‘Monday Mind Workout’ Monday 15th June 2020

Dear all,

For this week’s ‘Monday Mind Workout’, I am looking to you for the answers. I am inviting you to name as many pop songs (or other varieties) as you can think of with a ‘number in the song title’. Let’s see how many you can come up with.

I’m starting off with ‘Adam Ant – ‘Goody Two Shoes’ 

If you can let me know the songs you come up with, I will then collate them and publish the answers for tomorrow.

180+ Songs With Numbers in the Title | Spinditty

picture from spinditty

Changes from today – shops re-opening and face covering rules

From today if you do travel on public transport you will have to wear a face covering and if you have not covered your face then you may be refused travel and could be fined up to £100. If you need to visit a hospital for any reason you must also wear a face covering.  It’s very important to also continue social distancing and handwashing as before and the advice remains to avoid using public transport if you can.

Also from today some non-essential shops will be starting to open up and Leeds CIty Council have issued some information and advice:

From Monday June 15, shre-opening infographicops and businesses across the city will start to reopen. Our main priority remains on keeping people safe in public space and places, and ensuring people can adhere to social distancing rules to stop the spread of the virus.

Whilst we continue to work with partners and businesses to ensure the city centre is ready to open in a safe way, there are a number of things you can do to stay safe including washing your hands regularly, using contactless payments where possible, and maintaining social distancing guidelines.

Working with businesses, partners and stakeholders in the city centre including LeedsBID, the measures include widening pedestrian areas where possible, emergency trial pop-up cycle lanes, key information signage, one-way systems through shopping centres and shops and hand sanitiser stations.  Whilst a number of shops will be open straight away from Monday, more are expected to follow in the coming weeks.

Guidance has been given to businesses to support them to operate safely, including ways to manage safe queuing systems including disabled access outside stores maintaining the two-metre social distancing rule, while the public messaging encourages people to use contactless payment wherever possible. Everyone is advised to wash their hands regularly, and especially before leaving home and when returning after being in public.

A new council team of ‘city centre ambassadors’ will be on hand in the city centre in the main retail areas to help the public, while other council teams will also be available to offer assistance and guidance to keep people safe.

Some but not all toilets in the city centre will be open, while parking in all council-managed car parks remains free of charge until at least July 4. For more information on parking in Leeds visit https://www.visitleeds.co.uk/resources/car-parking-in-leeds/

Measures are in place at travel hubs including Leeds Station and Leeds Bus Station to support social distancing, while additional cleaning is also taking place at transport interchanges. All park and ride services remain closed until further notice.

Leeds City Council’s cleansing services team will be carrying out enhanced cleaning in the city centre working with the LeedsBID rangers, with public benches available for use but only with the two-metre distancing being followed. Collections from recycling on the go bins and coffee cup bins in the city centre have also now resumed, with all items of street furniture including bins being regularly deep cleaned.

Anyone developing symptoms of the virus is advised to stay at home and follow the national guidelines in terms of requesting a test and the track and trace system if the test proves positive. Those in shielded groups are also advised to continue following the national guidance to keep them safe.

Leader of Leeds City Council Councillor Judith Blake said:

“It is a positive and welcome step to see our city centre start to reopen, but we would still urge considerable caution and ask people to follow the guidance and messaging they see in shops and public spaces, with patience and understanding so everyone can keep safe.

“We would encourage people where possible to think carefully about how and when they choose to travel, with active travel in terms of walking and cycling preferred and to allow more time for journeys and moving around the city centre.

“All of these measures are designed to stop the virus spreading, so if everyone takes care to follow them it will help us all.”

Opera and Ballet to watch online

A couple more online events for you to watch, this time an Opera and a Ballet as part of the #OurHouseToYourHouse series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEYvbFLQBu8&t=48s

Join The Royal Opera House for Puccini’s Il trittico: Il tabarro, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi.
The Story:
Il tabarro is a tale of jealousy and murder between Michele, his young wife Giorgetta and her lover Luigi, set aboard a barge on the Seine.
Suor Angelica tells the story of the nun Angelica’s familial loss, sacrifice and suicide.
Gianni Schicchi is an opera full of trickery, greed and romance as a family dispute breaks out over a missing will.
Available till 19th June

Or try The Royal Ballet for Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée (The Wayward Daughter). One of the choreographer’s most joyous and colourful creations and inspired by his love for the Suffolk countryside, the ballet is set on a farm and tells a story of love between Lise, the daughter of Widow Simone, and Colas, a young farmer. It contains some of Ashton’s most stunning choreography, most strikingly in the series of energetic pas de deux that express the youthful passion of the young lovers, performed here by Marianela Nuñez and Carlos Acosta. The ballet is laced with exuberant good humour, and elements of national folk dance, from dancing chickens and a maypole dance to a Lancashire clog dance.

