to remind you that we are actually allowed outside?

[Pishposhpashy]

I am following social distancing guidelines.

I am not seeing friends or family.

I am getting nearly all my food delivered online.

I am going out once a day for my allowed daily exercise. Yes, to my local park, because I live in London, in a flat with a 4 year old and no garden.

I am constantly seeing threads on here berating "idiots" for "flocking" to parks and suchlike. But the thing is, if I go to the park for my walk, and see other people there - they aren't "idiots", they are people doing the same thing I'm doing - their ALLOWED daily exercise!

I mean, if you have a garden, bully for you. But I don't, we are allowed out, and I will continue to take my son for a walk in the fresh air once a day.

it is a bit like dropping a small stone into a bowl of water on the ground if you are standing next to the bowl you definitely get wet even at 30cm you will get wet but not as wet, a metre away you will be damp, however run past the bowl at 2 metres while stone is being dropped a wee drop of water might hit you but then again it might not; so the closer you are to the bowl when stone hits the greater the amount of water that will hit you.

the virus is sort of the same the further you are away and for the least time the lower the chances of being hit which is why social distancing works if you quickly pass someone at 2 metres less likely to get virus than if you stop and talk for 10 minutes at 2 metres and so on
so surfaces can still have the virus on hours later but it depends on you touching exactly the same bit of surface as someone else, chances of this depend on surface, a door knob yes almost certainly the same spots, but a much larger surface like a parcel in a large box then the chances are much smaller that you will touch exactly the same spot as previous person.

Exercising is one thing, and everyone should be able to go out to do it. The problem yesterday that caused the parks to close is that people came out and stopped in the parks - sunbathing, or congregating. It is that sort of entitled selfish behaviour that could see us all in total lockdown. Why don't these people care about others? Yesterday, the day of masses in the parks just sitting or lying around - was a day when 708 people died of this disease, which could be contained if we all cared enough about others.

What about all those more vulnerable than them that they help spread it to?

Social. Distancing.

@HoffiCoffi13 welding people into their houses - really? can you say where and how?

I know that in some places, people were quarantined much more severely than anything we have here.- Jeremy Hunt spoke about his sister who returned to China from the UK. Her door was 'sealed' for 2 weeks but I doubt it was welded.

But if you can exercise at home surely that’s the more sensible option. The people I see round here appear to be taking very loose definition of exercise. I’ve managed over 150 miles on my bike, indoors. This will have burnt more calories than the person opposite who seems to go out every few hours to walk their toddler up and down the path. I’m sure she’d claim it was exercise but honestly there cannot be any heart rate increase moving at toddler pace and shed be better doing a few trips up and down the stairs each hour. Everyone on my road has a garden so that activity could be done there instead. It’s not a right to 1 hour outside On the streets like some people seem to think it is.

We have noticed that in the sports clubs I am part of that we’ve all managed to move the majority of our exercise indoors/own garden when we used to go outdoors and see nobody yet now there is a massive influx of people ‘exercising’ outside. If we have these facilities we should use them so it’s less crowded for people who maybe live in a flat and so need to go for a short run, or who have to walk to work. To make it easier for them to distance rather than having to navigate the whole family dragged out for a mooch round the block because ‘they have a right to be outside’.

no of course I didn't miss that bit.

Your previous post says the healthcare advice is not to go out at all. If you personally want to stay indoors the whole time that is down to you, but that isn't what the NHS currently recommends.

It's a balancing act, this virus isn't going to go away until a vaccine is found-potentially another 18 months, and staying indoors until that time would bring its own detriment to health.

lampygirl

The chief medical officer has specifically made reference to the benefits offered by outdoor exercise during this time.

Our council have closed all children's playgrounds because people were letting their children play together. Thursday morning we were woken up by a gang of youths roaming the streets after a night out drinking, the police were there quickly and sorted the problem out but I do worry they are exposing themselves because people can't listen. I came home from work yesterday to find my neighbours all sitting together, children playing closely as well. It's been a lot worse in my area this weekend, the combination of good weather and restlessness are not helping.

