Movin aboot in a pandemic
I've been watching on the telly as people pour off ferries at the Channel ports, desperate to escape being quarantined by getting back from France before 4am.
I'm pretty sure the travellers aren't just English but people from all over the British Isles. So let me ask them a few questions.
What were you doing going abroad? It's just 5 weeks since we were in lockdown. Have you so little imagination you couldn't picture the virus still being around and - as my granny used to say - just sit on yer erse for a wee while?
When we were in lockdown in the UK, which was in fact a fairly relaxed form of lockdown compared to what was (and is) going on in other parts of the world like NZ, Australia, South Korea and Spain, did we obey the rules in order to stay alive?
When lockdown ended, did you go rushing out to the shops or did you decide to take your time, choose quiet periods for shopping, wearing a mask, or maybe just go on with online shopping? I'm guessing the latter.
When the pubs and restaurants re-opened, did you take the same careful approach and do what was safe or did you ignore social distancing, forget about masks and get back out there for a bit of fun? What about other members of your family? Did your teenagers go out to get boozed up in the local park? Did the 20 somethings get back in the pub, wander around the streets, get into fights, get lifted by the polis? No social distancing there. And definitely no masks. Did you remind them there's every chance they can bring the virus home even if you don't go out?
When travel rules were relaxed, were you careful or did you fling the kids in the car and head to the most crowded lochs, lakes, beaches and islands - all those tourist spots you've been deprived of for ages (actually 4 months)?
Today on social media I've seen people I know well offering to rent a house in France (good luck with that). Another has decided not to go to her flat in the south of France but is off to her other holiday home in Argyll. Yet another has arrived on an island that has no virus from the south-west of England, which certainly does. And one other has driven from north to south England to take part in a cycle race. Is any of this essential travel?
The obsession with movin aboot is our worst enemy in a pandemic. Yes, I have travelled a lot in my time and enjoyed almost all of it. But I have no travel plans for the next while. I don't want to stop other people travelling but we really have to get our heads round the fact that this is a pandemic. The virus hasn't gone away. There's no vaccine and may not be for - what? - 4 years at the earliest.
When we came out of lockdown, I was told that some people live in multi-storey flats, shut up there with small children and they had to be able to get out and go to the beach. I was sympathetic to start with. But I've revised my opinion: people who refuse to accept the reality of the virus are endangering themselves, their families - and me and my family. You don't have the right to do that. If that means you need to stop movin aboot, so be it.
What were you doing going abroad? It's just 5 weeks since we were in lockdown. Have you so little imagination you couldn't picture the virus still being around and - as my granny used to say - just sit on yer erse for a wee while?
When we were in lockdown in the UK, which was in fact a fairly relaxed form of lockdown compared to what was (and is) going on in other parts of the world like NZ, Australia, South Korea and Spain, did we obey the rules in order to stay alive?
When lockdown ended, did you go rushing out to the shops or did you decide to take your time, choose quiet periods for shopping, wearing a mask, or maybe just go on with online shopping? I'm guessing the latter.
When the pubs and restaurants re-opened, did you take the same careful approach and do what was safe or did you ignore social distancing, forget about masks and get back out there for a bit of fun? What about other members of your family? Did your teenagers go out to get boozed up in the local park? Did the 20 somethings get back in the pub, wander around the streets, get into fights, get lifted by the polis? No social distancing there. And definitely no masks. Did you remind them there's every chance they can bring the virus home even if you don't go out?
When travel rules were relaxed, were you careful or did you fling the kids in the car and head to the most crowded lochs, lakes, beaches and islands - all those tourist spots you've been deprived of for ages (actually 4 months)?
Today on social media I've seen people I know well offering to rent a house in France (good luck with that). Another has decided not to go to her flat in the south of France but is off to her other holiday home in Argyll. Yet another has arrived on an island that has no virus from the south-west of England, which certainly does. And one other has driven from north to south England to take part in a cycle race. Is any of this essential travel?
The obsession with movin aboot is our worst enemy in a pandemic. Yes, I have travelled a lot in my time and enjoyed almost all of it. But I have no travel plans for the next while. I don't want to stop other people travelling but we really have to get our heads round the fact that this is a pandemic. The virus hasn't gone away. There's no vaccine and may not be for - what? - 4 years at the earliest.
When we came out of lockdown, I was told that some people live in multi-storey flats, shut up there with small children and they had to be able to get out and go to the beach. I was sympathetic to start with. But I've revised my opinion: people who refuse to accept the reality of the virus are endangering themselves, their families - and me and my family. You don't have the right to do that. If that means you need to stop movin aboot, so be it.
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