We went to Bristol yesterday to see an old mate who had been refusing to contact me and who had bowel cancer in the 1990s and so was a high risk. I'd been worried about him for some time. Anyway, despite being asked "what are you doing here?" it was good to see he that was still alive. Afterwards we went to Clevedon to eat our lunch before heading home. I expected it to be quiet but when we got there, parking was almost impossible with the streets packed with cars. The sea front was full of people with large groups of youngsters milling about. To be fair, apart from that, the vast majority were keeping a good distance - but too many people for comfort.
Arranged to meet a biking friend on Sunday in Thirsk, he’s just lost his job and is having a tough time mentally so we agreed that an hour on the bikes with a coffee and a chat thrown in would probably do the pair us a bit of good. Stopped off in Helmsley for a brew and a chat. The car park had been cordoned off and we were told by a very full of himself pcso that we weren't allowed to stay as locals had complained about bikers parking up and not social distancing. We explained that we were following and compliant with guidelines in what we were doing but it fell on deaf ears and we were threatened with having our bikes impounded and fined ‘ if we wanted to argue about it’ we were also advised not to bother calling at the petrol station as they’d been asked not to serve bikers. Given that we were there to try and cheer my old mate up it was a bit of a disaster and now when I see these pictures of people on the beaches I despair at the lack of clear rules. There’s too much that is open to interpretation which is why we’re getting such different approaches. This government is a shambles.
Any kids and teachers on these beaches i expect to see in the class room bright eyed and bushy tailed on June 1st.
Without generalising, I doubt that these are teachers. Teachers generally have a brain. The people on the beach will be the "this doesn't apply to me brigade". Caveat - I've obviously no proof of this, but there you go.
If you have people all interpreting a lazy, hazy set of rules its going to vary from travelling to Newquay to have a paddle to walking around the block from your house. It needed framing so you could at least have a reasonable change of view without cramming the beaches. Stay in your county or 20 miles from the house if you are in a car for instance. It's carried on from don't go to the pub but by the way we are not shutting the pubs, don't use public transport but we are not shutting it down. I guess there are legal reasons for it.
Some teachers will have been on the beach yesterday. Some teachers will think it was a stupid thing to do. I'm sure it was a cross section of society not just any particular group. People have been told they can do it, so some will.
Only in England. Exercise in Wales is limited to starting and finishing at your place of residence. Scotland is also different to England (and probably Wales). It is currently legal to set off from your house in England to drive for exercise, but if you cross the border into Wales it is illegal.
One of our own beaches were busy too..... https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news.../huge-crowds-flock-yorkshires-secret-18285477
Locke Park was packed yesterday, a couple of basketball games going on, picnic of around 15 teenagers and everyone walking past you with a weird sense of cms and metres.
Most folk on these photos look to be social distancing in their family groups. I think the country has gotten over the initial wave of fear coupled with panic buying and have become complacent, the virus is here to stay it seems. My take on it is that we continue to protect the vulnerable whilst maintaining hand washing ( I’ve washed my hands so often they're red raw ) disinfecting both at home and at work, together with social distancing as much as possible. We can’t stay in lockdown indefinitely and have to deal with what comes until theres a cure.
No point people having a go at others for going to beaches (if they are social distancing) etc, direct any anger at the government. They are doing what they have been told is acceptable. I'm neither encouraging nor condoning, just feel the frustration is being directed at the wrong people.
I think Boris because he's experienced Covid himself (overweight, didn't always do social distancing, shook hands of sufferers) he's become too timid. Here are the overall figures....... Hospitality is going to be a struggle because until we are back to normal with no social distancing many won't want to go to a pub, restaurant or spend hundreds on a restricted holiday away.
1,406 deaths recorded in the past 4 days (some from last weekend). 6,738 new cases since Monday. Still some folk got to go to McDonalds and the beach. That's nice.
