Coronavirus

[eighthobstruction]

Did she charge for the service, or was she merely profuse? Would it have been better if she'd coughed all over your purchases slightly less vigorously?

....I coughed up £20....revenge? ....she then coughed 3 times on 3x £5....but I did take all her change....took fivers home and covered them in san jel....these new polymer notes may save lives....now gradually exchanging the old £20 from under my bed into new polymer ones....life is exciting, i can smell the wiff of san jel in my nostrils and it makes me feel ALIVE.....

[cloughie]

Is anyone else struggling with the vagueness of gov't advice re travelling and tourist attractions within the UK? Two particular scenarios:

1) Mrs LMP, a close (geographically as well as personally) friend and I have a holiday cottage booked some 70 miles away in Devon starting in a week. We accept that most tourist attractions will be closed but are happy to go for the change of scenery, walks etc. We can if necessary take all our food with us so as not to mix in local shops. Should we, can we, still go? We really can't see any good reason why not as we'd be behaving in exactly the same responsible way in Devon as we would in Cornwall. There is no clear advice yet from the booking company.

2) Local friends own a tourist attraction, one where there need be no close association between visitors. Should they close? The immediate decision isn't helped by the fact that the friends are currently in Japan for a family wedding and the attraction is being run by friends and family. They would probably have insurance coverage if HMG ordered them to close by law but is there any prospect of this? i suspect that current wishy-washy advice may be to ward off such claims, at the behest of the insurance industry.

All comments gratefully rec'd.

On 1) I would say no - don’t go - however small you are taking a risk, particularly as yo say with a friend - what contact has he/she had recently - and I don’t know what your views are on people coming down to Cornwall to Isolate or do their social distancing but I think you are adding to the unnecessary travel even if it is only to Devon. Who knows how the infected numbers will escalate in the next week or two? I have a cottage booking in Dorset in June but I shall cancel or postpone this!
2) Financially I can see the problem with closing without any guarantees of the financial but morally they should close.

Had you asked me a week ago my answer would be different but the learning curve of the last week makes me, a fairy healthy 70 something, very cautious of any unnecessary venturing out!

[Serial_Apologist]

So far round here there seems to be a lull around 10 am in the supermarkets, and a few of the usual target items are still available. Fruit and veg and quite a lot of meat products don't seem to go in the early locust sweep. It's noticeable that the independents(we have two family owned regional chain stores in town) and the two small Co-ops seem to be doing better with stock so far, but unless supply and demand even out fairly soon they will be targeted as well I imagine as word gets round - which will be tiresome for those of us who avoid the big 4 and are their 'regulars'.
I get the weekend edition of the local paper and there is a section listing the 'farmgate' outlets, which with their direct connections with suppliers are still able to offer food basics, and in some cases are working up delivery arrangements. When it's a choice of food or not food the usual cost objections to using small or niche suppliers are more easily overcome. Perhaps some of the new customers will stay after the immediate crisis abates.
I did some stockpiling yesterday...at the library. They are shutting at the end of today and have extended the maximum loan limit to 46. I didn't get quite that many, but I do have a large bagful now to dip into.

Here too a lull this morning at the local Sainsbury's as compared with the report I gave here on yesterday. Still no fruit (apart from apples), cereals, dried milk, pasta, tinned or frozen veg, though was able to pick up some carrots and tins of baked beans. My guess is that of a mixture of people heeding the news of supermarkets taking on extra staff for shelf replenishing, and yesterday's having been the last day schools were open - not much fun dragging chldren around shops where people are half-going berserk, or setting a good example. What was surprising was finding the local cycle shop empty of other customers, given that ownership of a bike is going to prove invaluable while all this goes on, and well worth a bit of stockpiling in fresh tyres and inner tubes.

On getting out of bed this morning I found myself to be in such a state of anxiety I was unable to stop my legs from trembling. Now I am feeling somewhat more reassured.

[Serial_Apologist]

....I coughed up £20....revenge? ....she then coughed 3 times on 3x £5....but I did take all her change....took fivers home and covered them in san jel....these new polymer notes may save lives....now gradually exchanging the old £20 from under my bed into new polymer ones....life is exciting, i can smell the wiff of san jel in my nostrils and it makes me feel ALIVE.....

I'm still trying to figure if Dave2002's post was meant as some kind of rebuke? The problems of having subtletly deficiency personality syndrome, eh, eighth?

