Coronavirus

[Mike T]

Interestingly me and Mrs WP went up to my brothers caravan on March 21st.
We just walked, kept ourselves to ourselves and returned on Monday 23rd.
On the 22nd we walked down to Grange from Kents Bank and back. It was quiet. The only place open on the front was an ice cream booth.
We both agreed that the chances of catching it up here were slim and we were actually more likely in our home area.
The site closed on Monday, the day we left.

I was perusing the mapping in the Telegraph yesterday.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/202...istics-reveal/

Turns out Grange and the Cartmel peninsula has been the Cumbrian hotspot and along with Ulverston. They've had 12 deaths by 17th April compared to 4 in my own area.

52 deaths in South Lakeland - in the whole of Cumbria it is likely to be 1/3 higher than average apparently. The higher average age of the local population is felt to be an important factor.

https://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co...ional-average/

[Travs]

I think that most people in the Lakes accept that tourists are needed for survival, and hopefully make them welcome - those nice little shops/pubs/cafes cannot survive on local trade only. But it is nice when, in the quieter months of the year, most of them have gone, so we can walk on the pavements, and not have to drive on those same pavements to avoid badly parked cars. Having gone from a frequent visitor - for decades - to a permanent resident, I have seen both sides.
There have been no problems "fitting in" - we try to contribute by shopping locally, and by volunteering - my partner in social care/food bank, and I coach with AAC juniors, and try to support the vets. What people say behind our backs of course we may never know. Our neighbours are lovely - one chap nearby has lived in the same street for over 80 years - though he did move from one side of the road to the other!

I completely understand locals enjoying it when the tourists are not there... to relate back to Neilly, i was in Skye in February of last year and it was fantastic to be up there when it was so quiet (excepting the times i was within the vicinity of Sligachan car park, i never saw a soul on the mountains in 100 miles and a week of running).

I was assured by many people in cafe's/shops that it was vastly different in the height of summer.

[Witton Park]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzKQJXhTUC0

Anyone remember this from the 70s? I was only a kid but the title sequence sticks in my memory and it was a gripping series.

Chinese lab, accidentally leaks the lurgy which spreads around the world via air travel

[Oracle]

No apology needed.

For me it is worrying just how polarised such as Brexit and corbynism have been.
Friends are no longer friends. For me it is sad how erstwhile friends have blocked over a dispute on how best to run economies. For those old enough to remember the vitriol is Reminiscent of the miners strike. Some of those communities, even family members still won’t talk to each other now.

Some of the language of hate has worrying precedents.
“ Tory cockroaches “
“all Brexiteers are racist”
“ austerity murderers”
The rhetoric against jewish labour MPs.
It hasn’t stopped at words, Vigilante actions matching words on coronavirus, burnings of houses and paint stripper on cars.

History records that similar words were used in Rwanda of one faction by the other
“ cockroaches” was the mantra before one of the worst genocides in history, a word used before many civil wars. Even now those committing atrocities have no idea how they slipped into them. A slippery slope of the language of hate. Before too long hate got even worse “ a baby snake is still a snake” was used to take machetes to children.

It has its precedents here. The language of hate against “ scabs” in the miners strike descended from parcels of sh!t through letter boxes to full blown murder, pushing concrete blocks off motorway bridges onto cars containing “scabs”.

When mr McDonnell once called for the “ lynching” of Ester Mcvey, in my view he should have been on charges for incitement, and banned from ever sitting as MP. What would have happened if that spark turned into an unstoppable fire?

Tone it all down is my thought.
Comment on policy not people.
Stay friends.

Firstly I feel I should apologise to Oracle. I had a go at you on a Brexit thread. I've been reading a lot of your posts and you seem to be an intelligent man who knows what he's talking about. Sorry for being a dick.

