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Letter: I'm fed up with Burnaby trail bullies amid COVID-19

Give others space on Burnaby trails
burnaby-lake
People need to give others space on Burnaby trails. NOW file photo

Editor:

As much as Bonnie Henry and Adrian Dix have tried to make us aware of what we are doing and have given us the guidelines and protocol to safely plod through our day, I would like to say the idea of going out and playing is a good one.

Unfortunately, very few people have any idea of how to behave in the great outdoors. 

Sunday walking though Robert Burnaby Park is one of my favourites and I have been walking there for almost 40 years. The once-narrow trails are now six to eight-feet wide. Kids playing in the creeks, which I can't let my dog in but kids can? 

I am getting tired of reminding people if they can't figure out what two metres is, they need to go back to school.  

So we are on the trail and a group of four adults and seven children are walking spread out across the whole walkway.  

We stepped off the trail to let them pass. I said, "Try to keep to the two-metre rule," to one of the women and she said they were all one family and so it didn't matter. 

The request from the government is household, not your whole family group, and two metres is two metres, not two feet. They made everyone they passed move off to the side as they ambled on by. 

I am so tired of saying something and when I did, to the two women in back of the group, I was more or less told to get a life and have a good day. 

Why do we have to keep reminding people? The comments made by the women were nothing short of the religious right telling me that God will look after them.  

I have talked to many people who are getting tired of having to constantly remind others to follow the guidelines laid out. It's not even pleasant going for a walk because you either have to keep your mouth shut to avoid confrontation or deal with someone who is above any of the rules. 

This COVID-19 event is far from over but I guess until it hits those that don't think, we'll have to keep speaking out and when it finally does hit those that don't think it's serious you can bet your bottom dollar they will be the first to say, "Why me?"

John Unger, Burnaby