The curse that was, and remains – The Pandemic – whilst having shrouded the entire globe in fear, gloom, illness and, sadly, much death, has perversely to many provided cover (certainly an excuse) for actions – assuredly also inactions – behaviour, tardiness, indolence, even incompetence, plus avarice which they would not have been able to indulge before the virus took hold.
I find that I myself use Covid-19 restrictions and deviations as pretexts for lapses in positive deeds, efforts and thoughtfulness which in honesty, cannot really be justified or condoned. A failure to visit a friend who is unwell, or the oversight of someone’s birthday in terms of buying a card or present, so often is put down to restrictions in place to curb the plague. Thus to the lazy, unorganised and shiftless, these weeks of lockdowns and curtailments of movement have been almost a welcome gift – ‘the slothful shall inherit the Earth’.
In numerous areas and professions, the pressures applied and tolls exacted by the virus have been torrid and, generally speaking have not been – and are not – overstated. The medical field – hospitals especially – have been tested almost beyond the limit; care homes likewise. Certainly there has been much public sympathy for, plus understanding of, their problems and plight, but it is surely not unfair to state that the blight of covid is possibly all too often used as a convenient and exaggerated mitigation by some less scrupulous members of the health service for tardiness in treating illnesses and other diseases, many of a terminal nature, which are a serious assault on people’s quality of life.
The law courts, also, have not been backward in blaming covid for, often, shocking delays in terms of trials and hearings; issues which existed well before March 2020. ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’ – this perceptive slogan should be placed upon a sign sitting on the desk of everyone administering our, generally, laudably fair and just legal system. Investment, reform and a willingness to change are what is really required; not ‘covid’ excuses.
Then there are the practical and commercial fields; foremost, supplies to shops. Here there are undisputed reasons why supermarkets have shelves often bereft of the foodstuffs they should be displaying. For goods coming from abroad have suffered interruption in terms of supply and also there has been, for varying reasons, a shortage of lorry and van drivers. In such a situation modest retail price rises might be excusable, but it is difficult, surely, to justify the often sizeable increments lumped on by most supermarkets. In an era when an increasing number of folk in our land are finding it hard to ‘make ends meet’, large increases in the price of the basics of life are, in effect, an assault on the right of us all to enjoy a decent standard of living.
The inflation in this direction, though, is modest when compared to that generated by ‘staycation’ (a truly lamentable portmanteau). Due to the curbs on foreign travel – not merely the journeying out but the possibility of having to quarantine or isolate when returning home, seemingly at the whim of a faceless ‘expert’ – greater numbers than, probably, ever before have decided to holiday in our lovely islands. Basically, great news, especially here in the South West where tourism is vitally crucial to the livelihood of so many. Folk have from spring onwards been arriving in numbers not known for decades; hotels, guest houses, B&B’s, and the like are inundated, caravan parks and camping sites are groaning beneath the weight of patrons.
In so many ways this is good news for our area, all too often the ‘Cinderella’ of English regions when it comes to finance, incomes, profits, enterprise and like – no ‘levelling up’ agenda for us; and the region’s holiday industry was savagely mauled by the lockdowns of 2020 and earlier this year. Thus there is justification in price increases – losses needed to be recovered plus it was, and remains, a ‘sellers’ market, with demand exceeding supply.
There is, though, a point where an acceptable pursuit of profit crosses the line, becoming greed – even banditry. This happened to us recently; for many years we have hired, for a week, a cottage in Cornwall – the last time being in 2019. As restrictions lifted we fancied going there once more. We enquired as to its availability; remarkably it was free; the price? Virtually double that of a couple of years back – hence the availability I’m sure. Needless to say we declined to line their pockets and we will be staying at home – and if in the future we fancy a sojourn at the coast for a few days it will not be in this dwelling, beautifully located though it is. Once threatened with a bite, ‘twice shy’.
To add insult to injury, the owners are not even West Country but live in the Home Counties. Such blatant profiteering makes a mockery of the maxim that we are all in this together.