British hopes of summer holidays abroad quashed!

[Clio]

Worth a read. It would be funny if it hadn't caused the maximum amount of hassle for thousands.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... licy-farce

[chrissyg]

The UK government is a joke and not a very funny one!

[Kamisiana]

Sounds like Stanley did the right thing getting over to his villa as soon as possible to make it Covid proof and get it rented out and help the Greek tourism industry and maybe some local cleaners and gardeners well done Stanley

[Maud]

It is so bad Clio that you could not make it up! The link you posted describes everything perfectly.

Thanks for the kind comment earlier by the way. Being ill on Crete would not be a problem for us in the way that it would for Guy. We are the only non Greeks where we are, so surrounded by friends who would look after us, do our shopping, and make sure we had all we needed. In fact when my washing machine refused to work last summer friends were turning up daily.... wanting to take away our dirty linen!!! Greeks are very special people.

I get at least one email every day at the moment....showing me the evenings sunset, the beach, and including local gossip! - I am not sure if everyone is trying to cheer me up with their news.....or make me jealous for not being there!

There is no way we would risk taking the virus to this community. I know we get a limited number of tourists.....mainly Greeks and Germans....and if Corvid 19 arrives it is a chance locals have to take, but I don’t want it to be OH or I that take it there.

[Guy M]

I havent seen any home testing kits on the nhs available to anyone other than key workers or if you have symptoms. Is there a link?

If you follow this link, you come to a page where it asks if you have symptoms. If you click “no” you still carry on to set up a test.


https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavir ... ronavirus/

[Kilkis]

A paragraph from the web site that you linked, Guy:

If you do not have symptoms, you can only get a test if your hospital has told you to.

Warwick

PS There are lots of people selling home testing swab kits for between £120 and £150. That includes the cost of sending the swab sample back to the lab, the PCR test being performed and the results being sent to you. Not exactly a fortune.

[GlennB]

Looking at reports of English boozers jam-packed into their favourite spots at the first opportunity I wouldn't blame Greece if it thought twice about restoring flight links with the UK. Which is a shame for Scotland and Wales, but I suppose it's impossible to be that specific about who to allow in.

[chrissyg]

Once again the media search for the idiots who dont obey the rules, like the massive queues for barber shops and reports of 3 month waiting lists for hairdressers. Mine rang me because a lot of people arent sure they want to go back yet. Same with restaurants.Nobody i knew had any problems, in fact i am passing empty shops all the time with bored looking sales assistants. Boris tried to big it up with Super Saturday etc. I'm not denying cerrtain places had problems, bound to happen.
Matt Hancock says the vast majority did obey the rules but then we all trust what Mr. Hackock says don't we? Lol.

[Maud]

You are lucky with your hairdresser Chrissyg. We rang ours before they opened to try to book an appointment, yet cannot get a hair cut until 15th July. I spoke to a friend in Wimbledon earlier today. She said most of the pubs there have not opened yet. Two restaurants were open in Wimbledon Village though, and both were fully booked.....with no social distancing outside where people were mingling! I have just watched people being interviewed in a pub in Nottingham. When asked if he was worried about going out for the evening with a couple of friends, one chap said that all three of them were ‘fit and healthy’ so there was no chance they would catch the virus. Another young woman said she wasn’t worried.....but thought she should be!

I really don’t think you can blame the press for reporting on the attitudes of people who were out and about yesterday. It is these people who will spread the virus, as there was no social distancing at all. It is a reminder to the rest of us that we still have to be careful, as not everyone is doing what they should be doing.

I fear for what might happen in Greece if this attitude prevails now the tourists are arriving.

[chrissyg]

Yes i hope they will be very careful and i hope you dont get too many boozy party types. Alcohol and rules dont mix and you are quite right, a lot of younger people think they are immune or that if they have no symptoms then they havent got it or can spread it. Im not proud of the british reputation for drinking but i suspect that some people from other countries can be like that too i suppose, especially if they are on holiday.
Im just saying that you should take everything the press says with a pinch of salt. And waiting a couple of weeks for a haircut is what i sometimes do anyway. That still isnt 3 months and the press have a tendency to exaggerate.

[Kilkis]

Yes i hope they will be very careful and i hope you dont get too many boozy party types...

I can't imagine that happening. Boozy party types coming to Greece on holiday. Never heard of that occurring.

I think saying that "the press exaggerate" is not really an accurate description. They simply report what they think will sell newspapers. A quiet country pub with everybody socially distancing, drinking sensibly and obeying the rules isn't very exciting copy, although I am sure there are places where it was happening. Thousands of people packing together and breaking all the rules is news. It's the old "man bites dog" theme. This is a picture of Soho last night. Is it an exaggeration to say that people aren't obeying social distancing? Can you find a single person in the photo wearing a mask? Does it really look like the photo was taken to make people look closer together than they are. It is simply people totally ignoring the rules with no exaggeration. It's not just London. This is a tweet from a Southampton police officer:

What was crystal clear is that drunk people can’t/won’t socialy distance...
Finished my late shift with the @HantsPolice Southampton City late shift. A busy shift, we dealt with anti social behaviour, naked men, possession of class ‘A’ drugs, happy drunks, angry drunks, fights, more angry drunks and was called a fascist pig by somebody we tried to help!

