On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Day 59

Day 59
(Thursday, 14th May 2020)

Following the amendment to government ‘guidelines’ at the beginning of the week, in particular the changing of the message from “stay home” to “stay alert”, I can make a few initial observations. Firstly, during the online Puppy class this morning, instead of joining in with our own dog, Meggie, as I have done in the past two weeks, I decided to take her out for a walk. As another change to routine, I decided to take her out in the car to somewhere other than walking the lanes between us and the moors above us.

So, for the first time in two months, I drove out beyond the bounds of Stocksbridge, and up towards Langsett and Flouch. We know Langsett is a ‘hot spot’ for walkers and hikers, on account of its proximity to Langsett reservoir and the moors beyond, but also perhaps because - in the good old days - of the village pub, locally known as ‘Billy Greens’. As I drove through the village I noticed the normal car park was empty. It soon became apparent why. Huge concrete Lego bricks had been placed across its entrance. In consequence, in their new found freedom to drive to somewhere else and walk (perhaps under the influence of said revised government ‘guidelines’), people were parking on the roadside and in the lay-by just beyond the village. It was awash with cars and people. Now I can’t say for sure that this may not have been happening before the announcement of a return to work and a slackening of the lockdown rules, nor should I claim that people were slackening the social distancing rules, but I can say this: when you give an inch, there are those who will take a mile. There will, I fear, be those who interpret the - and this has to be said - vagaries and lack of clarity on Sunday’s announcement by the PM in a way that gives them greater solace and relief at the thought that it ‘will soon be over’.

The second observation I make is that during the applause for the NHS at 8 pm this evening, I noticed that our neighbours had sort of gravitated towards the middle section of the street so that it appeared there was a closer gathering. There were also one or two extra people I didn’t recognise. There wasn’t a breaking of the two metre rule, as far as I could see, but there had been a movement towards convening in a larger group, rather than, as in previous weeks, standing outside our own houses. Fortunately, our street is populated by intelligent people, who are well informed. In fact, generally when walking the dogs up and down the lanes above us, even though we see many unfamiliar faces, there has been a respect for social distancing. We are lucky to live where we do. 

The points I make, nevertheless have purpose. Firstly it highlights the fact, already well criticised by the media and interest groups during the Monday evening briefing by the PM, which is that there is a serious lack of clarity, particularly for those, whose lives have not equipped them with the ability to see below the surface; to understand the subtleties of risk and it’s assessment. Statistical assessment of risk is a crucial tool of the scientific minds, whose advice government keep saying they are following. But even that came into question on Monday with a point I referred to earlier this week, that an answer to the question asked of the Chief Scientific and Chief Medical Advisers - did they agree with the change in the message (from ‘stay home’ to ‘stay alert’ etc.) - had not been forthcoming. They steered round it like the politicians they aren’t and it was glaringly obvious that they did not agree with the change in message. 

So political and economic expedient, perhaps with a sprinkle of concern for the risk of civil unrest, has ruled the day. I have to add that I agree with the ‘adaptive’ approach to progressing through the three stages of relaxing the lockdown, according to how the numbers begin to change, in particular the ‘R’ value, which must be kept below 1.0, which would reflect that the spread and rate of infection is diminishing. If the ‘R’ value becomes greater then 1.0, then it's back to full lockdown! Having agreed with the approach, I have my doubts that the applied maths and statistics and adaptive approach will be understood by enough people to make it not only palatable but also workable. We’ll have to wait and see. 

One thing I feel is certain about is that we won’t know the result of this change for at least a couple of weeks, when current public activity and consequent transmission rates become reflected in the infection and death rates. I hope this will see a reduction, but if I were a betting man, which I’m not, I would put money on there being a resurgence; that the Coronavirus will kick off again. The responsibility for this will lay firmly at the feet of this government and those foolhardy, foolish and misguided souls, who have taken a mile when they should only have taken an inch and who have, in fairness been misled by the mixed messages given to them by those, who should and probably do know better, but who care more for the health of their bank balances than for the health of the nation. 

In the mean time, I missed a very demanding Puppy Class! Our stand-in Guide Dogs Supervisor, whose normal area is West Yorkshire, where she has laboured the importance in the training of Guide Dog puppies of the ‘three Ds’ for some time it seems. This is a new technique and approach to this problem for Puppy Walkers in South Yorkshire. The ‘three Ds’ stand for Distraction, Distance and Duration. Distraction is, as we already understand very well, one of the main and most difficult tasks Puppy Walkers have to apply ourselves to. Anything that distracts a Guide Dog whilst it working presents a risk to its visually impaired owner. So the training must employ what they call the ‘positive interrupter’, which is simply a means of interrupting undesirable behaviour, not with admonishment or sharp words such as “no” or even “uh-uh”, or a sharp tug on the lead, but with a word or words, or even a sound like a whistle, or a kissy squeak, that will bring the dogs attention to look at you, for which they will receive a reward of kibble (food). Over time, this technique will work without treats, because they have simply become accustomed or ‘habituated’ to the stimulus, such that it feels like a reward to them, when “good boy” or “good girl” will suffice or, preferably in the end, no vocal reward at all. And so it goes to show that ‘Puppy Walkers’ have rather more of difficult job to do than that title suggests. ‘Puppy Trainers’ would be more accurate.

Since there are a lot of words in today’s post, here are some photos of where I took Meggie for a walk this morning. At a place where there used to be the Flouch Inn, that, beyond our own recollection was knocked down to build a rather exclusive small development of houses three years ago. This demonstrates how, when you drive through places you just don’t notice things. When you walk there, however, you do and it is always revealing. 

Today's music choice from Clemency Burton-Hill's book "Year of Wonder" is "6 Melodies, Op.5 No.3 in E flat major: Andante soave" by Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847), who died on this day. Her younger, but equally gifted brother, Felix, died only a few months later, apparently traumatised by the loss of his sister. 

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