@Pishposhpashy my garden is outside and a HIIT circuit is exercise. I’m sorry but a slow family stroll is really pushing the boundaries of exercise IMO. Time outside I agree but if you have a garden you have no excuse to need to go to the park or walk round the block.

👏

if you have a garden you have no excuse to need to go to the park or walk round the block.

I don't have a garden. Nor do many others.

Not sure why so many posters are so outraged that people are doing something the government have expressly said is beneficial and, more to the point, allowed.

So if you actually read my earlier post you’d see that I said if everyone who DID have these facilities used them instead of going for a walk round the block it would be a lot easier for those who have no other option.

I do think though that if you are going to go out for exercise it should actually be exercise, like real heart rate elevating exercise.

I'm hardly going to take my 4 year old out for a jog though, am I - he walks slowly because he is four.

Seriously. What are you going to do - measure the heart rate of everyone out and send them home if it isn't high enough?!

Why? There's precisely zero basis for pretending the only value of taking exercise outside the home at the moment is increasing the heart rate.

I have a garden. Quite a big one. We have just been out for a walk... not a massively fast one as my 6, 4 and 1 year olds were walking too. We saw one other couple in the distance walking their dogs in the 45 mins we were out. My heart rate probably didn’t rise at all.
We behaved perfectly within the government guidance. We didn’t touch anything. Didn’t encounter anyone. I will keep doing it as long as we are permitted to.

Clearly the solution is for your one year old to go out unaccompanied, since apparently you shouldn't go out for a walk yourself if you're not raising your heart rate.

Our garden isn't useable. We've been out for an hour's walk every day and rarely see anyone! Unless I am told I can't, I will continue to take my 3 year old out every day.

Yeah in future VegetableMunge I’ll send him out on his own and tell him to be back in an hour. Then I can go out on my own later and raise my heart rate.

It's the only way hofficoffi.

Interesting thread about life in Spain. Will this be us soon if people can't follow the rules?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3871863-To-talk-to-you-about-life-in-Spain-right-now

minmooch so we are told that we must stay at home except for a handful of reasons, but you seem to think we shouldn't even be allowed to leave for all of those reasons, according to your rules.
So presumably you are happy for me to go to work tomorrow and look after the children of key workers, but not to go for a run. Which do you think puts me at greater risk?

So, those with gardens can sunbathe and have BBQs, and their children can run around and burn off energy bouncing on the trampoline. And if they fancy a change of scene, they can go for a family walk in the countryside or around the block.
But those of us with no garden are thick selfish, entitled twats if we do the same by sitting in the park, or eat our sandwiches on a deserted beach.
That's the problem, isn't it? Some of us are being asked to shoulder more of the burden than others.
Typically, it's those of us with less that are being asked to give up the most.
Maybe those with with gardens should stay at home and leave the public spaces for those with none?

The USA city I live in has shut its parks, cycle paths, beaches and public areas.
We can exercise but only by walking on pavements, gardens are unusual in the city.
It isn't fun but it is doable. I am surprised by the fuss Brits seem to making about all of this.

It isn't fun but it is doable. I am surprised by the fuss Brits seem to making about all of this.

Because it's way busier on the pavements, making it much likelier to cross paths with others at a distance of less than 2 metres than when walking in the park. Closing parks is going to mean more people on the streets walking too closely together.

But if you can exercise at home surely that’s the more sensible option. The people I see round here appear to be taking very loose definition of exercise. I’ve managed over 150 miles on my bike, indoors. This will have burnt more calories than the person opposite who seems to go out every few hours to walk their toddler up and down the path. I’m sure she’d claim it was exercise but honestly there cannot be any heart rate increase moving at toddler pace and shed be better doing a few trips up and down the stairs each hour.

I do think though that if you are going to go out for exercise it should actually be exercise, like real heart rate elevating exercise

So why should you get to dictate whether someone else's exercise is 'worthy' of being allowed.

My mother is 85 and normally she would go out for a gentle walk 2-3 times a week. This is still exercise and is beneficial to her physical and mental health. Just because I'm somebody who runs and visits the gym, it doesn't mean I think everybody else should be doing that.