Corona Virus Concerns
As the other (Stay or go) thread appears to be locked, I've started this one. There is no specific subject matter so hopefully everyone can continue to update others as to what's happening in their lives and areas. I live in the suburbs (but hope to move to rural Northumberland in next few years) and found it really illuminating to hear how those living in rural areas are being affected by issues such as tourists and lack of access to shops etc
Unlocked at 21.06
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I'm delighted that you've started as new thread, I was contemplating doing so. I do sincerely hope that folk will refrain from adding posts which are likely to get this closed too.
I too liked to read how others are faring wherever they live. We live about a mile from the city centre, it's more like a village 😉 and has always had good social interaction. This is paying dividends now and folks are still finding more ways to interact with technology.
Our main issue is online shopping, having an OH in the highly vulnerable category - no letter! I did secure an online shop for 21st April at 2am. Thank goodness for great neighbours and friends. Lots of more local companies are starting online deliveries, it takes time, and I'd love to support them but they are offering boxes which doesn't suit us. But again feedback will help. Them over time. So it's back to relying on neighbours. (Kids live away one in NZ the other in Huntingdon shire both are doing their bit in helping others - comes from the being raised by a village 😉😉). The store I have online shop with has limit of 80 items, fair enough, but when you don't know when you can next access the service that's not much even buying the biggest size of items 😂. Especially if you need lots of the basics because you've had to be inventive over the previous 6 weeks 😂😂. I've been a more local shopper for years so never had the need for online.
I noticed more traffic over the weekend and again first thing this morning. I do hope that's the result of folks being key workers or voluntary workers.
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I noticed more traffic over the weekend and again first thing this morning. I do hope that's the result of folks being key workers or voluntary workers.
I noticed that too yesterday. We went for our once daily walk from home, on the footpath along a bypass, which normally is fairly busy. It's near a smallish town. Up until yesterday traffic was fairly light, but not yesterday! Both OH and I remarked on it. As it was quite a nice day, although quite windy here, we did wonder whether some of those were en route to somewhere to walk.
Noticed some people will move across well before you meet them, in which case we always thank them. Others however seem intent on carrying straight on. We seem to do most of the moving away, but then we are very cautious, moving well before getting too close.
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We live rural, a small village to the east of Hull with two pubs (closed), two takeaways (open for deliveries) and a small shop (really handy) that we also supported before this crisis.
No tourism to worry about here other than it's main road being a route to the coast albeit not a major one.
It's fairly quiet and rarely have need to venture further, other than our toilet roll saga earlier where we were forced to go in search at our neighbour towns supermarkets but to no avail. Luckily our neighbour gave us a pack to keep going and supplies are now available to all after everyone had their stock mountain.
Freezer is full and our local shop supplies our regular needs such as milk, bread etc.
Did manage to register online for shopping but never got a slot, so will probably never bother again.
Seem to notice more families out walking, probably a bonding thing as in more usual circumstances the kids would be doing their own thing and not with Mum and Dad. Everyone behaving as should with social distancing and far less traffic on the road.
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If folks don't cooperate with the social distancing guidelines it will be lockdown and no outside exercise. Don't be selfish! We are lucky in that their are only 2 of us in our family home now and we have access to a garden. So many folks are not that lucky and confined in flats or relationships that need a break outside so let's put ourselves in their positions. As noted above OH in the very high risk category so I too am on day 18 of self isolation..I've put the bins out the front and done the 'Regency doorstep dance' we lack the outfits and music 😂. We have not been asked to fight for our country or send our children to strangers as has happened before. JUST STAY INDOORS.
I saw a really good illustration of 2m distancing but cannot find it now 😤 . So an attempt to recreate it
😃 2m ↔ 😃
2m ⬇
Buried body
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I'm being ultra cautious because my State Pension increase begins tomorrow ... 'Well, on the bright side, Mrs M., at least you hadn't had chance to rely on the extra payment ...'
Steve
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"I noticed more traffic over the weekend and again first thing this morning. I do hope that's the result of folks being key workers or voluntary workers."
Maybe it's a Monday morning thing but the police were out in force this morning stopping traffic going into town. All perfectly amicable and I was waved through once I'd shown them my Cinnamon Trust ID (2nd Monday stop) . Good for them too - I don't think anyone going about their legitimate business need be apprehensive about being stopped.
