https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-56661199

Should have left him there for a few nights before picking him up, ha ha!

I wouldn’t be surprised that the ‘missing’ paddle was somehow assisted on it’s departure – otherwise a numbtie for not making sure it was secure. Article doesn’t make it clear if her was relieved of some of his pounds before departure?

@NZCol

https://www.scotland.police.uk/secureforms/covid19/

^ yeah too late, they left on Tuesday. Naughty though.

I wouldn’t be surprised that the ‘missing’ paddle was somehow assisted on it’s departure

😂

Walla-i-by surprised…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-56661833

Still no update on island travel. Still no news on when there might be an update. Still no strategy for it. Crowds at football matches will be fine though.

Article doesn’t make it clear if her was relieved of some of his pounds before departure?

I think almost certainly will have been – but a fixed penalty notice if paid quickly is less than the cost of fuel for the trip… its a parking ticket, hey if there was a £30 fee for camping on the island for the night they’d probably have paid it happily.

Still no update on island travel. Still no news on when there might be an update. Still no strategy for it. Crowds at football matches will be fine though.

Interesting priorities…

I’m 56, been informed that they have no record of a vaccination appointment for me and that I have to wait 4-6 weeks for resolution as they have a significant backlog of enquiries. Apparently my record has no date of birth, there’s no escalation route and nothing I can do except wait…

Local upset re any changes in restrictions in that Islands consultation concluded over a fortnight ago and Shetland Islands Council (SIC) says it remains none the wiser as to whether the islands will be moved into new-look level three restrictions or whether more freedoms, such as household visits and extended opening hours for businesses, might be permitted…. And obviously no idea over travel to mainland either.

And… I really DGAS about footy and have been totally bemused all along about the exemptions been made for professional sport through this, particularly when it would seem they can’t even behave themselves when they have been lucky enough to get exemptions.

@NZCol

https://www.scotland.police.uk/secureforms/covid19/

This does make me worry a bit that after Co-vid we will have a grass culture where everyone thinks it is Ok to basically shop their neighbours for the slightest thing.

This does make me worry a bit that after Co-vid we will have a grass culture where everyone thinks it is Ok to basically shop their neighbours for the slightest thing.

What makes you think we didn’t have that culture before? What makes you think that form is doing anything other than letting police Scotland signpost people there so they can get on with the day job?

My interpretation of the “islands issue” is there is no clear single opinion from the islands themselves on the preference. Obviously plenty of tourist businesses very keen to open, but plenty of people not benefiting from tourism who would prefer not to take the risk; some of whom might want the freedom to leave the islands themselves.

Not an easy problem to solve; and of course you can probably extend the same discussions around other rural communities. Whilst I’ve been largely supportive of their approach I think they’ve made a mess of the levels – and either they need totally rewritten for the whole country or they need scrapped for the whole country. I think there is an argument for keeping them, but perhaps entire local authorities are too big (in West Lothian there are council wards which appear to have zero cases for several weeks, and council wards which are the worst in the country for a couple of weeks running), and the criteria are probably wrong in a post vaccination world.

I’m surprised we can’t just vaccinate the entire islands (and find a clinical justification because of lack of medical facilities) then open them a few weeks later. If there isn’t a clinical justification for that, I doubt there is a clinical justification for keeping them closed – in which case there seems to be human rights issue with restricting travel without a compelling public health basis.

And… I really DGAS about footy and have been totally bemused all along about the exemptions been made for professional sport through this, particularly when it would seem they can’t even behave themselves when they have been lucky enough to get exemptions.

I’m with you on that. Which political party is going to stick its head above the parapet and tell the football obsessed central belt, flag waving, agro population that football is not important a month before an election?

So far as football is concerned I think the exemption for some clubs has been a good thing for some people watching or listening to a match has been a major source of relaxation and enjoyment in bleak times. Not for me I’m a celtic fan 🙂

What makes you think that form is doing anything other than letting police Scotland signpost people there so they can get on with the day job?

See also dashcams/headcams. I doubt the Police will respond to any more than a tiny fraction of any complaints.

There is definitely a question of balance regarding the islands. However it’s not just worried residents vs struggling business folk. Families are split up, normal travel across the country is affected, islanders are being isolated. So far, there hasn’t even been any sort of strategy laid out, let alone dates.

WRT vaccinating whole islands, we can’t be that far off it now for the adult population of Shetland. A few weeks back there was half the total population with their first jab and I know people in their 40s with no other factors who’ve had it and have heard of people in Thier 20s that have had it now here.

I’ve no idea about other island communities.

Yeh the levels by LA does seem a very blunt tool given that some are massive and one ward with high rates can lock down the whole LA.

Dates for the diary now seem to be 20th April to find out what’s what, and then 17th May for any meaningful change for us up here, but what that change is we’ve no idea and our political leaders here are still saying they’re in the blind.

For all a lot of Shetlanders have family on island, it’s very common for islanders to have friends and family on mainland Scotland and esle where with regular trips both ways. This uncertainty of whether we will be able to travel to see family after this long when the rest of mainland Scotland will be able to seems cruel and unnecessary.

