One of the greatest things about London are the many and massive parks dotted all over the city and if you don’t have an outdoor space your local park has been the ultimate sanity saviour since lockdown descended. Gyms not open? No problem – welcome to the new franchise of outdoor exercise spaces with zero membership fee and no sweaty changing rooms..
Everyone has clearly been trying to stay fit since Corona descended and this pursuit of cardiovascular activity in the absence of everything else might have irreversibly shaped the nation. Will people just give up on their healthier lifestyles now that normal life has resumed? Will you no longer see people who have clearly never jogged before, puffing and panting their way round, seemingly always on the verge of ‘breaking thru the pain barrier’ or having a full blown heart attack? I already miss those sneaky little fakers who, when you could only leave your house to exercise, were just pretending to do whatever so they could hang out in the park, occasionally lifting a leg to the sky in case the odd cop strolled by.
I actually find just watching people exercise exhausting let alone doing it but I commend their attempts nonetheless. It did appear that everyone had come to the same conclusion which was basically, if I am fitter maybe the evil virus won’t get me. What I find kinda strange is how many people have taken up boxing. Everywhere I go there are people ‘boxercising’. As if they can literally ‘beat the virus’ into submission. Either that or they think they need to toughen up in case society completely falls apart and we have to start fighting each other for food. I don’t know how likely that is anytime soon but out of all the sports to take on at this moment, it’s a weird one because it is impossible to do and keep a distance and not have contact.
I do however love this appropriation of public space and even though they are busier than probably were before lockdown they are still calmer and more relaxed places to be than on the streets. Next week I will feature other activities that the parks have absorbed since everything closed. The question will be, when things reopen will people return to the established venues or continue with this alfresco approach to everything? It will be weather dependent but it looks like its going to be a long hot summer…
To mask or not to mask..that is the question. The answer seems to be a little more complicated as whether you wear a face covering or not has come to signify much more than just protecting yourself and others from the virus. It’s actually quite extraordinary how emotional and polarised people have become over what is simply a health protection guideline to help combat a runaway insanely contagious pandemic virus.
There was a dizzying amount of conflicting information about whether to wear masks over here in the U.K as the government just couldn’t seem to make up its mind whether to tell people they should or shouldn’t wear ’em whilst we watch as other countries just simply made it mandatory. In the U.S it has become politically and even racially polarised. Others see it as an infringement of civil liberties whilst the religious brigade are declaring it an afront to “God’s breathing system”. And all this from a bit of fabric tied together with a bit of elastic.
The fact that it’s created such division shows how much conflict there is over Covid-19. It also shows that because we are all getting our information from our highly varied and utterly oppose information sources there is no longer any consensus on opinion, which is obviously a problem as to effectively combat the virus we need unified action.
The simple truth is that if you wear one you will most definitely reduce the chances of infection to others and to yourself. And in that order. It is more to protect those you come into contact with as you might have it and not know it. It is not an impenetrable force field so its not a guarantee but it will help. And ascatching it airborn is highly unlikely you don’t really need whilst you walking around outdoors but in shops and enclosed spaces where you can’t keep your distance it’s a extra layer of protection, literally & metaphorically.
And aside from all that I personally think they are worth wearing for two simple reasons alone..if you’re wearing one the chances of you being able to touch your face are greatly reduced and that is one of easiest ways to contract it. Also, when you are wearing them it reminds you and everyone else that it is still out there and that is essential because we are all getting way too complacent and acting like it is no longer exists.
I’ve already had Corona so feel chances of getting it again are incredibly slim but I still mask up when I have to…not only do I not have a problem with it, I actually kinda like it. It makes me feel like a masked avenger which was a childhood dream.
I do think its amazing how diverse the selection of masks is and love how everyone has gone for an angle that suited them. From the surgical to the fashiony to the the full on dystopian chemical warfare gas mask. I personally went for a comedy one with a grinning smile on it as everyone had stopped smiling and thought it would lighten the mood and make it a little less scary. As you can see below that didn’t really work out. I only actually wore the mask once as a shop keeper told me it was terrifying, which you will no doubt agree with…
So ultimately the choice is yours, don’t worry about what anyone else is doing, but whatever you do, just don’t wear it under your nose or around your chin: a) cos it makes it utterly useless and b) it looks beyond ridic.
