Monday 30 March 2020

New society

Boris Johnson has confirmed the official policy on Society. Contrary to previous historical claims from Downing Street, there is one after all. It is just as well really.

We are only in week one of the restrictions, but there are tensions developing between certain groups of people sharing the limited outdoor spaces available in towns and cities. Only yesterday, I was walking home when I saw a large young man running toward me, mouth open and panting heavily. I expected him to step into the empty road to clear me by a couple of yards, but he just kept coming. Because he passed me on the road side of the pavement, I could not get out of his way and he cleared me by inches, oblivious to his own bad manners.

On the other end of the scale, citizens are now reporting neighbours for leaving their houses more than once a day, and the police have just issued a summons to someone for driving in his car at night because he got bored at home. As far as I know, there is not yet a curfew in operation, but the police have been given enhanced powers by the legislation rushed through before Parliament was dissolved. I hope they use them wisely and humanely.

When I first heard the woman who represents the 'Big Brother' watchdog, I thought she had no useful  place in the debate during this crisis, but now I am not so sure. We have all been left alone to interpret new rules in any way we can, and once something has been taken away, it is very difficult to get it back.

I hope we all behave sensibly right the way through to the end.

32 comments:

  1. The rules seem simple enough to me, stay in unless you have to go to a place of work, buy food or go to a pharmacy. I just stay in, no sweat. It seems that as commonsense is in short supply these days there are a lot of people who make heavy work of understanding lockdown, and looking after themselves and others by staying in.

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    1. Spot on Rachel! It is that simple but you can't trust the public to do the right thing.

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    2. I do understand this, But I previously thought it was quite legal for me to to drive a few miles on my own to an isolated workshop where I am also on my own. I need to make one more trip today. Is that legal? I am certain it is not foolhardy or irresponsible.

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    3. You can go to your workplace as you are alone and you cannot cut stone at home, so you cannot work from home. I would advise that you talk to no one.

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    4. There's no one to talk to anyway!

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    5. What I am talking about is the possibility that the police may not see it that way. They certainly would not see my work as essential. I don't see it as essential either but the guidelines change from day to day for understandable reasons.

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    6. The police are being reasonable and kind like the rest of us. Be reasonable with them and they will be reasonable with you. The job itself does not have to be essential to life.

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    7. Driving to work if you can't work from home is permitted at the moment.

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    8. Oh good. I will carry on while I can then.

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  2. I have read so much rubbish written by people who have tried to justify their interpretation of the rules. The sooner we get the draconian measures that my friends in France have to live under the better. There they have police everywhere checking the document that every person has to produce justifying why they have left the house. Bring it on. It will make us safer and we'll get through it quicker.

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    1. Those are the people who bought my toilet rolls...

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  3. I am with Rachel ...... unless you are a key worker, stay in apart from getting groceries or medicines and have one walk a day ..... simples ! Not sure if you going to your workshop is what they meant unless it’s absolutely crucial ! If everyone adheres to the rules we should get over it in the shortest possible time but some aren’t going to. XXXX

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    1. Yes, I understand that Jack@. I drive past a sign every day which says don't drive unless it is essential!

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    2. Naughty, naughty 🤣 XXXX

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  4. I've just been thinking how cars don't like standing unused much more than a week. A short drive is essential maintenance.

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    1. For understandable reasons the police want as few cars on the road as possible. Fewer accidents free them up for other things.

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    2. Tasker, what you say is more true of cars in the olden days than today. Car engines now are more electronic than mechanical and can withstand temporary standoffs for longer. And anyway, it is all a question of priorities at the moment.

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  5. The best advice I've heard is for us all to act as though we have the virus ourselves and then act accordingly. There are over 4,000 NY policemen out sick, with 700 testing positive. What will happen if the police force is decimated. Worse yet, the medical profession.
    Common Sense is what's most needed now.
    God help us all.

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    1. I act as if I don;t want the virus and I don't want to give it to someone else if I do have it. That should be everyone's approach shouldn't it?

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  6. Some hopes Tom is my reply to your last sentence. I hope I am wrong but human nature being what it is....

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  7. The people in my city have yet to comply with commonsense recommendations, despite rapidly rising numbers of positive cases. Every time I run out for essentials, I see whole families shopping together, gyms with crowded parking lots, and too much traffic for it to just be "essential" trips. Apparently the people around here are going to have to be forced to stay at home before they will comply. It's infuriating!

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    1. Families staying together is not unsafe or unusual. The streets around here are dead, but there are plenty of families out for walks. That is a good thing. Having said that, our supermarket is not allowing couples in any more - it's more a case of being able to identify a group from a distance.

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  8. The best way to see what you can and cannot do is to watch the Press Conference and then turn off. Interpret it for yourself. To clarify points you are not sure of, go to the Government official website. I recommend not listening to or reading or paying any attention to media and press interpretations.

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    1. We all have our different ways of dissimilating the news, sorting the chaff from the wheat and generally coping with life. I always listen to the briefing, but recently have been outside without a radio so I am spared 75% of the angst.

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    2. The best way Tom...listen to the minimum of details.. don't when they start to chew the cud. It does make one annoyed when those at the top say that they have been doing all that is possible all along..phooey!! They have dragged their heels and thought of money first not people, and it's the people who have been responsible and started isolating when they saw what was being done in other countries around the world. Meanwhile in these surreal times we keep our heads down, sort the house and garden and pray that we get our liberties back when it has passed....

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    3. I agree with you gz, but I get attacked when I express the same sort of concerns and anxieties. The majority of bloggers here tend to get swept up in the immediate, and regurgitate the professional advice over and over again, as if nobody else has heard it. I think it is the same form of controlled panic and insecurity that we are all experiencing, but it still pisses me off.

      I mean, for God's sake, do I not care if I inadvertently bring back the virus to the love of my life? Do they think my life would be worth living if I did that?

      I want people to stop telling me to 'stay safe'.

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    4. You asked a question about whether you could legally drive to work. We gave you an answer. It implied you had not heard the official advice. So we regurgitated it as you put it. I apologise. I won't trouble to advise or offer help again. I was actually feeling sorry for you.

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    5. If you heard today's news you will have heard that the Lancashire constabulary have prosecuted 150 people for driving, and other forces none at all. They have asked for clarity as I did you. You must have felt sorry for me because I seemed incapable of understanding the simplest of messages.

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    6. Yes, I felt sorry for you because you didn't understand you were allowed to drive to work.

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    7. I truly thought I was helping you.

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