Have I got this right?

[shewhomust]

I'm still trying to get my head around the latest batch of coronavirus restrictions. As far as I could tell from yesterday's six o' clock news, as of tomorrow the north-east of England will be subject to tier 2 regulations. This means we will not be permitted to meet friends from other households ondoors - as is already the case. But we will be permitted to meet in each other's gardens, which is currently not allowed. Can this be right?

Yes, according to the Mcite>Guardian, in some areas the new rules will be more relaxed than previously.

Unless they aren't, as there is also scope for local regulations. Ah. That kind of simplification. As Sellar and Yeatman's indisoensable history book explains, it's all in Magna Charter: "That everything should be of the same weight and measure throughout the Realm - (except the Common People)."

Whether or not the council decides not to implement this restriction (and indeed, what "the council" means when the entire north-east region is treated as a single unit), I won't be rushing to sit in my friends' gardens any time soon. Not just because it is a rainy October in rhe north of England (though that is a consideration) but because this is a university area, where rates of infection are many times above the local level (and durham_rambler's analysis of the local figures suggests that Durham's rates are even higher than those quoted in that article.

Will our student neighbours be equally cautious, or will they go back to mingling households in their back gardens? Who knows? To be fair, they have been comparatively quiet this term. But when my diary reminds me that Thursday is Farmers' Market day - well, with regret, I'm more than ready for an excursion but I don't think I'll be going into the city.

Comments

[cmcmck]

The charters and garters of the realm.

We're still in tier 1 so nothing too complicated.

[shewhomust]

"We'll get him a Magna Charter,"
Said Fitz when his face he had freed;
Said the Barons "That's right and if one's not enough,
Get a couple and happen they'll breed."

[sovay]

But when my diary reminds me that Thursday is Farmers' Market day - well, with regret, I'm more than ready for an excursion but I don't think I'll be going into the city.

*hugs*

We are also in a hot zone and send sympathies.

[shewhomust]

You work round it so much better than I do - and I enjoy your excursions vicariously!

[athenais]

California has finally, finally relaxed some restrictions and I'm so pleased. It's been a long seven months. Of course, we never did have a "bubble" of friends where we got together inside our houses, but we could now have a bigger one if we chose. And outdoors dining is allowed, though I still have no intention of eating near anyone else except John.

What I'm waiting for increasingly impatiently is for hair salons to open. Eight months without a haircut is irritating. I don't like the way I look with long hair and I don't like how long hair gets in my way even in my sleep unless I constantly tie it back. Also, I cut my own fringe now and wow, I am not a stylist, it really looks like a Covid Cut. Sure, it's not very important, but it's what I most miss from the Before Times.

[shewhomust]

It's been a long summer! And you've had the fires to contend with, as well. So I hope this emergence works well for you.

We seem to have come out of lockdown too early, and are now paying the price for it.

Also, we are a very local hotspot: much of the region does not have high rates of infection, but is being treated the same as the university cities ...

[athenais]

I feel like I finally understand how long this long game is. Like, it'll never go back to how it was and I don't fight that anymore. What I want more than anything is to travel internationally and the loss of that I am not at all reconciled to, but for everything else I'm on board for staying much quieter than I have previously done in my life. I am not an introvert, but I'm beginning to look like one.

[shewhomust]

I feel like I finally understand how long this long game is.

And yet, we are the long-time SF readers, we should have known ...

What I want more than anything is to travel internationally...

Oh, yes. Failing that, just to travel, but this was to be the year after several years of UK holdays when we spent some time in France, before Brexit made it so much harder.

Also live music.

[anef]

I have so missed the Folk Festival this summer!

[anef]

I cannot understand why they required/allowed students to come back in person, when online teaching is possible for most courses, and in some cases actually better than lectures. Of course there are some courses where lab work is essential, and some students would not have been able to study from home. But for the rest - why, Lord, why?

[shewhomust]

I think everyone knew this would lead t an increase in infections; but even the pessimists among us may have under-estimated how great an increase!

Still, anyone can make a mistake. I'm more worried that Durham, at least, seems to be in denial about it. And what now? You can't close down a university as if it were a school (what, and send the infected dtudents back to their parents?). The genie won't fit back into the lamp...

[anef]

I feel very lucky that they have allowed hair salons to open over here, and swimming pools. Both have been done with maximum precautions, and seem to be working well. I am crossing my fingers that they will continue to remain open even if we have to go up to a higher level of precautions (which unfortunately seems inevitable at the moment. In our area the level was reasonably stable at about 5/100,000 over the summer, it has now risen to over 50.)