And so everything is back on. Well almost/not quite/not at all depending on what business you are looking at. There seems to be a massive discrepancy between them all. Some stores are heavily populated yet a lot seem extremely quiet. Some high streets have got their life back, others are as dead as they were before anything re-opened.
A lot of shops are dependent on office workers and/or tourists who are still not back yet so they are barely getting anyone in through their doors. The Gov wants the country back up and running at full speed but it can’t possibly function as normal until everything is open. And that is going to be a while because we are a long way from normal.
Everyone knows the relaxation of the lockdown has fuck all to do with the reduction of the threat. It’s still out there which means as soon as things pick up it will be back, because it hasn’t really gone away. Yes, we are all ‘over it’ and wanna get back to some semblance of normality but the virus doesn’t care about that. And if it was conscious and could observe the sights of packed beaches, mass gatherings and illegal raves happening all over the country it would no doubt be licking its lips in anticipation…if it had lips.
It’s actually a shame Covid-19 isn’t self-aware otherwise it could maybe look at how much it has achieved in a very short space of time and take a break safe in the knowledge that it will most definitely win “most promising newcomer” at the 2020 Virus awards. “I would just like to thank my carriers, I couldn’t have done it without you…” It should really congratulate itself on a great campaign and a very successful world tour and take a well earned rest but sadly it doesn’t have a brain. Or a body for that matter. But it is insatiably contagious fucking incredible at replicating itself and that is why we are in this mess.
It would be amazeballs to be able to go out and not think about this shit for a while but sadly that is not going to happen. We’re unfortunately stuck with this mofo for the foreseeable so might as well mask up, keep our distance, accept it has not gone away and do everything we can not to create anothe spike just as our exhausted NHS workers are barely recovering.
They desperately need a respite from the relentless onslaught of critical patients they have been battling to keep alive for months. They have seen death on a scale normally associated with war whilst we moaned about being bored at home. We must not let their sacrifice and hard work be nothing. We must do everything we can to keep a lid of this fucker. And we must just be prepared to acknowledge that business as usual is now a thing of the past, it is not coming back…this is Business of the Unusual so we need to act like it.
Nature dictates you either adapt or die and that is what we must do. My fear is that, based on what I have seen over last few months we are seemingly too selfish to survive. Our narcissistic self-centred focus has become so acute it’s actually working contrary to our primary drive to stay alive. And that’s obvs a bit of a problem…we need to be better than this Britain, way fucking better.
As you can see Londoners are gently easing back into socialisation during the final stages of the Lockdown…which apparently, technically and officially is still on. Who knew?
Another aspect of ‘normal’ life which has returned with a vengeance is public protesting. 2019 was a year that was heavily defined by protests across the globe for a variety of different issues so the question must have been raised by fearful establishments everywhere… how do the fook do we stop this? If only we could create a situation where it is forbidden for them to be on the streets and then they won’t be able to join forces and oppose our actions…cue Corona creation conspiracy theory number 46. Yet with almost the entire population of Earth ordered indoors it was clear that the potential for civil unrest had dropped significantly.
I don’t actually believe that they fabricated the existence of Covid-19 to reduce street protesting but it certainly looked like it. And when the BLM movement erupted across the entire planet in the middle of a worldwide lockdown, it not only quashed that theory but also showed that “no force on Earth can stop an idea who’s time has come”. Not even a global pandemic.
The dam has burst. And the tide of change is swept across every continent at once. And yet these protesters converged in the midst of us trying to reduce the devastating impact of the virus when it was at a crucial stage. I watched stunned as thousands congregated regardless and felt that it would jeopardise everything that we had just gone through. And so I stayed away and did what most were doing, I watched it unfold on the internet.
