Is anyone on here from Cumbria? Countryside or town.
Not that it really matters where everyone is based but I have only found a few people in real life who feel like I do. Mostly shop workers. I suppose it is them who come into depressing contact everyday with the "new normal". Like the gravediggers of the great plague, they probably have developed the best immunity to the virus yet have to pretend to act like it could kill them or they could kill others as if they hadn't developed antibodies about 8 months ago.
The rural working class of which I am don't seem that interested either way. Life carries on as normal for them. Farmers and joiners and builders keep saying things like "it doesn't affect me". It doesn't affect me that much either (yet) because I work outside and rarely go shopping other than for food and fuel and don't socialise much but I still find it worrying where things are going. People my age (early 30's) wearing masks in the street where they don't have to or even in small villages or their own cars.
Before this thing I was fairly cynical but I had some personal hopes for the future. Now I spend a lot of time scrolling on comment sections trying to see where public opinion is headed. Back in March I was annoyed that I wasn't going to get to go to Scotland in my new van in spring when the weather was good. Many months later I am concerned that these measures are going to be something we can expect to see a lot more of but for other issues. Other pathogens, the "climate crisis", cold wars, who knows. Maybe freely and anonymously driving around the land parking in easy going places and being out in the wild will soon be frowned upon. Not for covid maybe (although they tried propaganda against "outside" in the first lockdown) but for the new green agenda. Maybe nature will be fine in the future but our ability to perceive it will be hampered by inaccessibilty. They've set a precedent where they actually can just shut everything down and change laws on a whim and cherry-pick science to suit their agenda and censor debate. Its all a slippery slope.
It would be interesting to know if there are others in Cumbria. I mean there obviously are, but I'm not a big user of Facebook and don't have a wide network of friends so I thought I would post something on here
I'm not in Cumbria, but I'm going to post a reply to you because I found your post touching, and you made me think of the Lake District and I just want to speak about it with you.
Many years ago, I fell in love with the mountains there - not all mountains, just the Lake District ones, and then I knew what I was going to with the rest of my life. I decided that I would walk up every path up every mountain in the Lake District, (not climbing paths), which I did. Some more than once, some on my hands and kneees.
You say about working outside, and not shopping that much. Even though I'm a London girl, a lot of that rural feeling has stayed with me. I never wanted to leave London, but spent so long walking, very often on my own, and brought my son up to do the same. Both of us have brought the country into town - our garden is wild, my son, now an adult, sleeps outdoors for much of the year.
I agree with you that the current rubbish is quite double edged - I think a lot of us feel the same as you. The pointless frenzy, manic behaviour, has disappeared behind shuffling shapes in masks. But, the reality for some of us, is apart from the shape shifters we come across, our own lives are not so different because we weren't so central to the manias of the previous system. I was social, but not enormously so, see people, but at arm's length, spend a lot of time outdoors, and, like you say, know a lot of people who are outdoor/manual workers, and agree with your assessment of their attitudes. I'm actually having a good time, but it is the fear of future constraints, and, exactly as you say, the fear of the inability to get to touch the places you love.
I don't know whereabout in Cumbria you are, I just hope you're somewhere near to those beautiful rocks and mountains I love so well, and, even without Scotland, I hope they give you pleasure. Keep smiling.
Some of us from North East have occasional meet ups.Carlisle isn't out of bounds!
Hi
I'm from Marra land!!! Fab I was just about to put a post about if there are any Cumbrian sceptics you've beaten me to it!! I don't do Facebook or twitter or any of that stuff, I know there are sceptics out there it's just so difficult to meet, I suppose that's part of the plan.
I am in Cumbria as well, Maryport area. and I am a shop worker ! meaning my daily life since March has been less different from usual than most people.
