Am I missing something? Everyone seems to have gone back to normal?!

[Aberforthsgoat]

So much traffic here today, we live on a main road and it's been quiet for weeks now but today it's suddenly back to how it was pre lockdown.
Loads of people out on the streets, in quite big groups, a massive load of runners in a group just gone by and earlier a huge group of cyclists
And I've not been watching out particularly we our living room looks out over the road and I've been stuck under DS with the windows open and just looked up when I've heard noise.
Do you think people have had enough and just gone back to normal after all the media articles this week?
Did I miss an announcement? Not being disingenuous honestly wondering, I can't find anything online

It's definitely busier, I think most people around here are queuing for Home Bargains, it was around the car park!

The reality is that people are adjusting to life with the threat of the virus, we can calculate ourselves how much of a risk we are willing to accept like with all Bbc aspects of life - eg I'm pretty sure I had it, was very mild, I know two people personally who had confirmed cases, both mild (only tested because they are drs) and I can understand statistics, 94% of those who have died had underlying health problems. I'm not playing down a serious disease that can kill, I'm just saying I'm willing to accept the tiny risk of me getting ill to have a more normal life if shops and restaurants reopened, but personally wouldn't be willing to go to a mass gathering type event in the near future. I'm guessing others are taking the same approach and more people are returning to work because employers cannot afford to remain shut any longer.

Haven't been out with the dog for our walk yet so I don't know if anything has changed dramatically here today - where I live it's too quiet to tell - but one of my neighbours seems to have completely ignored the whole lockdown period anyway: still going out every day for long periods, still having children over to play with their children. It's definitely passed them by.

But I've noticed a massive increase in traffic on the nearest main road over the last week.

One of my DDs lives in a seaside town and she told me that the beach was absolutely packed yesterday.

People are being short sighted if they think that now we've hit the peak we can all emerge from lockdown and go back to normal.

Do they think the virus and gone away? What did they think the lockdown was for?

We'll be back to lockdown again before too long if they continue like this, because infection and death levels will rise again, and the next lockdown will probably be even tougher than this one.

I don't want to find that I can't go for a walk every day because a bunch of idiots haven't got the sense to realise this is far from over.

I have relations in Spain and they haven't been able to leave their flat except for absolute essentials for weeks. I don't want to have to live like that and I'm not sure I can.

I'm hating the lockdown as much as the next person but we need to be sensible and get out of it gradually, otherwise the last 4/5 weeks will have been for nothing.

I consider these early "out and abouters" to be volunteers.
Someone has to go first.....
Not me.

This will prompt the govt to tighten restrictions further.

I had to get bread and meds today and it was very quiet in town. More cars on the road though.
Priti Patel is doing the briefings today and she's been told to tell people to stay home etc etc.
The daily mail headlines on line are not helping this week and many places are reopening now. Hard to know what's going on , but I think lockdown is slowly lifting myself. What the government is going to do about it I'm not sure but you can't blame people with so many mixed messages around and shops reopening etc.

Nothing different here - mid sized town, south east. There were people or exercising but not in large groups and everyone was at least attempting to stay 2m apart. Not much traffic on the roads at all.

I dont mean normal in the sense of going to pubs etc obviously but people do love to be pedantic
I mean in terms of social mingling and meeting up in groups
Good to hear some places are still quiet I think im just surprised as my neck of the woods has been very compliant so far. Perhaps everyone has had enough

We are going to have to live with this

But living with this will HAVE to be different. This isn't like any old cold virus - it can kill far more effectively.

So we are all going to have to learn to behave in a far more careful way in public: not "soldiering on" if we've got a virus, not coughing & sneezing without using a tissue or our elbow, or adopting the very wise south east Asian politeness of wearing a mask if we have a viral infection.

We are going to have to think of others a lot more.

It’s nowhere near normal ... very few people are going into work, schools are closed, there’s virtually no public transport, gyms, leisure centres, theatres, cinemas, shopping malls, cafes, restaurants, pubs etc all shut. No one can go on holiday ...

Pretty much the only thing to do is go to the park for a walk/run/cycle and some people who’ve been locking themselves inside have realised that they didn’t need to do that after all ...

This is nowhere near normal ...

How come B&Q is allowed to be open? I thought it was still food shops and pharmacies only?
Hardware shops have always been allowed to open. People may need essentials for home repair and maintenance. As are off licenses and bike shops I believe. B&Q closed when lockdown started in order to put social distancing measures and staffing in place so they could open safely

I passed the local massively busy hand wash place —that I have long suspected is manned by trafficked or abused people— and it was open with a queue of about 12 cars waiting for that essential car wash. No social distancing in place at all.

