazing what you can learn in the 8-10 mins I'm allowed on a customer's doorstep!)

    Whilst I absolutely agree that the general public aren't going to tolerate another summer of restrictions (they're acting like it's all over already), I also don't believe they'll be daft enough to try to organise any sort of party (wedding or otherwise) - the press are far too quick to jump onto the fact that a DJ has been involved somewhere along the line.

    Not scientific by any means, but the vast majority of them really don't believe that what we do for a living is going to be back anytime soon, despite the rhetoric from Westminster, and nobody I've spoken to believes the 21st June as the end to all restrictions.

    I also work with several fellow wedding professionals ('toggers, band members, another DJ and a venue decorator....and at work we're really not the willy wavers you talk to on the likes of Facebook) - and we're all pretty much in agreement that 2021 is another write off.

    Sorry to relieve myself on your fire pit but....

    Quote Originally Posted by Excalibur View Post
    Young Vectis reckoned there's a tidal surge of bookings pressurising the dam, and at some point soon, the dam will have to become a sluice, at the very least. There will be work, I'm sure, but perhaps not as big events as usual, and as many. I'm ready, I've got my Maui GO's now, for the small weddings. ( Interestingly, Maui have started a new sales pitch. On the side of the box, it proclaims proudly that it's for events of 100 people. While I'd agree entirely with that claim for a pair, because I've done it often, to achieve it with just one? ).
    Yes, I agree....there WILL eventually be a massive pent-up demand and I'm ready and waiting to be there. However, I think a lot of people are waiting for things to be more concrete before committing to anything, as indeed I am myself. I've turned away to June weddings today alone because I really can't see them going ahead as they're planning them (guest counts of 100+, bands, dancing.....).

    As for the Maui Go's - as soon as funds permit I'll have a second one in the store because they just WORK when needed, and for kids parties which I can see will be the majority of the quick fire bookings this year....they'll be more than ideal

  7. #57
    Disco Dude! DeckstarDeluxe's Avatar
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    Sorry but why on the earth would you be turning down work and then saying 2021 is a write off? Makes zero sense.
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  8. #58

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    My concern lately is that when we do return we won't have moved forward at all from where we left off.

    Already DJ groups are taken over by people wondering what to buy next, rather than building a business, couples are looking for the cheapest, venues similar and DJs moaning about prices.

    I really hoped it would give everyone a bit of a wake up call, but seems most are just going to carry on what they have always been doing.
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  9. #59
    Dinosaur Excalibur's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DeckstarDeluxe View Post
    Sorry but why on the earth would you be turning down work and then saying 2021 is a write off? Makes zero sense.
    I like this boy. He'll go far. Yup Neil, I agree.

    Quote Originally Posted by ppentertainments View Post
    My concern lately is that when we do return we won't have moved forward at all from where we left off.

    Already DJ groups are taken over by people wondering what to buy next, rather than building a business, couples are looking for the cheapest, venues similar and DJs moaning about prices.

    I really hoped it would give everyone a bit of a wake up call, but seems most are just going to carry on what they have always been doing.
    Were I not a pillar* of the moderating team, my response would be** " plus ça change.........................", but obviously because of rule 23, I can't do that.

    Chris, "if it ain't broke.................". By the way, have I told you what I bought recently?

    OK Peter, take the pills: I'm taking work in June this year, as I believe that we will be allowed to operate some form of disco ( small PA, very few if any lights ) legally. Maybe still less than fifty guests for a loooong time. Steady as she goes.

    Chris, the smart ones will not only adapt, but adapt ahead of the curve. I don't claim to be one of those, but I sure as eggs is eggs can offer a range of options, not just the same old, same old.

    * The word has six letters, not seven.

    ** For those unfamiliar with either the phrase, or how to Google it, the translation is: " The more things change, the more they remain the same". It's often very true.

    EDIT: This would back up Wayne's view. A big problem could easily be finding venues to work in.
    Last edited by Excalibur; 04-04-2021 at 10:27 PM.
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  10. #60
    Imagine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DeckstarDeluxe View Post
    Sorry but why on the earth would you be turning down work and then saying 2021 is a write off? Makes zero sense.
    Depends on where your "head" is unfortunately.

    The past year has hit me mentally like a blimmin' steam train at full pelt. I'd spent literally YEARS (I was a part-timer from 1988 until 2019), planning to go full time and then 11 months in....well, we all know what happened on 23rd March 2020.

    I suffer from anxiety and depression, whilst the dear lady wife is clinically vulnerable to Covid. I'm also a carer for my elderly and vulnerable in-laws. All in all, last year was a mental nightmare seeing everything I'd worked so hard for being pulled from underneath me (I went to some very dark places I don't even want to talk about last year, and it scares me a LOT even now we're coming through the other side of things...hopefully!).

    From where I sit....

    I still can't handle the stress of the cancellations/reschedules/crying brides from last year (sorry....it's a fact of life). I'm being VERY cautious about taking new bookings for 2021 because even though we now have a "roadmap", we've sort of been here before with things re-opening and then closing down again. Sorry, but I really don't think that June 21st is the magical date that Covid "does one".

    I've got several for July this year (which I'm still not entirely convinced will happen), and I'm taking bookings very cautiously from August onwards.

    I can sort of afford to be cautious. I now have a full time job (if you can call it that) delivering online groceries which is keeping a roof over our heads and the business in hibernation. It's not going to make me rich by any means at minimum wage (ONE evening reception = a 40 hours of driving a Mercedes box van around), but we're surviving and not going without. That's important!

    As much as I'm itching to get back to what I love doing for a living though, I need to be certain that the events will actually go ahead because I really can't be doing with the mental health issues of everything going belly up again.

    Sounds a little weak and pathetic I know, but that's just how life is at the moment

    Hopefully sometime really soon, we'll all be comparing setups, dance floor health and prices again. Until then....I'm biding my time and trying to stay SANE!

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