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I intended to put this on the other thread last night to update my earlier posts but found it locked.
We live very near to a junction where two motorways converge so when we take our daily walk we cross over the M6. Reading about all the problems of crowds of people descending on our fellow members in rural and coastal areas I thought it would be interesting to keep an eye on the motorway traffic each day when we take a walk.
Yesterday evening as we crossed the bridge which takes about a minute I counted the vehicles passing under the bridge. There were 4 lorries, 2 vans and 14 cars at a time when on a normal sunny Sunday evening it would have had hundreds of vehicles returning from a day out in Blackpool, Southport and the Lakes. There were no vehicles waiting at the traffic lights to go on or off the motorway and we only saw 5 people walking in half an hour. I have never seen the M6 so quiet in 30 years. The motorway at the bottom of our garden does sound busier this morning but a quick look out of the front bedroom window showed it to be mostly a lot more lorries.
In our area the shops were almost completely restocked last week and the queues outside reasonable so no problems obtaining essential supplies.
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We also noticed more traffic yesterday ,and the boy racers were out last night (very noticeable, all noise but no power it seems),and also as the weather was so good (cloud and light rain today) many "families?) walking in groups,
May have posted before but it seems the younger generation are more aware ,as when on their usual Iphones ,instead of trying to walk through you, when out for essential exercise walks , they move over first
Just a thought , has any body weighed light rain showers and heavy rain showers to see if there is a difference?
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Our village is small,a hamlet really. No shop,pub etc. Nearest small town 3 miles with Drs, Pharmacy and Co op store. Little traffic over the week end. People walk on my land but everyone seems to distance, really not often more than one at a time.Dog walkers clear up. No supermarket deliveries but the fit ones shop for us vulnerable ones. They also bring meals. Really seen the neighbourhood self help step up to the mark.Our biggest concern is some second homers have come from virus hot spots over the week end.The authorities apparently cant force them to leave.Always some selfish prats about but there you go. Now of course we are only a few weeks into the lockdown, the test will be the longevity of it. Lets hope we all maintain our helping hands and isolationship.
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Another downside of "distancing"is that when we are out doing the essential dog walks it is now a wave from the other side of the fields instead of a quick "chat",which means not being out as long ,unless the walk is extended , I wonder if the dogs are also getting bored with not being able to socialise as much,
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Here's the Visit Cornwall Easter video. I think they could have made the 'stay away' message stronger instead of being so nice about it.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh29Ib_XkJA
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We live in a village 7 miles north of Perth. We have a Spar + PO, a village store, a pharmacy, a butcher, a medical centre, 1 pub and 1 hotel. So we are very well catered for locally.
To do our main shopping though, its drive into Perth where we have the usual main supermarkets. In the last 3 weeks since we came back from Lanzarote we haven't seen any big queues or panic buying, although our first venture out there was the evidence of it by the amount of empty shelves.
Having gone out once a week since out return we have since seen the changes in the shops. Most of them now have good stocks of fresh items. It is still some of the dried foods that are slow to come back on the shelves. Pasta, toilet rolls, tissues and even hand sanitiser are now available, however rice I could not find other than the microwave stuff.
The shops all seem to have a sanitising station outside, and a member of staff making sure there are not to many folk in the store at one time, this varies store to store depending on the size. Our nearest Aldi now has lines all round the store at 2m intervals and most folk seem to be taking notice.
I have not tried on line shopping in fact I'm not even registered, we are not over 70 and have no health issues so choose to leave the online shopping to those who need it.
Going out for us is not an issue. We do of course take precautions, once back to the car don't touch it until we have sanitised out hands, then once home wipe down the goods before putting them away, then wash hands with antibacterial soap.
We do shopping for 3 other households when we are out getting our goods.
We are a 'drive through village' that is we have many villages beyond us that are accessed through ours, so still seeing vehicles going through.
More noticeable is the amount of tractors out and about, we can hear them most of the day out in the fields, the farmers are working very hard and thankfully they have had a very good dry window to get their ploughing done.
Still chilly up here none of your lovely warm sunshine, though yesterday for about 2 hours it was just about warm enough to sit out
today its very windy again and with a cold bite to it. We still have snow on the hills so if its coming from that direction you can feel the difference. Great to hear how other areas of the UK are fairing through this crisis. I occasionally moan about having a fairly big garden but not just now I can't imagine what it must be like for those in high rise flats that are having to stay indoors for 12 weeks.
