Another pleasant little walk a modest drive from home on a perfect hot day tempered by a cooling breeze. The undulating limestone country made for frequent new views and little hidden valleys with a splendid backdrop of the Barbon hills and further north the Howgills. Sheep cropped turf and established limestone paths applied throughout. I saw nobody on the walk compared with the many visitors back home at Arnside.
This was a pleasant break to take my mind off the disintegration of the world. How much longer can T continue to head up (I won't say run) the US? My son watches a lot of You Tube video and freelance American commentary and even if one allows for bias and doubtful sources there seems to be much more for alarm going on there than the BBC ever reports. From that bible toting rant and many previous wild accusations and actions T seems to be unhinged - why oh why don't his own party face up to reality and get him out. The problem with politicians universally is that they are scared stiff of loosing their next election party-wise or individually.
At home it has to be acknowledged that our government has at least tried to pursue some kind of policy to overcome the pandemic but their competence has been widely questioned from many sources. But apart from that they are not now taking scientific advice (they have changed the wording to say they are considering rather than taking) and have been criticised by independent scientists for the doubtful content of statistics presented. And there has been little evidence of firm leadership. I know that it must be a massive task masterminding and implementing measures in such an unprecedented situation and such a task is not to be envied but the way the government is going about it has damaged public trust and they seem to continually shoot themselves in the foot.
I hsve jollied slong with all this for ages now but I have to say that the whole world situation is beginning to get me down with things just going from bad to worse. A lot has been said recently about mental health and the benefits of walking and there is some scientific research that backs this up - whatever I do value my own version of outdoor activitiy which takes my mind off the dreary news for a while.
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If you also want a bit more distraction click to enlarge.
No captions - just photos to support my enthusiasm for the unique countryside I am fortunate to have at home and close by.
Looks nice out there yesterday. Keep getting your fix.
ReplyDeleteIf we have a spell of really bad weather it will test our mental fortitude.
You have just spurred me on to go out for a short walk.
On the question of Boris. He talks optimistically of continuous falls in the death rate, I would question his definition of continuous.
And then at the end shoots himself in the foot by casually mentioning how he would like to reduce social distancing from 2 to 1m - that's like a green light to some people.
BC - Yes, it's good to get out and find some new ground not too far away.
ReplyDeleteAs for Johnson, the political agenda seems biased towards placating mainly big-business at the expense of the well being of the population. It is obviously important to get business rolling again to repair damage to the economy, but there must be more humane ways of achieving this. But what I dislike most is the deliberate obfuscation of information and promises made which are obviously unattainable from the outset and an insult to intelligent people's credibility.
Couldn't agree more Conrad. Depressing isn't it.
ReplyDeleteSir Hugh - Absolutely right Conrad although I can't accuse Nicola Sturgeon of moving too fast to get business restarted. Maybe just a tiny bit too cautious, but it's a difficult call to make. Otherwise I don't think she's been broadly any better at handling this pandemic, contrary to my comments a month or so ago.
ReplyDeleteTalking about insulting our intelligence, Patrick Harvey (Greens SMP)has, it was reported, asked the BBC to stop broadcasting the daily UK Coronavirus Update because he thinks it will confuse us Scots given that Nicola's messages regarding easing lockdown are slight different. It might well confuse him of course.
Afoot - It is shameful that this matter has become politicised. Sturgeon and Johnson just seems to be scoring points off each-other.
ReplyDeleteReporting from the States: It most likely is worse than what you’re seeing. What I mean by that: protests are overwhelmingly peaceful. Destruction and looting seem to be the work of three different constituencies: ultra-left, ultra-right, and opportunists making off with free stuff. There is also considerable violence from the police and military presence. The most chilling parts, to me: the insistence of the president and those around him that destruction and violence are the work of “Antifa,” with its Al-Qaeda-like name (there is no such group) and the president’s insistence on “strength,” the very quality he once praised in the Chinese government’s response to protesters in Tiananmen Square. Cable news seems to me, at least early on, to have gone out of its way to highlight destruction and violence, with reporters on the street racing to show “action” — people breaking into a store.
ReplyDeletePlease, don’t hesitate to remove this comment if you think it goes too far afield. But since you mentioned what you’re seeing on the BBC, I wanted to share how things look to me here.
Michael Leddy - Thanks for that. It confirms much of the stuff my son is looking at. Being aware of the bias of many news channels he tends to watch independent You Tube journalists and most of them support more or less what you are saying. Tonight we saw the most appalling sight of police knocking a 75 year old man to the ground and continuing to march past as blood was streaming from the man's head with nobody going to his help. In fact reporters were held back BY THE POLICE from going to help .
ReplyDeleteIt's a nice circuit that isn't it. I walked almost the same route after work one evening. Great views. As to the political situation - I don't know where to begin!
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