But, watching events transpire online is a very distorting and relatively unhealthy experience as the algorithms in place ensure that you pinball from negative story to negative story, feeding outrage, fuelling anger, creating a narrative where you feel that everything is utterly fucked and hopeless and everyone is against everyone and the world has gone to hell in a hand cart.
The initial explosion of violence in America dominated the news but if you looked deeper than the headlines, the real story was how peaceful protests across the globe, comprised of people from all demographics and all cultures, had united to stand up and declare their unequivocal support for the black community and to state it is a societal problem that will no longer be tolerated. This was a tale of ‘coming together’ not ‘tearing apart’.
As the media were busy portraying the protestors as violent troublemakers I eventually decided I had to see it with my own eyes. And still hopefully be able to keep my distance in the process. These shots were taken at a BLM rally in trafalgar square last Friday. I arrived early and found a very quiet, peaceful gathering. When I looked around at those present I could see that, for the most part, they were just young kids. They were the reps of Generation Z who mix better than any previous generation to date. They show beautifully that race is simply not an issue for them in the way it was for previous generations, and they are living proof that there has been massive progress.
These youths were not looking for a fight at all. They were extremely placid and good natured. Their presence was simply a message to older generations that they have to make way for a new society where systemic inequality is a thing of the past and racial persecution at the hands of the police is, not only, no longer sanctioned, but eradicated for good. To use an enforcement term, a zero tolerance policy is now required.
And so I stood there in Trafalgar square looking at these docile youngsters in face masks with their little cardboard banners and there was even a little stand with fruit and water for any of the protestors and it felt more like a village fete than a protest movement. And then more and more police vans started to show up and coppers piled out of the doors and onto the square. It was very surreal as their presence just seemed so out of place with the scene I was witnessing. Like sending the riot squad to break up a kid’s party. It was the very definition of heavy handed policing, the very thing they were protesting about. And suddenly there was a tension in the air. I then heard from one of the organisers that thousands of people were on their way from Hyde Park and the thought of it being boxed in with all those people made me feel very uneasy so decided not to stick around to be kettled.
The younger generation are there to guide the way. We need to listen to them. The institutions and ideals of the 20th century are no longer compatible with the modern world so we must change them in order to move forwards. The old world establishment is holding back the new era, clinging on to a broken system that needs to come down and it’s resistance and fear of change is making the transition a pitched battle. It doesn’t need to be this way.
Racism in America is a huge problem and way more prevalent and divisive than in the U.K but we still have a major racism problem within our police force here. I was always proud to be from London as, compared to most other places, it was a very progressive, tolerant and racially inclusive city. And especially in the area of West London where I live. I do know of anywhere else where there is a better mix between racial groups than in this neighbourhood and that is one of the main reasons I love living here. Yet, like all other areas in London, you see racial profiling in ‘stop and searches’ all the time and when I put my mind to it I can’t think of a single occasion in all the years I lived here when I saw them stop someone white. So even though the multi-cultural residents do not, for the most part, have any issue with each other, we are not having the same experience at the hands of law and order and that is simply unjust and must stop.
West London saw a massive influx of Caribbeans after the 2nd world war. The Windrush generation, as they are now known, were invited here by our government to help rebuild Britain after the devastating destruction of the blitz. They thought they were coming to the Mother country, the centre of the Commonwealth of which they were part. And yet when they arrived, they were treated horrendously, because there was no declaration from above explaining to the citizens of the U.K that they were here on our request because we needed them and they should be treated with respect.
The population of this little island should have been told to welcome our new residents with open arms and give gratitude to them for coming to our rescue. This declaration of intent was regretfully never sent to the population of Britain. It was immigration without information which sadly has been a consistent policy ever since and consequently, fear led to hostility and the new members of Britain suffered untold amounts of abuse as a result. But its still not too late to deliver that message. It would bring us all together and diminish the division between us. We must end the populist xenophobic politics, eliminate unlawful persecution of any race or minority and create genuine integration and unity for everyone. That might sound idealistic but it’s not actually hard to implement at all. The truth is, genuine equality for all is really easy, you just treat everyone the same.
