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.

Covigliantes out in force again bore off

The rules haven't changed - they have been further clarified because people (including the police) kept making up their own, increasingly strict, versions of them until we got to a point of total and utter idiocy.

This is the reason why reading the actual law was so important to start with - despite people accusing anyone that did of trying to find a loophole. The law is the final say and it always has been. Understanding the law is to understand the rules were set on 26th March and have not changed.

Sitting down on a park bench for a bag of crisps - not illegal and never has been.

For fuck. Sake. Not again. I Do Not Need to justify myself.

I walk. I sit in the park. I do not speak to anyone, I do not touch anything, I do no harm.

Fuck off, OP.

You're talking bollocks but don't despair - you are definitely not alone in that!

my primary concern is at what point common sense and critical thinking ceased to exist for a very vocal minority.

Dollywilde, I agree. DH and I don’t sit down on our walks, but we sometimes stop at a beauty spot and lean on a wall for a few minutes enjoying the view. I’m sure someone’s complaining! And many people actually need to sit down along the way.

I'm really glad to see the tide has turned against the 'FFS stay at home' brigade like the OP.

I went to the supermarket and saw people behaving decently, none of what the Covigilantes describe.

Bamboo - the difference is we’ve always been a bit strange and it isn’t bitter mean spirited strange.

Littlebean- it’s lots of fun isn’t it. Definitely needed for the kids at the moment.

For those wishing to read the law: The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020, Regulation 6, Restrictions on Movement.

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/350/regulation/6/made

@PineappleDanish "dust AND lentils" sheer gluttony....

...obs only if you are in England - which I am. The Wales, NI and Scotland version will aso be available online and very similar.

See, I thought it was the people incapable of rational independent thought that were the problem. Eating a pack of crisps on a bench isn’t going to do any harm.

My family is me, my husband and our baby. If I want to stop and snack, or give the baby a snack, I'm going to do it during my daily exercise walk. That I take with my husband and baby as it's nice to spend time together and feel a bit of normality. We barely see anyone else on our walks, let alone sit near them. We are isolating and adhering to social distancing. Also OP; just join one of the other Stasi covid threads, there's eleventy billion of them atm.

These are difficult times. People are anxious and stressed. The last thing we need is people making up all sorts of nonsense about what the 'rules' are and ridiculous ideas about how the virus could, if a whole lot of incredibly unlikely circumstances came together, just possibly be spread from one person to another.

The chances of a person or family having a picnic, or - clutch purls - a packet of crisps on a bench metres from anyone else, spreading the virus are miniscule, if they exist at all.

It's people saying stuff like the OP who are the problem.

I'm currently recovering from leg surgery.

I can/should walk a fair distance now but need to rest at regular intervals. If necessary then I will sit on a bench for a few minutes to let the pains in my leg subside.

Just keep away from me as I'll be making sure I avoid you (and everyone else)

The rules are simple.

Yes, they are. It's a shame you didn't understand them yourself @Candodad before posting on here berating others.

You talk about the 'I just had a sit down in the park with crisps' brigade, when you are, in fact, one of the 'I'm making it up as I go along to suit myself' brigade.

Just admit you got it wrong, OP.

You really should have done your homework before posting nonsense.

YANBU OP, but like you have here, I had absolute Peters last night for expressing pretty much the same opinion. Too many people trying to work out ways the guidance shouldn’t apply to them as they’re special

The actual rules...

Your home is defined as the place you live, including all gardens and associated structures such as garages, outhouses, pathways etc. You can leave your property for the following reasons…

• To obtain basic necessities (food, medicine, property maintenance stuff) for you or a vulnerable person
• Take exercise alone or with household members [note no limit on length, type, frequency]
• Seek medical assistance
• Provide care of assistance to a vulnerable person or provide emergency assistance to anyone
• Donate blood
• Travel to work or to provide volunteer services to a charity [no mention of it having to be a registered charity] where it is not possible to work from home
• Attend a funeral [some limitations on which funerals]
• Fulfil a legal obligation, e.g. attend court
• Access critical care services, e.g. school, social services, the police
• Move children between parental households in shared access arrangements
• Go to a place of worship if you are a religious leader
• Move house where necessary
• Avoid injury, illness, harm

You are the problem yup, I've always been a problem, but at least I'm not a cunt - mind you, I'd hate to be perfect like you

I have ataxia. I go out, walk, sit, walk, sit, walk... For as long as if fucking takes.

