Starting to get annoyed at people who don't think rules apply to them

[WelcomeToShootingStars]

So the rules say we can go outside for 1 form of exercise a day. Yet I see so many people saying things like "but we live in the countryside and it's quiet", or "my dog is used to 3 walks a day" etc

Then there's the newer stipulation of not driving anywhere non essential. And yet I see people saying it's OK less than 10 miles, or it's OK if you're driving somewhere remote to exercise.

Why are people unable to make such a tiny miniscule sacrifice? And why do they think the rules (designed to keep everybody safe) apply to everybody else but them?

Once you descend into personal attacks you've lost the argument - I was happy to leave my insults up - showed how truly awful the poster was.

LOOOOK! That fecker over looks like he might yet have some light of joy in his soul. GET HIM!!!!!

Fecking Dementors.

Ok so I said my conversation wasn’t with you Dances and I hope you feel better being a *** or something like that.
I have a friend who lost a friend to this last week. His wife was only let in at the end to say goodbye. So yes, probably this is close to home for me.
So I apologise for being rude Dances and I will leave this thread and Mumsnet for a while.

I've reported the bitch comment. There is no call for that language. EVER

Wtaf?

Janus my best friend is very ill at the moment - as is her mother who is 92 and probably unlikely to make it - they decided not to send her to hospital as they did not want her to die alone, it's heart-breaking but perspective is still needed, rationally people taking a second walk to an isolated spot had not effect on her at all - it's not their fault no matter which way you want to spin it.

wtaf?

Great argument.

Your poor friend Janus
I am more than aware of the seriousness of it, I just think the social media policing has got out of hand.

YANBU.
I drove about 10 miles today - my house to my parents gp, then to my parents village to the chemist, Sainsburys local in the village while prescriptions were being made up for bread and milk, dropped off at my parents, took bread and milk to my mother in law then home.

I fully expected to be stopped at some point on the journey.

My glasses have just broken. Very short sighted so I rely on them. My spare pair are ok for me to use (very little prescription change so I haven't bothered the optician for now, but if the spares go, which could happen as they are older frames I will be completely stuck). I will need my husband to drive me there and our daughter would need to wait in the car with him as she is too young to wait on her own.

There's just been an Oxford virologist on the news though saying that it can remain in the air but they don't know for how long do it seems like the answer is "not sure but up to three hours in the right conditions".

Until this is more widely studied and they are able to answer it conclusively I'm not sure that anyone can be reassured.

Well he’s right. It’s been observed remaining in the air up to 3 hours as an artificially created aerosol in lab conditions, which are not the conditions created when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes.

But why does one interview with someone whose name you don’t remember have more weight for you than a WHO brief that references the exact study you are concerned about? Did you even read the link I gave you?

If your view is “take the worst possible case and use that as the measure” I can sympathise but restricting based on the worst case we can imagine rather than the best guess science currently has is going to make the long term outcome for society far worse than it needs to be for no proven gain.

@mooboy

My best friend is very ill at the moment - as is her mother who is 92 and probably unlikely to make it - they decided not to send her to hospital as they did not want her to die alone, it's heart-breaking but perspective is still needed, rationally people taking a second walk to an isolated spot had not effect on her at all - it's not their fault no matter which way you want to spin it.

Exactly this. A point I have been trying to make.

And...

Once you descend into personal attacks you've lost the argument.

Agree with this too. And this is why I stopped engaging with that poster. Fortunately, she has left the thread now.

@Dances

Meh, I don't care about being called a bitch. I'm far more concerned that people think they have the right to lecture their interpretation of the 'Rules' and bully people into submission.

This too. Someone barking orders at me and telling me I am 'wrong' makes jack-all difference to me. I know I am doing nothing wrong and am being as safe and careful as I can be. I don't know why some random on the internet thinks they can tell me what to do, or attempt to tell me off. As if!

Change- no it's not essential. Ok, I will still travel for a walk. It's not pleasant walking around our area with two young children. There are many roads to cross, narrow pavements, dodging trees and bins. The dcs wouldn't be able to run free and let off any energy. It would be much harder to keep to the distance rules on the local pavements than going to a more open space.

Spending 24/7 inside with two young children is hell. They need to burn off energy or they are silly, they don't go to sleep at a sensible time. For my sanity and there own we need wide open spaces to play hide and seek, let them paddle in rivers and run. They can't do this on a pavement walk around our home, with me worried they are going to run into the road.

We were going out daily before total lockdown, we are now going out every few days. It's essential for my mental health and theirs for us to manage the situation and be able to have the mental energy to appropriately home school them. I am doing my absolute best to obey the rules, I was social distancing before being told to but it's finding a balance.

I think the people who are crowing that it's AGAINST THE LAW to go out for more than an hour (it isn't), or drive a short distance to go for a walk (it isn't) are exactly the same people who were moaning that it's only flu and everyone needs to calm down.

In other words... I think what a pp said rules are there 'for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men' hits the nail on the head.

There are previous few wise “men” - should that not be people given that we are in the 21st century? - on this thread!

Argh. Autocorrect!!!

...precious...

Except that quote needs to be amended re. the wise 'men' bit

. I am now not allowed any further than 1km from my house to exercise.

So we're you one of the ones who broke the rules when they were first set? You say now you can't go further than 1km from your house, as though you were doing it up until the point they brought in fines?