[teamsaint]

Here too a lull this morning at the local Sainsbury's as compared with the report I gave here on yesterday. Still no fruit (apart from apples), cereals, dried milk, pasta, tinned or frozen veg, though was able to pick up some carrots and tins of baked beans. My guess is that of a mixture of people heeding the news of supermarkets taking on extra staff for shelf replenishing, and yesterday's having been the last day schools were open - not much fun dragging chldren around shops where people are half-going berserk, or setting a good example. What was surprising was finding the local cycle shop empty of other customers, given that ownership of a bike is going to prove invaluable while all this goes on, and well worth a bit of stockpiling in fresh tyres and inner tubes.

On getting out of bed this morning I found myself to be in such a state of anxiety I was unable to stop my legs from trembling. Now I am feeling somewhat more reassured.

Cycling banned in France. I don’t understand that. And running only allowed for 20 mins or something daft. I mean Alpie can do about 7 miles in that time , but us ordinary joggers have hardly got to the top of the first hill in that time.

Take care, S-A, and enjoy your cycling.

[cat]

Is anyone else struggling with the vagueness of gov't advice re travelling and tourist attractions within the UK? Two particular scenarios:

1) Mrs LMP, a close (geographically as well as personally) friend and I have a holiday cottage booked some 70 miles away in Devon starting in a week. We accept that most tourist attractions will be closed but are happy to go for the change of scenery, walks etc. We can if necessary take all our food with us so as not to mix in local shops. Should we, can we, still go? We really can't see any good reason why not as we'd be behaving in exactly the same responsible way in Devon as we would in Cornwall. There is no clear advice yet from the booking company.

2) Local friends own a tourist attraction, one where there need be no close association between visitors. Should they close? The immediate decision isn't helped by the fact that the friends are currently in Japan for a family wedding and the attraction is being run by friends and family. They would probably have insurance coverage if HMG ordered them to close by law but is there any prospect of this? i suspect that current wishy-washy advice may be to ward off such claims, at the behest of the insurance industry.

All comments gratefully rec'd.

1) The government has said people should avoid non-essential travel in the UK. Don't go. You think the people of Devon want you filling up their hospitals?

2) There shouldn't be any tourism because there should be no non-essential travel in the UK. Attracting tourists instead of closing is highly irresponsible.

[Bryn]

Getting more and more fed up hearing the US Fake President refer to the SARS-CoV-2 virus as the "Chinese virus". I propose it be renamed the "Trump virus", after the trumpeted dry cough, of course.

[Bryn]

1) The government has said people should avoid non-essential travel in the UK. Don't go. You think the people of Devon want you filling up their hospitals?

2) There shouldn't be any tourism because there should be no non-essential travel in the UK. Attracting tourists instead of closing is highly irresponsible.

I had been considering driving to my favourite isolated area on the South Devon coast to do some isolated wild camping and wildlife recording but decided against for just the reasons you give.

[Joseph K]

On getting out of bed this morning I found myself to be in such a state of anxiety I was unable to stop my legs from trembling. Now I am feeling somewhat more reassured.

Yes - on Tuesday, coming back from the supermarket, the first time I had gone there when the general panic had started, I was trembling quite a bit, and feared that I might end up spilling some coffee... though I managed to calm myself after a while.

Today, I sauntered to Sainsbury's at around half 2 in the afternoon and miraculously managed to get chopped tomatoes in tomato juice, kitchen roll and soap! Amongst other things.

[Padraig]

In this current global human health emergency, Iran has been particularly hard hit. Whatever one thinks of the ruling group there, the people of Iran deserve al the help we can offer. Time to suspend the sanctions:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/300109

Signed 3.49. Total 6672
Confirmed 17.25. Total 7121

[eighthobstruction]

I'm still trying to figure if Dave2002's post was meant as some kind of rebuke? The problems of having subtletly deficiency personality syndrome, eh, eighth?

....well you know me "toujours la politesse"....cough ahem....

[Serial_Apologist]

Cycling banned in France. I don’t understand that. And running only allowed for 20 mins or something daft. I mean Alpie can do about 7 miles in that time , but us ordinary joggers have hardly got to the top of the first hill in that time.

Take care, S-A, and enjoy your cycling.

Thanks TS

[Serial_Apologist]

....well you know me "toujours la politesse"....cough ahem....

My dad used to often say that. I could never work out who Polly Tess was!

[Anastasius]

In this current global human health emergency, Iran has been particularly hard hit. Whatever one thinks of the ruling group there, the people of Iran deserve al the help we can offer. Time to suspend the sanctions:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/300109

Perhaps if they released a few of those held on trumped-up charges I might feel a bit more magnanimous.

[Bryn]

Listening to BBC News just now, I came to understand why some are stockpiling toilet tissue. It's the way some pronounce the word "aerosol" when describing how the virus is transmitted.