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Original poster

Coronavirus, gardens, 'sunbathing' etc.

280 replies

ShootsFruitAndLeaves · 10/04/2020 16:44

You can legally sunbathe in your private garden all day long. But some people don't have gardens.

There are people complaining on social media to the police about people sunbathing on municipal land. Not large numbers of people, literally two people enjoying the sunshine and minding their own business. There are people replying that they will go out and assault them, etc.

There is in fact no law against sunbathing. It just seems to be bringing out the neighbourhood arseholes to try to enforce non-existent rules. Nobody is going to die because someone went out to the shop and decided to stop to sunbathe on a 16 acre meadow on the way home. Nobody. The 'but 1000 people died today' stuff is not related to that. Keep to your own household, don't mix with other people, don't leave home without a reasonable excuse.

OP posts:
notchickenagain · 10/04/2020 21:18

Frankie if you are well go out and volunteer. You don't have to sit and stare at the walls hating people who are 'better off' than you are, it's self-destructive. Do something for the community like deliver food or medicine to the elderly. Otherwise stay in, it's to protect YOU. To keep YOU safe.

Frankiecandle · 10/04/2020 21:19

Err , you know fuck all about me. So go save your judgement for someone else.

DeathByBoredom · 10/04/2020 21:20

Wtf notchickenagain

Original poster
ShootsFruitAndLeaves · 10/04/2020 21:21

Just to summarise:

  1. there is definitely no law specifically prohibiting sunbathing.
  2. some people are arguing that the law doesn't permit you to sunbathe, but that's not in fact clear-cut
  3. people break the laws all the time and generally get outraged if you point out their lawbreaking to them.
  4. no, I'm not impressed by 'won't someone think of the covid-19 dead' as an argument. Thinking about it doesn't help anyone. Keeping distant from others does.
  5. no, I don't think we should abandon the rule of law because of covid-19 dead, we should enforce the laws we have. Not the laws the police would like. It would be very easy to change the law, as it's delegated legislation, so arguments about the dead don't really cut the mustard.
  6. no, I don't think we need to all be miserable in sympathy with the covid-19 dead.
  7. yes, I am much more worried about police overstepping their authority than the very nominal extra spread of virus by a few idiots. I don't want a gestapo police force in Britain. I do think that by closing restaurants, working from home, etc., we have very clearly reduced the spread rate from several per infection to below 1.
  8. No, I don't think we should obsess about the small possibility of the odd extra infection. When we had no covid-19 cases we could possibly stop it. Now we have hundreds of thousands of cases it's about reducing the spread from 3 per person (or whatever) to 0.7 per person (or whatever), not worrying about 0.7 vs 0.700001 or other.
  9. No, that doesn't mean I think it's ok to invite your cousins round for a BBQ.
10. No, the 0.00001 really doesn't matter. No, I'm sorry it doesn't. You are more likely to get run over crossing the road. Yes, one extra person will die of covid-19 or something. Yes, they matter, but I don't see you all signing up to government black boxes in your car to stop thousands of road deaths, so no, you don't really want to eliminate all unnecessary deaths. The goal is 'low transmission', not the impossible 'no transmission'. You will die, probably not from covid-19: in the mean time it's best not to obsess too much about which specific risk will be the one that kills you.
OP posts:
Witchlight · 10/04/2020 21:21

If two people sunbathing on a nondescript piece of land of no interest to anyone beyond walking distance, why not a thousand people. Then oops, everyone is too close.

The rules are quite clear. There are no special little snowflakes, who can break or bend the rules without it costing other people’s lives.

It is people like you who are reinterpreting the rules and twisting them, then defending the twits who will cause the more deaths - and you are aiding and abetting them.. The rules don’t specifically say you can’t sunbathe on the way home, they also don’t say you shouldn’t go for a little picnic in the A&E department - but only a complete idiot would. That is why people are calling out the idiots.

Bearbehind · 10/04/2020 21:22

What’s wrong with notchicken said?

People are very quick to criticise but I’ve yet to see a single alternative?

Frankiecandle · 10/04/2020 21:23

I don't hate people who are better off than me you utter utter snob. I hate people who have no empathy for people who don't live the life they do.

Bearbehind · 10/04/2020 21:24

1. there is definitely no law specifically prohibiting sunbathing.

I’m not reading beyond the fucking idiocy, selfishness and arrogance of anyone who writes this

7Days · 10/04/2020 21:26

frankie you are not answering what people are asking. Which is What's the alternative?

Bearbehind · 10/04/2020 21:27

I hate people who have no empathy for people who don't live the life they do.

No one has said they don’t have empathy

I’ll ask for about the 5th time - what’s the alternative?

Frankiecandle · 10/04/2020 21:30

The alternative is not to go squealing to the police if someone is sunbathing in a field with no one else in sight.

SirGawain · 10/04/2020 21:31

@ShootsFruitAndLeaves

It doesn't really matter what the law is: Covid19 can't read!

Now go back to your selfish fantasy world!

Original poster
ShootsFruitAndLeaves · 10/04/2020 21:34

I’m not reading beyond the fucking idiocy, selfishness and arrogance of anyone who writes this

I sunbathe at home. What selfishness are you seeing here exactly? I am not affected by this at all.

It's very clear to me the idiocy here, that is the people obsessing about people being outdoors in public and not paying any regard to the actual risks. It's as if slavish devotion to some supposed ruleset is more important than actually avoiding risky behaviour.

If someone is sunbathing in the middle of a large field on a housing estate then don't go sunbathe next to them. Surely this is common sense? Hell, I wouldn't sunbathe next to them covid-19 or not.

