Surreal Times - Modern Man, Easing the Lockdown, Beaches

We are an Island Nation us Brits, in global terms a small island at that. Visiting the coast is routed in our identity, Beaches are our go to places and have been for generations.

British Beaches long and blustery, surrounded by cold Northern sea waters are loved by all ages, loved by all people, places for fresh air and clear thoughts, places for treats and fun, fish and chips, fried donuts, dressed crabs, bucket & spades, building sandcastles, paddling in the cold water, crabbing lines cast from high harbor walls, donkey rides along sandy beaches, these places of open space and spiritual freedom found at the cusp of two worlds; the sea and the land.

After nearly two months of lockdown it is no surprise that we continue this national love affair with the seaside and floc to the places we know and love.

Yet this year as the end of the lost spring befalls us and as lockdown was lifted, that pivotal day; Wednesday 13th May when we were granted back our freedom of movement, many an eye was cast on a seaside outing, especially from City dwellers across the nation who have been hemmed into urban landscapes & homes for weeks on end and are longing for freedom.

Cities where many workplaces are still closed and without the usual 40 or 50 hour working week to earns ends meat, the people now have an abundance of time on their hands.

Cities which in normal times the slightest sun, tops are off and pub gardens are frequented by droves of dedicated customers, yet the pubs are closed.

Cities with Airports which now in the times of Modern Man are no longer reserved for the jet set. Airports which would usually be filled with mass summer migrators as millions of sun loving cash filled Brits in a twist of irony leave the summer warmth of Britain and head further afield for guaranteed heat and sun tans which are the bench mark of any modern summer holiday, yet the airports are closed.

Cities with shopping centres and travel agents that are still closed & empty, places which would normally be full of holiday preppers completing the ritual of the Great British Summer migration, forgoing British summer weekends to the coast, instead spent pre holiday shopping and consuming as they are so dedicated to doing, these dedicated fortnight preppers instead sit idol after weeks of lockdown.

Theme parks, Zoos & leisure centres, devout of visitors, strapped of cashflow, these places that accept millions of visitors in the summer months, families and groups of friends are also closed yet the people still crave something to do.

Football stadia the nation over stand in silence, these colosseums of the new age Roman games the faithfully dedicated supporters and sports fans sit at home with itchy feet.

Then the lockdown is eased and we are once again allowed to venture further afield and all of those stir crazy British City eyes take a look at the Beaches and Seaside towns, millions upon millions of people hemmed into the Cities they call home now see these seaside beaches open as everywhere else remains closed and to no ones surprise people head en-masse to the Beaches.

The ageing local coastal population fearfully reject tourists as the mass wave of potentially infected City day trippers head their way, despite the ironic truth that the real locals where long ago pushed out of many a seaside town long ago, as coastal gentrification, holiday home mania & retirement goals rapidly over the past 20 years pushed up house prices and forced the local poor & young people from their seaside towns & communities into the cities that they now return from.

Predictably so, we see tabloid headlines and news clips of panic on the beaches as the day tripping unfolds, the hotspots and beauty places of the South the main focal point of these stories and outrages as people rightly exercise their newly returned freedom, desiring to leave their local trappings of concrete & brick urban landscapes, breaking the shackles of lockdown life to the freedom of the coast. Why should these places be reserved for the wealthy few when the urban cities & bleak environments are the wealth generators for the wealthy.

The young people of the cities who have locked down as they have been asked to do become the focal point of the media and are demonised for living. Despite that they will arguably suffer the most in the long term, due to the economic & social after effects of the lockdown, as the already pitiful and detached minimum wages they work for, stagnate further and opportunities for meaningful employment diminish with every passing day, as big business use this as an excuse to keep wages down despite wages never recovering from the Credit Crunch over a decade earlier.

The young who are priced out of property ownership & fair work contracts, as the minimum wage is far from a living wage, far from a meaningful wage, suffering caused inadvertently by the established wealthy who only want more and take more in a society & economy which only focusses on reducing the bottom line and promotes self interest & personal gain instead of shared prosperity, now the young are told they cant even visit beauty spots and the seaside as they are not wanted there either, as they suffer once again, unable to have fun and live free as the Government have allowed everyone to do once more.

Further up North and along the East Yorkshire Coast at Bridlington we have made a few trips to the Seaside from Kingston Upon Hull since lockdown lifted, as we would normally do to avoid the crowds we head there early morning or late evening but always try to avoid mid day rush, yet even still the risk is evident, even by 9am the indents of a thousand footprints of the morning can be seen on the newly revealed sand as the tide retreats away from the land.

I am reminded once again that viral Risk exists now everywhere you visit and will continue to do so, as the objective of the lockdown, to remove the virus from circulation was never the plan. The plan is and always has been to flatten the curve and stop the NHS from been overwhelmed, ensuring anyone needing a ventilator or ICU bed gets one and other than that fate will decide the outcome of each persons contact with this Coronavirus SARS2 & Covid 19.

So as the initial lockdown measures take effect and cases drop, it comes time again to release the tap, the tap of people, the tap of Virus, the tap of the new reality in a post viral world, as this tap is eased once more, to continue flattening the curve, people are at risk and they need to switch on to that risk.

They need to give themselves time.

Time for a cure or better treatment to be developed, especially if they fall within a vulnerable group the risk hasn't gone away, the virus is still out there in the populous and with the latest easing of the lockdown, the easing of the viral flood gate, cases will inevitably creep up, or the new normal of 300 a day dying of the virus will become the new acceptable, the new normal in these Surreal Times I ask myself is that acceptable?

Could we have done more?

Can we do more?

We still have time?