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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:
Original poster
ShootsFruitAndLeaves · 12/04/2020 09:37

@GnomeDePlume working on an allotment would be considered both exercise as well as 'reasonable excuse' for the reasons you mention since if work is not done then you will not get your produce. This is necessary as farmers, who can work unrestricted during the epidemic.

www.nsalg.org.uk/news/covid19-information/

OP posts:
Original poster
ShootsFruitAndLeaves · 12/04/2020 09:41

@JudyCoolibar if you were on your way home from work (that cannot be done from home) and you stopped to sunbathe, then you would have a cast-iron rock-solid excuse since clearly your reason for leaving home was to go to work. Your stopping on the way home is incidental to that and is in no possible way illegal since your leaving home at 8am or whatever was entirely legal, and in no way is made illegal at 5pm when you stop to get some sunshine.

Equally if you left your office at lunch time to sunbathe for half an hour that would also be legal. The rules do not stop you leaving your office by any definition.

That doesn't of course stop plod telling you to sod off home in any case, but there is no way a fine could be made to stick.

OP posts:
GnomeDePlume · 12/04/2020 10:08

@ShootsFruitAndLeaves thank you

Notredamn · 12/04/2020 10:22

Your smartarsery doesn't work. Whilst it's true that no laws have been passed due to a lack of time and the nature of the temporary circumstances, you know full well that you cannot physically shop or make your way to or from work, or work whilst simultaneously sunbathing. You know it goes against rules. And you can and probably will be arrested as the police have the power to do so. And you know it.

Bearbehind · 12/04/2020 10:45

would that make it okay for me to go to my allotment twice a day?

Why would you need to go twice a day?

I can see once a day being OK for exercise but why is twice necessary or essential?

Bearbehind · 12/04/2020 10:48

OP, you are making yourself look incredibly foolish now

Just because doing something, whether that be sunbathing or what ever else you fancy, wasn’t the primary reason for going out, it still doesn’t make it OK do just do it anyway as part of the initial trip

I honestly can’t believe people are so entitled that they continue to argue the toss over something that is so obviously unacceptable

LittleLittleLittle · 12/04/2020 11:00

OP just do some yoga, pilates or some body weight exercises instead of arguing with the police about "exercising your mind" and sunbathing. People exercising slowly in green spaces on the ground in skimpy exercise clothes have been left alone.

LonelyFromCorona · 12/04/2020 11:09

OP - middle class mumsnet will never support you on this. Most mums here live in houses with big gardens. I feel so sorry for people living in inner city tower blocks and apartments right now, a lot of whom probably get shamed on social media for a daily walk by people with gardens who think it's a competition to not leave the house at all for as long as possible (not hard when you can sit in the sun/shade all day and exercise in your own garden)

mouldygrapes · 12/04/2020 11:19

I guarantee we wouldn’t be having people trying to look for loopholes if it was the middle of winter. It’s the British Pavlovian effect whenever there’s the tiniest bit of fine weather to want to rush out in it semi-naked, regardless of the situation.

And no, @LonelyFromCorona, we don’t all “live in houses with big gardens”. I live in a tiny flat with a tiny garden. I’ve hardly been out in in because I’ve been working very long shifts looking after people who are terribly sick from this virus. I’m actually off this weekend but I don’t want to go out to the shops or even for a walk because a lot of idiots round here aren’t following the distancing rules and it’s stressing me out. Yes I’m lucky to have my tiny garden to sit in, but sunbathing is absolutely not an essential, whichever way you try to spin it.

GnomeDePlume · 12/04/2020 11:23

@Bearbehind my allotment is about a quarter of an acre. 17 (12 foot by 16 foot) beds which need to be dug, rotavated, sown/planted/tended depending on what is in them. We also have a greenhouse and polytunnel which need to be maintained and prepared for the new season.

At the moment a couple of long trips over the weekend are just about enough. In a month or so we will need to be watering regularly. In the height of summer we can be watering every other day which on its own can take a half day (no hose watering just backwards and forwards to the tap with watering cans).

