Spain in the neck as I am quarantined
Poor decisions leave me in isolation
Heard the one about the guy who moved his holiday to comply with Scottish government guidelines - and to avoid fourteen days of self-isolation?
And he’s now doing fourteen days in self-isolation . . . because the Scottish government moved their guidelines?
Who is this unfortunate soul? Well – check out the name at the top of this page.
Yes – I’m banged up for a fortnight. Muggers and shoplifters don’t even get this long.
And my crime is booking a flight to Spain after Nicola Sturgeon lifted restrictions!
It’s not much of a reward for following the government’s recommendations.
And it even more galling that, had I stuck to my original booking – and two giant duty free Toblerones up at Nicola Sturgeon – I’d have been back at work this week as normal!
Yes – I know there’s a global pandemic out there.
And I get that a fortnight’s incarceration at Chateau Shields is nothing compared to the losses and pain others have suffered.
Government’s taking decisive action to protect the public? I get that, too. But that doesn’t mean that every judgement taken in the war against Covid 19 is the right one.
The decision last Monday to ‘open’ the whole of Spain to Scottish tourists was a bad one. Even the travel industry was expecting a regional variation – rightly targeting Covid hot-spots like Catalunya, Galicia and Madrid.
And its reversal - announced just six days later – was even worse.
There was zero notice to those already in Spain to organise alternative travel.
And thousands more were on their way to airports - or in the sky – when the decision was clumsily leaked in a tweet.
The vastly differing regional rates of transmission across Spain were completely disregarded.
And in instant, the travel industry – groggy but on its feet after three months of taking punches – was back on its knees from a below-the-belt blow.
Given Prestwick Airport’s Spanish filled destination board – you must now need an electron microscope to see the thin thread its future is hanging from.
Ms Sturgeon and her Hollyrood cohorts have done a reasonably good job since the crisis began.
Then again, all she has to be is better than Boris – and that bar hasn’t been set particularly high!
Two major gaffes in less than a week will only undermine Scotland’s confidence in its leadership.
And it will be fuel to opposition arguments that Nicola Sturgeon has blurred vision when it comes to the difference between ‘independent’ and ‘independence’.
The fall-out of all the above is that I’m home alone for two weeks
– Mrs Bob is now in a full-board arrangement under daughterly care.
Our conversations will be through a window as she drops food on our doorstep.
We will spend her birthday apart. Holding my new grand-daughter for the first time – top of my list on returning from Mallorca – has been postponed.
My pub rotas have been hastily rearranged - the cost of replacing my shifts runs to hundreds of pounds. And as for a pint of Guinness . . .? But hey – I’m probably one of the lucky ones. Thousands more will return from Spain to the uncertainty of no wages . . . or perhaps even no job at all! And at least I got my time in the sun. There will also be tens of thousands who will now be unable to travel . . . and possibly lose the monies they’ve paid towards flights and accommodation.
All this could have been so simply avoided - with regional travel exceptions – and/or 48 hours notice of changes.
Acting decisively can be a good thing.
Thinking carefully - then acting decisively - is better.
Acting decisively can be a good thing. Thinking carefully - then acting decisively is better