Why? Why oh why are people still coming here on holiday?

[Jux]

Devon. We have seen caravans and motorhomes and people obviously on holiday (canoe and suitcases etc on car roof, all that stuff; it's bloody obvious), bikes loaded with camping stuff....

We live 20 miles from the beach and none of us have seen a wave for weeks. DH spends half the day complaining because he can't go to the beach in this lovely weather as he normally does.

Thank goodness the market is not on, or we'd be over-run. Really worried as both dd and I are vulnerable (not extremely vulnerable) and dh freaks out every time he has to go out as our Designated Shopper that he'll bring it home to us.

Why are people such arseholes?

We're going to need road blocks!

@GCAcademic That was in response to posters jealous of cities being so hard hit by the virus that temporary hospitals have had to be set up. They felt they were missing out. They are. The virus is missing them out. In normal times the exact same problems happen in cities. For example in London. The vast majority of Londoners do not live centrally. And the central London hospitals serve the whole country. Londoners don't jump the queue. I suspect it's the same with other cities. Money on their hospitals that they share with rural areas. So no-one gets better treatment. It's shit all round for everyone. Hospitals have closed in London. The population there has massively increased but hospitals were closed. Some have been turned into (expensive) housing developments. The problem is not unique to rural areas. No hospitals should've been closed, especially not with growing populations everywhere.

That was in response to posters jealous of cities being so hard hit by the virus that temporary hospitals have had to be set up. They felt they were missing out

That's a horrible thing to say.

Thank you @Wolfgirrl I hope if and when I move my neighbours are like you and not like 1forsorrow's.

Governments should never have let the housing problems get so out of hand. We wouldn't have so much resentment or many living in miserable conditions, wherever in the UK that is, if they'd taken steps to ease the pressures. Had they managed it better, there might well have been plenty to go round, including for the minority of people who own second homes. Will things change for the better? Unlikely whilst one of the largest groups of multiple property owners are MPs, Labour as well as Conservative. That's in addition to their taxpayer funded London homes. Perhaps they could have a Mon-Fri let or halls of residence type accomodation instead of expensive London second homes funded by us all?

It is horrible isn't it Tonyaster I'm glad it was only a minority implying that.

Horrible of you to imply posters were "jealous" of the field hopsitals. You have no idea what it's like to live rurally.

Likewise some here have no idea what it's like to live in poverty in a city. A minority of posters, and I emphasise it's a minority, seem to believed the myth that the streets are paved with gold. They see the rich celebrities and MPs and think the other several million inhabitants live like that. The equivalent would be a city person thinking everybody in Cornwall is as wealthy as and lives the same livestyle as people like Gordon Ramsay.

Let's just stop a moment.

This is not the deep south in the 1900s, most people that live in the countryside do not scavenge for food, carry a pitchfork or wear overalls.

Most of us drive cars, live in normal houses, have normal jobs. Everything is just a bit more spread out, which comes with upsides and downsides.

Equally cities are not like the stuff of Dickensian novels any more, people are not covered in soot or living in workhouses.

Most of them drive cars, live in normal houses, have normal jobs.

We all have way more in common than we think we do! Lets break MN tradition and all make up?

It does my head in, these sorts of tribal arguments! I get the argument about second home owners but we dont need to turn this thread into some kind of turf war.

wolfgirrl stop being so bloody reasonable. There’s a plague on and we fancy a scrap .

Popplios

Yeah, wolfgirl - get your voice of reason back to your hometown where it belongs!

Seriously - the poor everywhere are being shafted by the wealthy, who rarely even consider them to be the same species.

No-one minds people moving to an area - what we don't want is second homes being purchase and either left empty half the year, or rented out to people who treat the people born and bred in an area like yokels. We don't like homes in our area being priced beyond our pockets, or our greenbelt being sold off to builders for executive developments (because I can promise you now - there is little, if any, social housing)

We don't like people who have been socialising in a high-infection area coming into our comparatively low-infection area and bringing their germs with them. they might be young enough and fit enough to withstand the virus - a lot of rural areas have an elderly population that isn't able to.

We don't like the entitlement.

We don't like homes in our area being priced beyond our pockets, or our greenbelt being sold off to builders for executive developments

But that is happening everywhere, it's certainly not restricted to the south-west. Farmer sells land, developer moves in, council sees £ signs and massive housing estate (sorry, "garden village") is born. Everywhere you go, you see massive housing developments. Goodness knows who they are all for.

plantlife This thread and others has certainly made me think again about where to go. I'd been told my concerns over unwelcoming locals wasn't justified but it seems like I was right to worry. I'm sorry you had a hard time. Your neighbours sound rude and unpleasant. The colour of my husband's skin doesn't help. Coming from a multi cultural city we never thought how different it would be.

Wolfgirl I think they are just a moody lot but as I said I don't think my husband's skin colour helps.

No-one minds people moving to an area...We don't like homes in our area being priced beyond our pockets, or our greenbelt being sold off to builders

We moved to a sussex village when I was a child (from The North). People did mind New People moving in. My mum’s neighbours still do oppose new developments on the grounds that it will soil their views of the downs, oppose social housing, nursing home development, and worst of all flats (shudder). And crow about house price rises. But then complain that their children have moved away with their grandchildren to cheaper areas, and aren’t they selfish.

