Governmental Exercise Rationing

My run today was quite unlike any other I have ever been on. It is the first day of Guernsey in full-blown lockdown, during which individuals are permitted to leave their homes for exercise purposes once per day, for a maximum of two hours. Given that the weather has now turned from frequent storms to glorious, crisp sunshine, and my natural desire not to go crazy, I laced up my shoes and went for a 10km jaunt, assuming there’s no way I’d be longer than 2 hours.

Fortunately I was right about the last part, but it was a bizarre experience nonetheless. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so few cars on the road in Guernsey during the day, nor so few people out when the sun is as uninhibited as it was today. The lengths to which people were going to avoid each other - venturing into the middle of the road when a fellow pedestrian would cross their path on the pavement - is of course prudent and necessary given the situation, but will still take a little getting used to.

The whole experience felt very prescribed - everyone I ran past I got the impression they were also out for the sole purpose of fulfilling their exercise quota and staving off cabin fever. While we all went out of our way to maintain the appropriate distance from one another, in doing so there was a sense of camaraderie, of mutual acknowledgement, that I have rarely felt so many times while out for a run before.

If this is the new normal, then at least it’s not all bad.