Garden Wildlife UK

As the country creeps towards easing the "lockdown" I'm beginning to wonder how much enthusiasm there is for it from the public at large. My eldest daughter was very disappointed to hear her furlough was over and proper work beckoned once again. Three weeks of doing what you want when you want at your own pace has a certain appeal even if it is just at home. There are also issues with working parents being asked to return to work while their children are still not going to school. I think unlocking the lockdown is not as popular a policy as the politicians imagine it is.

I completely agree with that, Jacksparrow. I think most people are of a like mind but, yet again, the various media are keeping this pot boiling. The virus isn't going anywhere - the numbers are dropping because more people are continuing to isolate. Why this simple fact isn't obvious to the renegade few beats me.
And any crazy action (like cycling a hundred miles for some chips) which is jumped upon and broadcast nationwide just does not help. But that's the British media (you know who you are !!) for you.

There have been very few positives in life since we were forced to self isolate but one of them is being able to see the onset of Spring in all it's glory on a frequent basis. We have two circular walk routes embracing a housing estate a coppice footpath and a private country lane. The six weeks have seen the trees finally get all their leaves then those that blossom come into blossom. The birds have gone from barely noticeable to noisy as they make their alliances prior to the breeding season. Hedgerow flowers have appeared most recently the May and now the Dog Rose. I am perhaps much luckier than those living in big cities and towns but I don't take it for granted and try and enjoy it every time we venture out.

Leisure
by
William Henry Davies

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

Excellent post, Jacksparrow - absolutely right

I'm happy to go back to work. Part of that is working in a lab we have gloves, face masks and disinfectants readily to hand but also I'm satisfied that the prevalence of the virus in the general population is now very low. We're looking like returning from June 1st in stages.

We've been in lockdown now for the best part of 6 weeks. Anyone who had it when they went in to lockdown will now be recovered or recovering and any household members they passed it on to will be in the same position. The people presenting to hospital now are overwhelmingly care home residents and care workers. The virus has not gone away but I think it's ok to return to work with sensible practices in place.

I suspect they will allow people to meet family members at the bank holiday weekend. It's silly to allow a cleaner in or to view a house to buy but you can't see your children, grandchildren, grandparents, partner etc. The shops that are open seem to be doing a good well thought out job of allowing people in. I was a B&Q last week and they did essentially what the supermarkets have done. That system can be rolled out to most retail shops in my opinion. The tricky ones will be large gathering establishments like pubs, restaurants and cafes but some of those are workable. I know a farm cafe not far away that could easily have tables and chairs out on the lawn next to it and do table to deliver and collect your order from.

We'll get there eventually but sooner or later you have to step over the line and give it a go and monitor the results to see if it's ok.

being a retired person I have neither been on furlough neither am I returning to work but it seems to me that we(the country) have to make a start on returning to work where it can be done so safely. There is a certain amount of risk but some workers in the food and caring trades have been working throughout and I admire them for that. I can understand a reluctance to go back to work as we have been witness to an horrific level of death and suffering recently and we are not anxious to join in. All the signs are is that the infection rate is on the wane so it is time to pop our heads over the parapet and go for it.

Of course it has to be done and the bullet must be bitten. Other countries are doing it and always the proviso is that a lockdown must be instantly enforced as soon as the (inevitable) spike occurs.
Who knows how many times that balancing act will happen - maybe for as long as it takes for 'herd immunity' (our Govt's first preferred method of handling this until it got out of hand) to be achieved.

Just as a matter of sociological interest - this, the first hugely documented pandemic, will keep scientists and variously qualified social commentators in jobs for decades and decades to come. I just hope that in the end some good will emerge from it, and lessons will be learned, because only a very few countries, if the national death-rate figures can be relied upon, have handled it well: NZ, South Korea.
Maybe even the definitive causative factor will be identified - and eradicated, but maybe that's too much to hope for.

We have had pandemics before in this country most notably the Spanish flu in 1918-19 and the plagues in the middle ages. We can learn lessons from all of them. There will come a time when the response of the UK to this particular visitation can be examined in fine detail to see where it could have been handled better. No two countries are the same and all have individual challenges. Some by virtue of their geographical isolation and public health systems with a different focus have had vastly different outcomes to the UK so all these variations have to be considered before any direct comparisons can be made.

Yes there are a huge number of differences between countries that raw numbers cannot accurately show.

NZ for instance is about the same size as us but only has 1/13th the population and nearly half of those people in only 3 cities so their transmission rate was much much lower. One of the factors in Italy's rapid spread was that they greet family and close friends with a hug and a kisses on the cheek. No doubt that was a big factor. Conversely Koreans routinely use face masks and are very stand off-ish. Germany's figures look low because they don't count people who had covid but died from something else like pneumonia.

I think it will take a couple of years to properly understand just how many people were lost in each country. But as long as we learn from it, those people will not have died in vain. It's easy to criticise the government or the science or how quickly or slowly certain steps were taken but hell I wouldn't want to be the one making the decisions. It's not easy to deal with something you had no proper plan for. It's not easy to order 100 million face masks when the company you normally buy from is only used to making 10,000 a week. A vaccine would be nice but these things take time, but it will come. There are over 100 separate drugs being trialled already or about to be, so at least one of those should work by law of averages.

I absolutely support your comment that "it's easy to criticise the government ....", Kev - the various news channels are having an easy field day doing just that, day in, day out. Never a suggestion, very rarely an understanding comment, just constant narking and captious remarks. Anyone can do that.
If ever there was a time for everyone to pull together it's right now but, no, not the news, not the information providers. Their aim above all is to score so-called political points and sow dissent and disparagement.

There must be an element of that, of course, but not a steady, deliberate stream of attempts to undermine the powers that be who are doing an almost impossible job in a very big hurry.
I have to say that I don't at all care for Matt Hancock (anyone who sends me a letter signed "Matt" has to be looked at askance !!!) but I wouldn't be in his shoes for all the tea in a Chinese wild animal meat market .