There are more people outside today but all keeping up the rules. I think people are realising that if this is to be all year and maybe longer then they don’t need to go over and above the actual rules as some had been doing previously. You can stay in doors entirely for 4-5 weeks but not for 4-5 months plus without consequences.

my neighbour dropped me a couple of bits this lunch time and said Sainsbury was a nightmare, people everywhere and not taking any notice of SD, many more cars on the roads and a feeling that people weren't going to continue with complete lock down for much longer.

I haven't been out to a supermarket since 17 march and only a local chemist twice in that time, it becomes very hard to distinguish whats happening.

I run early morning around back streets so I can run on the road, all has seemed quite quiet this week

@RhymingRabbit3 Thanks :) Actually, I think I did know that, lockdown is messing with my memory :D

Well, if my neighbours are anything to go by, lockdown rules were relaxed about a week ago, judging by the number of visitors they've had.

By 'visitors', I mean non-resident family and friends coming to spend the afternoon with them.

< winds neck in>

We went to the park early this morning for our walk and it was deserted, even more so than usual, but as the day has gone on there definitely seems to be more people out. We live on the corner onto a main road and there's definitely more traffic noise today. Not busy or back to pre-lockdown levels but noticeably more than the last few weeks.

I've not been out my house beyond neighbourhiod walks and occasional trips to tesco since it started. But today I am done. I hate Tescos, never normally shop there. I took the bus into the city centre and had a wonderful wander around. There are bakeries, greengrocers and other independent food shops open and it's been a very pleasant trip. I have nothing to compare it to as I've not been out before but it does not seem particularly quiet to me. I am on the bus pulled up next to a little park right now and there are many people sitting on benches or on the grass, alone and in small groups. This is an area where few have gardens - I wholeheartedly support them enjoying some sunshine. Maybe they will announce tighter restrictions. The problem is they have been and will continue to be relying on our cooperation as there is nowhere near enough of a police force to supervise every park bench, remote beauty spot or empty pub table (I saw three separate enterprising individuals / pairs drinking from their own cans at these today).

I'm on a main artery road in london and for the past week there have been more people on buses more cars. Thankfully far fewer ambulances. No doubt some journeys will be some level of essential. Some may have delayed and delayed house maintenance but cant do so indefinitely. Ive just seen a couple go by in their open top on what I doubt is an essential journey. It is annoying.

However the main points of transmission now are likely to be hospitals care homes warehouses and other workplaces.

If you are staying home but ordering things online you are probably contributing to how busy and non compliant amazon and other workplaces are. The busier they are the more transmission there is likely to be. You may have noticed that lots of websites have queues. Lots have delays in delivery times. Not so with amazon. Somehow they are still keeping to delivery times. Seems unlikely this can be kept to safely.

It is still possible to distance while going for a walk or cycle even if you drive there or visit someone and sit apart in their garden.

If we know its busier so does the government. They should strengthen their message if they are concerned but they probably see it as an excuse to blame others.

It's heaving with traffic and people out and about by me - I've been weeding out the front and it's much busier than even a usual Saturday.

Almost all the neighbours have had family/friends visiting, two doors down are having a BBQ, there's about 20 people in their garden.

I can't blame people bending the rules really : our family haven't , but it's still hard to stick to it when you see others breaking them and people still have to go to work. I know if I worked as a key worker I would be fed up being told to ' stay home' when I couldn't and had to risk my life to sell people food or work in a care home or hospital. Ds1 has to go to work. He is doing all he can to be careful etc but his still out there!

It's going to be a balancing act now from the government. Opening up certain stores is a message to me that things are moving towards lifting restrictions, people are preempting it now maybe? Who knows!
It's a surreal situation.

Part of me thinks is that what the government actually wants,I've been watching briefings and how news is shared,am thinking that they actually want people out and about,remember herd immunity, bit dont want to be blamed for it.*

Yup. Herd immunity policy has been replaced by "blame the public" policy.

The thing is they want to avoid another peak in the winter, during flu season, so I think they want not to suppress it too much in case of that.

The NHS is coping and they have been flattening the peak, haven't they, so they are 'succeeding'

Everyone up our road seems to be in their gardens, I could hear the sound of several mowers, both sides of neighbours are in their gardens doing gardening type maintenance like we are. DH has now gone out to B & Q so I will ask him when he gets back about traffic etc.

Yes OP. You've clearly missed the rash of threads the past few days saying exactly the same as you. Almost word for word. I'm starting to wonder if you all live in the same place? Save for one neighbour who never seemed to understand lockdown it's as quiet as ever round my way. Must be a better understanding of contagious here. Hopefully most other places too.

That said these posts have made me think. I'm starting to come around to the idea of lockdown lifting sooner rather than later. Looking forward to escaping the city for the fresher country air. I'm thinking of leaving asap so that I'm already in situ before the next lockdown. I WFH so no issues there. Don't worry I've been properly socially distancing so won't be bringing any "city" germs with me. Whether the same goes for everyone else who'll come from the cities I can't say.