Corona Virus

[RS2021]

Germany has started some limited lifting of measures for small shops. But, large gatherings will be banned until at least August 31st. I agree it will be a long time before we return to normal.

[Meantime]

2 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

Personally I would support a more zero tolerance approach from the police as we come out of lockdown, when dealing with those drunk or drugged up in public and falling out of the bars in the early hours, only to create unnecessary work for the NHS. 

I totally agree with that one, who wouldn't?

Griff

I know it sounds obvious, but we will probably just return to how things used to be. I see this as a real opportunity for some things to be changed as we return somewhere towards normality.

I cannot help but notice that since the lockdown the sky has been clearer and bluer than I've seen for a long time, with many more virtually cloud free days. Co-incidence or lack of pollution or sods law as I cannot use the boat? Personally I think a little of all three, but I would support more home working and less pollution making travel. If I worked in London, I would certainly be thinking twice about long packed in like sardines commutes back and forth. It may not be practical for all to avoid, but I would certainly be looking at alternatives, even if it meant a lower paid job outside of London, or closer to home.

[grendel]

30 minutes ago, RS2021 said:

Germany has started some limited lifting of measures for small shops. But, large gatherings will be banned until at least August 31st. I agree it will be a long time before we return to normal.

I justt dont get Trumps attitude though, it seems he wants to get factories back into production and shops open - great, but then he says he wants to restart sporting events - large gatherings - as they are important, i cannot help but feel that would be an unwise move.

my thoughts would be reopen shops, keep the 2m restrictions for now, reopen factories, but some thought may be needed to retain social distancing. reopen workplaces but keep as many working from home as possible,  pubs etc might follow later, but its going to be gradual, and large gatherings such as sports should be one of the last things.

[Poppy]

3 minutes ago, grendel said:

I justt dont get Trumps attitude though, it seems he wants to get factories back into production and shops open - great, but then he says he wants to restart sporting events - large gatherings - as they are important, i cannot help but feel that would be an unwise move.

my thoughts would be reopen shops, keep the 2m restrictions for now, reopen factories, but some thought may be needed to retain social distancing. reopen workplaces but keep as many working from home as possible,  pubs etc might follow later, but its going to be gradual, and large gatherings such as sports should be one of the last things.

Oh I don't know. Our lot seemed to think ( against some good advice it seems) that allowing the Cheltenham Festival to go ahead , allowing for a gathering of some 50,000 people over four days was reasonable...

[grendel]

I can just about see that sport could restart for a televised audience, but not as a gathering for supporters, similarly music concerts.

I am sure we will be hearing more about how the lockdown will be slowly reversed over the coming weeks.

[Paul]

On a personal note I hope one of the first things to reopen is the recycling center. We are starting to drown under a pile if rubbish ready for the tip what with the rampant spring cleaning and sorting etc. There was somebody on the TV last night advocating the same as apparently lots of people are in a similar boat and it should be something which can observe social distancing relatively easily 

 

[vanessan]

11 minutes ago, Paul said:

On a personal note I hope one of the first things to reopen is the recycling center. We are starting to drown under a pile if rubbish ready for the tip what with the rampant spring cleaning and sorting etc. There was somebody on the TV last night advocating the same as apparently lots of people are in a similar boat and it should be something which can observe social distancing relatively easily 

 

I think grendel will be filling his local tip all by himself! 

[Paul]

On a similar local authority note there has been considerable uproar in these parts that the local authorities, be it county, district or parish have closed many of the amenities people might use to exercise. The county council has closed all of it's country parks, including the public footpaths which run through them, the legitimacy of which many are questioning as these are public rights of way. I can understand closing the car parks, but not blocking off the public footpaths. We don't live near the sea, next to the river or in a National Park but we do have a lovely country park in the village which is now off limits. The parish council have also closed the community garden which if you read my other thread a while ago you will understand has gone down like a lead balloon. The ground was bequeathed to the people of the village for their enjoyment in perpetuity and the Parish Council rather assumed responsibility for it which was then passed on the the community association and from them to the community gardens committee. I went down over the weekend to find a big chain and padlock in addition to the normal lock and a notice from the pc to say the facility is closed until further notice. Other allotments in the village which are operated by the district council remain open. They have also padlocked the skate park and children's playground. 

