Since we arrived home on 17 March Mick has not ranged more than a mile and a half from home and always on foot. My freedom has been a little greater, in that I am the nominated shopper for the household and, being 10 days since I last shopped, today, with the fridge too bare to summon up a meal involving fresh veg, I ventured into town.
By 9.30 I was home with what seemed like a ridiculous quantity of groceries* (with limited exceptions (like when we’re travelling in Bertie in places with few or no shops), we shop at least twice a week, so buying for 10-14 days in one go feels like a huge amount). By 10am I was dressed in Lycra and pounding my way towards my current favourite run location (fewest people; the nice scenery is a bonus).
Out in public twice in one morning! It nearly sent me giddy. This was nearly as exciting as being able to take advantage of yesterday’s fine, breezy weather to get the entire contents of the laundry basket dried outside.
Whilst this morning’s outings fell under two different ‘permissible reasons for being outside of the house’, it turns out (based on having had a little read over the weekend** of the Coronavirus Act 2020 (the legislation that specifies the current restrictions)) that contrary to what the government has been selling as mandatory, we are not currently restricted to only leaving the house for exercise once per day. The Act clearly states exercise as an exception to the ‘stay at home’ rule and nowhere states a limit on how much, how far or how often.
That’s not to say I’m going to be taking advantage of this knowledge. The government has put a moral and societal obligation on us even if it’s not backed up by legislation and I will abide by that, but (even in extraordinary times such as this) I can’t say I approve of the government blatantly misrepresenting the law.
Eeeh, I almost came over all political there and I don’t do politics, so let’s turn to knitting instead. Ma-in-Law’s cardigan is coming along nicely, although I can’t say I’m ever going to enjoy executing the T2P stitch:
(*I was lucky enough to be able to get a bag of bread flour last time I shopped and hoped that was an indication that flour was going to trickle back onto the shelves. Today the flour shelves were entirely bare. We’re not desperate for it yet, and there’s nothing I make with flour that we can’t live without, but you should have seen how excited Mick was yesterday when he found me making his top favourite item: herby cheesy scones.
**I was particularly moved to read the legislation after witnessing someone on Facebook get lambasted by numerous people for sharing her plans for a long run over the weekend. Many people quoted the restriction that we are not allowed to run for more than 1 hour per day, which wasn’t something that, at that time (I have since found the source), I’d heard or seen stated anywhere, so I thought I’d go straight to the horse’s mouth and look at the wording of the Act.)
By 9.30 I was home with what seemed like a ridiculous quantity of groceries* (with limited exceptions (like when we’re travelling in Bertie in places with few or no shops), we shop at least twice a week, so buying for 10-14 days in one go feels like a huge amount). By 10am I was dressed in Lycra and pounding my way towards my current favourite run location (fewest people; the nice scenery is a bonus).
Out in public twice in one morning! It nearly sent me giddy. This was nearly as exciting as being able to take advantage of yesterday’s fine, breezy weather to get the entire contents of the laundry basket dried outside.
Whilst this morning’s outings fell under two different ‘permissible reasons for being outside of the house’, it turns out (based on having had a little read over the weekend** of the Coronavirus Act 2020 (the legislation that specifies the current restrictions)) that contrary to what the government has been selling as mandatory, we are not currently restricted to only leaving the house for exercise once per day. The Act clearly states exercise as an exception to the ‘stay at home’ rule and nowhere states a limit on how much, how far or how often.
That’s not to say I’m going to be taking advantage of this knowledge. The government has put a moral and societal obligation on us even if it’s not backed up by legislation and I will abide by that, but (even in extraordinary times such as this) I can’t say I approve of the government blatantly misrepresenting the law.
Eeeh, I almost came over all political there and I don’t do politics, so let’s turn to knitting instead. Ma-in-Law’s cardigan is coming along nicely, although I can’t say I’m ever going to enjoy executing the T2P stitch:
(*I was lucky enough to be able to get a bag of bread flour last time I shopped and hoped that was an indication that flour was going to trickle back onto the shelves. Today the flour shelves were entirely bare. We’re not desperate for it yet, and there’s nothing I make with flour that we can’t live without, but you should have seen how excited Mick was yesterday when he found me making his top favourite item: herby cheesy scones.
**I was particularly moved to read the legislation after witnessing someone on Facebook get lambasted by numerous people for sharing her plans for a long run over the weekend. Many people quoted the restriction that we are not allowed to run for more than 1 hour per day, which wasn’t something that, at that time (I have since found the source), I’d heard or seen stated anywhere, so I thought I’d go straight to the horse’s mouth and look at the wording of the Act.)
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