And so the traffic has returned. And now it feels like it never went away. Emissions are already back to pre-Corona levels and car usage has actually increased because people are afraid to use public transport. And now the sounds of car honking is once again the soundtrack of the city. And once again our air is being polluted to damaging and toxic levels.
And yet somewhere in the haze of recent memory I remember walking along streets with no cars and no fumes and no noise. And the air was clean and breathable and the skies blue and you could hear birds singing all around you. It sounds like a disney movie but it was reality only a few weeks ago. And it’s a reality we could have again if our government just initiated the green policies that are desperately required. The lockdown gave us a glimpse into another future, let’s not leave it in the past.
And so the bars have re-opened. Well, they have opened their hatches if not their doors but people instantly flocked to every bar in the hood to pay 5 x the price for alcohol to be put in a plastic cup so they could stand outside on a pavement near each other. Think it just shows how gregarious we are by nature and how all people want to do is congregate. The lockdown has really highlighted this compulsive need to socialise with each other as a primary drive of our species. Mammals innit?
It was quite a shock to see for the first time. I turned the corner onto Portobello and was genuinely jaw-dropped to see these gatherings. It looked so alien to see all these people alongside one another. And as you can see everyone is obeying social distance guidelines to a tee, although the message can’t have quite got through exactly as they have chosen to use the imperial system rather than the metric one as they are all 2 feet from each other. Well, at least they got the number right..sure the virus will take into account they’ve made an effort of sorts…
The 3 year anniversary of the Grenfell tragedy has just passed. In memory green ribbons, both real and painted have appeared all over the area and they look like butterflies floating around the neighbourhood. Beautiful and heartbreaking. The tower itself seems to get smaller everytime you look at it. They have been incrementally been dismantling it for over a year or so and it feels that the more it disappears in the real world the more it disappears in people’s memories. And yet West London will never forget those who lost their lives because they will always be part of the community and also because justice has still not been served.
In the modern era we seem to now lurch from tragedy to tragedy and as soon as the next one arrives everyone forgets about the one that just dominated and focus instead on the latest calamity or injustice to take over the news. There is rarely any resolution. Whether its plastic pollution, Australian wildfires, the refugee crisis, homelessness, the school girls in kidnapped in Nigeria..at the time they all unleashed outrage and initiated mass online activity but were then dropped as quickly and as fervently as they were picked up.
These terrible events consume every headline and dominate your social media feed for the 2 weeks they are topical and then and they evaporate into the online ether as if they had never existed. A lethal combination of over-saturation and A.D.D destroys the public’s interest seemingly just in time for us to lose our shit all over again over the next thing. And the next thing. And there is now always a next thing. The conveyor belt of horror seemingly never ends.
People are already clearly over the pandemic and yet we are still in the eye of the storm. Does it matter it hasn’t been solved? Apparently not. People are already over climate change and that hasn’t even really begun yet. Does it matter it hasn’t been solved? Our actions say otherwise. These days there appears to be this notion that once everyone has done their bit of ranting on social media, fired off some hashtags and gone to a protest march or two the problem has been dealt with and we can all go back to shopping for shit we don’t need.
Nothing gets solved anymore, we just get bored and move on. The most recent humungous global event is the BLM movement which has shaken the world to the core in the last two weeks. It has been extraordinary to see the world unite in protest and say ‘enough is enough’. And yet, like the others I have just mentioned above, this is a deep rooted problem that needs, not just immediate action, but sustained activity that will lead to long term systemic solutions in order for genuine progress can be made.
As a species we need to start seeing things through to the end. We need to actually make things better, not just want them to be better and then give up and divest our energy into something else when it reveals itself to be too hard to fix overnight. Major societal shifts and systemic change are very hard to initiate and implement and take time. A ton of time. It takes research and understanding and education and planning and commitment and that cannot be achieved in two weeks. We have to see this through and think long term strategies than will span far into the future or progress will not be achieved.