The term allotment covers a multitude of situations. Not all allotments are just a few beds with more time spent on chatting than growing.

Bearbehind · 12/04/2020 11:30

gnome, I still don’t get why you’d need to go twice a day?

If you’re claiming that tending your allotment is ‘essential’ then why can’t you just go once and stay as long as is needed?

At least that way there’s less to and from journeys

Snog · 12/04/2020 11:39

I have been amazed by how often the people who are having a go at others not following guidance to the letter and beyond the letter think it's ok for themselves not to follow the guidance. One of my friends got on the bus to town and had a haircut 3 days before full lockdown and is on FB all the time about protecting the NHS.

See also second home owners like Kirstie Allsopp who maintains that Devon is her primary residence despite spending the vast majority of her time in her large family home in London.

midsomermurderess · 12/04/2020 11:45

It really doesn't summerofloaf. There has to be a balancing exercise, if possible. Otherwise, you open the way to totalitarianism.

midsomermurderess · 12/04/2020 11:46

I mean talking about 'it's no time for worrying about civil liberties'. We have to be vigilant re the virus and vigilant about state and police over reach too.

GnomeDePlume · 12/04/2020 11:56

@Bearbehind no toilet at the allotment. If we are planning a whole day on the allotment we still need to come home to use the toilet and take a break out of the sun.

Bearbehind · 12/04/2020 12:00

no toilet at the allotment. If we are planning a whole day on the allotment we still need to come home to use the toilet and take a break out of the sun.

gnome, clearly the rules don’t apply to you either so crack on - please make sure you don’t do anything that might be different or inconvenient during this crisis

BentNeckLady · 12/04/2020 12:35

Don’t most allotmenteers piss in a bucket in their shed and then put it on the compost?

LalalalalaLlama · 12/04/2020 12:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GnomeDePlume · 12/04/2020 12:54

@Bearbehind what I want to do is work out what exactly the rules are in my situation. If I were to go twice is that breaking the rules? If I need to come home after half an hour to use the toilet am I then not allowed to go out again?

Everyone's situation is different. We were given rules and examples for those rules. Like everyone else I am trying to work out how the rules apply in my situation.

If my allotment was just used to produce a few vegetables and pieces of fruit then it would definitely fall into the exercise category.

As it is it produces much of the fruit and vegetables for a family of 6 adults through the summer. It also produces the preserves and stored vegetables we use year round.

Is it essential or exercise? Do the farming or allotment rules apply? The land we work is categorised as agricultural.

GnomeDePlume · 12/04/2020 12:59

@BentNeckLady I'm sure some of the men do. Not sure I would want to.

RandomComment · 12/04/2020 13:16

Op sounds like a kid in a classroom. “I talk but I don’t distract anyone”, “I only turn around for one second”

Original poster
ShootsFruitAndLeaves · 12/04/2020 13:18

gnome, clearly the rules don’t apply to you either so crack on - please make sure you don’t do anything that might be different or inconvenient during this crisis

Some people find it convenient to follow their version of the rules (which aren't actually written down in any form) and get outraged that someone might be - shock horror - driving (or whatever) to their nearby allotment twice a day.

I half expect some of the covidiots ranting about following 'rules' to want to bring back spanking to punish the offenders. It's ridiculous.

OP posts:
mouldygrapes · 12/04/2020 13:30

@ShootsFruitsandLeaves - no it’s not about wanting to punish people who aren’t following the rules.

The longer people “bend” the rules, the higher transmission will be. The higher transmission is, the longer the lockdown will be. This also runs the risk of a more stringent lockdown and possibly curfews.
Remember the potential “punishment” for being out longer than you ABSOLUTELY have to us an increased risk of catching a serious and potentially deadly infection. I will tell you with firsthand experience that it is badly affecting people of all ages and all health backgrounds. But sure, sunbathing is more important

mouldygrapes · 12/04/2020 13:30

*is not us

Notredamn · 12/04/2020 13:53

Gnome your full day out minus the toilet trip home isn't classed as exercise nor does it fall into work or essential trips. HTH
People really are taking the piss and are acting wide-eyed to excuse it.