The “I just had a sit down in the park with crisps” brigade

[Candodad]

You are the problem. The rules are simple. Go out and exercise and then go home. Just that, nothing more than that.

To be fair then problem is actually bigger than that and has been brewing for years as we increasingly become a country with rules but almost everyone has an excuse for why that rule shouldn’t apply to them/their child/family.

I think you have been given a hard time @Candodad.

I totally get where you are coming from when you said people are eager to push boundaries and act like the rules don’t apply to them. The Government hasn’t helped either as they are themselves are making advice more complicated. For example Long walk short rest allowed, short walk long rest not allowed etc. Off course people are going to take the piss.

Where I live in a village people are going about life as nearly normal as you can get. Taking dogs in car to be walked several times a day, visiting each other’s households, having family/friends visit, going out as a family in car etc. None of them partake in the appreciative weekly hand clap either. Pardon my french but they are selfish twats.

Message is simple, Stay Home and Save Lives.

Just for the record I’m no one to snitch either.

I am amazed at how quickly, 'normal', 'nice' people turn into pseudo-nazis determined to tittle-tattle on their neighbours for any perceived infringement of the rules. Coronavirus is only passed on person-to-person. If you are not in close contact with an infected person, you will not get it.

*Not one to snitch either.

So if they were eating a healthy snack that would be fine? Because your title says 'I just had to sit down with a packet of crisps' but you're actually saying no stopping.

Or is this a dig at those who stop to eat crisps or similar? Be honest.

Because I shop every two weeks plus at the moment. I buy fruit and yoghurts as part of that shop. But the fruit doesn't last two weeks, neither do the yoghurts.

We have a rule that the things that go off the quickest get eaten first. So fruit and salad bits, yoghurts then other snacks like cereal bars and crisps. So if DS and I were out for a walk and felt a snack was needed we could have fruit the first week and cereal bars/crisps the next.

I would say if you're out getting fruit every few days you're also part of the problem. So maybe the crisp eaters are doing the right thing and using up what's in their house before they stock up on even more 'stuff'....

Someone needs a hobby.

Have you considered taking some crisps to a park?

If I sit on a bench on my own stuffing my face with crisps or whatever I desire who exactly am I spreading the virus to?

Have a word with TFL for running overcrowded services, instead of picking on people.

None of them partake in the appreciative weekly hand clap either.

The clapping is not compulsory. Personally I think it's a pile of wank but it's up to individuals whether or not they participate.

I also agree that people saying that the few sitting for too long on a bench will "make lockdown last longer" is annoying. They won't. There is a level of non-compliance factored in, and the lockdown isn't designed to keep us all in until the virus fairy magics it away. Plus, if they were going to impose more restrictions here they'd have done it over Easter.

I’m sure the 5 pages of comments have said this but you are wrong. The rules have changed to include being able to drive to the country and have lunch there.

I've said it before on other threads, there's following the rules which, yes is obviously good.

The thing is though, coronavirus doesn't know what those rules are. It doesn't know not to infect you because you're on your one walk of the day, or because you're having a rest which is allowed.

Leaving your house increases your risk of getting this virus. If people decide that actually, that risk is too much for them, then that's fair enough. If you feel increasing your risk is a preference for you, then the rules are there to try and stop your preference increasing the risks to anyone but yourself.

Follow the rules, understand that the rules do not protect you from the virus and try and consider others.

Where we live (not UK) you are not even allowed out of your home to exercise.

If you believe the latest estimates from the Imperial College, ability to exercise does not make much difference to the R0 coefficient (the rate of C19 transmission) - the chart is on page 8:

institute.global/sites/default/files/inline-files/A%20Sustainable%20Exit%20Strategy%2C%20Managing%20Uncertainty%2C%20Minimising%20Harm.pdf

A few countries with stricter lockdowns appear to have slightly higher transmission rates than the UK. Actually, UK seems to be doing pretty well in terms of keeping R0 down. It looks like the risk of transmission in parks or other outdoor spaces with appropriate social distancing is quite low (and can in fact be very close to zero).

Having said that, I still think people should not be sitting on benches or sunbathing for extended periods of time. Park space is limited and it is only fair to expect visitors to keep moving. It is much harder to maintain the 2m distance when every single bench next to a narrow footpath is occupied.

I can confirm they were iced but it was so warm, the icing ran all over the plastic tub I transported them in, hence the ten minute stop while my child ensured they’d licked every spare bit of yellow icing from every inch of the tub. Under normal circumstances, it takes circa 30 seconds to eat cupcakes on a walk.

I had a powernap on the grass the other day whilst walking in my local country park.

Not exercising INCREASES your risk . Fat and unfit ppl have lower survival rates. Grim but true

Yes. The high obesity rate here is one of the reasons why the death rate in the UK is so high but nobody wants to admit that because it means you have to look to your own behaviour rather than just blaming the government all the time.

As for stopping to eat a bag of crisps while out on your daily exercise, does anyone actually do this or is it a figment of the OP's imagination?

Where we live (not UK) you are not even allowed out of your home to exercise. None of us have died from not having a stroll and filled roll in the park or a little sit down and a satsuma.

You don't know that, it's too early to say what the effects from being stuck inside will be, physically and mentally, in the long term.

Don't be smug.

None of them partake in the appreciative weekly hand clap either

I didn't last week. It's not a reverse version of the Two Minutes Hate.

Feckin curtain twitchers full of who is doing social isolation the best.
I am fortunate (In some ways to live in a lightly populated area. I was out for several hours yesterday. Took a bottle of water, listened to Liza Tarbuck on my phone and did indeed sit on a bench in a completely empty park in the sunshine as part of it. Saw a handful of people during the entire time I was out. People are not universally stupid.

@1moreRep

from those who voted for a government known to starve the nhs from funding

I do love whataboutery

What about the government that loaded the NHS with billions of pfi debts, claiming to have invested but in reality paying over the odds and delaying the payment (and massively increased it)?

One of the scariest things about the pandemic has been the rise of frothy-mouthed, teeth-spitting, curtain-twitching self-deigned sentinels of policing thy neighbour (often those lacking critical logical analysis tools).

The almost lustful willing and yearning to gallop ever faster toward totalitarianism is absolutely shocking and disturbing.

It’s easy to see how a fascist state could emerge with a rise of mindless and nonsensical individuals finally finding their niche as newly knighted power-wielding Thought Police.

Bore off 🙄

I think here will be some shocking stories about the awful things that happened because people stayed at home, at the end of this. How many children won't turn up back at school, how many women will never make it back to work, how many people living alone haven't had anyone check on them for weeks....?

The lockdown was no doubt necessary but to say no one has died as a direct result is very optimistic.

Where we live (not UK) you are not even allowed out of your home to exercise

Some governments have taken the opportunity to control their populations well beyond what the evidence suggests is required.

Anyway, MN is a UK website, so funnily enough, we'll generally be talking about the UK position.

Park space is limited and it is only fair to expect visitors to keep moving I agree with this although it wouldn't be as limited if a lot of parks had been kept open. Councils say it's because they were too busy, but it probably has more to do with saving money by not having to send someone around the parks to unlock and lock them up each day.

None of them partake in the appreciative weekly hand clap either
in my experience, the ones who clap the loudest are usually the ones who either disregard the rules, or who appoint themselves the rules police. all are equally damaging

Oh look, another fool making up their own rules and expecting the rest of us to abide by them. Read the actual published guidelines.