The Government And Police
I've not used my car since lockdown as advice appeared to be no unnecessary journeys and I seem to remember being told by the news services and by members of this group that we had been specifically instructed to only exercise for an hour a day, no driving, just 30 minutes walking out and thirty minutes walking back...
However, it appears that the police, in dyeing pools black and searching peoples shopping and giving fines to those with only snacks or wine in their bags and fines to those who drove to the countryside, were wrong. It appears that it has always been ok to drive to the countryside if your journey time is considerably less than your exercise time. I do have to ask the question then 'will the police be apologising and returning the, it seems, illegally imposed fines?' and 'will the police be naming and shaming themselves as opposed to shaming members of the public for walking their dog on a hillside?'
The myth of only one hours exercise has been busted as has the myth of do not travel...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-52312560
Interestingly this advice was issued to the police PRIOR to the Easter weekend and the police across the UK unanimously choose to mislead the general public. I think here we see quite clearly that a little power certainly does go to the 'Little Napoleon' out there's heads...
So, quite rightly, it is OK to go out for a drive to a reasonably local beauty spot and to take exercise, so long as the exercise is longer than the journey, so long as it is solo or with members of your household and so long as you take on board the social distancing guidelines.
So, what is it with this government and their fudging and blurring of thier own advice? Why not just be clear from the get go? Well, I think they are afraid and have been hedging their bets. Because the UK woefully underfunded the NHS for years and made it not fit for purpose for a scenario we all knew would come. And do remember that it is this government that presided over this underfunding... Because the UK was slow to act we have neither the Swedish nor the German or South Korean model but we sit in a mid way point with poor testing statistics, inadequate PPE and flimsy guidance. Because the statistics are showing a poor response to the crisis - do look at the per million death rate and compare to other countries - https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries
I think therefore that it is time to, on occasion, explore a little further afield, to leave the parks for those who don't drive or can't travel. After all, walking outside to my car and driving a short distance to somewhere where I will see less people than if I were walking the streets and parks of Cardiff has to be a good thing.
Be Safe - Live Free