Our politicians need to give us a break from all this holiday advice confusion
It’s been another of those weeks in which our old friend Clarity has taken a pounding as debate rages over masks, travel, air bridges and sea bridges. Advice and guidelines are being tossed around like champagne bottles in the Depp/heard household. Seriously. At the end of this week are any of us any the wiser about anything?
Holiday options are now down to a choice between Greenisland and Greenland.
Okay, I exaggerate. Other destinations are available. Sort of.
But how exciting to know that Greenland features on the “green” list of countries you can visit without the need to self-isolate upon return.
Don’t all rush.
For information purposes I’ve checked on Skyscanner how you might get to Nuuk, the country’s capital.
If you’re quick about it you can catch an easyjet flight this afternoon from Belfast International which will take you to London Luton from where you have to make your way to London Gatwick .
Bit of a wait there before you catch a connecting flight to Copenhagen. Another long wait in the airport. Next up a flight to Kangerlussuaq airport in Greenland. And then a short flight on to Nuuk where you will arrive sometime around noon. On Monday.
All that flying — a snip at £1,224 oneway.
Barbados, The Bahamas, Monaco, Aruba and Fiji are also possible should you have had a lottery win of late.
Uplifting as the thought of a getaway may be, Stormont however wants you to “carefully consider” if you really want to go.
Which is a mere notch down from previous advice (it’s hard to keep up) that you only travel abroad if “essential.“Define essential. Does “escape from climbing up the walls” count?
To complicate things further there’s the lack of cross-border consistency over quarantine rules for arrivals. It’s not about where you’ve flown from. It’s where you land.
Only in the self-isolating corridors of power would they not hitherto have spotted that this would provide opportunity for travellers to both parts of this island to get around restrictions.
And now there’s the mess about mandatory masking. First it would be necessary. But not until August 20. Then — immediate U-turn — masks won’t actually be mandatory even then.
“The initial emphasis will be on education and encouragement,” we’re informed in one of those stiff statements that sounds like Beijing talking.
So are we also going to be “educated“on best practice re wearing a mask?
Sad statistics this week show a number of workers in one local health trust are deemed to have contracted Covid because their masks weren’t being fitted properly. And that’s health staff with experience.
The general public aren’t always so meticulous. I’ve seen people taking their masks off and then wearing them up their arm like a bacterial bracelet. I’ve also seen discarded masks dumped on the ground. How encouraging is that?
Does Stormont truly believe masks should be worn because they’re effective — or is it just for effect? The Covid version of virtue signalling — virus signalling.
What’s needed is a clear strategy — not all this dithering which is currently about as convoluted as a one way escape route to Greenland.
Stormont needs to find a flight path and stick to it.
The swimming pools are open. (That’ll be fun with a face mask). But food-free pubs (or “wet bars” as they’ve been labelled. What a picture that conjures up) won’t be open until August 20.
You can now share a mouthful of refreshing pool water with fellow swimmers but not a wee swally of sanitising alcohol in a bar...
Meanwhile, in other news to take our minds off masks and air bridges, we’re told that Boris’ plan to build his sea bridge from Larne is still being looked at. Despite coronavirus, money obviously, no object there.
The bridge would link us to Scotland. Maybe we should look about one to Greenland.