Penguin68

P.s they're Irish Gypsy travellers. Irish travellers are Celts, originating from Ireland (often as travelling tin smiths, hence the name 'tinkers') - Gypsy (Romany) travellers almost certainly originate from Northern India (although their 'name' implies a wrongly assumed Egyptian origin). They are entirely different racial and cultural groups. As you appear to have conflated the two, it makes me doubt your identification.

ignored as currently most people are not observing the full 2m rule when passing others in the street. The 'two metre rule' really refers to continuous contact, indoors, lasting 15 minutes or more. Which is what bars and schools and offices etc. would be offering. Transmission in the open is less likely (far less likely) and people passing (no continuity of contact) within 1 metre is almost certainly virtually risk free. A queue for a shop, even in the open, offers 'continuous' contact possibilities - if the queue is long, which is why 2 metres, for queues, probably meets the precautionary principle. Someone walking through (or past) the queue at a metre distance probably doesn't.

This?

Can I strongly recommend Kingswood House, the only Scottish Baronial mansion in England, (built by the man who created Bovril!) It is strangely quirky and very South London - a mansion surrounded by a very fine council estate. The people there are super. There are 'tudor style' wood panelled rooms. My daughter was married there 2 years ago - it was a wonderful occasion. https://www.kingswoodcommunity.org.uk/ It's just north of Crystal Palace - very handy for Dulwich and ED.

I am also really unclear how all this enhances social distancing in the area? If you can get the council to create a virtual gated community for you, you will be wonderfully socially distanced from the hoi polloi milling about outside your enclave.

I just get one delivery of 'normal' post a week, now (on Thursday, if you're asking) when a huge batch drops through the letterbox, or, if it's too much, has to be handed in. Royal Mail parcels (not ParcelForce) arrive normally however. I see posties in one street or another most days. I think back-logs have meant that there is now too much post waiting for a postman to carry for a full round, so it gets left over for 'the next day' and so on. So postmen are now doing a particular walk once a week, rather than every day. Hopefully as more come back on again deliveries may return to normal. But it ain't the service people are paying for when they buy their stamps (particularly first class ones!).

Mine arrived today, first post this week

The 'daily death' figures are rubbish - they show how many reports of death were received centrally up to, I think, 5.00pm on the day previous - irregardless of when these deaths actually occurred. That is why the weekend figures are so low, as far fewer reports of death are made or received over the weekend - for deaths out of hospital these have to be reported to the registrar of births, deaths and marriages. All the death certificates do of course carry the actual date of death, and it would be possible to re-base the death chart to show actual figures on the 'right' dates - probably up to about a week before the current date. The 'weekly average' is an attempt to proxy those figures. This may be important as it is possible that real date anomalies might appear - particularly in care homes where we might expect weekend cover normally to be lower. The way we collect death data and the way other countries do is known to be different - Belgian figures are reported higher than ours because of the wider definition they have of Covid related deaths, other countries show stricter definitions. The best interpretation of the statistics will probably be an analysis of excess deaths over a seasonal norm - we know that some people who died with Covid were anyway very seriously ill, and if Covid pneumonia hadn't killed than, another pneumonia (or some other cause) might well have. Such an analysis can only be made once the infection has fallen to normal - whatever that might be - levels. That it has hit the UK hard is undeniable, but the reasons for that are still very unclear. If there is a genetic predisposition to catch and suffer seriously from Covid amongst some BAME communities, for instance, linked or not to low levels of vitamin D (this is all just speculation) our higher population from this group might hold some clues. Equally, London, where the infection was very bad, like New York (ditto) is an international travel hub and 'global' city. Maybe this was an issue - and it is likely if so that infections came into the city long before anyone was even considering lock down or social distancing. Better and truer information about the disease from China would definitely have helped here. We simply don't (yet) know enough to start apportioning political blame, satisfying as that might be.

