Lockdown: Day 6 - 29/03/20

So it came to pass that on Tuesday 24th March, the nation officially went into Lockdown because of the Corona Virus outbreak, shutting down the retail sector and effectively sending a huge swathe of the population into enforced self-isolation, largely due to too many people not seeming to appreciate the urgency of the situation, and only taking matters seriously when actually told to do so, I'd guess because too many people think rules do not apply to themselves, only to the sort of people whom they'd believe need social control. That leaves those in the so-called Key Worker sectors to remain in business, those operating the food supply, the distribution and power operators, and naturally the NHS, to massively reduce the amount of social contact in the population in a hope of restricting and arresting the infection rate of COVID-19 as it grows into the largest global health emergency in over a century. Not that any of that has made an immediate difference to myself, as the subsequent week to the announcement has had me Not in Work and already doing my bit for self-isolation and social distancing by staying at home to pay attention to my non-walking related interests and needs, but exercise has to be considered a pressing necessity, just to prevent my brain going numb and my limbs going lazy, and thus a stretching route had to be found locally, keeping as far away from other people as possible while providing enough of a challenge to make it worthwhile for proper exercise. It's thus mildly amazing that an adequate route into the countryside was assembled on my very first effort, picking a path of almost 3 miles in to the east of Morley, starting out at the railway station, and setting off along Valley Road, above the tunnel portal and below the cliffs where the colliery once stood, to pass the site of the borough gasworks and around the Valley Mill site, to land by the footbridge that wasn't in situ in 2013, to take us over the railway and onto the alleged country lane that leads up the hill to the turn to Broad Oaks farm. The farm driveway leads to the fine view over the city of Leeds and then down through the fields to the old footbridge over the railway, which we cross again to meet the woodland trail behind the White Rose Centre, which shifts us southbound onto the right of way that traces the cutting and embankment of the line as it leads us back to the 'new' footbridge, which we cross again to turn the path into a figure-eight route. We then split from the tarmacked path to follow the rough path west up onto Daisy Hill, where suburbia has grown at Morley's eastern fringe around the old mill site and equestrian farm, keeping a suitable distance from the bungalows and semis before we reach the terraces on New Bank Street and slip down the path by the side of the Station Road recreation ground before sealing the loop by returning to the station as the descending road passes Dartmouth Mill.

The Morley Circuit is my walking reality now.

It's definitely a good burn, and one that I've taken on twice so far, on the unseasonably sunny mornings of Wednesday and Friday, bringing the sort of brightness that and warmth that you don't regularly get at the start of Spring, almost as it the season were taunting us with weather that couldn't be put to better use, and this path will be my walking reality for the foreseeable future, which I hope to get out on at least once every weekend until we can see a return to normality on the distant horizon. That's along way off, of course, and thus this blog becomes my lockdown journal, letting you all know, and hopefully reminding myself of, what's going on in these unprecedented times, and the first thing to talk about is probably the food and household goods situation, which really kicked off with the insane run on toilet paper that seems to have afflicted everyone everywhere, and the subsequent stockpiling of canned goods as many anticipate a shortage in the future, while directly causing one in the present. My first shopping trip of lockdown came on the Tuesday, and the reflection that I immediately gleaned from my trip to Morrisons was that Morley was largely behaving itself, as aside from the aforementioned, everything else seemed to be in good stock order, with not shortage of fresh produce as yet, thanks to the diligent work of the staff to keep things in order, with the supply network still functioning normally, while it was also good to see that protective screens had been installed at all the tills, to reduce contact between the tellers and customers. The frustration to me came with seeing just how many couples seemed to out shopping together, almost as if some folks just couldn't organise themselves to leave one party at home in the name of social distancing, while many others seemed to take their permitted shopping trip as an opportunity for a conflab with others, partially defeating the wisdom of maintaining distance, especially when the elderly are by far the most at risk from the effects of COVID-19. Seeing what has happened even in the days before formal lockdown makes me mildly glad that my mildly paranoid nature, and a wildly fluctuating desire for food, has left we with a decent freezer load and cupboardful or two, and thus the ability to stock up lightly for a good few weeks from now, while also revealing that those of us who feared a potential disruption of the food supply in the wake of a No-Deal Brexit, and thus resupplied our needs accordingly, aren't looking quite so mockable now, as twitchiness across the nation has almost precipitated a crisis, even when the supply was running normally, ahead of national lockdown.

Otherwise, staying home in the first week of lockdown has allowed me to get to work on some things that have lain fallow during the early bloom of my walking season, whilst also approaching the needs of Spring cleaning that always come with the season, and catching up on too much lost sleep, as there's never a bad time for that, and it's also allowed me time to reflect, not so much on the pandemic but on what it has already revealed about this country in so short a time. I can't even start to approach the potential economic and social impacts as they are beyond my comprehension as an historian by teaching and a geographer by enthusiasm, but as a Key Worker and member of a hospital staff, I can immediately see how strongly it has exposed the necessity to society of the low-paid and supposedly un-skilled workers, who are proving vital to keeping the country going while so many other business are shut down. It has also revealed that when faced with a shutdown of potentially months duration, many requirements that are under-appreciated or downright ignored by those in power are actually absolute necessities in a time of crisis, such as a guaranteed income, the need for workers' rights,  and sick pay, as well as the need for free-to-access health care, and it could be hoped that people might hold this further forward in their minds in the future as the ramifications of  these events unfold over time, rather than decision makers holding out for a hope of a return to 'Business as Usual' as soon as is possible. Thursday's national night of applause for the NHS was certainly appreciated, as people nationwide realized the seriousness of the situation that so many are having to work with on the frontline, even if the cynical half of the brain would like to remind everyone that we have been working against the tide of funding restrictions for the better part of a decade and that the service's preparedness for the potential scale of the health crisis is still deeply uncertain as the infection and hospitalization rates continue to increase. Ultimately, the severity of the situation is unknowable, and the effects of lockdown won't be known for a few weeks yet, and we can only hope that the effects of social distancing and isolation will protect the most vulnerable and restrict the spread of the Corona Virus among everyone else, but with our Prime Minister, the Chief Medical Officer and the Prince of Wales having already been identified as infection carriers, the vastness of the situation remains to be so wildly impractical. Much has already been revealed about the soul of the nation, and that's a matter that I'm sure to have more to say about, as the best and worst of the characters of many have already been revealed, but for now, we'll leave it there, as I will need to enjoy the remainder of my time off work, before we return to work on Tuesday, to see just what is going on at the LGI and across the Leeds Hospitals trust in times of medical emergency.

Walks: Morley Social Distancing Circuit. Walked: 25/3 & 27/3.
2.8 miles, via Valley Mils, Broad Oaks, White Rose, and Daisy Hill. x2

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 4367.7 miles
2020 Total: 101.2 miles
Up Country Total: 3904.7 miles
Solo Total: 4053.5 miles
5,000 in my 40s Total: 2961.5 miles

Next Up: Getting Back to Work...