It might not be every single resident, but this isn’t something people have invented.

They see the rich celebrities and MPs and think the other several million inhabitants live like that. The equivalent would be a city person thinking everybody in Cornwall is as wealthy as and lives the same livestyle as people like Gordon Ramsay

That's unbelievably patronising.

Our cottage hospital was badly needed; My family have used it many times in the 15 years we've lived here. They shut it anyway.

They are happy to spend ridiculous amounts on HS2 (bugbear) while cutting all services.

We are getting a Nightingale hospital now. We probably wouldn't need it if we still had the 3 cottage hospitals they closed a few years ago. In fact, almost every little local hospital I can think of round here has closed, so for A&E we have to go to the city hospital which can take an hour to get to (I'm aware that's not too bad too, and that's dreadful in itself).

The housing problem is another matter. I am inclined to the view that if we don't have enough housing for our population where each family/individual has a home the can call their own, whether rented or owned (and we don't), then no one should have more than one. But that's veering towards the very unpopular socicalist "property is theft" view, isn't it?

However, I believe that if we are to be a kinder society - I hate the pa bekind thing too, it's always used by people who not being kind themselves - then we need to think along much more communal lines. To each according to their need. No one needs two homes, for instance.

The demand for pretty cottages in charming villages as a holiday escape drives up prices in my area. And our area is not regarded as especially desirable, but still the momentum exists. So we have two art galleries, but no food shop.

...or post office. The closest is (a steep hill) and two miles away so getting an extra bottle of milk is not easy for anyone who doesn't drive. You could cycle, and electric battery bikes have become a common sight, but they are not cheap to buy and there's no significant secondhand market in them yet.

I agree with @Wolfgirrl and @Jux I only wanted to respond to the minority of posters who seemed to have an unwarranted grudge or hate against Londoners. It's not nice to judge a whole group by the behaviour of a minority. There's people struggling everywhere, cities, towns, villages, hamlets. The issues around unaffordable housing, being priced out, hospital closures, affect people in various areas. It's not unique to rural or cities. I don't personally like the idea of second homes when so many of us can't even afford one home, but I also don't think it's very nice to suggest all second home owners are nasty entitled snobs. I'm sure many simply don't realise how it might impact those of us who struggle to fund any home. They're not being deliverately nasty. Obviously a few aren't very nice but I don't think you should tar them all with the same brush. I just don't like the idea of people feeling hated.

I couldn't help thinking of this thread when I saw this. Sorry it's the sun.
www.thesun.co.uk/news/11379557/second-home-owners-loophole-coronavirus-aid-scheme/

St Ives has many holiday homes that appear to be recently let out to visitors - a reliable source tells me. She has reported each one of them.

Are you sure they are on holiday? Travellers are being advised to park up nearer to main towns / hospitals by funeral homes / police / healthcare workers in case they need medical help due to the virus and we have seen hundreds of people pull up in caravan parks as a result.

What Grumpy says. Could also be the homeless being housed by the council.

Nope. Suitcases, bikes, surf boards etc. Apparently.

A friend with holiday lets had a letter from the welsh government asking her if she could let nhs staff have the use of her places during the pandemic free of charge.

So many, "this is a local shop for local people" mentality on here.
I think someone even refered as london ppl to being cunts. Nice.

But please just be grateful that you were protected, unlike the cities, which is why extra hospitals haven't been built where you are. You don't need them. In the highly unlikely event you did, you'd get some.

@plantlife are you for real???

Did you even read the part where I said my dad has been moved to a hospital IN ANOTHER COUNTY because they are running out of intensive care beds in Cumbria? They literally drove him in an ambulance from one hospital, passed the biggest hospital in Cumbria to get him to one over in Newcastle NINETY MILES AWAY.

Cumbria has among the highest cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 outside London - more than most of the major cities in the North.

Which bit of that tells you we are protected in rural areas and don't need temporary hospitals?

That was in response to posters jealous of cities being so hard hit by the virus that temporary hospitals have had to be set up. They felt they were missing out. They are. The virus is missing them out.

You are a delightful piece of work aren't you?

It is EXACTLY attitudes like the one you are displaying on this thread that give people a bad impression of Londoners.

Oh the fucking irony.

@FrangipaniBlue I feel the same about you as you do about me. I think you're rather unpleasant. The worse hit area after London is the West Midlands btw.

Not sure quite why you're so angry. I've said I don't agree with unessential travel so share your concern, I've also said I don't want Cumbria to suffer as badly as Londoners are. I've made it very clear I blame the government for failing to protect cities. Unless you're a senior cabinet minister I don't know why you're taking it so personally.

What I have disagreed with is your notion it's worse for you. We'll have to agree to disagree I suppose. Nearly half of all deaths in the UK have been in London. Londoners, and then people in the West Midlands, are at higher risk of dying than people in lower density populations with more spread out housing and better air quality. It doesn't mean I want you to share the burden. It also doesn't mean it's ok that hospitals anywhere might not cope. As I've said. I've said I hope it doesn't spread more elsewhere.

I've noticed, unlike me showing concern for other areas, you haven't expressed any sympathy or concerns for people in London or Birmingham.