(Dis)obeying the rules! Thinking about post-lockdown problems.

Well, the Dominic Cummings thing rumbles on and on. It now seems that he went not once, not twice but possibly three times to Durham during the lockdown. One commentator on the newspaper headlines on television last night was almost incoherent with rage. No, in fact she was extremely coherent in her total condemnation of Mr Cummings. If they finally decide that he must lose his job, how will all those high-ranking government people who have stood up for him feel about it? I suppose they could always deny that they ever said he did the right thing or that in fact they meant something else altogether!

It’s rather dull and gloomy here today, not so windy as yesterday but possibly with a bit more rain about. So it feels a bit odd to think about sitting outside and having a drink with friends. And yet, that is what I have been doing. An old friend and I have met for lunch at intervals at the pub next door for years and years now. That has not been possible lately. The landlord, who must have lost thousands of pounds worth of custom over the last two months, has been keeping a workman busy cleaning up and repainting the furniture in the Garden Terrace. He must be keeping his fingers crossed that we don’t get a second wave of the virus before he has had a bit of a chance to recoup his losses. And so I imagine my friend and me sitting outside, socially distancing across a table, having lunch outdoors. Something else will have to be arranged of course for the later months of the year when Garden Terrace life is really not a very practical option. 

Everyone is beginning to think of life-after-lockdown. This article looks at how Madrid and Barcelona are approaching opening up cafes and bars. For a lot of smaller bars, opening with 50% of their terraza tables available is not much of a relief from being closed. I have long wondered how they manage to make a living at the best of times, without their client base being so radically reduced. One problem is the difficulty of extending the terraza area without reducing the pavement area to such an extent that people cannot walk safely distanced from each other.

I think the pub next door to our house could extend his Garden Terrace into the car park area as he will be accepting a reduced number of customers. No doubt a solution will be found.

As well as thinking of pub lunches I am planning possible socially distanced walks with other friends and family members such as my brother in law - meet somewhere, walk along some of the out-of-the-way paths that Phil and I frequent because you meet few people there, maybe stop for a snack, which we would of course take with us - and then go our separate ways. Oh dear, am I succombing to Dominic Cummings syndrome?

But, as I said, plans are being made. People are looking for solutions. Yesterday as we made our way home from a fairly long walk we went through the carpark of a nearby housing estate and noticed that someone had set up a trailer as a mobile pizza-selling place. A little bit of enterprise!

There are suggestions that businesses could divide their workers into teams with Team A working Monday to Wednesday and Team B working Thursday to Saturday. This would reduce congestion of roads and public transport systems. It could help with childcare as well. But ... would people work longer hours on their in-work days or would they work from home on their at-home days? If not, would people still receive full pay? Those in manufacturing jobs could not work from home. So would some kind of universal top-up income be needed? So many questions.

Then there is the matter of public toilets. It has occurred to me more than once while I have been out and about that I would have a problem if I needed the loo as all the usual stopping places are all closed. Around here there are notices saying that certain pubs and cafes toilet facilities serve as “community toilets”. Not if the pubs and cafes are closed, they don’t! Ducking behind a bush is not really an option if you are walking alone with nobody to stand lookout for you!

But it really is a wider problem, especially if/when shopping centres contemplate reopening. It seems that the British Toilet Association's managing director Raymond Martin has been advising councils and companies on how to keep washrooms clean and safe amid a global pandemic. (No, I didn’t know such an association existed either!)

“In an interview with the Sunday Times, Mr Martin said potential solutions range from foot-operated flushes and self-closing seats to sensor-activated taps and soap dispensers.
However one of the most substantial proposed changes is the elimination of separate toilets for men and women.
Instead, one-way gender neutral facilities could see men and women queuing at one door and exiting on the other side with individual cubicles in between.”

Oh, boy!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!