MY wife and I are 70 years old. One of the enjoyments in our life is driving our sports car. Normally this would entail a stop somewhere for a coffee and snack on our route. We have driven all over the UK and Europe.
Because of Covid-19 we are trying to be hermits to protect ourselves, but wish to continue driving for enjoyment although now no stops for a snack. Perhaps a picnic in a remote spot in a glen or road that has a place wide enough to take the car off the road. Not a formal visitor spot or lay-by, possible by a gate to a field. We therefore are still isolated and will meet no-one.
READ MORE: Camping and caravan sites should now be temporarily closed
On such a drive yesterday we saw loads of people about in cars in full public car parks by Loch Lomond and hill climbing hot spots. These people were not self-isolating, and were putting themselves and others at risk. You could see people passing close beside each other.
We worry about this failure to follow government guidelines but also that there may come a time where there will be a rule or a stigma to driving about in the country or in fact anywhere. Hopefully not, as it allows us hermits to get out of our house for a few hours, to escape our four walls. Fingers crossed common sense will prevail.
Robert Anderson
Dunning, Perthshire
READ MORE: Thirty camper vans 'from across the UK' turned away from Highlands park
WHY, when the statistics for Covid-19 in London are greater than elsewhere in the UK, are people being allowed to move freely in and out of London?
The fact that London is a breeding ground for the virus, with its supersized population living cheek by jowl, with more cases and deaths than elsewhere in the UK, where self-distancing is being ignored and people travel in and out to the rest of the UK and internationally, it would appear to be common sense for London to be placed in lockdown to prevent all but essential travel throughout UK and also the spread of the virus.
Christine Smith
Troon
ARE we going to shut the country down in this half-arsed way every time a new flu visits? I ask because while UK flu-related deaths have risen into the thousands previously, they hit a 13,000 mortality high in 2008. We didn’t shut the country down then. And before readers start sneering that I’m not taking this seriously, two of my asthmatic daughters work in the NHS, one doctor, one midwife.
Covid-19 is not the crippling issue, it is just the immediate problem. The big issue is that the country that invented universal healthcare is so easily overwhelmed. THAT is because of a decade of austerity.
We lazily accept the 36,000 premature deaths annually from pollution because they are spread out and we can sort of cope. Anyone who thinks the current muddled measures are anything to do with compassion are not paying attention.
DIY self-isolation breeds fear and confusion (and more terrible self-indulgent celebrity Instagram posts).
There is no point to this without extensive testing.
We can’t shut the country down every year, and this is the first significant flu pandemic since 1918 – not that last.
Amanda Baker
Edinburgh
THE coronavirus emergency has shown that in a real emergency both government and individuals will act decisively. Government has, step by step, introduced restrictions like closing leisure venues, and the public has been largely supportive. Individuals have reduced car journeys and are stockpiling food.
Contrast this with the so-called climate emergency. I don’t know a single individual who has reduced their car driving or stopped flying. And what if the government one day were to ban all petrol and diesel cars from the road, and another day banned meat, and another day disconnected the mains gas from all homes? You could imagine the response.
Geoff Moore
Alness, Highland
I DO feel Nicola’s “nae messin” message is getting through. Neighbours and friends all around me are definitely doing their bit. It’s also so important we don’t panic and that we keep our sense of humour, so can I suggest the popular caption competition in the Sunday National becomes a daily feature? It can only help.
Robin MacLean
Fort Augustus
OUR community shop is tiny but serves us well. No-one could save distance within it. Now it has decided to take telephone orders only and will deliver these to homes in the village. Simple, isn’t it! Can’t see panic bulk buys being taken!
Catriona Grigg
Embo
MY own recollection of Chicky Melly was to use the tongue of an old boot, a nail and a piece of thread or fishing line. The leather was soaked, the nail pushed through it and the thread tied to the nail. If this was pressed against a window in an unobtrusive corner, pulling the thread caused the nail to tap, tap, tap on the glass. Maybe some enterprising bairn could figure out if it works on double glazing?
Les Hunter
Lanark
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