@1981m the thing is you are taking it really personally, I am not specifically attacking you at all just pointing out the facts. As long as you are adhering to the social distancing then you are probably ok, but you were trying to say there is no way round it and I was pointing out that it was non essential travel and actually you could just go for a walk. You and your children are no different to everyone elses, everyone's kids need to be out getting rid of their energy but the fact is this whole situation is not ideal so we all have to make sacrifices.

This is the part I don't understand I guess, there is always someone who things are 'different for', I have a child with ADHD and Autism, this is extremely difficult for us but I have to explain to him we can't go and do some of the things we did before. We are lucky to have a small garden so he can get fresh air whenever he wants.

Essentially I don't think it makes a huge difference if you are travelling a short distance as like you say you are less likely to be near anyone in an open space but if restrictions get even stricter you won't be able to do that. You sound responsible and cautious unlike some, I honestly wasn't trying to specifically get at you.

@OtterPotter I don't think anyone has said it's against the law, just not adhering to guidelines (apologies if I am wrong and people actually have). Where do you draw the line though, if everyone drove every day for their exercise then all the fields/woods etc would be really busy. If everyone went out 4 times a day to walk their dogs, again it would be really busy. The police in many areas are saying that you must not be going on drives to take your exercise as this is non essential so I guess people who are told that in their areas will be trying to adhering to that and passing that info on.

I think that is all most people are saying. I don't see the relevance of saying that and that the same people were saying it was just flu etc.

We are being told every day that if we don't stay in then the virus will spread more, hence we are trying to stay in. I don't understand why this is the wrong thing to do. It's bloody hard, there is no doubt about that, along with the financial worries on top the whole situation is shit.

To be honest I think this thread is becoming fairly pointless, everyone has their own views and I think it is clear that we all feel strongly about them so nothing will change anyone's minds. I think we are all just trying to do our best in a shitty situation.

I think what a pp saidrules are there "for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men" hits the nail on the head.
A lot of PP have latched on to this, but I have to say I completely disagree.
I feel it is a conscience clearer, absolving those who do not feel like accepting an inconvenient or annoying rule should apply to them.
If we apply this same rule in different circumstances it wouldn't stand up. Take pretty much any anti-social or illegal activity. I'm sure people could explain away most wrong-doings with what they think to be a good reason.
And think of the 1000s of times we've all seen differing opinions right here on AIBU where the 2 or more opposing parties in question firmly believe they are the ones in the right? And where the OP, as the 'wise man' guided by their own conscience, has had to be told they're completely in the wrong over and over by different posters. And STILL they cannot see it. Who's the 'wise man' then??
Personally, I feel that the cost of everyone interpreting the social distancing guidance as they see fit is a risk that's 100% not worth taking.

I don't think anyone has said it's against the law, just not adhering to guidelines (apologies if I am wrong and people actually have)

Unfortunately yeah they have, not sure about this thread, but I've seen people berated on Facebook and told they're breaking the law. There is nothing in the new law mentioning driving, or saying we can only exercise once a day. There is a huge difference between the 'guidance' and the Legislation. You can't get prosecuted or fined for breaking someone on Facebook's interpretation of the rules.

Having said all of that, yes of course I can see why the guidance is there. Its to discourage everyone from doing the same thing and converging on certain areas, making it unsafe for everyone.

As an example, we live near a local beauty spot which is always busy with cars parked so that people can go walking. Unfortunately, it continued to be full of cars after the lockdown. This made it unsafe for everyone, and although there's no actual law stating that people can't drive from the nearby town to get there, we were really relieved when the police started discouraging people from doing so.

But at the same time, I'm one of the people who drives 5 mins to a secluded area to walk. I do this with a full risk appraisal, I wouldn't park there if there was another car there, I'd move on and go somewhere else (within the parish, not beyond). I did this today, and drove past lots of walkers (including tourists, believe me we know who is local and who isn't) on the usual paths, so that confirmed to me that my drive up the hill was undoubtedly posing less risk to myself and to those people than if I had attempted to walk with them.

Ah I see, thought you meant on this thread.

There are still people not being sensible unfortunately so I think this will be an ongoing discussion over the next couple of months. . .

Latest information about this. So it is unwise to drive to exercise but not against the rules. There is no rule which says exercise is limited to one hour a day. So actually I am not breaking the rules at all.

Clean- I didn't take it as a personal attack don't worry. I will continue to drive for a walk/scoot/bike ride as long as we can. I have been to a few places where I haven't felt comfortable because it was hard to keep the safe distance. I won't be doing that again.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/mar/30/uk-police-guidelines-coronavirus-lockdown-enforcement-powers-following-criticism-lord-sumption?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

I havent seen anything government website re time limits either. Some papers have reported that it should be 15 mins some saying 1 hour but not seen anything official so you're not in the wrong technically, guessing within
an hour means it is local and purely for a bit of exercise which is why it has been quoted so much. At the end of the day if you can genuinely say you are being safe and not putting others at risk then you are doing the right thing. Like I said, we're all trying our best.

I will continue to drive for a walk/scoot/bike ride as long as we can. I have been to a few places where I haven't felt comfortable because it was hard to keep the safe distance. I won't be doing that again

Me too. I risk assess every walk I take - it's MUCH safer to drive a few minutes away from the main walking paths where I know I won't see another soul. Thank goodness for common sense, that Guardian link should help calm some of the hysteria.