Don't ride in groups or we will be stopped cycling completely.

[PaulSB]

Oh, FFS...!

I do not drive. I have never driven. I live 1.5 km from the supermarket. I have the choice of walking to and from the shops or cycling to and from the shops. So, that would be a 5 minute bike ride on roads where I do NOT have to pass people closely, or a 15-20 minute walk on pavements where I sometimes DO have to pass people closely. Which would YOU say is safer?

I go to the shop at times when it is not busy. There is often only one checkout operating at that time but there are so few people shopping that either one person is ahead of me (AT A DISTANCE OF SEVERAL METRES!!!!) or nobody is and I get through straight away.

Before you suggest combining my bike rides and shopping trips... For shopping I carry a ferking great D-lock which weighs 1.6 kg and a 35 litre rucksack to carry my purchases. For bike rides, I carry a small backpack with tools etc in. I do not want to ride any further than necessary equipped for shopping and if I did, I would have to take up valuable space in my rucksack with the tools etc. which would mean that I couldn't carry as much shopping and would have to go shopping more often, so that isn't exactly a sensible plan.

Colin there's no need to get upset. You said earlier you would design one hour rides to get to Lidl. This suggested to me you plan to purposefully turn shopping trips in to longer rides.

I'm not saying that they would be right - I quite often do one short ride to the shops and one longer ride later; I'm just saying that nosey neighbours would have enough information to make 1 plus 1 equal 3.74...

I'm quite surprised that the government haven't yet suggested that if you walk/cycle/run to the shops then that is your daily exercise taken care of! If they did that then I would pick a 1 hour route to Lidl, rather than my 6 or 7 minute direct route.

The danger when shopping is the supermarket environment, not those in the queue, not who you may or may not pass in the street on a bike or walking - you can control those things. The big issue is who has been handling the goods prior to yourself.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I agree what are your thoughts on people not doing as advised?

I have no control over what they do. I control what I do. I find it necessary to let the things I can’t control flow around me. Stressing about things you can’t control is a sure fire way to illness in itself.

Advice is precisely that, even if strongly advised. So he is able to take the advice on board then decide what he wants to do.

You could do a big shop for 30 tins of soup and make it last 2 months if you want to stay at home. That’d class as infrequently as possible. You done that or you still going out?

You see, you are entering a purity spiral with your brother.

A purity spiral occurs when a community (or group) becomes fixated on implementing a single value that has no upper limit, and no single agreed interpretation.

It never leads to good outcomes.

 

[screenman]

I would prefer he goes back to his normal once weekly shop. I am worried for him and his wife, is that wrong.

 

[hoopdriver]

I have no control over what they do. I control what I do. I find it necessary to let the things I can’t control flow around me. Stressing about things you can’t control is a sure fire way to illness in itself.

Advice is precisely that, even if strongly advised. So he is able to take the advice on board then decide what he wants to do.

You could do a big shop for 30 tins of soup and make it last 2 months if you want to stay at home. That’d class as infrequently as possible. You done that or you still going out?

You see, you are entering a purity spiral with your brother.

A purity spiral occurs when a community (or group) becomes fixated on implementing a single value that has no upper limit, and no single agreed interpretation.

It never leads to good outcomes.

Purity Spiral - The perfect term for describing so much of the debate on this thread.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I have no control over what they do. I control what I do. I find it necessary to let the things I can’t control flow around me. Stressing about things you can’t control is a sure fire way to illness in itself.

Amen to that.

 

[Mo1959]

I have no control over what they do. I control what I do. I find it necessary to let the things I can’t control flow around me. Stressing about things you can’t control is a sure fire way to illness in itself.

I like that! Wish I could live by it way better than I do!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I would prefer he goes back to his normal once weekly shop. I am worried for him and his wife, is that wrong.

Nothing wrong with worrying about a family member or friend. But forgive me if I misread your earlier posts, they didn’t appear to be expressed as you being concerned for him. They seemed to be of the purity spiral type with your assessment that minimising means once a week, his being twice a week.