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We're over 9 miles from our nearest large town but we have some facilities near us, a small shop, a pub doing takeaways and we have a good organic farm and shop a couple of miles away. What we've lost on access to food etc we've gained on being able to walk straight from home onto footpaths. We've noticed an increase in footpath walkers and one of the downsides is a lot more dogs off leads. Personally I think it's better if dogs can be kept on leads as much as possible to avoid contact between them. ADs post points to an "unknown" about the virus and other species. Some dogs need a big run out like greyhounds but most are ok with a good on lead walk just now.
Normally this weekend, depending on the way the wind blows we'd hear the roar of traffic on the A303, people escaping from London to the SW. It has been quiet. The skies are clear of planes so lovely blue skies, less polluted air generally.
I have been able to get on line food orders after a bumpy start and I have to get food via my order for two elderly and very vulnerable neighbours. I think I've spent more time on this than I originally expected to do! But we're ok.
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Meg, our Cockapoo is definitely getting bored and I'm sure she knows something is amiss. May well be to do with the fact that we are normally away in the van every month and now we're not. Whatever it is, she's not herself and seems to mope about the house, sulking!
I have been taking her on the field immediately behind our house and whilst she enjoys a good romp, she doesn't see her usual 'friends' on the beach, so this morning, I took her down there (only 5 mins away), and although, as usual, the dogs just ignore each other and get on with the serious job of sniffing, she seemed to be a lot happier to be in their company.
Perhaps dogs can go stir crazy as well!
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We stopped folks from stroking our dog right from the start, for their good, and his and ours. I have no issue with dogs having to be kept on leads as well, a sensible precaution when around others. There are likely to be some less than well socialised dogs out there at the moment, having walks they seldom get at other times, and there are lots of people out in our park who we have never seen before and who don’t seem to know it very well. But thankfully, all doing the right thing, keeping apart, dogs and children well looked after.
We are on the edge of a town, got a lovely park and huge sports field on our doorstep. Tantalisingly, local woodlands are only a mile away, however, it’s a 1:5 hill to get there, so pushing pooch’s chariot is beyond us, even working in tandem! It’s a shame as we see far more folks in the park than we ever do in the huge woodland. Mum is a couple of miles away, in a rural area, but again those two miles are up the highest hill in town, a monster. The buses can’t always get up there in the snow😂
Lucky to enjoy a big garden, a quiet, small, friendly street. One or two local shops for emergencies. Lots of supermarkets, but have only used one, others seem chaotic and poorly stocked. But some clever diversification has seen our great local nursery delivering veg and fruit boxes, eggs and milk. Hospital is only two miles away.............we can hear the sirens wailing during the day occasionally😕
Our local birds and wildlife have become a source of intense interest to us. We have always enjoyed lots of different birds, squirrels, occasional fox, occasional hedgehog. Lots of butterflies, we saw our first orange tip yesterday. Won’t be too long now before swallows and house martins arrive. And the tadpoles are getting larger daily🐸
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I empathise with you, your hamlet sounds like my dream! I've always had an issue with second home owners *(but maybe that's just because we can't afford one😂), I have friends who live in Alwinton and a number of the properties there are empty for most of the year, except for the summer holidays.. It is such a shame that there are so many small villages who are in this predicament.
It's a difficult situation, as on the one hand I don't condone an "us and them" mentality, but I do sympathise with locals faced with an influx of "outsiders" who often have no awareness of local etiquette. This current Corona virus situation is not helping at all and I can only hope that locals will welcome us tourists back when the pandemic is over.....
*I've always thought static caravan parks, lodges and touring/camping sites are a better option because they allow people to visit areas without causing an "empty cottage" or "ghost village"situation.
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It makes for a strange atmosphere does second homes. I recall booking a holiday cottage for Mum and Dad, Sister and me, one June. Burnham Market, gorgeous picture book village in North Norfolk. By day it can be heaving, with its deli butchers, deli fishmongers, a dozen or so lovely independent interesting shops, pretty Church, pretty cottages. But I recall going for an evening walk, no one around at all. It’s was eerily quiet. On closer inspection we noticed blinds drawn, and no signs of life in most of cottages. They were empty. Been other places as well and noticed similar.
