LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - ESSENTIAL TRAVEL

So what would you consider to be 'essential travel'?

I consider 'essential travel' to be; going somewhere that you need to go that you aren't able to walk to. Ie, I actually don't need to go out in the car to do anything for myself. I have lots of local shops where I can buy food. And anything else I need, isn't actually essential.

However I am now doing a weekly shop for a couple of old people who live by themselves and have no local shops nearby. So once a week I go out in my car to a supermarket. I buy groceries for my two old people and at the same time I buy groceries for myself.

For more than six weeks that is the only place I have been in the car. Petrol is at an all time low but the last time I filled up my petrol tank was on 15^th March and it's not even at the half way mark yet.

But more than 6 weeks into lock down and there are definitely more cars on the roads. Are more people going back to work or are more people driving to places. Or is it because places like B&Q are open, so more people just going out?

Personally after 6 weeks in lock down, I still feel that people should not be going out in their cars unless it is absolutely necessary. And from my point of view, 'absolutely necessary', means going out to get food or medical prescriptions. Or going to work if one is a key worker.

It's only my opinion, but I don't actually think that going out to buy plants and paint and other DIY stuff is ESSENTIAL. Yes we all want to make our houses look beautiful and as we're all at home we have the time to do it, but peoples lives are at risk, and will be for quite a while yet. So why risk going out in a car, just to buy a tin of paint and in the process potentially infect, or become infected, by someone else?

This lock down thing is driving us all mad. We all want to get back to normal and do our normal things.

BUT......................... after 6 weeks in lock down.................... a lot of people seem to be living an almost a normal life. And it is sooooooo annoying for the rest of us who are trying to stick by the rules.

Even the buses are busier now than they were six weeks ago. Six weeks ago there was hardly any one waiting at bus stops and all the buses that passed by only seemed to have one or two people in them. Today I walked past a bus stop and there were 7 people waiting. And you can't tell me they were all key workers on their way to work. Two of them were definitely in their 70s, if not their 80s, and I'm sure they were just going to get on the bus and go out for the day for a little jolly. Yes this is happening because I know a couple of bus drivers and they have told me that older people are still boarding buses and sitting on them for a couple of hours or more at a time and not actually getting off or going anywhere. It shouldn't be allowed!

Oh and I walked my dog past one of my favourite dog walking places the other day but didn't go walking there because there were 16 cars parked at the entrance to where I wanted to go walking. It was like nothing had changed. People were driving less than 2 miles to walk their dogs or walk with their families or go jogging. WHY???

THAT IS NOT ESSENTIAL TRAVEL.

If you want to walk your dog or go for a bike ride or a jog or go for a little jolly with your kids; just do it from your home. Go out your front door, do a circular walk and then go home. Seriously.................... every single time you are going out in your car you risk having an accident and putting even more pressure on the already stretched NHS.

FFS just don't go out in your car unless you absolutely have to. Essential travel means just that........................ ESSENTIAL – what part of ESSENTIAL do some people not get??!!

See you all tomorrow.

Toodles xxxx