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12/04/2020

The way we were

I am encouraged and warmed by the response to my last post - it seems there are quite a few of us who long for a simpler life and fervently hope that there are collectively enough of us around the world to make that difference because, let's be honest, there are many many more folk who are longing desperately for the 'old normal' to return.  It has taken this terrible pandemic to show how ugly and unsustainable the old life had become and how urgently we need to make serious serious changes to our lives.
The problem is, as I see it, is how we are now - during these present restrictions - is unsustainable too - we, due to the way the economy is set up, means we have to work. Which means most of the working population has to drive to their place of employment.
So immediately after lockdown is lifted, there will be mass movement again. Instantly reverting back to the original levels of pollution, noise, congestion, traffic, and just by listing these, my heart aches at the mere thought of it all returning.
I firmly believe that some folk will take stock of their lives and decide that their work to home ratio was imbalanced and they will take that step to change. They will decide that they prefer the sound of no traffic so will sell up and try and move out into the countryside, to smaller villages or purchase an isolated farm. Some will succeed and some may find the new solitude that had been so attractive before now feels isolating.
May be more folk will walk for leisure rather than resort to the ease of a car, cook for themselves rather than the take aways and garden more, grow things, feel the earth between their fingers, - however, all this may just be conjecture and short lived resolution.

I really really hope that there is enough of us take care of the earth, to love and nurture, change and quietly repair.

Bring on that steely determined gentle revolution - I am ready.




13 comments:

  1. Many companies will be insisting that employees work on-line from home...that way they won't need such big expensive offices....
    We need to evaluate properly..to spend money in the right places...do we need all those big new roads and a rail line to save twenty minutes....?
    Society needs to be more human as it is made up of humans...

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    1. Agreed! Equally on past performance of both politicians and commerce...will they drive the need to return for either financial or political gain or both?

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  2. You are right Kate, we do need to think long & hard, but it's a Catch22 situation, as the younger ones only "hear" about a different way, but have never FELT it. I really don't know where it will go from here. Strange times indeed. Sounds like they want us in lockdown till Xmas from the news last night!!! Maybe I heard it out of context, but that is a long way off. Take care, stay safe and huggles.

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  3. Beautifully said my friend! I too hope that there will be more people taking care of this earth! I also hope that in the future more jobs will be done from home...bosses are figuring out that it can be done! Hope this has been a happy Easter for you! Stay safe!

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  4. Ah, dear Kate, I knew what I was going to say and then I found you had already said it in your reply to GZ. What happens next will depend upon the ‘messages’ that the media are told to force upon us every day . . . Cynical? Yeah, sorry, getting old and jaded.

    Will the message be “spend, spend, spend” to help rebuild our economy?

    (And GZ - you are absolutely right, we do not need some stinking over-priced railway line; perhaps now that people have been forced to take walks instead of going to indoor gyms the general population might start to realise how priceless and irreplaceable our woodlands are. Must get off soapbox . . . Sorry Kate)

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  5. Maybe looking at the bigger picture will help us not to return to the old ways: insisting on a fairer society (more spent on health and education and looking after the poor), and with protecting and rewilding the environment the goal of government and all of us instead of economic growth (which is the route to disaster). We also have to look at stopping population growth and at what we eat as the pandemic may be the result of lack of biodiversity in the natural world, farmed animals crammed together and us interfering in wild areas to which our bodies aren't accustomed.

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  6. Ah, dear Kate, I knew what I was going to say and then I found you had already said it in your reply to GZ. What happens next will depend upon the ‘messages’ that the media are told to force upon us every day . . . Cynical? Yeah, sorry, getting old and jaded.

    Will the message be “spend, spend, spend” to help rebuild our economy?

    (And GZ - you are absolutely right, we do not need some stinking over-priced railway line; perhaps now that people have been forced to take walks instead of going to indoor gyms the general population might start to realise how priceless and irreplaceable our woodlands are. Must get off soapbox . . . Sorry Kate)

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  7. Perversely, I seem to be going the other way. I rarely go out for a meal and suddenly I'm thinking what fun it might be. I am not a great socialiser but look forward to being able to hug friends again. I don't work in an office but am feeling how sad it would be if everyone ended up working in separate cells. Because of my health I am not to leave the house for three months. I'm looking forward to seeing people walking up and down outside the house again. That busy world which keeps me entertained has turned into something of a blank screen.

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  8. I like the animals in your photos; the traditional older breeds are so handsome and it is important to raise them. I hope we on this planet will learn and improve from this time of lockdown. One improvement would be if more meetings are virtual, which I have been doing with Zoom. It has always bothered me when environmentalists from around the globe fly to meet; that is so polluting. Teleconferences are an improvement we could take away from this crisis.

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  9. Thank you for writing so beautifully what I am feeling too x

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  10. Beautifully said.
    I am hoping that many will also feel the need to be kinder to everyone and not so selfish in all they do.

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