I'm sure I saw them empty the food waste contents into the garden waste bin yesterday? You will have done - whilst Southwark separated (so they could charge for garden waste) the food and garden waste elements of organic recyclables, their supplier, Veolia, does not have separate treatment plants for the two locally, so there is no economy for them in separating waste collection. Kitchen waste (I think) can be anaerobically digested (if there is suitable plant) which acts to produce bio-methane - this happens in a sealed container - whereas garden waste is composted to be used as fertiliser. At the moment all the organic Southwark waste is composted (as you would in a home composter in your garden).

There was certainly a collection in Underhill yesterday, and west side Wood Vale, so I think the collections are normal, but the teams are changed a bit, so if you put your brown bin somewhere else but by the front of your property they might miss it. I put my small (kerb side) caddy up on a wall (otherwise it's at ideal dog watering level) and it was nearly missed once because the collector was looking at ground level.

Since you cannot make him homeless during covid (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/complete-ban-on-evictions-and-additional-protection-for-renters) I think his position with you does not fall into the ban on 'overnight stays'. The fact that you have not charged him rent (good on you) does not obviate his contract with you. I think you could require him not to use any 'common parts' (other than the entrance) he has with you for a period - perhaps 7 days - when he has come back to protect you from infection (I am assuming that you are not an at risk or shielded person). This may be one for citizen's advice, but clearly his is an unusual circumstance for which general 'rules' cannot apply.

This EDF doesn't have a Facebook page.

I was in the Horniman yesterday morning and there was a scattering of litter around a (fairly full) bin, but that looked wind-blown to me - and probably left the night before. If the bin had been emptied the litter wouldn't have then blown out of it. In still conditions it would probably still be in the bin. Better to take your own litter away, but when there's a bin I'm not surprised it's used. The gardens are otherwise in great condition, and clearly there are enough staff to care for them from a horticultural perspective.

with little children running around and playing closely together. As described this clearly breaks the guidance, although there is no evidence, world-wide, of children under 10 infecting adults, and generally young children are either symptomless or the impact is very mild on them. So probably the actual risk, as regards the children, is very low - and the positive effects of children socialising may well outweigh any negative Covid-19 impacts. Which is not to excuse or condone the actions of the adults, who are clearly not 'being alert' - and are putting themselves (as adults) at risk, as they are any more vulnerable people they may be in contact with at work or home.

The ?official? numbers are not accurate, as far more people died in care homes than the Government has published. The 'official' figures are for those who have died in care homes where Covid-19 is mentioned on the death certificate. Many people do, sadly and naturally, die in care homes, of many other causes than Covid-19. Indeed of those who died with Covid-19 on their death certificates some, perhaps many, will have their deaths 'brought forward' by Covid-10, but not, perhaps by that many months. Care homes are frequently an end-of-life option. The figures are put together by the ONS - a body independent of government. And many people argue that social distancing and hand-washing - already urged before any lock-down was instituted, were already bringing down infections. The most likely places recently to catch Covid-19 have been hospitals and care homes, filled with elderly sick and infected by an NHS keen to clear bed-blockers to allow for an influx of novel Covid cases in hospitals. The mental health problems caused by lock-down and social isolation are considerable. If people stick to hand-washing and social distancing (some evidently weren't, to the latter, well before any relaxation) then a second wave can still be offset. And far from 'earning money for shareholders' you might consider a re-start of economic activity as earning money for taxation and reducing your (that is government's, but where do you think that's coming from) expenditure on mitigating hardship for those not able to work.

kiera - yes of course all males are stingless (and also you rarely come across them save during a mating flight or in a hive) - I meant stingless species, of which only females have stings (some of the stingless bees do however have painful bites, I believe)

Stingless bees are all tropical and subtropical. There are none in the UK. All UK bees can sting.