OP posts:
Littleposh · 10/04/2020 21:34

@Bearbehind it wasn't

Bearbehind · 10/04/2020 21:35

The alternative is not to go squealing to the police if someone is sunbathing in a field with no one else in sight.

And where has one single person said they’d reported this - if you have private access to acres of field with no one else in sight then no one gives a shit

You’re talking about people living in built up areas - people that don’t own such land and would have to travel to such areas

They can’t sunbathe locally and they can’t travel to remote areas

So what’s the alternative?

Topseyt · 10/04/2020 21:36

Many years ago now we lived in a flat in London, we had no garden or outdoor space of our own. We no longer live in London and have a house with a garden.

I know which type of property I would find it easiest to follow the rules in. I think that the rules need to be adhered to. I realise that that is much easier in my current circumstances than it would have been in my previous ones when simply staying inside for hours on end each day would have driven me loopy.

I don't condone the rule breaking. It needs to be dealt with. However, I am not totally unsympathetic to the circumstances of many city dwellers and I am very relieved to no longer be in that situation myself.

Bearbehind · 10/04/2020 21:39

OP, I can only assume you are just here for the shit and giggles and you’re being deliberately provocative

If you really don’t see the problem with everyone thinking sunbathing in public areas doesn’t go against the government instruction to stay at home then I’m not wasting time explaining it to you further

I just hope you don’t live near me

cannotmakemymindup · 10/04/2020 21:49

I think this has already been noted but is affecting BAME in built up areas harder already and something like not getting out in the sun is going to be detrimental to their health. I know Coronavirus is an obvious risk but darker skinned people need up to six times as much sunlight to make enough vitamin D naturally and more Caucasian populations need 15-30 minutes a day to make the same amount. So to the pp who said you'll get enough vitamin D on a walk to the shops, yes this true but only if Caucasian. So I wish people were allowed to sunbathe especially if it's actually needed.

However the alternative is to state and ensure everyone is getting (free) supplements of Vitamin D tablets especially those from a BAME background. Otherwise they'll be other health complaints or maybe even more sick people from COVID-19 as their immune systems are run down further than usual with lack of exercise and sunlight. And no sitting in front of window wont do the job.

I think this feels a bit close to home as I am mixed race and it definitely worries me. I do thankfully have a (shared) garden so am aware that I am luckier than many.

Maryann1975 · 10/04/2020 21:52

I think this issue just shows the haves and the have nots. If you have a garden you can not possibly see why those without want to sit in the park and enjoy the sun. Those of us with gardens are in such a privileged position and I don’t think the majority appreciate how much of a luxury having a garden is.

I can’t imagine how hard it is for those living in a small flat at the moment.

I agree people shouldn’t be sunbathing in parks, but I can completely see why they are doing it.

Bearbehind · 10/04/2020 21:55

If you have a garden you can not possibly see why those without want to sit in the park and enjoy the sun

Where has anyone said they cannot see why people wouldn’t want to sunbathe in the park?

Wanting to do something and not being able to do it in order to save lives are totally different things

The trouble is, we’ve become to used to ‘I want so I’ll have / do’

Flaxmeadow · 10/04/2020 21:57

How many people ranting on this thread have a garden?

I don't have a garden. It would be very easy for me to sit on a bench somewhere or in the park sun bathing and I would probably get away with it if I was sneaky enough about it , but its against the advice and so I'm not going to do it

Two people sunbathing on 16 acres is not an issue. At no point in history are these 16 acres likely to become crowded, because they are not in central London or otherwise notable.

But this is not the point of having regulations that are designed to help the NHS and prevent it becoming overwhelmed because EVERYONE must stick by the SAME rules. It's irrelevant where you live or if its rural or urban. Or if you have a garden or not. Or whether you're rich or poor.

Yes it's a bastard sometimes that we cant lounge around in the sunshine and probably more of an inconvenience for some than others but we must stay inside, unless for 1 hour exercise near where we live, or to buy esential food or to get medicine. We have to do this to help the NHS and the doctors and nurses working so hard within it. What part of this don't people get ffs

I’m not seeing sunbathing in that list

I'm not seeing don't share a cigarette with your mate across the road either Hmm but just because it isnt in the list it doesn't make it a good idea to do it

JudyCoolibar · 10/04/2020 21:58

You can leave home with a reasonable excuse, such as shopping

That does not prevent you sunbathing while you are on your shopping trip

Yes, it does, because it is absolutely clear that, in relation to each of the exceptions, you are only allowed to go out for the specified activity. You simply cannot interpret the law to mean that, unless something is specifically proscribed, you are allowed to do it on the way to or from the permitted activity.

Why on earth would Parliament have bothered to give us a long list of things we are allowed to do if what it actually intended to say was "and by the way you can do anything else you fancy whilst you're about it". Self-evidently, Parliament took the sensible course of listing what we are allowed to do whilst out, rather than attempting the absolutely impossible task of providing an endless list of what we aren't allowed to do.

Frankiecandle · 10/04/2020 21:59

You want an online shop? You get it. Because people who work in supermarkets are still at work.

You are not saving lives there.

Frankiecandle · 10/04/2020 22:01

You pick and choose what ever suits your lock down.

JudyCoolibar · 10/04/2020 22:02

It is in no way clear to me that it is less reasonable for John to take his bicycle out of his garage and go ride it, than it is for Fred to go out of his flat and sunbathe on a local field. Neither activity is 'essential', but both are sensible and likely to be beneficial to both parties well-being

It's perfectly clear. The exception given in the legislation is for taking exercise. Riding a bike is taking exercise. Lying around in a field isn't.

Nowhere in the list of what constitutes reasonable excuses is it suggested that can go out for something that we deem "likely to be beneficial" to our wellbeing.