The politician says “can’t ride your bike”,
A lovely suit, so businesslike,
To this very day it is unclear,
why the thought of two wheels filled him with fear.
COVID is spreads when we breathe it in,
Close contact is where it all begins.
What’s more, this was known from the very start
The goal was to keep us all apart.
“Do not go out”, Prime Minister required,
If you don’t follow, results could be dire,
And then, of course, there is the police,
Banning people sitting on the beach.
for Fandango’s One Word Challenge (FOWC), cage.
I was just nspired to write this, thinking about lockdown.
What we knew about the virus, and we knew from the very start, was that it was spread by somebody exhaling the droplet, and somebody else inhaling them. So, the name of the game was – still is – one person keeping their distance from another. That’s it.
And yet (and I blogged about some of these at the time, with horror) we had
- cases of the police patrolling supermarkets, deciding what we could and could not buy.
- The Police using drones to identify people who had driven somewhere (albeit somewhere very isolated) in order to walk their dog. The police’s excuse was, what if they break down? What if they need a mechanic? How often do cars break down, these days?
- The Police patrolling beaches, lest somebody sit on them. The beaches did not spread the virus, contact with people did.
- A health director up in Scotland, a guy called Jason Leach, told the news media that going out on mountain bikes was forbidden. He never said why, but presumably his reasons were the same as above – if you have some kind of problem and need assistance. Any biker will find a way of performing running repairs to get themselves home, at least. I used to carry a minature toolkit in my saddlebag.
These are all true stories, have happened in the UK since the last six months, so I think that if you give some people half a chance, they will put us into cages.
Mister Bump 
I think some of the measurements were/are been taken because we’re ‘new’ to this. Our governments are at least.
What I like is COVID put science in a nice position; I know not everyone believes this but still it says a lot about people in general. Some are not that bright and others are willing to listen to the voice of reason. Politicians? Not so much! They need to do better imo.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The scientists are in a good position, because however well this was managed (…), they will say that it could have been better… I can see that it is difficult for the politicians, too, because they have had to think about restarting the economies again. To an extent, I can handle when a politician makes a mistake, because this is new territory for us all, but just so long as they are prepared to learn.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Police state. Wow
LikeLiked by 1 person
Throughout this, they had the power to issue on-the-spot fines. Only really low value, but that wasn’t the point. I think something silly like 7 fines were issued, the whole country. But either way, you can appeal these fines if you disagree with them, I think they woulde have been quite easy to argue in front of a court. But, you know, nothing a policeman says is final, provided you’re willing to pursue it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
true…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I had to leave work to go and get some supplies today. I was surprised when I saw over 100 school kids all bunched together outside the main shopping area. People using the tube station and shopping center were having to walk through the middle of them. I am not sure why nobody official was not there asking the children to help keep their community safe by spreading out and breaking up into smaller groups. It was all a bit weird.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Melbourne right now. The curfew has no basis in science, nor the prohibiting of individuals travelling more than a 5km radius from their homes. This ridiculous lockdown is now enforced until late October, but more likely late November. My kids aren’t likely to get back to school, with Term 4’s end in mid-December-what’s the point for returning for just 3 weeks?- as the idiot in charge is making the ‘steps out of lockdown’ dependent on unachievably low numbers of covid cases.
Get me outta here!
LikeLike
Do you have a curfew? That’s interesting, I wonder if it will affect the spread? Just in terms of preventing gatherings which might otherwise have taken place? The trouble is, I suspect most people are probably being quite sensible about this already. Our cases here are going back up, but funnily enough, deaths are not. I don’t know if we are just seeing that delay between the two. I’m happy now, at least, that I have local data – I guess it was there all along but I did not find it well signposted at all, even places like hospitals have no idea it exists.
LikeLike
Your post resonates with some of what happened here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Linda says the same about Melbourne, Australia. Is there maybe a pattern here?
LikeLike
Looks like it.
LikeLiked by 1 person