We're Getting Back To Work
The Government have indicated that the reopening of the hospitality sector is expected to begin from 4th July.
I'm not sure what this means as for all to see the lockdown is not what it once was and the guidelines aren't being followed with as much enthusiasm. Face masks are not so, well, in your face and large groups are now meeting up for extended picnics in the park and traffic is getting back to something like it's pre lockdown levels. If you live in England you are allowed to travel for exercise but not to stay overnight but in Wales the AM's have decided that they'd like to bang a couple more nails into the backs of the self employed and small to medium sized business' and so there remains, at present, a travel ban. Many cafes are open and have remained open throughout the crisis, likewise takeaways and food delivery. And you can go play golf...
I guess there are plans to allow more places to open and have clients be able to sit inside and, as we used to, before the event, have a chill with their cuppa. Maybe it's that pubs and hotels will be able to re-open. But hey, whatever it means I think we are all ready for getting back to 'normal' and having closer contact with other humans.
Ryanair are resuming flying with , from July 1st, 1000 flights a month. The policy they have is to wear masks, that's about it. Good on them for allowing to customer too make choices and to offer low cost holidays throughout the summer. Of course we could have used this opportunity to stop travelling, to put an end to flying to European destinations for cheap holidays, and so to better benefit the environment. But that is for a different post I think. That has not been a matter of wider debate and certainly the opportunity to take steps to change patterns of spend and travel to diminish our carbon footprint seems to have been missed.
From the get go I've been of the opinion that the lockdown is an unnecessary and draconian measure that, once over, once we've had time to reflect, we will all very much regret. The damage to developing nations economies, the misinformation and confusion around the statistics, the guidance and the science and the appalling level of national debt we have amassed for the young to shoulder, likely for the rest of their lives, is, in my opinion, unforgivable.
Throughout the crisis I have been working hard, partly on house renovations and partly on a rebuild of the booking and payment portal for Wales Outdoors. On day one it was clear that PayPal were going to badly let down all business clients and I am currently in a dispute with them, refusing to cover the cost of any refunds that they have made. To this effect I embarked upon a process of stopping receiving payments by PayPal and so confirmed bookings through meetup and having payments received through our new website store and now also through our gorgeous calendar portal. Here it is possible to view all events in some detail by date or location or event type. It's been a good deal of laptop and data input time but I think it's worth it.
http://walesoutdoors.co.uk/category-view/
Given that walking in the outdoors is of low risk, I will be delivering guided walks, with due care and attention to guidance, as soon as travel to exercise in Wales is once again allowed. Given that EasyJet is flying to France and internally in the UK from mid June we think that from that time, anything goes really. A plane is an hermetically sealed unit with air being recirculated and shared and as all but the most highly specified masks are of little to no use whatsoever I think that a plane is just about the most dangerous place to be if there is a virus kicking about. And of course people will need to travel to the airports so I am a assuming that the airlines know something that we don't about the lifting of travel restrictions...
I therefore think that I called it right from Day 1, with the immediate cancellation and re-scheduling of all events from Mid March through to the end of June and with the spookily accurate judgement that we would be back on the hills by 1st July.
Of course I could be wrong and it could be that these restrictions rumble on due to a spike or the continued mismanagement of the crisis by the AM's and MP's. If that's the case then we'll bump July too. But, all is currently looking good for July and what a month we have planned in - do check it out :)
http://walesoutdoors.co.uk/events
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