Lockdown - was I in the wrong?

[JigsawGirl11]

So today me and DH went out for a bike ride (I will admit straight away that we didn't ride at all before lockdown and bought bikes so we can take advantage of the daily exercise a little better)

We took a bottle of water and a little packet of 6 mini sausage rolls we had in the fridge. After around 45 mins we sat down at a bench had a drink and ate the sausage rolls, police drove past once, went about 200 yards to the next roundabout and came back and told us off.

The policeman was pretty polite and apologetic, he said that we need to move on as if his Sargent saw he would fine us on the spot.

Obviously we moved on, there's no point trying to push the boundaries and I know health and the general stay at home advice is important. Personally I am a bit put out by such an infringement of what's usually a basic human right and the common sense that it we didn't have sausage rolls we prob would have been able to have a break/drink of water whilst on the bike ride.

I hope no-one is going to jump on about scold me like a child, obviously I thought what we did was okay or we wouldn't have done it but I'm interested to hear other people's opinions.

I despair !!

You are being asked to stay at home to protect the NHS.

If you fall off your new bikes and injure yourself, it will be people like my Brother who has worked 100 + hours in ICU over the last 7 days, who will have to deal with the outcome.

Why cant you just stay at home as requested, or go for a walk like other people.

*sorry typos - that should say we saw groups

I don't get it! Go do the bike ride, take a bottle of water & have a swig while on your bike (takes a second) if you're hot/thirsty, carry on cycling back home & then have your sausage roll. Why the need to stop, touch the park bench. Someone else sees you & decides it's ok for you to have a rest on the bench & they decide to do it (& so on & so on). All potential risks of passing the virus on.

Some people would eventually like to come out of this lockdown & see shielded loved ones who are ill & on their own potentially for months at the worse time imaginable. Or just get back to work before their business goes belly up. Or just take the kids to the beach before they go stir crazy. The more people who decide it's ok just to push those boundaries a little bit, the less likely this is to happen any time soon

I've seen people doing all kinds of stupid stuff like you've mentioned and more, like climbing over metal stiles, letting their kids run up and grab the fence round the playground, leaning on fences, using taped off outside exercise machines etc.

I don't know what they're thinking really or why they imagine those are safe things to do at the moment. Surely people know that if someone with the virus touches something then it will stay? I just don't get it. Every time we leave the house I tell my daughter not to touch anything at all.

OP, you're not supposed to touch your face while you are out. Why would you eat??

We have to stop sometimes for a rest and a drink... my youngest is 1yo so she cant walk that far without a rest... but we are on moorland in the middle of nowhere and rarely even see one other walker so I dont suppose anyone minds... I'd avoid benches tho they are hard surfaces where loads of people have sat, great place for the virus to live... also its probs not a good idea to take food out with you that'sushing it a bit it's supposed to be exercise not a picnic

Go for a ride. Stop briefly for a drink and eat your sausage roll (if you can’t go for more than 30 mins without eating then perhaps you shouldn’t plan a bike ride for longer?). Don’t sit down on a bench. Job done.

Yes, you were in the wrong.

You are allowed to exercise, stopping on a bench isn’t exercise though is it? Just think you do it, and studies have shown how much more the virus can spread if people are running or cycling, you sit down, unaware you are a carrier, someone else comes along 5 minutes later, sits on the bench and it transfers to them. Or so wine who has it has sat on the bench five minutes before and transfers it to you. Exercise is go out of your door, run, walk cycle or whatever, don’t stop and come back

Cant avoid styles sometimes tho... but as I've said we are very rural so hopefully no one will have touched the style for many hours if at all that day .... but benches by the side of a road are probably not very safe at all

Someone not so wine

Why are people incapable of going anywhere without packing snacks? If children get hungry on a walk its tough. OP how do you know who has been sat on that bench? With their snotty hands all over it. Ugh. Exercise and go home.

Yes you can. Of course you can. Just don't go that way. There are lots of places right near me I can't go because there isn't space to have 2m between us and someone coming the other way etc, so I just don't use them. The virus can last for 72 hours on some things can't it?

When my gym finally reopens, I might suggest that they stop hour long classes half way through for a sausage roll break. Oh, wait, that's real exercise.

That was @Krisskrosskiss

Also can’t really get my head around stopping to eat in the middle of exercising?! It’s never occurred to me to stop and scarf a sausage roll during a 5k run!

It's the difference between 'exercise' and a 'day out'. Questions put to a government minister about a week ago suggested walk up to hour, run up to half hour and bike ride in between.

If you are needing to eat whilst on your exercise you've been out too long.

@Rollergirl11 You're clearly not doing it right

@HeresToTheCrazyOnes ditto!! How utterly bizarre. 🤷‍♀️

Everyone knows that in England eating sausage rolls outside constitutes a picnic so you were definitely in the wrong imo.

OP I think the rules are OTT
But you broke them and they told you politely, which is something, given how police are behaving.

@ohlook as I said we are very rural and its moorland it's really not a good idea to leave the actual footpaths.. I've learnt that the hard way.. not to mention it disturbs the nesting birds if you try and scramble through heather... also you never know where the gap in the fences are.. some land is privately owned and if you try and just wander away from the actual paths you can end up fanced in and having to walk miles to find a way out... which is usually a style

You are in the wrong- if everyone did the same thing the park would be crowded with people sitting down having snacks ! I literally give up - the rules are so clear - you do your exercise , you don't stop and then you go home !!!!

@HeresToTheCrazyOnes carb loading! 😂😂

Some people are so incredibly thick, I wonder how they ever went about their normal lives before lockdown.

No, sitting on a bench (munching sausage rolls or not) is not exercise.

If you can't manage a bike ride without hanging about on a bench, don't cycle so far.