Easing lockdown?

[cee-dee]

How do you think it should be done?

It can't be ended "just like that" so it should be done in stages?

What do you think the first stage should be, ignoring the simple industrial/economic angle and concentating on what is practical?

If people are allowed back to work in some types of businesses, what happens to the children? No schools open or nurseries so what happens there?

Do you think the schools should re-open first so that parents are then able to go back to work?

What ideas have you got?

[theelench]

I try to support the small local businesses in the area when I can and think that if they can re-open (within distancing advice) they should be allowed to do so.

I phoned the family run plant nursery I buy plants for my business from.  They have paid for the seeds and compost to produce their summer bedding plants, many of which are now approaching saleable size and they need to start selling soon.  They rely on early sales to get room to space the rest out as they grow.  If they can't, the plants become "leggy" and yellow from lack of light.

I told them I need an Aucuba shrub and was quite happy to put the money through the letter-box if they left it on their house door step.  They refused as they think the police are driving by, slowly, to make sure they are not opening. for business. 

When I briefly spoke to the owner of a traditional hardware/ household goods shop in town that I use in preference to the nearby Wilco he was rather annoyed that he is closed while Wilco is still open.  Wilco sells toiletries, household cleaning products and DIY chemical products like paint and glue that count as necessities, which he doesn't.  But while in Wilco, customers are buying other things which he could be selling if open.

Although there might be some help for smaller businesses, they will run up debts or out of cash before the bigger companies and possibly never re-open.  Even if they adopted boot-fair tactics with a table just inside the premises instead of letting buyers into the shop (or greenhouse) it would help them stave off bankruptcy and save a lot of part-time jobs for staff to come back to later.

[fallen-archie]

I agree with the above, why don’t they all offer stuff online with a delivery or collection service? It is no longer rocket science to offer on line services and is a great opportunity for small businesses to continue trading!

[theelench]

Apart from the up-front costs of paying We Build Websites.com to get off the ground quickly and Google Ads to get the new venture noticed, they would be the need to dismantle the display shelving to store their packaging and make room for a packing area. 

Re-train themselves and any staff to deal with complex stock and dispatching systems rather than inter-acting with the public which has been the essence of their success until now. 

Start their business again from scratch in a totally different environment, where they are the new kid on the block.  A complete novice in a field that is already over-filled with wana-be-Besos-clones who have been driving B&M shops out of business for a decade or more.

Quickly realise that they can never survive while paying High St. rent and rates and decide to move to an out-of-town Business Unit.

My suggestion was based on the idea that I would like to see some life left on the High St. when we adapt to this modern plague.  What is all too likely to happen is that many small businesses will close for good and we will end up even further in the clutches of the few on-line giants that remain.  With fewer local jobs for local people and even less real choice than we have already.

[theelench]

I keep getting "Ticket mis-match" warnings flashing on the top of my screen so posted before I finished.

As a matter of urgency they need to sort out how Barbers can re-open, I deperately need a hair-cut.

As for schools, there is one at the end of my road.  It doesn't seem to have ever fully closed but doesn't seem to be teaching much.   Every time I pass, whatever time of the school day, the few kids are playing outside with a bored looking teacher overseeing them from the corner furthest away from them.  They are younger children, not old enough to be swatting for exams yet, presumably the offspring of NHS workers, police, carers etc.  

I've been wondering, if it's OK for them to mix in the play-ground all day what's wrong with adding the children of other less essential workers?

[lightblueberet]

Figures show that those countries which implemented, from the word go, total lockdowns have deaths in their hundreds, as opposed to those that didn't, and have deaths in their thousands ! In short, the stark choice of people above economies, or economies above people !

My forecast, for what it's worth, is that governments, faced with salvaging what's left of their ailing economies, will opt for choice 2, and ease up on their lockdowns, or, in extreme cases, dispense with them altogether !

As for the people...well...social distancing the best temporary cure, a vaccine may be round the corner, populations may, in the meantime, acquire immunity etc etc etc !

Till then.....?!?!?!

