For late October, the weather was bright and cheery. Somewhat reassuringly, there were few people wandering around Rhuthun/Ruthin today and fewer cars, although Rhuthun was not as completely quiet as in March. I still cannot fathom where all these motorists are actually going. The housing estates sampled this morning at between 7.30 and 8 a.m. (Y Menllis, Bro Deg, Maes Cantaba, Erw Goch) suggested that there were certainly a large number of people remaining at home if the number of parked cars was anything to go by. Mind you, it is Monday and it is the start of half term.
The Co-op was quiet this morning.
Amid the modest queue outside the bank and post office, most movement on the Square was confined to the scurrying and swirling of fallen autumnal dry leaves scampering across the inert street chased & corralled by the breeze but with nowhere particular to go. It gave an edge to the town, as if it were the chilling empty streets of a village whose residents had been forced out by some unexplained emergency, abandoned to the wind and the elements.
Meanwhile, the debate about supermarkets being able to sell non-essential items continues. To recap, Tesco as elsewhere had blocked off one aisle and in other parts of the store covered some goods. Moves such as this attracted a petition to the Welsh government numbering 65,000 signatures. It's probably ironic that the busiest petition ever received by the Welsh government was on... shopping. It probably says much about the nation. One wonders whether we will ever reach a consensus and be able to reduce the virus. It diverts attention away from the main message. If there'd been a petition of this magnitude on ridding the plastic wrapping on vegetables then we'd really be getting somewhere.
Whatever the position you hold on this topic, the Welsh government has this afternoon seemingly softened its approach, telling supermarkets to use discretion to sell to those in genuine need.
Moral Maze: we all know of the usual suspects who tend to bend rather than break the C19 rules. Is a trip out by bicycle together involving three people from three different households legitimate exercise or is it the unacceptable meeting of people outdoors? I ask because this is probably the most borderline activity I've seen and it certainly isn't clear-cut.
We had six covid-19-related deaths in Wales, yesterday.