Let me take you on a thought experiment.

Your brother early on in this pandemic shopped once a week. But he began to find that the items he wanted were out of stock. They’d hardly ever been out of stock before. This put him in a bit of a panic and his shopping took much longer than usual as he dithered over alternatives. This put him under more stress. Restrictions then came in on the quantities he could buy of individual items. So he couldn’t get the qtys he normally did on a weekly shop.

To combat the above he started shopping twice a week and found he could get everything he needed in the qtys he needed. Plus he spent less time in the supermarket as when something was not in stock he just left it to try and get the second shop that week.

So over two shops a week he spends less time in the supermarket exposed to others and potentially the virus.

If you worry about him shopping twice a week, then you'd worry about him shopping once a week.

I know it’s hard but we have to accept the decisions others make, even If we worry about them.

 

[ColinJ]

Colin there's no need to get upset. You said earlier you would design one hour rides to get to Lidl. This suggested to me you plan to purposefully turn shopping trips in to longer rides.

I meant that if the government only allowed us to go out once a day to the shops OR for exercise then I would make sure to extend any shopping trips, NOT do extra trips to the shops every day. I wouldn't want to go to the shops every day and wouldn't need to. I would probably ride to Lidl, lock my heavy lock to the stand and nip off to do a quick loop elsewhere without it, then come back to lock my bike up and shop.

If they got really stupid and said that we were not allowed out for exercise but ONLY for shopping trips, then I would still only go shopping 2 or 3 times a week but I would extend my trips somewhat. A mere 3 km flat round trip 3 ride times a week wouldn't really keep me healthy for long.

Colinj, I thought you were on long term sick and had not worked for many years, does that not put you in high risk? Apologies if I am confusing you with another member.

My physical health had always been pretty good until I became obese and had my first pulmonary embolism in 2012. I had a second PE a year later. I have made a pretty good recovery from those but I'm sure that there is some long term damage. I'm not sure how much extra risk that damage would expose me to - hopefully not too much. I am 64 though, so getting towards the at-risk age group.

It wasn't physical health problems that stopped me working, it was mental health problems but those certainly were not helped by the blood clotting problems! I haven't been diagnosed, but I know that the PEs led to me suffering PTSD. I have morbid thoughts about illness and death for the last 8 years. I'm trying not to think about ending up a COVID-19 sufferer and am doing my best to avoid becoming one!

 

[screenman]

News, France is locked down for another month, as you may know cycling is banned.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/13/macron-france-remain-strict-lockdown-for-another-month

Mod note:
sorry @screenman, just barging in to add a link

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

News, France is locked down for another month, as you may know cycling is banned.

I'm sure that will do wonders for Macron's already overwhelming level of public popularity....

 

[mjr]

France lockdown extended. Cycling still not banned but no change to exercise distance limit. Only relaxation is that you're now allowed to adopt a pet from animal shelters. https://www.france24.com/en/2020041...third-primetime-tv-address-on-covid-19-crisis

 

[screenman]

I'm sure that will do wonders for Macron's already overwhelming level of public popularity....

I think he would rather save lives.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Just checked: for our state there's still no limit on being outside as long as you stay 1.5m from other people and don't meet in groups; cycling is fine for as long and as fer as you want. Obviously I can't cross the French border, but that's some distance away.
Most people are observing this here, and there seems to be no tightening of the rules.

 

[mjr]

Just checked: for our state there's still no limit on being outside as long as you stay 1.5m from other people and don't meet in groups; cycling is fine for as long and as fer as you want. Obviously I can't cross the French border, but that's some distance away.
Most people are observing this here, and there seems to be no tightening of the rules.

Do you not have bike-bashing stories in the newspapers?

 

[lane]

Telegraph reports police advice today - do not report breaches confront them yourselves.

Many reports are of "MINOR" breaches such as someone going out for a second run. Probably MAJOR if it's a second bike ride though.

On positive news possible closure of some roads to make bike lanes.