Bank Holiday Monday 25th May
A fellow dog walker comments that she no longer walks along the routes around Croft Hill and Quarry – they are now just too busy. Later we drive past the gate that many people use to access the routes, and find the road verges lined with cars. We have never seen the area so busy, not even after snow, when people congregate to sledge down the slopes. We are now permitted to drive as far as we like for a day out, but possibly people are heeding the pleas of such popular Bank Holiday destinations as the Peak District National Park, the closest “wild country” area, and are staying closer to home, although tweets from the National Park Authority indicate that the Park is still busy today. The National Parks may now be accessible, but locals are concerned that surge visitors will make social distancing very difficult in popular villages, and many facilities remain closed.
This evening a friend who has walked her dog around the quarry confirms how many people are still making use of the various walking routes. Sadly she also reports that a lot of rubbish has been left in some places, where we know that young people gather late at night. This has been a regular problem since shortly after lockdown, when Croft Hill has been a discreet venue for youngsters wanting some freedom from social isolation restrictions, but has got worse since those restrictions were loosened.
Another change since Boris “loosened the apron strings” is that Zoom family get togethers are more difficult to arrange, now that people can travel further and spend a day away from home. Saturdays Zoom with my family was postponed because participants seem to think that being out and about in warm sunshine, whether walking, with or without a dog, cycling, or picnicking, is a more attractive proposition than sitting in front of screen showing a matrix of family faces. And that is exactly how it should be. Now that folk are no longer incarcerated within their own homes, able to escape to Pastures New, as long as the pastures aren’t too far away It may be time to reduce the frequency of Zooming. Things are changing slowly in all sorts of ways.
Technically we live in Oaktree House, but sadly the tree had to go.
We now have a thriving Oakstump at the front of the house.
