Have people left London

[exhoecho]

Just started to notice that my part of London is a lot quieter then a week ago. Now obviously this could be because people are staying inside but there's hardly any cars on the road & parking is normally a pain in the arse & I can see about 13 houses from my loft/front/back garden & some of them definitely seem empty, no lights on last night. It's just very quiet & i'm conscious its only my kids you can hear! Where is everyone?

[SirVixofVixHall]

Half of them are here ( rural Wales). 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

[goingoverground]

I get why people would do it & kind of wish I'd gone to my mums (only 15 mins walk)

You are allowed to combine households for lockdown, just not visit. It would probably be wise to quarantine for 14 days first though.

[blue25]

London is pretty grim in this situation. If people can they’ve moved out to places with more green space or by the sea.

[exhoecho]

If we did go we would self quarantine before but I'm not sure if she is better childcare than Disneyplus when trying to wfh!

[NathanNathan]

Most people in where I am (zone 2 SW London) not the sort of place where many people have second homes!

I could have gone back to parents (rural Wales) or family second home (Devon) but didn't want to potentially travel the virus around.

I only know of one other friend who's gone somewhere else, and that was before lockdown to care for elderly relative.

[NathanNathan]

Also my logic was I'd be better off in a London hospital if needed than at either the rural Wales or Devon options, not to mention those areas being under supply for the people who already live there.

[exhoecho]

I'm Zone 3 SW Lon & would say most neighbours don't have 2nd homes but their family may do & or not live in London.

[SquirmOfEels]

The number of cars parked here (residents permit area) has definitely gone down - I think it started when the schools closed.

Also some of my younger friends and colleagues (who can WFH) decanted themselves back to their parents a while ago (for more space and nicer premises)

I don't know anyone who has left in the last couple of weeks - I think they all left early before the criticism really ramped up.

[Lordfrontpaw]

When I am it’s very international (not many brits, quite a transient population). A hell of a lot have gone home! It’s very quiet (part from the parks).

[fluffysocksgoodbookwine]

I’m in Newcastle. Loads of young adults who usually live in London flat shares are back here living with their parents and working from home. They mostly got out the weekend before the lockdown. The sensible ones have self isolated for 7 days on arrival.

[exhoecho]

@NathanNathan I definitely agree with that logic it's some comfort knowing you have excellent hospitals on your doorstep.

My school class whatsapp group is now very quiet so expect some are going away for Easter!

[GabsAlot]

theyd be selfish and o9ut of order if they do its not a normal holiday now is it

[BuffaloCauliflower]

My organisation employs lots of young people in their twenties who houseshare in London, just before lockdown lots of them went home to be with their parents

[cologne4711]

There are around 8 million people in London. The numbers who have gone to second homes must be tiny and not remotely enough to affect the numbers of cars on the roads etc. Most Londoners are not loaded and they don't have second homes.

If properties are empty, especially the expensive ones, they are probably owned by Chinese and Russian people who can't get over here to use them. Or are AirBnBs.

[EstherLittle]

Outer edge of zone 2 here and I only know one family who have a second MH one (cottage inherited from her grandmother). They are still in London and have no intention of going away.

It’s quiet here but there are still people around. We avoided the parks at the weekend and only go during the week (dog walks) so we can keep to the social distancing rules).

I think all the press pics showing Trafalgar Square empty are a bit mis leading as very few people actually live there.

[Fifthtimelucky]

My daughter (early 20s in a house share in London) is currently at home with us. She came home in mid March for a one-off event and, because she was already working at home by then, decided to stay here rather than return to London.

I'm glad she did as she had no garden in London and her local park has been closed. Here she can sit and work in the garden and we have nice walks on our doorstep.

[PoppliosBubble]

cologne it doesn’t affect the roads but it definitely has an impact on the places they visit. My town has about 5,00 people out of season. This number goes up to around 15,000 at peak season. All the surrounding towns have similar numbers and there is one hospital with 5 intensive care beds an hour drive away.

It’s pretty galling when we got a note through our door last week from someone asking us not to put our bins out the night before as it ruins the look of the street. These people often go years without visiting their property, they come down when they’re explicitly told not to and complain about my bloody bins. I’ve put them out a day early now instead 😂.

[Camopetals]

I know one person who left before the lockdown, to care for her elderly Dad - fair enough.

And I know a couple who fucked off just after lockdown because they're precious arseholes who think the rules don't apply to them.

Otherwise most people I know seem to have stuck around. Which is the right and moral thing to do, well done us!

[TiredofSM]

I don’t know many school mums but of those I do, 2 have left London to go to their beach houses.
It’s their Easter break so I guess it’ll be even quieter next week.
I’m trying really hard not to tell them what I think of them....

[sunandrose]

We have a lot of them down here in Cornwall! Hopefully the local authority is sticking to their promise and visiting second homes. I know that holiday home companies have clamped down on this but there’s no stopping those selfish enough to think that their own holiday home or parents’ house would be the perfect spot, with a view to isolate.
We have ONE hospital and it cannot and will not cope.

In my aunt’s village a couple arrived from Manchester, took no notice of the ‘one in one out’ rule in the tiny village shop, stormed in and demanded to know ‘what was wrong’ with the village! Everything was shut- the pub, beach cafe and tea room! The genuinely couldn’t understand why or what they would do during their stay! What an inconvenience

[vera99]

@PoppliosBubble you have my sympathy I'm not sure it would just be early bin trolling if it was me. Leave your bin out for the whole week.

[Lynda07]

I'm still here and intend to stay. Nothing much going on around me but I do hear vague sounds sometimes from neighbouring back gardens.

[BookWitch]

@SirVixofVixHall

Yep, half of the holiday homes up here are occupied. The wanker in the one next door to my dad keeps hurling abuse across the wall because he thinks he called the police on him (he didn't)
Such a lovely man
He's had two police visits and three grocery deliveries in the last six days (2x Waitrose and one Asda) God knows how he has managed that, because the locals can't get one for love nor money.

[TheJoyofBeingSingle]

All places with fewer hospitals than London. Selfish, selfish, selfish

I disagree that this is selfish because it depends when people left and if they were quarantined/ had been long enough isolated without symptoms.

London is over intensely populated and it is much harder to operate in London safely - simply because there are more people trying to shop, few homes with gardens so more people outside, more people ignoring distancing and so on.

If you are vulnerable and stayed in London which is a hot spot, you are more likely to get Covid-19 and more likely to need treatment.

Conversely if you left early when you were sure you were "clean", you have probably made yourself safer and less likely to be a drain on any hospital at all let a lone a local one.

I think it all depends when people moved and how sure they were they were 'clean'. It doesn't follow everyone who moved out of London is selfish.

[Lordfrontpaw]

For the places with few hospitals - I wonder what the inhabitant-to-bed ratio is, and if that’s comparable to somewhere like an inner city London Borough.