[fallen-archie]

I know it’s hard on the economy but can I just say how wonderful it is to see our roads so quiet! Surely the time has come to re-examine our love of the car and once and for all stop all unnecessary journeys?

[cee-dee]

There are those who would say that all journeys were unnecessary (except theirs )? At one time everything was done within walking distance of "home"?

Is it possible to get back that way of life again? I think not.

Just think about kids' schooling. There was "the village school" in every small village but then what happened? First some of them were closed and all kids were made to go to the nearest "bigger" one. Then they got closed too and the kids had to be bussed or transported by the cab service run by mum & dad.

That's just the start of it. Then there was the milk, the bread, the meat and so on and so forth, all transported now from heck knows where? Stop "unnecessary" journeys? No chance.

[suzieseaside]

Risk perception and reopening schools - I don't understand what the problem is with sending children back to school.

The probability of a child under 15 dying of coronavirus is apparently 3.5 million to 1, less likely than being struck by lightening.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8404537/School-children-15-higher-risk-struck-LIGHTNING-dyi...

Millions of people have broken lockdown rules when it suits but they don't want their kids to go to school? There's no logic to it, no bearing on the data and facts. Why are parents so fearful? What's going on?

[suzieseaside]

Or perhaps it isn't the fear of parents, but the teachers and teaching unions?

There doesn't seem to have been this resistance in other European countries.

I note at the end of the article in the link it says the Brits seem more concerned about when the pubs reopen 🙄 Sad but probably true.

[cee-dee]

Regarding the teachers, it's nothing to do with fear. They just want a much longer holiday.

[astrologica]

How are all you peeps on here coping? Have you relaxed your own personal isolation rules a little?

[upthecreekyetagain]

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@cee-dee wrote:

Regarding the teachers, it's nothing to do with fear. They just want a much longer holiday.

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t'm not sure if that is a humorous observation, it's one I've often made myself 🙂

However all the teachers I know, (including my daughter and son-in-law), are busier now than during normal term time.

There have been the children of key workers to teach, who have remained at school during the lockdown, now these have been joined by 'vulnerable' children.  There have been online classes, individual tutoring and of course the assessments of grades for GCSE and A level students.

[upthecreekyetagain]

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@astrologica wrote:

How are all you peeps on here coping? Have you relaxed your own personal isolation rules a little?

---

Yes

i have been shopping - yippee

 Very strange feeling - it's going to take some time to get used to 'normal' living again when lockdown ends

[astrologica]

Something strange going on here....when I look at Archie's thread, there's no reply button to click on....it's disappeared. Anyone else got that problem? It's as normal on this thread. Weird.

[cee-dee]

It looks to me like it's been locked, I'm not surprised really considering the tone of some of the later posts.

[suzieseaside]

Hi astro ..... How are we coping? ......

Ok thanks, actually it has not been that different from normal as I have no family, and I don't miss shops not being open.
Have seen some crazy photos of people cramming to get into sport shoe shops and camping overnight outside Primark - purveyors of tat once made by poor kids in slave-like conditions in sweatshops. The desperation to shop by some people seems bonkers to me!

I do miss seeing friends occasionally. Today was odd, it was my birthday and for the first time ever there was no place to go out to have a drink or eat. But it was lovely weather this evening and I watched the sunset by the sea with a glass of prosecco and a pastie! Only a dog was missing as I have yet to get another. Home now the sun has set and this will be the earliest night I have had on my birthday for decades!! 😄

I'm dreading the return of tourists. In the last fortnight some of the beaches have been rammed, people tombstoning off cliffs and injuring themselves, defecating behind beach huts and leaving vast amounts of litter behind - way more than usual, and there has been a huge heath and woodland fire from disposable barbecues - a lot of wildlife killed and long term damage. I find all this disrespect for the countryside really depressing.

[margaret*e]

Happy birthday Suzie.🥂🍻🎂

xx

[suzieseaside]

Thank you Margaret 🥂 xx they are going by faster!

[margaret*e]

Don't remind me, I've got a big birthday this year.😱😱😱😁