We were made aware of this theft and given an option to put a Catloc" on catalytic converter to protect it when we had MOT and service done in January, but opted out... There are reports that such locks (for some car types anyway) can be got round without too much trouble (just more damage to the car when doing it). I don't know if those reports are true - or exactly which types of lock (for which cars) may be more vulnerable - but I wouldn't beat myself up about not having one fitted. All security is about making it too costly/ difficult compared with what else is out there - no security is actually secure 100% if there is a thief out there who wants to steal. https://kit.honestjohn.co.uk/top-tens/top-10-ways-to-prevent-catalytic-converter-theft/

One post removed for being libellous, others may follow (without warning) Publishing a libel is something that must be proved in court, but defending such a case is/ can be extremely expensive, which is why publishers, like this forum, are careful to avoid such accusations. There are weasel words ('allegedly' etc.) which can sometimes get round this - in this case the alleged perpetrator has only been reported as saying what he has, this is not the same as he himself publishing this. So Admin was quite correct, and is protecting this forum for the rest of us.

Oxford University is undertaking a major study on psychological health (and lack of it) related to Covid 19. It will be in several stages to track progress and changes. They are looking to recruit volunteers. I have joined the study - the questionnaire is not difficult and it is quite interesting. I have no links with the study or its supporters. https://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fpsychiatryoxford.qualtrics.com%2Fjfe%2Fform%2FSV_8owcGAKKo1dL1vD&h=AT2T007Uzb3sEZS-3iWXJoro3quCTsLbXBIvN6eupXvofS9Ukp3nGiIGbF40IKqO2HIOpys-oJSJ021yEoiIZhRpF2eSswLodr0SDHOKdRSYdZiiOGn9gMUxzgK0Ripsru7bnntiaZFVVYJBEw&s=1&extid=6GR2NBZbATRxQypJ

The cars at most risk are fairly modern hybrids - as their CATs will have been comparatively under-used so that the rare earth minerals etc. used in them will still be in abundance. Which makes them worth more on the scrap market. The older the car (and if they are full petrol) the less value the used CAT is. Which doesn't stop them being stolen, just makes them less desirable when others are available. There was a spate of this in ED pre-lock-down. I suspect the opening up of businesses has meant that the market (buyers) for scrap has also now revived.

I think the issue in a queue is that at one metre, if you stand back, or someone else does, you can make contact quite easily - Covid-19 doesn't transmit easily across space in the open, certainly (as also the virus is more likely to 'die' more quickly in the open) - but contact, either person to person or person to object to person is a much more likely transmission route - so maintaining 2 metres in a static queue is a good idea, even if someone passing you (without touching you) only a couple of feet away is probably quite safe. It also allows someone to pass through a queue (as can be necessary on retail streets) whilst still coming no closer than a metre during transit. And for one individual to nay-say another's very real fears is just rude.

> > @Penguin68 - is that official advice your giving ? Some of it,like handwashing and social distancing is taken from official advice, but no, of course not, I'm not an official and this is not an organ of government information. But, broadly, my advice is consistent with the medical science as currently promulgated. Meeting more than one person, in the open air and with distance etc. provisos is likely to be as safe as meeting only one. Which is what current official advice stipulates.

If you feel ill with flu like symptoms you should self isolate, for 7-14 days. If you feel fine, and meet people outside, then following the underlying 'rules' - maintain a 2 metre distance, don't share e.g. food and wash hands thoroughly (avoiding touching your face) and you and the people you meet will actually be OK - however many you 'meet' with. The difficulty is remembering the basics, which is why the government's advice is overly cautious. But the number of new infections in London is very low - so your chances of being infected in London are also low. And for the vast majority of those infected - 80% - infection is not that bad - no worse than mild flu (or no symptoms at all). A further 10% will suffer, in effect, a very bad dose of flu, but not bad enough to go to hospital, but the remaining 10% may well be so seriously ill that their life is threatened. But if you 'relax' whilst following the basic advice, then things should be OK. And not 'relaxing' may in itself lead to mental strains which are or could be equally damaging. If you're living OK with lockdown, then continue it; if not then follow the underlying 'rules' and stay alert. And avoid FONMO (Fear of NOT missing out).

Just to point out that the home tests have a very poor record of accuracy - not because there is a problem with the testing kit itself, but because the actual sampling process (swabbing, effectively, the tonsils and then the back of the nose) is very difficult to do, particular on yourself, invasive and quite uncomfortable. So the samples taken are frequently of poor quality. In hospitals and testing centre the testers are more experienced, and frankly more brutal in getting their samples.