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We live in a cup de sac in a medium sized village with a local shop. It only carries basics but I did notice the other day that they had split some large toilet roll packs up and are now selling some rolls as singles.
We are lucky in many ways. we can still access lovely countryside without having to drive. This morning we were out for an hour on quiet lanes. We came across just 2 lots of dog walkers, 1 runner, and 2 other couples walking on the lanes. A few more in the village roads but very quiet. There were a lot of cyclists out yesterday. Must be great for them at the moment.
I have noticed everyone keeping their distance when having a chat even in the close but there have been instances of grown children visiting their mothers and going inside the house, definitely not keeping their 2 metres separation. Plus 2 neighbours actually shared a car to go shopping.
We have one couple who are, let's say, advanced in years, who are doing well with keeping their distance but he has a sister who lives nearby and unfortunately has Dementia. She is as fit as a flea but wanders. He visits her 2 or 3 times a day to make sure she has her medication as she is prone to take it all in one go if left to her own devices. She won't accept a carer and will only let him into the house so he is undoubtedly exposing himself to the potential of the virus as he has no idea who she has seen or sometimes where she has been. It's so sad to see.The three of us are doing OK but we couldn't buy an online slot so Mrs WN, the "healthy" one has to do a shop, usually once a week. I might drive her there but sit in the car. I need some stuff from Homebase. Ready mix concrete and outdoor wood paint to name just 2. I'm sure she'll be able to do it but we don't like having to.
Being away a lot in the caravan I think we can do being confined quite well although MiL may go a bit stir crazy. We have a decent size garden and she also has a nice stone bench at the front to sit and shout at the neighbours when they stop for a chat. I have to give her some credit as every day she sits down and uses a small pedal machine and does an hours pedalling to keep herself fit.
Anyway stay safe everyone and I hope we're not confined in a more claustrophobic lockdown thanks to some idiots who can't behave properly. The minority spoiling it for the majority as usual.
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brue, we have a chippy in the village but its shut just now
as is the pub and hotel, which is a shame because you would have thought the chippy at least could have carried on as their food is by nature 'take away' plenty of room outside it for folk to keep their distance.Same with the hotel, they could have carried on providing meals for take away from their public bar side but still keeping the lounge bar and the hotel closed. Shame really as there are many in the village that would use such a service just now.
We do however have one chap who at the weekend, makes food up into containers and delivers them FOC to those elderly who need a little help at these times. Nothing fancy sausage and mash, cottage pie, mince and tatties etc. other folk in the village are now giving him funds to help buy the food. There really are some very wonderful folk out there.
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Our local birds and wildlife have become a source of intense interest to us. We have always enjoyed lots of different birds, squirrels, occasional fox, occasional hedgehog. Lots of butterflies, we saw our first orange tip yesterday. Won’t be too long now before swallows and house martins arrive.
We have been feeding the birds in the garden for years now, a simple thing to do and a constant fascination, even the pigeons that clean up below the feeders.
Sometimes we see a Sparrow hawk on the fencing and the small birds aim straight for the holly tree for safety.Saw our regular hedgehog yesterday evening before bedtime when I went out with Cassie for her last wee. First sighting of the year and if its the same one then its now four years running.
Last week I put a 'catch shelf' up below the house martins nest under the gutter in readiness of their arrival, as the chicks poo straight onto the conservatory roof
I'm decorating the kitchen (only the walls), doing one wall every few days, just finished wall two and started about 7 days ago
Have to make these things last out.
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I started a new shopping regime this week. I have been going on a Wednesday and stopping first at Lidl and then at ASDA. I decided that my exposure is no greater if I go twice a week once to ASDA and once to Lidl. Less to carry and should I forget something at one I can probably get it at the other. No queues at my chosen times at either and neither crowded
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There does not seem to be any animosity per say regarding second homes.It is more political.Many of the old cottages, redundant farm buildings would have collapsed without being turned into second homes. Chalet parks are not suitable permanent homes.. They provide a huge amount of council income ( even though the councilors moan) and provide repair/upkeep work.Tourism in general is a huge portion of the rural economy. I dont suppose that the majority here have had any issues with being visitors. The virus is a different issue and unless we ALL adhere to guidelines it will remain.
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We feed the birds as well.
I am resisting all decorating until things get really boring, which is unlikely for me. OH has bought himself a window cleaning tool, I am impressed😂
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