Bearsted Woodland Trust

Despite the choppy easterly, it was another fine day for a walk. More challenging today as there were many more people around than on our rural walk yesterday.

Some people were considerate and moved, others oblivious. Reading various blogs there seems much anxiety about people not observing social distancing. Whether this is ignorance, bravado or some other driver I’m not sure but it’s leading to a clamour for full lockdown.

We saw it on the golf course where groups of men walked to and congregated around the tee, we saw it where couples walked hand in hand across the whole path forcing us into the road to avoid them. And I’ve read countless accounts of similar scenarios. Who saw the line of parked cars of people who were hiking up Snowdon?

I’ve read also that Social Distancing is the wrong phrase. It ought to be Physical Distancing. We want people to be physically 2 metres apart. We want social closeness through technology. All this isolation is devastating to many, we need social contact, social contact not physical contact.

People were warned not to visit their mother but we took the calculated risk of having Doreen for a Mother’s Day Sunday dinner this evening. We’ve been with her of and on all week as she’s been so ill and so have her carers and we brought her down in the car. We didn’t know what to do for the best. We hope we made the right decision. It certainly did her good to be in a different environment for a few hours.

Tonight there are threats that if people will not comply with physical distancing more draconian measures will be imposed. Not going out at all is on the cards. All because some cannot or will not do as they are told. That will mean no allotment, no walking, only out to get shopping. Is that what we want?