So has your area 'locked down'?

[Testingisajoke]

I know the economy needs to function, however where I live roads are busy, industrial estates are exactly the same (minimal SD, lots of sharing vans etc) so if this is necessary to keep the economy going how long is lockdown going to be?

Last time it was months of no school, no seeing people etc and the roads were empty for weeks as was the industrial estate, I can't see when it will end with all the mixing.

I think I'd rather give up my liberties for 4 weeks then this dragging for months and months.

Lots of traffic this morning on my way to work and I even left earlier so I could get in and sort out a timetable issue. What is normally a 20 minutes drive at 7.30am was a 35 minute drive at 7am today. Traffic outside school is also as heavy as normal.

Well we were already in Tier 4 anyway.

Roads on my morning commute are almost empty, most of the vehicles are either vans or lorries. Half the business units on the industrial estate where I work are completely shut, the remainder have car parks mostly empty. I drive past several supermarkets and at lunchtime today, the car parks were 3/4 empty.

East Midlands/South East border here. Roads were packed on the way to work just like a normal day.

A lot more businesses are staying open such as fast food, garages, construction etc.
In March, 3 people in my house were furloughed and their workplaces closed, this time around we have all luckily carried on as normal (Not able to work from home). That's 3 more people still on the roads who weren't last time.

I think last time a lot of business's closed as 'the right thing to do' where as now, everyone is trying to power through as much as possible.

I'm staying at home and haven't needed to go out yet. It's dead around here though. No people walking past. No traffic.

Quieter here in Scotland

I think last time a lot of business's closed as 'the right thing to do' where as now, everyone is trying to power through as much as possible.

Definitely!

The company I work for closed down the end of March - mainly because my boss felt it was the right thing to do, plus so many local businesses were getting so much grief, he was worried about the business reputation for the future.

However, we got a £25k grant so we could put all staff on furlough, negotiated a rent holiday with our landlord and the grant covered our overheads for a while

This time, there are no grants available. We can’t afford to shut down this time. Our order books are pretty fully booked until July time, if we want a business to come back to when this is over, we need to keep going

In March, everyone that wasn't a key worker wasn't allowed to go to work - this included tradesmen and manufacturing workers for instance. This time people are told to go to work if they cannot work from home. Also, many workplaces have had the opportunity to become covid secure - it was all so alien back in the spring.

I think last time a lot of business's closed as 'the right thing to do' where as now, everyone is trying to power through as much as possible.

Most of the ones I deal with who closed, did so because they thought they had to, following the mis-reporting of the restrictions by the BBC and other media. The reporting concentrated on "essential services", "key workers", etc., so gave the message that anything "non essential" had to close if you couldn't work from home. Then you had the "don't use public transport unless you're a key worker" message too which just added to the misinformation. After a period of time to check the actual rules, look at what other businesses were doing, many re-opened pretty quickly after 2 or 3 weeks.

@PolytheneHam

In March, everyone that wasn't a key worker wasn't allowed to go to work - this included tradesmen and manufacturing workers for instance. This time people are told to go to work if they cannot work from home. Also, many workplaces have had the opportunity to become covid secure - it was all so alien back in the spring.

They WERE allowed by the rules, but the media got their reporting wrong.

@PolytheneHam yes they were allowed to work. Deary me the misinformation out there is astonishing!

@Werdrix I'm wondering if your village is near our village… does it begin with an A by any chance?

Our tesco wasn't too bad today ( I did need essentials)
Roads were fairly busy , but many people are still working and I doubt it'll be as dead on the roads as it was back in the spring.
People are pretty good here wearing face covers and the rainy weather is keeping them indoors more.
The local primary is open for key worker's children etc and the midday staff still have to go in and the TAs on a rota basis , which is a little bit different to last time. Teachers are doing online teaching from home.

My street is full of the usual cars, so most are home.

@Werdrix

Hundreds of people have arrived in my village to ski. I don't live in a ski resort. I say village, most of you in the south would call it a hamlet. There's not even a shop.

Behaviour like this actually makes me hate people. It’s like the bloody idiots who went to the Brecon Beacons from England recently. Selfish and thick. BTW this isn’t a xenophobic rant - they could have been from anywhere - just emphasising that they’d travelled a long way to be there. Twats.

We haven’t actually left the house today to know if the roads in general are busy, but our little cul-de-sac seems to be business as usual with regards to cars and vans coming and going.

I popped to the shop this morning which is en route to my office when I'm not wfh. Not a car in sight. Was quite surprised.

DH works on that street in a builder's merchant so will get more of an idea when he gets home as to whether things are quieter.

Next door but one is moving today so all that's still going on.

I've just cycled to the supermarket. It's about an 8 mile round trip and I'd say the roads seemed pretty normal, maybe slightly quieter but not much.

Yes, it feels very different to March. I think we were all in shock in March. People are wearied now. I was dog walking and surprised by the amount of cars too. Though I did some essential grocery shopping today, and the shop was very quiet. I reckon far more people are shopping online. I'd like to, but can never get a slot!

@StCharlotte

I popped to the shop this morning which is en route to my office when I'm not wfh. Not a car in sight. Was quite surprised.

DH works on that street in a builder's merchant so will get more of an idea when he gets home as to whether things are quieter.

(Quoting myself...)

DH says his shop was manic today. So no change on that front.

In March, me and DP woke up on the first proper day of lockdown and it was so eerie. We live on a reasonably busy road with lorries driving down it, but there was hardly anything. Not completely silent, but very close. No kids screaming on the walk to school, no school buses driving past, nothing.

Today, there seemed to be no difference, and the buses still went past (though I don't think there were many kids on, not sure why they need so many buses!) and when I went to the pharmacy yesterday it was ridiculously busy - I know that's before lockdown, but people shouldn't be wandering round town in tier 3 either.