Sadly during this crisis (can we call it a crisis yet?) there have been some instances of over zealous officiating, hospitals insisting on DNR forms, Police officers telling shops not to sell easter eggs or people that they cannot be in their front gardens. It seems to me this has reached county hall, and it's various subsiduaries. 

[floydraser]

14 minutes ago, Paul said:

On a similar local authority note there has been considerable uproar in these parts that the local authorities, be it county, district or parish have closed many of the amenities people might use to exercise. The county council has closed all of it's country parks, including the public footpaths which run through them, the legitimacy of which many are questioning as these are public rights of way. I can understand closing the car parks, but not blocking off the public footpaths. We don't live near the sea, next to the river or in a National Park but we do have a lovely country park in the village which is now off limits. The parish council have also closed the community garden which if you read my other thread a while ago you will understand has gone down like a lead balloon. The ground was bequeathed to the people of the village for their enjoyment in perpetuity and the Parish Council rather assumed responsibility for it which was then passed on the the community association and from them to the community gardens committee. I went down over the weekend to find a big chain and padlock in addition to the normal lock and a notice from the pc to say the facility is closed until further notice. Other allotments in the village which are operated by the district council remain open. They have also padlocked the skate park and children's playground. 

Sadly during this crisis (can we call it a crisis yet?) there have been some instances of over zealous officiating, hospitals insisting on DNR forms, Police officers telling shops not to sell easter eggs or people that they cannot be in their front gardens. It seems to me this has reached county hall, and it's various subsiduaries. 

All valid arguments but all these councillors, some volunteers, could never have foreseen having to deal with something like this. And it's not something anyone could have been trained to deal with. They are all in the dark in a World where because someone put their poodle in the microwave to dry it, then successfully sued the manufacturer for not telling them not to, we live in a compensation culture. The councillors probably just want to make sure they're not the ones to blame. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a clear right answer.

[Meantime]

42 minutes ago, Paul said:

On a personal note I hope one of the first things to reopen is the recycling center. We are starting to drown under a pile if rubbish ready for the tip what with the rampant spring cleaning and sorting etc. There was somebody on the TV last night advocating the same as apparently lots of people are in a similar boat and it should be something which can observe social distancing relatively easily 

 

I think it's fair to say in mitigation that local councils are prioritising rubbish collections in favour of recycling centres. Staff shortages on the bin lorries are being back filled by staff from recycling centres. Although I would welcome the recycling centre being opened again, there was discussions about not collecting the green waste due to staff shortages, but at the moment those are continuing. I know from speaking to friends that some boroughs in London have reverted back to a weekly all waste collection system rather than asking households to sort and separate plastic and cardboard recycling. I don't believe those councils are sorting the rubbish at the depot so presently a lot more rubbish is going to land fill than normal. I do question the feasibility of some of the recycling measures. We used to get one bin lorry per week. Now I see three separate lorries on alternate Mondays and two separate lorries on the Mondays in between, as well as a van that collects textiles. I'm sure the recycling numbers look good, not sure about the pollution from all the extra vehicles!

[Paul]

which are valid points, but don't account for blocking footpaths, closing allotments etc, which are all essential facilities in the exercise regime the government want us to follow. 

Our bin men, as previously said, are great, and according to my through the window chat last week are not short staffed and can't understand why the cardboard and green waste vehicles have been stopped. It seems to have been done in expectation of what might happen rather than the real situation on the ground. Some might look at that as a knee jerk reaction and others will see it as appropriate forward planning. I guess you pays your money and makes your choice.

Our recycling centres went from seven days a week to five a couple of years ago worked on the basis that neighbouring sites close on different weekdays. So for us if one is closed the nest nearest is open. Perhaps they could reduce that to for or even three days a week with the main centres open weekends and smaller local centers just one or two weekdays. 

We could then take our cardboard and green waste which is not being collected to the tip ourselves

[BroadAmbition]

there was discussions about not collecting the green waste due to staff shortages, but at the moment those are continuing.

