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?

[Ellmau]

I think it all depends when people moved and how sure they were they were 'clean'.

People in the 17th century who left London to escape the plague and took with them thought they were safe too.

Sadly, some houses may be empty bc the inhabitants are in hospital. Or worse.

[chickedeee]

I guess these folk want to ensure that is spreads everywhere else too

Why do they not understand 'stay at home'?

Decide which one (home) and stay there not commute between them according to work patterns or holiday

Stupid, stupid , stupid ☹️

[thecatneuterer]

Three of my tenants (I have shared houses) have left. Two went back to their own countries and one back to his parents. Two worked in hospitality and one was a mature student who saw no point in hanging around after the university was closed.

[Squaffle]

No difference where I am, we are usually the last ones left in the neighbourhood during any school holidays as everyone leaves for skiing/second homes etc, but glad to say it’s the same as it has been since lockdown - really encouraging that people seem to be taking things seriously.

[viccat]

I live in London and don't know anyone with a second home. I don't know anyone who's gone to stay with parents/relatives in the current situation either. People are staying at home.

My road is very quiet at the moment too but presumably this is mostly because people are staying at home, no one has visitors or tradespeople coming round etc. so there isn't much traffic.

[Wannabangbang]

Most of the selfish twats, especially the rich ones buggered off to their second homes spreading their corona even further afield. Kirsty Alsopp being one of them😡

I live on the Kent coast and apparently many beaches are packed with people, time for anyone sunbathing to be shot, with the exception of kids. So selfish spreading their germs every where, fgs why can't they just stay home. Are they ignorant to not be moved by people struggling to f*ing breath!!! Our own priminister is in ICU what is not getting through to these people, are they completely devoid of any IQ

[user1497207191]

Uni student areas will be quiet because students will have gone home once the Unis closed.

[bookmum08]

Everyone in my part of south east zone 3 London is still around. I live near one of the big parks and it's one of the ones where the police have to go and tell people to bugger off home. I wish my neighbour had somewhere she could go to because her taste in music is shite.
I did say to my husband that if this had been 10 years or so ago when our daughter was a baby/toddler that I would of taken her and gone to stay at my parents house when all this first starting happening. Infact part of me wishes I had done that now even though she is a lump of an 11 year old and I would have to share a bed in a tiny room. I wanted to go early on (when the news was first coming out, people were still at work/school etc) but didn't. We would of had to travel by train (via central London) which is why we didn't go.

[OrangeSamphire]

@Lordfrontpaw in Devon and Cornwall we have fewer hospital beds per head of the resident population than anywhere else in the U.K.

[Rocketmam]

Pregnant niece and her DH originally left London to come back to her DM's in the midlands.

They returned yesterday because the husband was 'bored'. Idiots.

[BelleSausage]

We’ve had an influx of people to the usually empty expensive houses in the village.

A bunch of thoughtless cunts. There’s one GP surgery covering 10 villages and only one pharmacy, one supermarket (a small one) and one butchers.

The population is mainly over 65s and the local food producers are under massive strain trying to get food to the vulnerable.

AND the local hospital is 45 mins away and serves almost an entire country.

Fuck of back to London. We have enough problems.

[TheVanguardSix]

I'm in West London. All of my neighbours are home. Every one of them.

[ProfessorPollington]

Yes quite a few have. My sister in law's two flatmates both left for the country. We definitely saw a lot of people packing up to leave in the first couple weeks.

[BelleSausage]

Sorry, entire county. An entire country would be a big area 😂

[SirVixofVixHall]

The bed per person ratio in Wales is the lowest in the UK.
So to the pp who asked, no , it isn’t equivalent in Wales anyway. Mil in Powys doesn’t even have a general hospital.

[OrangeSamphire]

For anyone wondering why it’s stupid to leave London to go to rural places, here is some good research on critical care bed capacity across the regions. Look at the south west, and what we need to do to cope with our own populations, let alone any influx of second homers and people going to stay with relatives because it’s ‘nicer’ here:

www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/huge-regional-differences-intensive-care-bed-numbers-threaten/amp/

[Fifthtimelucky]

I agree.

I'm originally from the West Country (no longer there) but I do think some people who live there are being unnecessarily hostile, especially to those who moved to second homes before lockdown. I understand the fear about local service being overwhelmed of course, but there does seem to be a quite a bit of selfishness too.

We shouldn't forget that the traffic is not all one way. Some of us have done Devon and Cornwall a favour by removing our student children. There will be some students who have returned to their parents' homes in Devon and Cornwall, of course, but I bet both Exeter and Falmouth are much emptier than usual.

[GabsAlot]

Rocket-bored? whats the difference we're all bloody bored silly man

its disgusting what some people who have money think what does and doesnt apply to them

they should be last on the list for beds

[Clymene]

I live on the coast and there are sod all people here. Second home owners haven't come.

[DwayneBenzie]

I live in a pretty mixed area of inner London (no Chelsea style mansions though!).

The students and 20somethings have mostly gone back to their parents’. The Romanian builders up the road have gone home. The Home Counties commuters who usually drive in and park on our road to get a tube into work aren’t around so we have loads of parking. The poshos next door but one took their kids to the grandparents’ place to escape the allegedly impending London lockdown a couple of weeks ago, but we are all taking bets on when they’ll come back. The local shops are all well stocked btw and have been throughout. Life continues fairly normally, albeit quiet, in this bit of London.

[mynamesmrdiggety]

I think most people are young or in shared houses so have gone back to their families to work from home.

[coachman]

I'm in London. I don't know of a single person who has left, including people with second homes. I do know of families where their children have come back to their homes in London from universities all over the country.

It works both ways. I get a bit fed up of the London bashing on Mumsnet.

[pinkpinecone]

I left with my toddler ahead of lockdown and went to stay with family in the country. We live in a small flat without a garden. If I had a garden in London I would have stayed put. I know quite a few people with young kids who did the same. We are isolating and all food is delivered so haven't been out into the community.

[okiedokieme]

Like most young adults, my kids came home the week prior to lockdown

[SimonJT]

A lot of friends who live in house shares have either moved back in with parents or in with friends.

My boyfriend has moved in with me, his little block is mainly sharers and his housemate said it was virtually empty when I dropped his shopping off.