I am sure that is not really unusual for a Saturday night but usually COVID-19 is not present. The whole point is that "usual" leads to the disease spreading again. People are not supposed to be behaving as usual.

Similarly there have been several people interviewed in the UK who have tried to get a hairdressing appointment and have been quoted 3 months wait. It doesn't mean everybody has to wait 3 months simply that it is happening. When the Greek lockdown ended hairdressers were supposed to operate by appointment only. I emailed the one I use a few days before and I got an appointment at 10 am on the first day, a Monday. While I was in the shop the phone was ringing constantly. Customers were going stark raving mad because the first appointment they could get by then was on Friday. This is a tiny gents only hairdresser in a small village not a big salon. If his customers were having to wait a week I am not surprised if fashionable salons in the UK have a 3 month wait.

Warwick

[chrissyg]

No need to be sarcastic, Warwick. I was merely wondering if the party goers would actually holiday this year on Crete thats all, more likely to go to Spain where they were welcomed.
Regarding the reckless drinkers, im sure those things happened., and you can hardly wear a mask when you are drinking. I am no fan of the british pub culture, and i have personally seen alcohol destroy lives, but the press love to highlight these incidents which influence people into thinking we are all behaving like that. Im not codoning it, but how many pubs opened? They took a photo of one pub where people were outside too close together. Even the scientists have said that outdoors is safer and the recent worrying outbreaks have been indoor factories with bad crowded conditions, petfect for the virus.
Equally, of course the hairdressers will be busy, but why say we are likely to have to wait 3 months which i dont believe is true. Its just that they love to cause a panic. When they havent got pictures of ' the Royal Cuties' on the front page (excuse me while i vomit) or the fragrant Kate who can now do no wrong, they have photos of a crowded beach or people sunbathing in a park and beaking the rules or somebody they are trying to destroy. They lie all the time, how can you say they dont? How many times have they been sued? And dont get me started on politics and brexit....
There, lots of bits to pick out and 'disagree' with!

[Kamisiana]

Interesting to see how seriously the BAME and most Covid-19 prone group in the UK take it,Sorry if that offends the PC brigade hope they dont pull my statue down now.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12040503/ ... st-london/

[bobscott]

No need to be sarcastic, Warwick. I was merely wondering if the party goers would actually holiday this year on Crete thats all, more likely to go to Spain where they were welcomed.
Regarding the reckless drinkers, im sure those things happened., and you can hardly wear a mask when you are drinking. I am no fan of the british pub culture, and i have personally seen alcohol destroy lives, but the press love to highlight these incidents which influence people into thinking we are all behaving like that. Im not codoning it, but how many pubs opened? They took a photo of one pub where people were outside too close together. Even the scientists have said that outdoors is safer and the recent worrying outbreaks have been indoor factories with bad crowded conditions, petfect for the virus.
Equally, of course the hairdressers will be busy, but why say we are likely to have to wait 3 months which i dont believe is true. Its just that they love to cause a panic. When they havent got pictures of ' the Royal Cuties' on the front page (excuse me while i vomit) or the fragrant Kate who can now do no wrong, they have photos of a crowded beach or people sunbathing in a park and beaking the rules or somebody they are trying to destroy. They lie all the time, how can you say they dont? How many times have they been sued? And dont get me started on politics and brexit....
There, lots of bits to pick out and 'disagree' with!

Hi Chrissyg. The nub of the matter is money. Newspapers are in a decline. They all need lots of money to stay in production. Many are suffering from a loss of revenue from advertisers who have seen the demand for their products just about wither away. But in the end, selling the paper is what brings in the money. The 'juicier' the story the better. They sell more copy. Careful wording and editing ensure that these juicy bits get (metaphorically speaking) highlighted, and if they over-emphasise the bad bits, so be it. The public doesn't have to read the papers, there are other sources for news, some more reliable than others. That doesn't stop people believing what they read or hear. Sad to say, the 'common sense of the Great British Public' - to quote our leader - is often more in the mind than in reality! Bob.

[chrissyg]

Yes, and they seem to have got worse over the years. I dont read the papers any more really unless im bored in a coffee shop or i glance at the headlines whilst in the supermarket queue, they always annoy me to be honest. The only people i tend to trust are the specialists that the BBC interview on news programs.
What is annoying me at the moment is that our leaders think pubs and cafes are safer than gyms and swimming pools so maybe more pictures like that will actually get my local pool open soon, i miss it.