Weary Brits told to get on their bikes but very few do as lockdown drags on
Coronavirus restrictions have eased in the UK but that has done little to allay fears of those on a continent stricken by the deadly disease, that is except for a hearty few.
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Boris Johnson told us all to get on our bikes this week, but I was one pedal ahead.
The lockdown has turned the streets of London over to two-wheel transport.
I have now twice managed to cycle into Buckingham Palace and around Westminster like I was the only person on the road, because, well, I was.
The streets are like a ghost town, with pubs boarded up and nearly all the shops remaining shut as we stay under tight restrictions until at least June.
There were still some guards outside Buckingham Palace when I visited on a windy, cold Sunday afternoon. But the Queen is safely ensconced in Windsor Castle and there were only a handful of people taking selfies compared to the usual hundreds of tourists who camp out there for the changing of the guard.
My weekend ride was now the recommended transit to work for Londoners, and everyone else across the UK. Bike lanes are being widened in a hope that cars will stay off the roads to help people avoid public transport.
However, the Tube was packed this week when Mr Johnson asked people to go back to work, just days before extending a package that provided them with 80 per cent pay if they stayed at home until October.
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The confusing advice was summed up perfectly by Little Britain comedian Matt Lucas in a video of him taking the mickey out of Mr Johnson’s speech that went viral.
Schools were meant to open by June 1 for grade prep, year one and year six.
But parents in the local park on a sunny day this week were in the dark about whether they would actually be allowed back.
Photographs from France showed children sitting in chalk squares in a playground to make sure they were socially distant. That may work at school but the dam was already breaking in my local park this week, where my rug-rat joined half his class riding bikes and playing.
There’s a feeling that people want the lockdown to end.
In Germany, a lovesick American 20-year-old takes the points for the person most desperate for lockdown restrictions to be lifted. He flew from Washington to Frankfurt to meet up with his girlfriend, posing as a cleaner in a high-vis vest to get around Germany’s immigration controls.
There were however, two minor problems – he didn’t have an identity badge and he didn’t speak German. He was sent packing back to the United States a few thousand dollars lighter with a red face to Zoom his girlfriend.
People are not protesting with guns in the UK like they are in America, but there’s a weariness to the lockdown after seven long weeks. I’m planning to take advantage of the cycle tours around London while they last, which unfortunately might be a while.
Originally published as Weary Brits told to get on their bikes but very few do as lockdown drags on
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