Available till 26th June

As part of the #OurHouseToYourHouse series, join The Royal Opera for a Premiere stream of Puccini’s Il trittico: Il tabarro, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicch…

Shared Moments: Day 56 written by Maureen Kershaw

Dear all,

Day 56 – I find the taking of the daily walk quite odd in that since we were told we could exercise outside for an hour each day, I don’t always take up the offer. Never having driven, I’ve been a regular walker of distances, literally taking it in my stride, back and forth on a daily basis, but if I dont have and/or want to venture out, then I don’t. Since Lockdown I often feel guilty when deciding not to take a walk, mainly because of being blessed not to be in the category forbidding an outing beyond the garden gate for several more weeks. It is with this gratitude I almost feel the exercise has become compulsory and by not adhering to it, I should be aware of the consequences. Rather like convincing my parents I needed to stay home from school – but then fearing a visit from the Board Man! From today, with the easing of some lockdown restrictions, we have been granted more freedom to take up certain sporting activities. Mine certainly won’t be tennis. Boris apparently plays the game so maybe the suggestion to us was for his benefit? Apart from not understanding tennis, I haven’t the stamina for it and couldn’t possibly reveal my bare legs. Golf is another possibility if we promise not to touch the flags, but checked trousers don’t do anything for me. Angling perchance? Sitting on a riverbank all day? I don’t think so, having neither the inclination – or a thermos flask – besides I’m allergic to fish.

I am eternally grateful for my two new knees over the years which enable me to walk much further nowadays. However my feet have seen considerable mileage and I have promised them chiropody if and when available. We are advised not to use public transport should there be a surge in people returning to work from today. I will, therefore, need to don my sturdy footwear and be prepared for longer walks come rain or shine.

Footwear?….now there’s a thought….

Wonderful, thank you so much Maureen, until next time…..

Healthwatch Leeds Survey on Shielding

Since the start of the pandemic, many people in Leeds have been advised to “shield” to keep themselves as safe as possible. Healthwatch Leeds would like people to let them know how this has been for them and what can be done to help them over the coming weeks.

Healthwatch would be grateful if people who have been shielding could complete their survey so they can feed back people’s experiences and help shape the city’s response to coronavirus in Leeds. You can find the survey here

If you’d like more information about shielding, please see the link at the end of the survey. If you know someone who is shielding and would like to take part in this but cannot complete it online, they are welcome to call the Healthwatch team on 0113 898 0035 to talk through the questions.

Your Healthwatch Leeds

Shared Moments: Day 54 written by Maureen Kershaw

Dear all,

Day 54 – Call me old fashioned but some of today’s “speak” I do get cross about. In my book those who travel on buses or trains are passengers but at some point they became customers. A cold word, all about profits but perfectly acceptable in shops or wherever we buy. On Ocean going Liners, staterooms with full sized beds and bathrooms are occupied by “guests” although, thankfully, they are still at times referred to as passengers, which is probably at the insistence of the Merchant Navy. It always seemed so right to sleep in a bunk – in a cabin with a porthole or at best a window. Of course they are now floating hotels, or even small towns, which I suppose is why they are run by Hotel Management, rather than by homely sea-faring titles.

I can never accept the new way of business talk with its blue sky thinking and having a dialogue – I thought it was simply just talking to each other. Platforms – digital malarky and all that;: platforms are where you catch a train from, or it can be a smaller version of a stage. I’ve heard it said in meetings that “this is not the right arena”, Oh? Should we have been at the First Direct or 02? I cringe when someone rings to “touch base”. Sorry, are we playing baseball? I’ll just go get my shorts and pumps. As I listen to the radio an interviewee has just said the dreaded “going forward”. What happened to “in the future” as it always was? Gypsy Petulengro or whoever happens to be on the Pier looking into the future, wouldn’t be the same if “going forward”. It doesn’t ring true. There again one told me in Blackpool that the man in my life would go to great heights. When I returned to the Winter Gardens he was on the roof feeding video cables through – so that came true. I will move with some times but not all, so you have my permission to call me old fashioned.

