To think it's nonsensical that I'm allowed to go to the pub but not the local beach?

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

I'm in one of the Welsh areas of local lockdown, so we're not allowed to leave the local council area without a "reasonable excuse"

The beaches have just reopened to dogs after the summer, and normally I'd take DDog to the nearest local beach, which is 7 miles away. DDog loves the beach. However, this would take me across a county border, so my planned trip is now illegal.

However, it's still totally legal to go to my local indoor pub.

I really can't see how a trip to a breezy beach to walk the dog, keeping 2m+ apart from other people is higher risk than going to the pub. This rule feels like a complete nonsense to me.

Go and enjoy yourself @AvocadosBeforeMortgages. People always need someone to be angry at. Today is a woman walking her dog on an empty beach, tomorrow it will be someone saying hi to their mum from across the garden. Realistically there will be no consequences if you drive a few miles to the beach. Enjoy.

They earn VaT from your pub visit.

@AvocadosBeforeMortgages

OP, to frontline NHS in the middle of a pandemic: "Grow up"
Also OP: "AIBU to break local lockdown rules so that my precious doggy can learn about waves?"

@covidiotidiot Agree 100% with all of your posts. The problem is you will always get 'what about this....' rather than considering the issue in hand. I've noticed the OP has already said what about people travelling into work, someone else has said what about going into a cafe, etc....

@Sockwomble

"here we go.. That's why we have more and more restrictions, because of THAT attitude."

We have more and more restrictions because people behave in ways that spread infection not because someone takes a dog for a walk on a beach.

you might want to re-read your sentence and think about it for a minute...

@sirfredfredgeorge

There is a massive variation in cases from one county to the other

But that's an artifact of the recording being specific to counties, the variation is not specific to counties purely the bucketing of cases into the place. If you're in the eastern border of the Vale of Glamorgan, your risks are much more similar to Cardiff, than those of the west, travelling to Ogmore by Sea is more of a risk of spreading covid between areas of high/low than a person in Ogmore by sea travelling over the border to Ogmore village.

Ogmore by sea and Ogmore village are in the same county.

[quote covidiotidiot]@AvocadosBeforeMortgages

OP, to frontline NHS in the middle of a pandemic: "Grow up"
Also OP: "AIBU to break local lockdown rules so that my precious doggy can learn about waves?"[/quote]
The more you post the more I seriously doubt you are genuinely a doctor rather than an angry mumsnetter who wants to seem more important than all the other angry mumsnetters.

@Dillydallyingthrough

Appreciate it. I really wish I could convey the absolute utter horror of this thing, but at the same time, I wouldn't wish it on anybody.

It’s not about pub or beach.

You would be crossing a county border therefore YABU and your title misleading.

Grow up

Says the person whose justification for ignoring the rules include

he's still trying to understand waves

You're just trolling us now.

@RuffleCrow

"do what you're told for once"?!

Like the rest of us, the op has been living with serious restrictions on her personal liberty for over six months! And like a lot of us, I imagine she's sick of the nonsensical contradictions and double standards. Her driving to the beach, walking her dog and meeting no-one is going to have fuck all effect on infection rates.

This.

I've also had my business destroyed by lockdown, and then received no help from the government even though I have followed all the rules and paid every penny of taxes. I don't even know if I'll be allowed to work in 2021. The government is suggesting my sector is unviable and that I should retrain - but the funding announced for retraining is only available to people who don't have A Levels. As I have A Levels (and a degree, that I paid tuition fees for), I get no help to retrain.

I should have been shielding, but I had to keep working as best I could because there was no funding to allow me to shield. If I had shielded, my income would have been zero, and I would have become street homeless.

As a direct result of the way the government has shown it doesn't care about me, my patience for all things lockdown is wearing very, very thin.

"Just do as you're told" is for naughty schoolchildren, not adults who are capable of critical thinking, with regards to what might actually present a risk.

People always need someone to be angry at. Today is a woman walking her dog on an empty beach
Empty beach? Do you think OP is going to be the only one with this idea?

