Out and About

I took advantage of the weekly visit to the supermarket to return via the local fields which, luckily for me coincided with the period just after sunrise.  I felt no guilt in stopping, I was by myself and wasn't interacting with any other person.

I've read today that Derbyshire Police are reviewing all of their fixed penalty notices (FPNs) issued since Lockdown III started. It was recently reported that they fined two ladies £200 each after they drove 5 miles separately, to go on a socially distanced walk. Guidance from the National Police Chiefs Council offered Derbyshire the opportunity to review their actions, after widespread criticism of the fines.

In the UK, policing is done with the consent of the people, rather than some of the heavy handed examples in other countries.  Because of this there is reasonable acceptance from the majority when a police officer asks you to do something.  When misjudgements such as these fines are reported, rather than it causing more people to be compliant, it has the opposite effect as it is seen to be unreasonable.

We are in a desperately difficult situation at the moment. Today we passed 80,000 deaths from coronavirus in the UK.  The danger is it becomes a statistic at these levels but for everyone that dies someone else (perhaps many people) is/are grieving. Levels continue to rise each day, despite the Lockdown.  I only hope that everyone will do their part to get us through this emergency and onwards to the holy grail of a post pandemic world.