Quote Originally Posted by Dave_Mole View Post
quite.
I live in a nice place: it's a small town with lots of green space and people, on the whole, are sensible and there's a good sense of community. Last lockdown wasn't too bad: people did panic shop a bit, but things were tolerable. Not sure it would have been the same for me if I was in social housing in Manchester or Birmingham, though.
I'm also lucky enough to live somewhere I like with good access to lots of running and cycling. I chose to live there but did so with my eyes open. So if you need an ambulance you need to accept that you might have a long wait - (I have twice had to call in an emergency for other people, it took about 90 minutes each time). You might not see a police patrol very often and will almost certainly have a delay if you need to call them. Your broadband might not work, your bus service will be poor and very expensive. You almost certainly won't be able to go to the cinema or a cafe without a car journey or a bike ride. But to me the access to the countryside makes all that worthwhile. Those 'sacrifices' are a trade off. The upside is that I can run to the summit of High Street from home or be in the Howgills in 45 minutes on my bike. So some of us do have privileged access to the countryside but we make life choices that to us at least, are a worthwhile compromise.