Must admit I’m finding all the news coverage of people out and about in pubs, shops, gyms etc south of the border rather unsettling. While we were all locked down it seemed easier to accept and comply. Now that we have a date of 2 weeks hence it somehow seems to be causing restlessness for me.

I guess that is coupled with so many folk I know locally travelling well outwith their own LA to go for away rides, take dogs to the beach etc. We are off work this week, as had to use up annual leave and boys are off school and college. Local walks from home, local road rides, local dog walks are all things we are blessed with the ability to do, but somehow feel cheated…

Though in the bigger picture we appear to have cheated death by COVID so need to keep in perspective…

Must admit I’m finding all the news coverage of people out and about in pubs, shops, gyms etc south of the border rather unsettling.

You are not the only one.

I just see it as NS being super cautious again and using England as the petri dish.

The 26th should see a bit of change for us up here. I don’t get the big deal about the football either but it’s obviously important to a lot of people. I just wanna sit outside the pub with a pint and maybe a bowl of chips after a nice long bike ride 😎

Must admit I’m finding all the news coverage of people out and about in pubs, shops, gyms etc south of the border rather unsettling. While we were all locked down it seemed easier to accept and comply. Now that we have a date of 2 weeks hence it somehow seems to be causing restlessness for me.

I suspect I’m unsettled in the opposite direction. No desire to go to a shop/gym/pub but would like to be able to travel 45 minutes and go for a walk in a park/woods with my folks who I’ve not seen for nearly a year. Would like to be able to walk up a hill or go for a paddle on a quiet loch on my own (or with my own family). Would like to be able to ride my bike somewhere different. All pretty low risk activities, but I can’t do those yet, and it looks like we’ll see crowded beer gardens and queues outside Primark at the same time as those basic freedoms are made available. My big fear is there is a “spike” and they reverse all the freedoms rather than just the high risk ones. That said the numbers in Scotland are very encouraging – as low as late Sept with a downward trend rather than upwards, and most schools off for another week and restrictions for another 2 weeks means those should be more like the late august numbers by the time we ease restrictions.

All pretty low risk activities, but I can’t do those yet, and it looks like we’ll see crowded beer gardens and queues outside Primark at the same time as those basic freedoms are made available. My big fear is there is a “spike” and they reverse all the freedoms rather than just the high risk ones.

Yep. Pretty strange set of rules we’ve ended up with. I get there’s a need to get the economy functioning and that means retail/hospitality needs to open up but restrictions on access and outdoor activity have mostly been unnecessarily slow to be lifted. I guess that lack of economic benefit had simply put it down the priority list.

Or, as someone put it last year – “wheres the safest place to be in a Covid outbreak”?

“Somewhere with a till”

Agreed, I’m in no rush to visit Primark, I think I have been in their stores 3 or 4 times in the last decade. Similarly not a pub goer, though do miss family meals out.

I haven’t ridden my MTB since about November though as there really isn’t anything local to South Lanarkshire that is fun and not full of walkers and dogs. Not much of a grumble in the grand scale of things, and just about to head out for an hour or 2 from home on the road bike..

Quite a few changes then.

This Friday – travel throughout mainland permitted, 6 adults from 6 households allowed to meet outdoors.

And 26th April we’ll be able to travel to/from the islands.

New documents to be published later today.

Class, travel restrictions no more!

Good news April! Bring it! 😆

so a day for me and a day with the kids this weekend it seems.

Tweed valley is probably going to be the busiest its ever been this weekend with this news, especially if the weathers decent. I feel for the trail builders down there whos trails are going to suffer from the huge increase in traffic.

Do I need to book a space on the A9 in advance or can I just turn up?

Very excited!

Do I need to book a space on the A9 in advance or can I just turn up?

I’ll be deploying the stingers on Thursday night.

Yeah, all the trails would be proper awesome if nobody rode on them, ever…..

I really like buses where I am the only passenger, not all those other people slowing my journey with their annoying getting on and off.

Do I need to book a space on the A9 in advance or can I just turn up?

I’ll be deploying the stingers on Thursday night.

I think the traffic needs to be moving in order for stingers to work

What the trail builders need is a really quiet period where they can crack on with stuff followed by some nice dry weather.

I’ve heard the Tweed trails are the driest they’ve been since last April!

Does someone have a link to a summary of the restrictions by Tier for Scotland?

thanks

We’ve got a cottage booked on Uist in early June for multiple households and I’m getting a bit twitchy now..🤔

Yaaay 😁

Just heard this on the wireless, brilliant news. Might nip down to the Gorms for a bit of biking this weekend.
Then again, maybe not…

Only fools will go to the valley this weekend. I’m heading north.

Suspect there will be similar numbers heading north…

I may venture to my regular preCOVID trails at Mugdock, on the basis that a lot of the crowds who have been going there may go north for a change of scenery….

Well we didn’t need to wait until the 20th for some good news after all! Pleased for you Scots, that have been much more restricted than us English for some time.
So if I’m correct :
April 16th -Free travel around mainland
April 26th -All go to tier 3, travel allowed to Islands (all at tier 3), no holidays from rest of UK
May 17th -All go tier 2, holidays available from rest of UK

Does this sound correct?
ETA: If this is correct, what are the chances of the May 17th unlock happening a week earlier?!