Anyway, I thought I'd throw in my tuppence worth from a Skye perspective.
I'm a Mental health nurse. We've been working pretty much as per usual but with distancing/remote working. I'm also a BnB owner. Highland region has, so far been affected pretty lightly. There's no problems with PPE, nobody is being swamped. There are cases but it's all as expected and everyone is coping.
The rhetoric in the community though is appalling. I've been embarrassed and horrified by the actions of some pitch fork weilding idiots. Signs up telling tourists to keep away, cars with foreign plates being accosted, second home owners being villified. The level of hypocrisy is huge. So many locals have moved their grown up kids home from the cities to 'keep them safe'. When challenged they say its OK as they're 'local'. People posting online about how much they're enjoying Lockdown as there are no tourists about-just like the old days! No thought about the huge numbers of businesses struggling and going under ours included. No thoughts about the kids trapped at home or people with mental health problems deteriorating due to isolation.
Our local Care Home has just tested positive. 8 out of 13 staff positive plus several residents so far. The witch hunt has begun about 'who brought it here' it must be an outsider.

[JohnK]

I think that most people in the Lakes accept that tourists are needed for survival, and hopefully make them welcome - those nice little shops/pubs/cafes cannot survive on local trade only. But it is nice when, in the quieter months of the year, most of them have gone, so we can walk on the pavements, and not have to drive on those same pavements to avoid badly parked cars. Having gone from a frequent visitor - for decades - to a permanent resident, I have seen both sides.
There have been no problems "fitting in" - we try to contribute by shopping locally, and by volunteering - my partner in social care/food bank, and I coach with AAC juniors, and try to support the vets. What people say behind our backs of course we may never know. Our neighbours are lovely - one chap nearby has lived in the same street for over 80 years - though he did move from one side of the road to the other!

AS an off-comer of some 30 years into Cumbria and having run, walked, back packed several thousand miles on foot and Mountain biked a whole load more all on Public Rights of way (not only in Cumbria) I can honestly say that on the odd occaision that my right to cross a piece of land has been challenged it has never been by a native land owner. (Always resolved on production of a map and pointing out my right to be there, mind you the land owners not always understand a map, neither are they always happy when I carry on but hey ho buy a property with a public right of way over the land then expect people to use it.

It is the same when proposed reasonable changes and developements are proposed to improve an area the native locals tend to see it as a long term investment that will help maintain tourism and therefore their liveliehhood and it is usually off-comers and second Home owners that do the objecting mostly along the n.i.m.b.y lines

Like Mike T says the native folk on the whole are great, wellcoming and helpfull and that has been the case from the very first day my wife and I came up here to work,live, and adapt to a different way of thinking and living as a long term members of the community, whilst we realise that even after 30 years we will never be regarded as locals, we do feel that having worked with and involving ourselves in the community we have now been accepted and become part of the that community, and best of all our Daughter and Grandchildren are most definitely Native locals.

Being a Covid 19 hotspot has really borne out the strength of character of the local people in the way that they have pulled together and are looking out for one another.

This post is merely to say what I find on the the ground as a off-comer long term resident and to hopefully balance out the assumptions made by people from afar , as such I have no intention of discussing my life or reasoning.

[molehill]

I will second everything JohnK says, from a small rural community in the heart of Wales.
I think one of the big misunderstandings about second homes holiday homes is that they prop up local business and bring money to the area. They may bring some summer money to a community, pubs, local shops, cafe but there is a downside.

They don't live in the community, so the majority do not contribute to the local community - help with local shows, celidhs, parties, orginsing quize nights - they may attend but there is more to a community than attending, you need to be a part of it.
A house that is occupied 100% by a family also contributes to the local businesses, the pub, the cafe, the shops and it does so 365 days a year, not just weekends or summer months. So which is better for the community? And a family may have kids to go to local schools (they all close down now), maybe the church, the clubs, jobs, care for elderly neighbours, there's many ways a resident home is better for a community than a holiday home.

Some people with these homes put themselves out and really help over the years and are accepted, but I fear most don't and contribute little to the core of a (half empty) village, they take and think a few ££s is giving.

[neilly]

I completely understand locals enjoying it when the tourists are not there... to relate back to Neilly, i was in Skye in February of last year and it was fantastic to be up there when it was so quiet (excepting the times i was within the vicinity of Sligachan car park, i never saw a soul on the mountains in 100 miles and a week of running).

I was assured by many people in cafe's/shops that it was vastly different in the height of summer.

