I went out for a ride yesterday for the first time in weeks. I have a habit of looking for tiny backroads because quite often they wander along the side of a hill and give far more spectacular views than the main roads. Well... I have never seen so many families out walking together. Good to see, but as soon as the ban is lifted, it won't last. Back to noses in the one-eyed gods.

Yep I think the media criticism of people visiting the countryside yesterday was perhaps a bit unfair - none of those 'selfish' visitors would have expected places to be as busy as they were surely?

Chris - these days the moment you step out of your door you're being selfish.

We were attending to our small front lawn the other sunny day with a rake, scattered topsoil and fresh grass seed. The manual method, which we prefer. Over comes our friendly next door neighbour, the one who lights up smoke and all manner of herbal substances in his back garden, holding some lawn aerating implement for attachment to the bottom of a mower to "make your job easier." Seeing what we were doing up closer he stayed and talked a while, seeming never to keep more than a coupla feet away from either of us, with a runny nose and infrequent coughs. I continued working, moving away, but he'd cling. After a little minute I commented on his cough and sniffle, to shake him up to his proximity to us. "Yeah, nah, had it for a week now but it's mild and I think it's from our trip to the casino last weekend. We got all drunk and stuff." I casually moved to put the tools away and finish the job later on, not wanting to have to state the obvious by stating the obvious.

Nice chatting, mate. Tall fences make good neighbours even more in these strange daze.

chris846 wrote: I think the media criticism of people visiting the countryside yesterday was perhaps a bit unfair - none of those 'selfish' visitors would have expected places to be as busy as they were surely?

It might have more to do with people who live in areas with denser population and higher incidence of infection spreading infection to residents in areas of sparse population and lower likelihood of infection thereby increasing the chances of infection in everybody.

Laitch wrote:

chris846 wrote: I think the media criticism of people visiting the countryside yesterday was perhaps a bit unfair - none of those 'selfish' visitors would have expected places to be as busy as they were surely?

It might have more to do with people who live in areas with denser population and higher incidence of infection spreading infection to residents in areas of sparse population and lower likelihood of infection thereby increasing the chances of infection in everybody.

So nice of them city slickers to share the wealth.  Out here, we only get close enough to wave from across the road or give a quick tap on the horn as we go by.