I have to ask

[Mjolinor]

It will be Boris tracking you. We have to know what you Scots are up to in case you decide to invade the wall as you did in days gone by.

As a Johnson, Boris is almost certainly more 'scottish' than me... unlike Sturgeon. Theres an Irony there...

Rob

Hmm, never thought of that. I always assumed he was from a large paint making family with his ability to whitewash over stuff.

[Rob Frankhamr]

Tut... That's Johnstones paint... a different name entirely and originating from a scottish border reiver family...

Rob

[King Herald]

It seems to me that if you give them then they give you tea and a biscuit. Clearly you should have supplied tea and biscuits to them.

Did you respond to the letter or wait for your own doctor to contact you?

The waits at Blackburn are reported to be in the four hour range. Probably hoping that some of the prospective recipients will have frozen to death before they get to the front.

That’s the annoying thing about GPs around my way, a year into this fiasco now and the only thing that have done towards coping is lock patients out.

If you do manage to get by through the grilling of a phone call to the receptionist, and then are found worthy of a call back from a GP, and if perchance you can get a personal face to face with a doctor, you have to queue up outside the GP surgery, in the cold and rain, only one person allowed in at a time. There is no cover from the elements, no marquee in place, nowhere for the elderly or infirm to take a seat or rest... and the car park has been closed down so only two cars can get in at a time.

My 86 year old infirm dad had to go down for a blood test... and had to stand outside for 20 minutes. Balanced on two walking sticks the whole time.

Most all shops and businesses in town have invested and adapted to try and retain a vestige of normality, but the GPs, no, they just locked the doors.

[DEEP DIVER]

My doctors allow you in as they have around 40 seats, but my dentist you stand outside on the pavement in the cold weather with everyone walking past.

[andys]

My doctors allow you in as they have around 40 seats, but my dentist you stand outside on the pavement in the cold weather with everyone walking past.

I popped into Peterborough services today to get a takeaway Mcdonalds.
Got a real surprise.
They've got an eating area where people were happily eating their food at the tables.

[krankshaft]

Some people are just sooooo irresponsible.......


Eating that stuff will kill ya!
Ride safe
Jim

[King Herald]

They've got an eating area where people were happily eating their food at the tables.

I'm pretty sure I saw people sitting down in our local MacDo when I drove past a couple of day ago. I seriously can't imagine a corporate giant like MacDonalds would just flaunt the law, so have the rules changed recently?

[andys]

They've got an eating area where people were happily eating their food at the tables.

I'm pretty sure I saw people sitting down in our local MacDo when I drove past a couple of day ago. I seriously can't imagine a corporate giant like MacDonalds would just flaunt the law, so have the rules changed recently?

Probably not.
My point is that it's the clearest case I've seen recently of a two tier system where some of the bigger players are exempted from the rules that smaller businesses are forced to abide by.

[george baker]

Hi
I suspect the tables where people were happily eating was not under the control of McD but a general area inside the services, I also suspect that no one wanted to be the person who asked the diners to stop

George

[Mike D]

Motorway services are allowed indoor dining:

We are seeing a lot of complaints about motorway service areas allowing indoor dining. Regardless of personal opinions on the subject, the law specifically says it is allowed. Away from the motorways food must be takeaway only, and brands such as McDonald's are not allowing walk-in customers on A-roads.

Lifted from: https://motorwayservicesonline.co.uk/Coronavirus

Mike

[george baker]

Hi
must make sense to someone ;-(
George

[andys]

Motorway services are allowed indoor dining:

We are seeing a lot of complaints about motorway service areas allowing indoor dining. Regardless of personal opinions on the subject, the law specifically says it is allowed. Away from the motorways food must be takeaway only, and brands such as McDonald's are not allowing walk-in customers on A-roads.

Lifted from: https://motorwayservicesonline.co.uk/Coronavirus

Mike

Peterborough services is not on the motorway so obviously the exemption applies to all major services but how is it right.
Do they have some magic filter that stops the spread.
It goes further to illustrate the two tier system that's evolved out of this. I mean think about it.
Everyone who arrives at a services apart from motorcyclists has a car van or lorry.
These are a safe comfortable isolated environment in which to eat.
So someone explain the logic being applied allowing these places to open their dining areas.

[Mjolinor]

Had my vaccine today. The Astra Zenica one.

Nearly lost my Leatherman, they took it off me and threatened to call the police. Had to do some serious crawling to get it back without any arguments.

[Rob Frankhamr]

Had my vaccine today. The Astra Zenica one.

Nearly lost my Leatherman, they took it off me and threatened to call the police. Had to do some serious crawling to get it back without any arguments.

How on earth did they find your Leatherman?..

I know that the original Leatherman tools are technically offensive weapons because the blade is effectively 'locked' out when the handle is folded making them lock knives... but I don't know any policeman who would take it very seriously unless the thing was being used in a threatening way or in course of an assault.