I moved to Skye in 2006. Its a great place to live mainly but, like everywhere, had its problems. The summer is very busy normally but everybody benefits from it. Four months its mobbed but the vast majority of visitors are decent people. We now take all our holidays in cities and wander around getting in the way of locals, holding them up and driving badly.
I can't wait to see visitors again. It makes the place far more interesting and cosmopolitan.

[Travs]

AS an off-comer of some 30 years into Cumbria and having run, walked, back packed several thousand miles on foot and Mountain biked a whole load more all on Public Rights of way (not only in Cumbria) I can honestly say that on the odd occaision that my right to cross a piece of land has been challenged it has never been by a native land owner. (Always resolved on production of a map and pointing out my right to be there, mind you the land owners not always understand a map, neither are they always happy when I carry on but hey ho buy a property with a public right of way over the land then expect people to use it.

It is the same when proposed reasonable changes and developements are proposed to improve an area the native locals tend to see it as a long term investment that will help maintain tourism and therefore their liveliehhood and it is usually off-comers and second Home owners that do the objecting mostly along the n.i.m.b.y lines

Like Mike T says the native folk on the whole are great, wellcoming and helpfull and that has been the case from the very first day my wife and I came up here to work,live, and adapt to a different way of thinking and living as a long term members of the community, whilst we realise that even after 30 years we will never be regarded as locals, we do feel that having worked with and involving ourselves in the community we have now been accepted and become part of the that community, and best of all our Daughter and Grandchildren are most definitely Native locals.

Being a Covid 19 hotspot has really borne out the strength of character of the local people in the way that they have pulled together and are looking out for one another.

This post is merely to say what I find on the the ground as a off-comer long term resident and to hopefully balance out the assumptions made by people from afar , as such I have no intention of discussing my life or reasoning.

JohnK I bow down to your vast wealth of personal experience... And in 22 years of visiting the Lakes I have only ever encountered one act of hostility...

But unfortunately it is the (thankfully very rare) acts of vandalism, "f**k off home" signs, etc, which stick in the memory for many people.

Personally I'm in contact with several accommodation owners (both natives and "outsiders") across the UK re my various summer bookings, and without exception they cannot wait to get back to welcoming visitors.

[JohnK]

JohnK

But unfortunately it is the (thankfully very rare) acts of vandalism, "f**k off home" signs, etc, which stick in the memory for many people.

and without exception they cannot wait to get back to welcoming visitors.

Signs like that would stick in my mind as well if ever I had seen one in the flesh

[Stagger]

Having bought my first house in my village in 1988, I moved to another part of my village 1996 but still rented my 1st property.

I live 35 miles away now but still own my 1st home for rental purposes.

Lots of things going through my mind.

How am I supposed to feel??

AS an off-comer of some 30 years into Cumbria and having run, walked, back packed several thousand miles on foot and Mountain biked a whole load more all on Public Rights of way (not only in Cumbria) I can honestly say that on the odd occaision that my right to cross a piece of land has been challenged it has never been by a native land owner. (Always resolved on production of a map and pointing out my right to be there, mind you the land owners not always understand a map, neither are they always happy when I carry on but hey ho buy a property with a public right of way over the land then expect people to use it.

It is the same when proposed reasonable changes and developements are proposed to improve an area the native locals tend to see it as a long term investment that will help maintain tourism and therefore their liveliehhood and it is usually off-comers and second Home owners that do the objecting mostly along the n.i.m.b.y lines

Like Mike T says the native folk on the whole are great, wellcoming and helpfull and that has been the case from the very first day my wife and I came up here to work,live, and adapt to a different way of thinking and living as a long term members of the community, whilst we realise that even after 30 years we will never be regarded as locals, we do feel that having worked with and involving ourselves in the community we have now been accepted and become part of the that community, and best of all our Daughter and Grandchildren are most definitely Native locals.

Being a Covid 19 hotspot has really borne out the strength of character of the local people in the way that they have pulled together and are looking out for one another.

This post is merely to say what I find on the the ground as a off-comer long term resident and to hopefully balance out the assumptions made by people from afar , as such I have no intention of discussing my life or reasoning.