Lockdown humour

I thought the Lockdown was to prevent Cummings and goings

I'll get my coat …..

Bin Collections

Don't forget that Monday, 25th May is a Bank Holiday.

Bin collections for the week are all put back a day, so if your normal collection is a Tuesday, it will be on Wednesday next week, etc

Our council bin men ( or waste operatives if you prefer ) are among the hidden heroes, continuing to work even in these difficult times.  To maintain appropriate distancing one of the crew has been following in a van but continues to work as a part of the team.

In contradiction to rumours being put about, this is NOT a council officer doing random pick ups for selected residents, just the council adapting working practices during the pandemic.

Well done to the crews for the work they do, can you imagine the state we'd be in without them.

VE Day

Like many people today I will commemorate the 75th Anniversary of VE day. 

BUT we were not alone - the battle was joined by the Commonwealth countries, Australia, New Zealand , Canada, India, South Africa, the Caribbean and South Pacific islands , soldiers from occupied Europe - the Free French, Poles Greeks and others who made it here to join the fight, even countries like Brazil who fought bravely , and the USA (late again ) and the Soviet Union who probably took the greatest sacrifice in lives lost.

And VE day wasn't even the end of the war, it went on for some months afterwards in the far east with many more lives lost.

Dog restrictions at Blyth Beach

There have been  lots of enquiries speculating the restrictions that came into force on 1st May. These restrictions still apply.

“Dogs are not allowed on the section of beach from the access at Beachway to the access at the Links Road car park, between 1st May to 30th September”

Most people honour this annual agreement but anyone breaching the ban will be issued with an on the spot fixed penalty notice of £100. If unpaid then Northumberland County Council will normally prosecute and the court can issue a fine of up to £1000.00.

( Copied from Blyth Town Council's Facebook page) 

Lockdown ?

Although we are all mostly staying at home and distancing ourselves, this isn’t really a lockdown, we are just asked to be sensible and apply restrictions to ourselves. 

We all need to go out at sometime, for exercise, for shopping or to go to the Post Office, cash machine etc. 

Key workers go to work and keep the country going and an excellent job they are doing. 

But, if you have to go out, obey the distancing rules!!  If you don’t you risk finding out what a true lockdown really is!

Bin Collections Week Commencing 13th April

Next week, being Easter week, the bin collections are put back a day.

For example, if  like us, your bin collection is normally a Tuesday then next week it is put back to Wednesday

Next week is a blue bin  ( dry recycling ) and brown bin ( garden waste ) collection week.

Covid-19 restrictions - from a liberal standpoint.

As a liberal I find myself in a quandary about the restrictions placed upon us while we have Covid-19 running rampant throughout the world.


I am not in favour of the state controlling normal activity, and I think our Prime Minister is hanging on to his last few vestiges of liberalism by advising us of the restrictions. 


And I say advising us rather than telling us as while it is advice many members of the public are flaunting the advice.  Yes, there are laws, but the Police are interpreting them loosely across the land. 


Where does the law say I cannot drive a few miles for exercise?  If it is safer to be away from people a few miles from home then why not travel? 

Because then people will cherry pick where they want to go and risk many others doing the same. It has certainly happened in this area, there were more people at the beach in the first week of the restrictions than ever there would have been at this time of year. 


So, will the wording of the law have to be tightened? Without parliamentary approval? Bang goes democracy.  But if the rules are not tightened will there still be idiots flouting them and meeting in each others houses, having parties and barbeques and even visiting those supposedly closed bars and gyms? 


It is difficult. We do not live in a police state, but we need the police to enforce the law. And again, I say the law. There should not be arrests and fines for disobeying the advice handed down by government – and sometimes contradictory advice. 


Not far from here a lady was fined for going out jogging twice in a day. Each “trip” was for less than thirty minutes, as she is practicing for a 5K run later in the year. She doesn’t have any private outside space, and practiced safe distancing while running. One trip was at about 5 in the morning, the other at about 7 at night. The “fine” was withdrawn by an inspector a day or two later.  


But that goes down to interpretation of the rules. The “leave the house once a day” is sound advice for most of us, if you don’t need to go out more than once. But to risk the Police’s safety by ringing in and reporting her is too much, in my humble opinion.


As I say, if everybody acted according to the advice and the four points that Chris Witty keeps telling us at most advert breaks then we will get through this eventually.  I’m happy to try my best to follow the advice as long as it remains advice.