Magic Wednesday ?

I received an email from the RHS this morning, their plant centres are open from today, we live 2 miles from the nearest RHS garden, so we decided to visit, my husband stayed in the car, well, I was their first customer, and I was their only customer.
On the way home I stopped at a farm shop, 2 of us inside, 2 waiting to go in.
All good ?
Then I passed the local garden centre ? loads of cars queuing to go in - madness to me. I'm glad we went to the RHS instead.

Nothing is changing in this house so I hope that we won't have any disasters but I can't help thinking we will be heading for a another lockdown shortly.

Can anyone explain this to me? I live alone, my friend lives with her DH. She doesn't drive - he does. If we want to meet for a chat, we can't, because she can't be dropped off at my house to sit in isolation in the garden for an hour, and I can't drive to hers to do likewise.
So we'd both have to drive to a park midway between us (with lots of other people about) and her DH would either have to sit in the car for an hour, go for a walk on his own or drive home and then back to pick her up.
If we all met, they wouldn't be breaking the rules (as they live in the same household) but I would, as there are more than one of them... ?
This is despite the fact that we've all been self-isolating for seven weeks now - and none of us have gone further than a walk round our respective blocks.
My DC both live a fair way from me - and as they are both key workers (nurse and teacher) they don't want to risk infecting me, so I know that I won't see them or the DGC for weeks/months yet, so I'd been really looking forward to sitting in the garden for a good talk to my friend ☹️
Madness..!!

Talking of the RHS - I took this picture of the Royal Hospital Chelsea grounds yesterday morning.

Something's missing

My hubby and I played golf this morning. The Clubhouse is shut and we can only play in 2's. All tee times were well spaced out. We were only allowed to play 9 holes, but it was very enjoyable

See we are firmly divided here into those trying to look for positives and those perpetually seeking negatives ! Easing of lockdown was always going to be complicated, guidance cannot be prescriptive or expected to cover every situation. We need to be applying commonsense in making decisions using the government guidance as just that, guidance. Yes there will be questions as to the logic of some people being allowed to do something whilst others aren't....I am thinking here of childminders having contact with children outside their household versus grandparents who can't...but believe this can usually be justified along the lines of one is someone's occupation and livelihood , the need to control the rate at which contact with others is resumed so that it is easier to re reinstate restrictions where necessary and also the need to protect those that are vulnerable, even if we don't like to recognise that we are! I am just happy we are moving into the next phase, albeit slowly and cautiously. Life won't change much for me, I will continue to be "alert" and take responsibility for my own wellbeing but I am pleased that my children and grandchildren will have more freedom.

My understanding Suedoku and Rosibie is that you could have one visitor in you garden as long as you socially distance , but not in your house

You can’t have visitors to your house. You can meet one to one in a public space, two metres apart.

My experience of not being at home when home viewings took place meant bathrooms used ( and not carefully!) and small ornaments and even a book went missing.

Ive been a few errands, roads seem very quiet, the 2 shops I have been in very quiet no queuing was a bit surprised really expected it choka!

here in Lancashire I meant to say (maybe they have all gone to the coast)

Happyme: a balanced and sensible post. Thank you!

If two people, including Estate Agent came into your house for a viewing, you would have arranged it, and left all the internal doors open and cupboards. They would not need to touch anything, or sit down anywhere. If you have family members visiting, they would sit down and touch things most probably. Thats the difference!! Also you would keep a distance from them to social distance. 2M.

Today brought good news for me,my niece had a baby boy. Mother and baby both fine!

Not heard that, my daughter is waiting to move house ?

Many congrats to parents and grandparents gillyknits. Glad they are doing well! Love your good news ?

We can't stay in lockdown forever. There have been no covid related deaths in my area at all and only about 10 in the whole constituency ( that's out of 70,000 people+).

Craftycat

Foreign currency can be posted direct to your home from my bank, no need to go to a branch, but who will be buying foreign currency at the moment? Not many going on holiday I would have thought.

I’m in Wales so nothings changed. My husband’S golf club is opening but only to play alone or with a family member.
As quizqueen says - we can’t stay in lock down forever.

The beach front car park along the road from my house was full today, after being empty since lockdown. There were lots of camper vans. It seems everyone has rushed to the beach.

Happyme

What a very sensible and balanced post! I agree with all you have said, so thank you. The only thing that comes to mind is that whenever someone mentions commonsense I am reminded of what one of my teachers used to say - "commonsense is the least common of all the senses" and don't we see it every day!

Wasn't it rather reckless GabriellaG to drive all that way after three hours sleep? I see you posted on another thread in the early hours. I hope you enjoyed your visit to your daughter and don't fall asleep on the way back!

I finished a night shift this morning, I expected the roads to be busy as I was travelling home from York, but they were just as quiet as they have been for the past few weeks. I just hope people will still have jobs at the end of this crisis.

Well I live on the coast and was expecting to find hoardes of people 'exercising' all day …...but only a very few oldies (like me) out walking along the sea front this morning …..and just now only a few on the beach with their dogs ..oh, and some surfers (who I hope don't get hypothermia !!!!) ….just come in for tea and a bun and getting dinner ready ...then a short walk for around 2 miles and home for Pointless !!!!!! ..waiting to see what the weekend will bring ! So far some of the benches are still taped up, as is the main car park …..but fresh air is less of a risk than crowded places like public transport ……

With more people driving, it will inevitably put more pressure on the NHS because sadly traffic accidents do happen.

I am glad that here in Wales we are still in lockdown.