Further lockdowns are destroying community

MANY of us, a minority still at the moment, believe these further shutdowns across Cymru are totally futile. Due to my work, I travel across the region; yes I do wear a face mask and stay away from people. What I have seen is little to no change in people’s behaviour.

Moreover, there are no police checkpoints, there is nobody checking on movements, and still life continues, as it did a month ago.

The reality is the “scared anxious” are still there, cowering in their homes observing the threats and the fears that the media are peddling.

In reality those that should be stopped from travelling about are either joy-racing around South Wales, families still heading to beaches, and those, of all ages, refusing to wear facemasks.

But what is worse are people’s attitudes. They have become uncaring, you avoid communication with anyone walking down the street. Community if not dead is dying. Let’s save it now.

Too many hospital appointments cancelled, too many of my friends are dead or terminal, not because they have had Covid but because of a lack of care from our health services, a lack of priority from government, for anything other than the nonsense of Covid. Yes I know it’s a very nasty virus and thousands have died, but let’s honour them for the life they could have had.

It is time we said no. The time now is to live. Keep wearing those masks, observe social distancing, but now is the time to reach out to those shut in their homes afraid and guide them into the light, before we lose more of them to suicide, depression or lifelong mental illness.

Karl-James Langford

Barry

Get buses back on Castle Street

I WAS pleased to read that Cardiff councillors will soon be considering what measures to take with the closed Castle Street. Without question buses need to be allowed to use the road again. It is not acceptable for travellers who want to get to the lower end of the city centre, such as to the Central Library or Cardiff Central Station, have to walk from Greyfriars Road. This is not easy, particularly for older people and those who have difficulty in walking long distances.

In addition, it is problematical about whether cars should be allowed to return as well. People perhaps travelling from Cathays to Canton, such as to St David’s Hospital, have a much longer and convoluted journey.

While there may have been very good reasons for the initial closure during the early days of the pandemic, I believe we need to restore public transport links.

Also, if the council wants to pursue more outdoor dining experiences in the future, Cardiff Castle or St Mary Street would be better options in my opinion.

I would agree that ensuring cyclists using this area of the city centre are properly segregated with safe lanes is crucial in the future as well as providing much better security for riders to leave their bikes.

Around 1,500 cycles are reported stolen every year in Cardiff and the council needs to act if we are to encourage more people to get out of their cars.

Phillip Nifield Vice-Chair, Plaid Cymru, Cardiff North Constituency

Better to move the ‘cafe quarter’

WITH reference to your report in the Echo of October 6 headed “Traffic could return to ‘al fresco dining’ street’”, I do not drive but am finding anywhere I have to go in or through town to be that bit more inconvenient to get to and from.

When passing the “cafe quarter” in Castle Street to get back to Greyfriars Road to catch a bus last week, I noticed there was hardly a soul sitting at all those rows of tables that they have in the street. That was in the middle of the day.

When coming from North Road into Kingsway it is like a fortress, with lots of traffic cones and other rows of barriers and two or three “guards” there. All that space around that area is empty and wasted. To me it seems absolutely ridiculous.

A lot of buses have had to change their routes. If a person wanted to catch a train at the general station and are going into Cardiff by bus from North Cardiff for instance, it means getting off in Greyfriars Road or the Law Courts and walking all the way through town, possibly carrying bags, to get to the station.

Oh, for the days when we had a proper bus station next to the railway station.

I think if this “cafe quarter” is wanted then it should be moved somewhere else or not take place at all, especially now the winter is coming.

Many cafes and restaurants have some places to sit outside if people wish to do that.

Violet Salter

Rhiwbina,

Cardiff

Wasted opportunity to refine face masks

THE coronavirus is microscopically small, so it is impossible to filter it out of the flow of air which I breathe in or out.

However, very fortunately, the surface tension in the minute droplets in my breath captures some of the viruses, and it is possible to filter a proportion of these globules out of my exhaled breath, when it is forced to pass through a barrier of woven material in my mask.

This is the most fortuitous opportunity to reduce the quantity of viruses in the air upon which we all depend.

Britain’s authorities rejected any interest because such thinking plays no part in Conservative beliefs, of market economics as the measure of society.

It might have been possible to carry out research on manufacturing more scientific masks, comprising layers of finer and finer mesh, of calculated dimensions, to extract more globules, but I cannot know that.

That really would have brought down R and saved many lives, if successful, but perhaps it would have wasted money, if it was a failure.

Once one accepts this basic idea,

Oh, for the days when we had a proper bus station next to the railway station

Violet Salter Rhiwbina