The green bin collections stopped around here before they ever got started after the winter break.  The recycling centres are closed too.  Black wheely bin and recycle blue wheely bin collections carries on as per normal

Griff

[unclemike]

everything seems normal with our bins

[YnysMon]

Green waste collection stopped in MK last week. I was a bit shocked on Easter Monday to hear the bin lorry in the neighbouring street. Caught on the hop, we had a bit of a rush to get our rubbish out. 

[ZimbiIV]

To all those stressed by no boating/social distancing or pubs. 

This thought amused me at 2:00 this morning after too much coffee during the day.

I know it is not grammatical or logical but it tickled me. A variation of the school boy favourite saying.

 

NIL ILLIGITUM VIRUM CARBORUNDUM

paul

[Vaughan]

Don't let the buggers grind you down!

[finny]

Every council will be operating within there own capability .we are back up to full strength giving a full service we have brought in 4 contracted extra trucks and staffed them but because everyone is a at home producing waste we are having problems completing the rounds on the day .the recycling centres are in talks about opening very soon but there are massive concerns over safety so I suspect it will be a one in and a one out situation .another massive concern is bottle necking the tips to the point that they can not function folk with time on there hands having a clear out is one thing but the logistics in clearing the tips is another

Finny

[YnysMon]

Well, good news for us today. Cottages.com have confirmed that we have successfully postponed our annual  ‘cousins holiday’ from 8th May this year to 14th May next year. That’s a relief. I know in the larger scale of things that booked holidays aren’t important, but having already paid quite a bit for our holiday (a rather nice four bedroom thatched cottage) it was a concern for us and we feel we are very lucky to have had such a good outcome. 

It will also work out better for me and Graham as, had the lockdown not occurred, we were anticipating having to cut short our allocated Moonlight Shadow 2019 May holiday, which was due to start the first Saturday in May to get to Minehead for the following Friday (we had booked the cottage holiday before joining the syndicate, so the allocated weeks didn’t quite work out for us).

I’m not yet counting my chickens though. Got to get through this Covid thing first. We all need luck with that.

 

[Paul]

1 hour ago, YnysMon said:

I know in the larger scale of things that booked holidays aren’t important

I wouldn't say that, looking forward to future holidays is one thing that can keep us all going through this. We didn't make plans for May this year beyond deciding where we were going, or not going now! We have got a holiday booked in Wales for July and Norfolk in August, we are hoping they will go ahead but I'm sceptical about July

[vanessan]

My cousin in Australia has told me a story of a guy who got 20 people to buy toilet rolls and hand sanitiser for him. Somehow he got hold of about $10,000 (around £5000) worth of items which he tried to sell on eBay. eBay closed his account so he tried to return the goods to the supermarket who declined, despite him offering them a 30% discount. Must be a moral in that story somewhere. 

[BroadAmbition]

I read that same report only yesterday.  Karma

Griff

[addicted]

Our bin collections he not been affected by the present situation at all. Last week we taped a thank-you note to our bin as our bin men are always very obliging and I wanted them to know we are grateful for a job well done at a difficult time.

 

 

Carole

[Hylander]

Reasons to be cheerful - no ,    according to the boys in blue ,  these are reasons to be out and about..

 

https://www.northnorfolknews.co.uk/news/police-guidelines-for-going-out-during-coronavirus-lockdown-1-6610945?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_campaign=DM24687

[Paul]

20 minutes ago, Hylander said:

Reasons to be cheerful - no ,    according to the boys in blue ,  these are reasons to be out and about..

 

https://www.northnorfolknews.co.uk/news/police-guidelines-for-going-out-during-coronavirus-lockdown-1-6610945?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_campaign=DM24687

Whilst this sort of clarification is useful, and in my book a bit overdue I am concerned that it is being issued by our constabularies when really this is the job of law makers, i.e. government. The Police enforce the law, it is absolutely not their place to determine what it is, or even it's interpretation. Having lived, briefly, in the former East Germany I know all too well what a dangerous precedent is being set when police forces start to decide what is and is not acceptable especially when they are empowered to issue a penalty directly. The become not only judge, jury and executioner, but law makers as well, which is the very definition of a police state.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

So we can move between households as long as it is measured in days not hours, errr can see that one causing trouble. Perhaps the scotish MP will get her job back