The reactions from different parts of the world are quite interesting. Here in the greater Dublin area the shops are well stocked - one of the discounters even had a whole mountain of toilet paper right at the entrance the other day, and none of the shoppers appeared at all interested in it. Most supermarkets have priority opening hours for elderly and front-line workers or offer free delivery and there are big signs that "customer quotas" apply and the shops can refuse customers if they feel these quotas are being abused. Some have a "one out, one in" policy, some just rely on the markings at the cash registers.

 

When I go for a walk at the beach (just 5 minutes by foot from my home) I do see families and dog walkers, but it appears that the physical distancing bit (thank goodness that they are dropping the ill-named social distancing) is getting through. The majority of us do steer clear when other people are around - but of course there are some twits, who either don't care or don't realise what they are (not) doing.

 

All in all there seems to be - in my area at least - a feeling that we will all see this out together if we just take that little extra bit of care.

 

Take care @allofyou

Mallard

1 hour ago, Christopher Low said:

Staying at home is not exactly difficult for me at the moment. I have been working from home for the past four weeks after breaking my hip in a freak accident (running to post a single letter barely 50 yards from my office, and making a right mess of jumping from the road to the pavement).

Ouch. Having had a broken hip (amongst other things) from a bad motorcycle accident years ago, I know how painful that is. Got some advice for you on that score incidentally: It is really painful to start walking again when you recover and are up and about again, but trust me, push on and grin and bear the pain of walking as normally as possible because you need to do that to ensure your hip fully recovers in terms of movement, otherwise you can potentially end up with a permanent limp. 

Hope you get well soon. 

@Christopher Low, sorry to hear that. The most innocent of actions can have dire consequences. Hope you feel better soon. 👍

10 hours ago, Adrian123 said:

Fear not. Here in the US we have been told we can go back to "Life as Usual" in 15 days.

If you really believe that I have a bridge I want to sell to you.

4 hours ago, fluffyflops said:

It will be interesting to see who gets the first fine.  Its going to be a brave copper who's going to issue it.  And if will be interesting to see which London Borough gets a fine first.  I'll make a prediction of Lewisham or Tower Hamlets. 

I don’t envy the police with that. Fines rumoured to be around 30 quid. Not much of a deterrent.

44 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

I don’t envy the police with that. Fines rumoured to be around 30 quid. Not much of a deterrent.

And as noted, difficult to enforce too, since it is difficult to prove someone is not on the way to a shop for some essentials. Of course if plod sees a family clearly out for a stroll, as I have witnessed a lot, that is very obviously not a shopping trip and so that one is a no-brainer for a fine.

Social media and the desire for people to post about literally everything which happens to them being what it is, I think a few fines will probably be enough to discourage others from being similarly selfish. I'll literally have no sympathy whatsoever for people who do garner such a fine, so if someone gets on facetube complaining about that, they'd get both barrels from me in terms of a complete lack of empathy for having received their just dessert.

Edited March 24, 20206 yr by Chock

How do you get the message through to the word not allowed masses.  Here in Suffolk the local roads are even busier today than before the 'shutdown'. Now the kids are at home, it seems like people are just treating it as an opportunity for another holiday. Our local food shops have been cleaned out, because some foolish expert said on the radio that although the big supermarkets were being emptied, the smaller shops would still have stock. Now village stores in various places are reporting that people who are not local, are just driving up and trying to buy excessive amounts. It's not easy for a lone shopkeeper to refuse some of these people, who can be quite intimidating. Tough for the local elderly residents.

Edited March 24, 20206 yr by Biggles2010
typo

I doubt there's enough coppers about to physically police the entire country... just saying.. 

3 minutes ago, HighBypass said:

I doubt there's enough coppers about to physically police the entire country... just saying.. 

Not to mention the fact that it's difficult to put handcuffs on someone whilst maintaining a two metre distance from them. And if they start coughing too, Serpico is gonna be off like a shot. 🤣

Step away from the tissue and put your hands in the air!

Edited March 24, 20206 yr by Chock

20 minutes ago, Chock said:

Not to mention the fact that it's difficult to put handcuffs on someone whilst maintaining a two metre distance from them. And if they start coughing too, Serpico is gonna be off like a shot. 🤣

Step away from the tissue and put your hands in the air!

 The French gendarmes and policemen have been doing that for a few days now. Including having weirdos spitting on them when arrested for a control.  Tough job. 

 

45 minutes ago, Chock said:

Of course if plod sees a family clearly out for a stroll, as I have witnessed a lot, that is very obviously not a shopping trip and so that one is a no-brainer for a fine.

 

 

Nope, it's not a no-brainier... don't forget, we are allowed to go out to exercise once per day. And there's no limit to the size of the group if its one family. So they simply say they are out exercising whether they are or not. The government are defining exercising as walking, running, cycling. 

I'm seeing numerous people stroll past my house today. Young couples hand in hand, middle aged people, dog walkers, those on bikes, multitude of joggers. And my road is normally quiet. Not one pf those individuals can be fined. They can all be defined as exercising. 

The only way you MIGHT catch them is if you note a person is exercising then catch them again later that day. But not even that will work because they simply claim they are on their way to the shop to buy food. I don't see any of these measures being enforceable. All they can do is hopefully scare people into doing the right thing.

I've just glanced out of my window again. What did I see, yep, same pattern as all day, 8 PEOPLE going for a stroll, walking dogs etc. 

 

Edited March 24, 20206 yr by martin-w

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

I don’t envy the police with that. Fines rumoured to be around 30 quid. Not much of a deterrent.

Maybe give the cops flame throwers? That should be a pretty good deterrent, while still allowing for keeping a safe distance.

https://nationalpost.com/news/world/we-will-send-police-with-flame-throwers-italian-mayors-lose-it-at-people-refusing-to-self-isolate

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

I don’t envy the police with that. Fines rumoured to be around 30 quid. Not much of a deterrent.

I'll laugh my pants off if the house of Lords don't agree to the legislation on Thurs.  In theory the rozzers can't fine you until it's passed on Thurs 

Apparently in Spain, they are renting out each others dogs to get around the restrictions.

Dog walking and "exercising" certainly seems to be a way of getting around the restrictions, from what I've seen in my road.

The next step from the government might be no exercising.  

1 hour ago, Chock said:

if plod sees a family clearly out for a stroll, as I have witnessed a lot, that is very obviously not a shopping trip and so that one is a no-brainer for a fine.

It's allowed and there will of course be more to see because of those who cannot now go to work.

Quote

1. STAYING AT HOME 
 
You should only leave the house for one of four reasons. 
 
● Shopping for basic necessities, for example food and medicine, which must be as infrequent as possible. 
 
● One form of exercise a day, for example a run, walk, or cycle - alone or with members of your household. 
 
● Any medical need, or to provide care or to help a vulnerable person. 
 
● Travelling to and from work, but only where this absolutely cannot be done from home. 

But it is not news to read of utter stupidity and criminal selfishness, it happens every day, even when there is no crisis. I was a "plod" (thanks Chock, you should try it) for 23 years of my working life and have seen, heard and read all of it.

 

Edited March 24, 20206 yr by Reader