Thank you once again for sharing Maureen, until next time….

‘Support Bubbles’ – Government Guidance from today

New Government guidance means that from today (Saturday 13th June) people who live alone can form a “support bubble” with one other household. Those in the support bubble can spend time with each other inside the home and do not have to remain 2m apart.
Your support bubble should only be with one other household and you should not change who is in your bubble or have close contact with anyone else you do not live with.
If you or someone in your support bubble is showing coronavirus symptoms, everyone in your support bubble should stay home and self isolate.
https://www.gov.uk/…/meeting-people-from-outside-your-house…

The easing of restrictions includes healthy people aged 70 or over but the advice for those aged 70 and over continues to be that they should take particular care to minimise contact with others outside their household.

If you are classed as extremely vulnerable then the guidance for you has not changed and it is recommended that you continue to shield.
It is still against the law to have visits from or visit the home of anyone who is not part of your household or‘support bubble’.

You can still meet outdoors with up to 6 people providing you maintain social distancing rules and keep 2 metres apart.
https://www.gov.uk/…/meeting-people-from-outside-your-house…

The Government advice continues to be that the best way to keep yourself and others safe is to stay home as much as possible

‘The Wiz’ – Streaming this weekend – The Shows Must Go On

 Streaming from 7pm tonight and available for 48 hours

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46S9yppXxKE

“The Wiz Live!” brings the wonderful world of Oz to life like never before, featuring a star-studded cast of performers and the awe-inspiring Cirque du Soleil Theatrical. Whisked away from home by a tornado, young Dorothy finds herself transported to the magical Land of Oz, where she sets off on a quest to meet the powerful Wizard and find her way back home. Crossing paths with enchanting friends and wicked foes, Dorothy’s journey is a timeless tale about friendship, courage and learning to believe in oneself. Starring Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige, Uzo Aduba, Ne-Yo, and a host of other talented performers, “The Wiz Live!” invites viewers of all ages to ease on down the yellow brick road for a vibrant musical adventure unlike any other.

Covid19 Scam Alert issue 11 -12.06.2020

Good Afternoon,

Please find attached the West Yorkshire Trading Standards Newsletter Scam Alert. This weekly alert outlines trending fraud patterns during the current COVID-19 pandemic and what we can do to stay protected. There have been further reports of scams, doorstep Crime and business complaints all relating to the COVID-19 pandemic here in West Yorkshire. This news alert will give you an indication of the current situation here in West Yorkshire.

Take care

Snapshot in Time: in Little London, Woodhouse, City Centre of Leeds and further afield

Dear all,
We hope you enjoy these pictures taken by some residents of LIttle London and Woodhouse. Thank you to you all for continuing to share with us.

A few pics of Fewston Reservoir, May 2020.

Pictures taken by Sue Lonergan

It’s lovely to see other people’s pictures, so I thought I’d send a few from my walk one morning in May.  The water level is very low…
    
Sunday Morning between 1970 and 1980…
Picture taken by Ben Anson
These are definitely snapshots in time taken in Leeds on Sunday mornings between 1970 and 1980..was everyone in church or having a lie in?..they’re taken by a Leeds photographer..Pete Mitchell ..from a new book Early Sunday Morning..only 50 pounds..I guess Leeds libraries will have a copy..I wonder if he’ll do a newer book …Leeds in Lockdown..if he doesn’t someone else will.anyone recognize where some of the photos were taken?..I only recognise one…bye fer now..ben
Flowers in a members garden in Woodhouse
Picture taken by Lisa Argyle

Sand Sculpture in Red Car

Picture taken by Sylvia Whyke

At the seaside before the lockdown at Red Car

Picture taken by Sylvia Whyke
Veronica didn’t want to show her face but says Hello
Thank you to our friends and neighbours of Craven Road and Delph View
Please keep them coming, keep safe