please empty your brain below

(trivial) I got the letter from the government yesterday. Some very dodgy kerning on the second page.
How is there no law against going to a friend's house for drinks? The host has not committed an offence as they have not left the place they are living, but the visitors have - unless they all claim they are living there.

It also doesn't help that the prosecutors got the law incorrect by prosecuting the person who travelled by train from York to Newcastle under the Coronavirus Act 2020 rather than The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 (linked in the post).
Yesterday we went for a family bike ride to Greenwich and back. We had a short stop when we got to Cutty Sark, rather than linger, and went then back home. The pavements between Rotherhithe and Greenwich seemed busier than a normal sunny day in Spring. The roads were much quieter. With almost everyone off public transport and not using their cars, it's putting way more people than normal onto pavements (or is it just my perception?). It's often awkward trying to keep to the 2m rule, and at times we got much closer to people where the width of footways didn't allow it, generally though people are being considerate. Greenwich was appreciably quieter than normal for a Saturday. It's
not just the numbers, you notice people's demeanor is different too, quieter and more subdued in their actions, no one wants to run/make noise, or bring attention to themselves. Normally I would have appreciated this sort of thing, and Greenwich being so quiet, but it was disquieting. This is not the sort of thing that is easy to enjoy.
The roads are empty and people are riding on pavements, expecting pedestrians to move for them.
Alas, legislation produced in a hurry without adequate consideration is prone to variable interpretation, self-contradiction, etc. It is often drafted in kneejerk fashion (the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 is a classic example).
I got my first C-19 letter yesterday, it was from the council telling me they were suspending green bin collections for the foreseeable future.

I had thrown caution to the wind and opened it with bare hands, as opposed to leaving it in the letterbox for 3 days, or putting on gloves first, or blasting it with UVC light, or just setting fire to it.
Not a good week for tree pollen hay fever. So not going outside anyway. Although as being vulnerable I am in the shielding category so two reasons to stay in.
The issue with driving somewhere to exercise is the same as not lighting fires in your garden - if there is an accident or breakdown,you waste the resources of the emergency services and increase unnecessary contact.

Plus, if you drive you may need to go to a petrol station - more potential contact (and fuel pump handles, apparently, are seething masses of C19)
Impressive, dg, that you keep your blog so interesting every day. Thanks for my morning read.
As you say, France has defined the exercise clause more rigourously.

The initial order, from the President on the first day, was to stay 'in your local area'. Then a few days later, the Ministry of Sport clarified in a tweet that exercise should be '1km, 2km max'. Shortly afterwards the Prime Minister issued the new guidelines for staying within a radii of 1km from home, and for a maximum time of 1 hour (the signed declarations to be carried include a need to write in the time of leaving the house - rules are different when visiting a shop, for which a different box should be checked). So people have been using websites to plot out a map with a 1km circle mapped out, but then running loops within this.

I guess thst some people need orders carefully prescribed, and others are able to interpret the intentions and spirit of the instruction.
David Allen Green has commented on the regulations, and what they say, as distinct from what people think they say, and ministers say they say, on his Law and Policy blog.

In particular perhaps: "What is not the case is that a person outside of where they live without a reasonable excuse is committing an offence, if they left that place with a reasonable excuse." and "The criminal law is what the law says, not what one thinks the law should be."
I'm not surprised they locked up Brockwell Park yesterday evening, sadly. I included it in an out-an-back walk last week and found I was having 'dodge bullets' much more than wondering through the quiet streets, so decided then I wouldn't return. People were generally flouting the proximity rule just trying to get in and out of the gates!

I have also given up on cycling. Detecting the slipstream from someone 10-20 metres ahead - let alone from those overtaking - not knowing how snotty they are does not make for a comfortable ride.

On the plus side, I have really enjoyed being cosy at home of a Saturday night without feeling guilty that I ought to be more sociable :-)
Early morning Olympic Park update

• Busier than the same time yesterday
• Number of joggers passed during a 20 minute walk from top to bottom: 60
• More cyclists than joggers
• Everyone taking appropriate distancing measures
• No tut-worthy behaviour seen
Totally agree with the first 2 comments. The peace and quiet from people not shouting into their phones is once of the first things I noticed, swiftly followed by people still cycling on the pavement!

Sadly all my favourite places to walk locally are only accessible by public transport for me, and I just can't build up any excitement to walk the streets I trudge weekly for grocery shopping for fun as well!
Thanks for the link to the David Allen Green blog - really useful.

I suspect a lot of people are quite happy not to exercise their rights, if asked nicely, for the common good. But if the government tries to take those rights away, or the police ride roughshod over them, then people will tend to react with defiance.
I can still hear the roar of motorway traffic; I still have to run across the road in between vehicles; the screaming kids are next door instead of the playgrounds yards away and they scream all day instead of only at school playtimes; on my daily walks where I have chosen really out of the way routes, I meet so many couples and small groups I despair; some shops are not taking any real efforts to enable shoppers and staff to keep their distance; some people are laws unto themselves...
What in hell is "dodgy kerning" please?

dg googles: wikipedia.org/kerning
I really can't understand the logic of shutting parks and open spaces at a time when we probably need them most -the pinch points are the entrance gates so why not make more gates (tear some fencing down) for the duration.
I suspect that the real reason we are being told off for using parks etc too much is to provide an excuse for the steeper-than-Italy curves we are starting to see, rather than the inadequate early action taken by the Govt.
Went to a BIG HUGE open space today for a bike ride. 45 mins then home, avoided everyone. Others clearly paying not attention and just wandering aimlessly about but what pissed me off were the sunbathers, that is not exercise.
I'm staggered that allowing people to go to work if they can't work at home STILL doesn't have a caveat about only essential work,
Closing public parks like Victoria Park & Brockwell Park is counter-intuitive. Do we really want to see the surrounding streets full of joggers and people doing press-ups?

It's a classic case of the majority being punished for the selfish behavior of the ignorant minority.
All of the supposed photos of the "ignorant minority" use long lenses to make people look closer than they are.

It's only because sunbathing/sitting down is apparently against the rules that we're meant to be outraged. In other countries photos of people sitting in widely spaced small groups have been praised as good behaviour.
I was in Victoria Park on my exercise walk the morning of the forced closure. Lack of social distancing and genuine exercising was staggering. While I've lost my lovely Park, I think it may be saving my life.

Pity the lesson wasn't remembered over the weekend. Well Street Common (which can't be closed) had maybe 75% genuine exercisers, dog-walkers or giving small kids half an hour of sanity. The rest were just begging this useless government to bring in stronger detention for everyone. How that would be enforced will be interesting to see.

Also, missed from legit' reasons to leave the premises is to go to the launderette (or dry cleaner) - that is becoming more difficult in Hackney as more launderettes are closing. Three closed down some time ago, one has had an internal fire, two have just put the shutters up.

This is a health problem in the making, as are other issues - if we do not have enough daily direct sunshine or take sufficient Vitamin D supplement our bones weaken.

Self-isolation has not been thought through on so many counts, despite its proven principle.










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