04 June 2020
Social Distancing in Cumbria
Week 11
by Vic Leader
It has been simple so far. Week 1 of 12, then 2 etc, halfway, two thirds. This should have been the penultimate week. But it’s changed a bit. The easing has been extended, we are allowed to associate with more people, some children are going back to school, open markets are open, car showrooms too, but all still subject to SD and a few other rules; guidelines?
I’ve re-designated week 12 to “Eased Social Distancing week 1” and added another eight. That will be twenty in all since the beginning, of Lockdown, which became Social Distancing, that is. It’s an important test so I hope you are following this. Now all of us have to use our own initiative to some extent to judge whether what we wish to do, and actually do, is permitted, yes, but more importantly, sensible. To make it easier I will still call next week “Log Week 12”.
We have to use Common Sense. It is OK for children and others with limited mental faculty to ask teacher, or mum and dad, or even grandma and grandad, if something is OK to do. Teacher, mum and dad etc are going to have to share some of the burden of getting us all back to a semblance of normality by making their own calls. The government, local authority, policeman and the like won’t be able to decide whether every act is possible in all the possible circumstances at any given location.
But if there are collective mishaps due to this the Government will call us back indoors again.
Judging from the Lockdown experience, I believe most will be up to this but hope politicians, the media and other collective bodies will also be making sensible calls.
Now that is all cleared up I hope we can still keep in mind the benefits gained so far, such as cleaner air, learning new skills, having time for those close to us. Because there is going to be a natural tendency to want to slip back into our old ‘comfortable’. That will not be possible for many whose jobs have or will have gone. We need to build a new place that brings those folks back into gainful living. We need to rebuild trust, which in recent times has been eroded.
There is no shortage of investment finance for that info super-highway, the re-positioning of office work using remote technology, training and re-skilling of those who need it, re-purposing empty buildings to meet housing needs.
We also need to reassess where our friends and enemies are. USA, China? How has Japan survived its broken economy from decades ago? Tiny Singapore with lessons to teach us all. Europe struggling but still our nearest neighbour. Brexit IS done, post-Brexit ISN’T and we need a sensible relationship with the EU.
As ever I hope you are staying well, thinking, and now preparing for a different country and world to live in.