Rob

[Mjolinor]

They asked if I had any metal so I emptied my pockets.

Technically it is illegal, it does lock though is under three inches but length is not relevant if the blade locks.

Just another example of laws so save policemen from having to do work like the ban on Sulphuric acid. Makes life really hard for people that want some but it may be used by someone as a a weapon so ban it.

He reckoned it has four blades and they all break the law. I was not aware that a nail file that does not fold is classed as a knife but that is what he enjoyed telling me. The saw blade does, I know that but a bloody nail file.

Nostalgia is really just wishing things had not got so stupid.

[george baker]

Hi
what was the 4th "blade"?

There was no question to me (I had a swiss army knife in my pocket) apart from the usual-- Have you any symptoms? Was it me? Was I going to drive?

George

[Mjolinor]

Knife, serrated knife, saw, file:

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com ... %3DApi&f=1

[george baker]

Hi
FILE? Who can you stab with that?

What if you were carrying a file? Would : BTW who asked: they mind?
George

[Mjolinor]

It actually bothers me a lot that it is now illegal but I can't see any way to make it legal without losing functionality.

I use it at least once a day and probably more normally 10 or 15 times a day for absolutely everything.

I even have a full set of sockets, cross head, slot head and torx fittings for it that reside in the tank box on the BMW and a duplicate set in my Smart car.

Completely lost when I leave it anywhere and forget it though that is extremely rare.

[vmx1200]

They asked if I had any metal so I emptied my pockets.

Who and why would you be asked if you had any metal when going for a Covid jab? Did you have it on the other side of security at the airport

I had mine 3 weeks ago, temperature check at the door, answered a few medical / personal questions and had the jab less than 10 minutes

[Rob Frankhamr]

I don't know who this person was but the information he has given you isn't true. Knife blades, yes certainly. Saw - well - possibly but not a file. In fact there is actually a stated decision that a screwdriver isn't a blade for the pruposes of the law.

You really need to read the law on offensive and prohibited weapons before you get too critical. It's quite complex. There are three seperate types of 'offensive weapon' and while virtually anything can be one, very few things are by definition ( I was once involved in a murder enquiry where the murder weapon (and you can't get much more offensive than that!) was a VHS video player!). Even those items that are stated de facto as being 'offensive' can be owned and carried if the carrier can justify it. The usual reasoning is that it is required for the carriers employment and there is no other tool than can be used.

Rob

[george baker]

Hi
how about removing the locking mechanism?

I have a Vice grip multitool that I never take out of the house (Unless I forget that it's in my pocket when doing Bike or Garden jobs) just because it has a locking saw and knife.

Most good Multitools seem to have locking blades

I carry a mid sized Swiss Army Knife and would like to move to the larger size but the blade is a few mm too long and locks. The length I can sort but the lock does not look possible.

The length is odd too as I understand it-- it seems that the blade is not the sharpened bit but all the way back to the bolster even if the last 6mm is not sharpened.
BTW-- IIRC, employment does not need to be paid so having an axe to cut logs when wild camping looks like it would be OK to me, I suppose you would need matches and a tent as well

George

[Rob Frankhamr]

With multitools, the 'locking' aspect is because the blade can't be retracted when the handles are folded for use. I have recently seen multitools where the knife blade is on the outside of the handle which, all other things being equal, would remove the problem as long as the blade doesn't lock in any other way.

As far as the length goes, think of it as the 'stabbing' length. Most knife fatalities and serious injuries involve stabbing not slicing wounds so the sharpness of the blade back to the bolster isn't really relevant.

The question of 'employment' is one of those grey areas so beloved of lawyers. Certainly unpaid work (e.g. volunteer work) would be included but whether it extends to recreational use is another thing entirely. In any case, an axe (unlike a lock knife or flick knife) isn't one of the items that is deemed a prohibited weapon. You might have to explain why you are carrying it and you would probably be asked some very serious questions if you were found driving round a city with it on your passenger seat but, if you were out in the country in camping mode, tne only questions you might be asked is what sort of wood you intend to chop since, in most areas, cutting green wood for camp fires is prohibited (it's also pretty daft really because it doesn't burn very well).

It all hinges round whether a particular item is being carried for the purpose of causing injury and the law attempts to avoid restricting the carriage of dangerous articles when there is a good reason to do so. One of my partners brothers is a Tai-quan dao instructor and regularly carries a bag full of various swords and other weapons for demonstrations. If possible, he keeps them out of sight and secure but there's no problem. An axe in a camping scenario is not unreasonable although I would suggest a saw would be more useful in dealing with fallen timber.

Rob

[george baker]

Hi
Rob
that makes sense-------------loads of thread drift though, and I'm as guilty as the next person
George

[DEEP DIVER]

Metal, so dose that mean pound coins to. Car/house keys.
They just took name and post code at my doctors.