Back in Lancaster and some thoughts on lockdown

You may recall my intention to write a series of posts on the railway paths of my hometown. Alas, a hectic schedule back at university put the dampener on that. I returned to university late September. This term is busier than usual, being the final year of my PhD. And I also have several part time positions contributing to my workload. But I am lucky. Many have suffered severe financial hardship as a result of this pandemic. If anything, the frantic pace of my schedule has provided a welcome distraction from what would otherwise be a fairly solitary situation. And more importantly, none of my loved ones have been afflicted by the virus, and for this, I can only be thankful. 

This no doubt paints too rosy-a-picture of my personal experience throughout the pandemic. I have unquestionably struggled psychologically with being stuck indoors so much. When the first lockdown began, a post was doing the rounds on Facebook, lambasting those who complained about the government mandate to sit inside and watch television. The implication being that we have been given a free pass to indulge in the nation’s most popular pastime, so what do you have to complain about?

Now, first I just want to make something clear, I supported a lockdown at the time and I support tougher restrictions over Christmas than what the UK government is currently countenancing. Thus, I fully accept and prescribe the need to restrict individual liberty for the greater good. What I do take issue with, however, is the idea that there is nothing psychologically difficult about being locked down. Although many people choose, of their own accord, to spend most of their free time vegetating in front of the television, it does not follow that this is a good choice - psychologically or physically. Moreover, if one did not exercise one’s right to enjoy the outdoors before that liberty was constrained, then one is deprived of knowing what it feels like to have that liberty withdrawn. For outdoor people, having to sit around watching the TV all day is not a perk of lockdown, but a sacrifice that needs to be accepted for the greater good. And if there is a final thing I’d say to the critical couch potato, it’s this: suppose, to give a hypothetical example, that a major power shortage restricts us to one hour’s TV-a-day, only within the confines of your local TV broadcasters – the horror with which you perceive that prospect correlates exactly with ours at being stuck inside.

Of course, it will be retorted that we are allowed to spend time outdoors. This is true, but the restrictions were fairly tight at the start of lockdown. I tried my best to follow the letter and spirit of the rules, despite the difficulties arising out of the government’s ambiguous communication and shameless attempts to reconcile a clear rules breach with official guidance (yes, I am talking about Mr. Cummings, whose lockdown jaunts in Barnard Castle and Durham just happened to be close to my hometown). I found this situation tough, being used to more outdoor activity than a short walk a day - though as I mentioned in a previous post, it had the positive consequence of reconnecting me with my local surroundings. At the moment, my primary difficulty is working from ‘home’. I put home in inverted commas because I am currently living in a student flat. For the first time, I am living with my fiancé, rather than in halls of residence, and this change has undoubtedly made the whole lockdown situation more tolerable, but at the same time, a university flat is hardly a home. And since my fiancé does not work from home, it means spending a lot of time inside, alone, and inevitably climbing the walls. As the cold, dark nights set in, the compensation of an after-work walk is harder to come by.

Anyway, enough despairing. Lancaster is a wonderful city, full of history and culture, with excellent walking destinations around it. Over the weekend, I went on my first ‘proper’ walk since returning here, in the beautiful Crook O’ Lune, which I will recount in my next post. Also on our doorstep we have the wonderful coastline of Morecambe Bay, nearby Areas of Outstanding National Beauty such as the Forest of Bowland and Arnside and Silverdale, and picturesque villages and towns. At the moment, I am getting out on my bike at least once a week. I am trying to do the Lancashire cycle way in stages and I plan on doing posts on these. I am also, stage by stage, walking the full duration of Lancaster canal, which stretches from near Kendal to Preston. So plenty of stuff in the pipeline. I will also be spending some time back in Durham over the Christmas period, where I will pick up on the theme of the railway walks and also include whatever other walking territory I end up in.  

With effective vaccines now in sight, life may well return to some kind of normality within the next year. Many of us, I have no doubt, will be glad to see the back of 2020. But there are still challenges ahead. The government’s decision to relax the lockdown rules will undoubtedly cost lives and whilst I sympathise, especially as a Christmas enthusiast, with the human need to be with loved ones over the festive period, I think we all need to be cautious and wise in the choices we make – especially where it relates to our elderly relatives. Unlike in previous years, I won’t be at the pub on Christmas day, regardless of what the rules are; nor will I be attending any parties or other social gatherings. This Christmas, I will be with my immediate family. It will be spent at home, with a midday interlude in the form of a Winter walk (destination yet to be decided). Then for an evening, it will be making merry with a few ales as I sit like an immovable potato in front of the television. Oh, the hypocrisy!