Too many people trying to work out ways the guidance shouldn’t apply to them as they’re special

No people are NOT trying to do this. I my own case I don't live anywhere near a park bench and don't eat crisps. Whether or not this is included or excluded makes no difference at all to my life but I am sick of people making shit up.

Not eating crisps is NOT the guidelines. The guidelines (if you want to focus on them, not the law) actually allow for a snack uring exercise. Where are the guidelines you think you've seen, forbidding sitting on a bench to eat a packet of crisps during an exercise session?

The WHO: Approximately 80% of transmission cases are happening as a result of close, frequent and prolonged contact with someone who is infected, e.g. living in the same house.

The OP (some due on a forum): people sitting and eating a packet of crisps are the problem.

Some posters have jumped the bloody shark now.

I'm puzzled as to why so many UK citizens are so readily accepting the rules imposed upon them and the so-called evidence to support them. Rules being issued by a government that has clearly demonstrated over recent years that it can not be trusted to protect the public.

Just look at the Grenfell Inquiry where so far the only thing that's been protected is business interests. Recently the government has been putting Yvonne Doyle of Public Health England forward as a spokesperson for the official line on the virus. This is the same Yvonne Doyle who sat on a panel of experts facing hundreds of Grenfell survivors wanting the government to take action on properly investigating the toxicity of the fire. When told that just about every Grenfell resident was ill – a fact I can confirm having attending several residents' meetings – Doyle informed them that what they were experiencing was pre-existing conditions exacerbated by the stress of the fire. Now, the same woman is supporting pretty much the exact opposite view where the virus is concerned. When the panel at Grenfell was asked about PBDEs in the fire (a particularly nasty group of flame retardant chemicals – which were heavily present in the tower – that produce masses of dioxins and furans when they burn), Doyle could be seen turning to the person next to her and asking, "What's a PBDE?"

Doyle also assured residents that samples of the air around the tower had been taken and found to be free of toxins, etc. I and others pointed out that air samples are next to useless; they needed to also test water, soil and particularly blood. PHE under pressure then agreed to do proper testing for toxins. However, almost as soon as that meeting ended, they passed responsibility on to MHCLG – the government department responsible for allowing buildings and fire regulations to be weakened in the first place! MHCLG then commissioned Aecom – without tendering as government rules demand – a massive international company with huge holdings in real estate: buildings, in other words. Guess what: Aecom's initial findings are that the levels of toxins etc around the Grenfell tower are no more than is normal for London. This despite the US Environment Agency saying exactly the same thing after 9/11 only to admit several (safe) years later that they had got that wrong and in fact dioxin/furan levels, particularly from flame retardant chemicals, played a major role in poisoning thousands of citizens, firefighters and emergency services workers.

Still think we should just follow the rules?

Candodad pops out with the Inquisitorial Squad on the look out for concealed crisp-eaters

All of the evidence suggests that the vast majority of the population are adhering to social distancing guidelines. I can’t get worked up about the odd person occasionally sitting on a park bench to eat a packet of crisps.

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

I don't.

Being judgemental is not a nice trait.

I don't 'bend the rules' on going out. I have been out ONCE. That once I went with someone who doesn't live with me and we linked arms most of the walk, and I sat down 3 or 4 times.

I don't judge or blame others or bitch and complain about who is doing what, when, how or who with. Just keep away from them. As long as you are conscientious about distancing and hygiene you won't catch the virus from someone having a pack of crisps on a bench!

STOP BLAMING OTHERS - STOP BEING JUDGEMENTAL and the lock down will be much nicer for everyone.

I have a progressive neurological disease, it badly affects strength and balance. My companion on my single time out is my personal assistant who I rely on, but don't let that stop your rants folks.