@12frogsincoats

Or perhaps you could ask yourself what exactly I have been dealing with, that this has made me so angry? There's no way I can prove to you on here that I'm a doctor.

"Just do as you're told" is for naughty schoolchildren, not adults who are capable of critical thinking, with regards to what might actually present a risk.

This is very important. ‘Just do as you’re told’ is the response of someone who knows they don’t have a reasonable and logical argument.

"you might want to re-read your sentence and think about it for a minute..."

Did the crowded beaches cause a second wave? I don't think they did. And we are not even talking a crowded beach here....

"Just do as you're told" is for naughty schoolchildren, not adults who are capable of critical thinking, with regards to what might actually present a risk.

I am sorry but the fact that you cannot understand that it's not about WHAT you are doing, but about WHERE you are doing it in this instance, really doesn't put you in a group with adults who are capable of critical thinking...

And to people saying it’s guidelines, maybe in England, but in Wales it’s enforceable and, at least in my area, the police are enforcing it. Might not be the case in OP’s area, but here they were at some beaches’ car parks sending people home...

I really can't see how a trip to a breezy beach to walk the dog, keeping 2m+ apart from other people is higher risk than going to the pub. This rule feels like a complete nonsense to me.

At the beach there is no one overseeing what is happening, so social distancing can easily go out the window.

At a responsible pub, there are measures in place and hopefully people overseeing that rules are followed.

@AvocadosBeforeMortgages

None of what you have said is remotely relevant to your OP. Measures have been put in place to try and contain a high prevalence of coronavirus in your local area. You have decided that these measures don't apply to you, because your dog needs to learn about waves. These rules probably won't be in place forever, and there are probably umpteen other places where you can walk your dog more locally, but nope. Doggy needs his waves.

Any one of us could decide to proceed as we saw fit, based on our own personal risk assessment of any given situation. This isn't appropriate in a pandemic. It's clear that an awful lot of people think they should be able to do whatever they like, whenever they like, regardless of external circumstances - "wah wah wah I'm a grown-up, you don't tell me what to do". Western society at its finest.

You are not going to spread covid by walking your dog on the beach op. I'm also in one of the welsh lockdown areas. We followed the rules to the letter last time. This time they are all about keeping as much of the economy going, rather than keeping us safe. Well sod that. I'm close to the border of a large amount of moorland. Literally a few miles. We'll still go up there. I won't be going near other people. It is actually safer for us to go for walks there than more popular beauty spots in my county. I'm following the science not bullshit rules to make the Gov't look like they are doing something.

@23TheKeatingFive

Au contraire, "just do as you're told" is an entirely reasonable response to somebody with the same sense of civic responsibility as the average four-year-old. "I want to break the rules because my doggy needs to learn about waves".

Is keeping the economy going not important? Austerity also kills & there needs to be a balance. Surely the OP doesn't want other businesses destroyed by lockdown or reducing all risk?

As a direct result of the way the government has shown it doesn't care about me, my patience for all things lockdown is wearing very, very thin.

that's ok then, feel free to ignore the rules.

I feel like having a drink tonight, for all the same reasons. Fuck the government I can drive after a few, I won't be dead drunk and nothing will happen. I can use my own judgement, I don't need to be treated like a child.

Yep, YABU. They can’t have exceptions to the rules for each individual circumstance; it’s just not possible.

Your dog may “love” the beach, but he isn’t missing it. It has no sentimental or special value for him and while he might go an enjoy digging/the waves etc. while he’s there, not going isn’t going to affect him at all.

You and people like you who are continuing to break the rules because they “don’t see the harm” are the exact reason we have local lockdowns and tough restrictions in the first place. All you’re doing is prolonging them.

There are a million inconsistencies with the imposition of blanket bans. Yes, they are frustrating, but the government can't do a personal risk assessment for everyone's individual habits. They need easily communicated, easily understood simple rules.

So YABU to thing you deserve an opt-out. Stop griping and be a responsible citizen.