Walkhighlands

my very best wishes are for the speedy recovery of those with the virus and my heartfelt sympathy is to those who have died and their families and friends - this is NOT a post that underestimates that impact

as someone rapidly approaching old age (64) and as my partner is a frontline GP - I am fairly sure self isolation is on the horizon - my best thoughts on that are to jump into my Defender and park up in the most remote parts of the Hebrides that I know

I can stock up for about a month....the thought of staying indoors at home would drive me nuts - contact with a CalMac ferryman would be as minimal as contact with a Tesco delivery man

Interesting development in Norway. Most Norwegians have a hut in the mountains, used for skiiing in winter and fishing in summer. In the last couple of weeks lots have headed off to their huts to hunker down in the way you suggest. But the Norwegian Government has told them to go home - simply because the health and emergency services in the mountain areas where most huts are concentrated are scaled to the size of the small permanent local resident population, not the (normally very healthy, of course) transient hut population. Those services would be overwhelmed if lots of people fell ill in their huts. So now they've been told you can only move to your hut if it's in the same municipality as your permanent home - police are even being given the power to turf out anybody found defying this! And this in a country as laid-back and socially liberal as Norway.

o dear - that's snookered my Plan B - we have flights booked to Bergen at the end of July.......not only are we currently not allowed in but sadly I doubt a small airline like LoganAir can survive the economic hits

I kind of agree with avoid sparsely populated areas with poor hospital or small hospitals as they cannot cope with a huge number of patients. I live on the North coast and follow a few different forums and am quite dismayed at the number of folk who have stated they have cancelled their European trip and instead are planning to head north into the Highlands with motorhomes to "wildcamp" somewhere where there is no corona virus. I am not sure they realise the risks they are creating by this influx of visitors to essentially an area where a major hospital can be 3 hours plus drive away and that that hospital is already struggling to cope with patient numbers for everyday patients and operations without the added strain of corona.

From the little I've read about Norway I get the impression that it's very laid back and socially liberal for anyone that doesn't rock the boat - a bit like ol' Blighty in fact! Still a place I'd like to visit.

Speaking of the C word, a friend pointed this out to me yesterday. Be warned, it's 90 minutes long, but the person being interviewed seems to have his head screwed on and knows there's a "dem" in "pandemic". They divert into a discussion on Lyme disease in the last 15 minutes or so, which might also be interesting for some here.

I live in the Hebrides and would echo the points made by Naefearjust beer.
We are nervous enough about ferry crews getting ill and the food supplies not getting in. And major hospitals are even further away here!

Pastychomper wrote:From the little I've read about Norway I get the impression that it's very laid back and socially liberal for anyone that doesn't rock the boat - a bit like ol' Blighty in fact! Still a place I'd like to visit.

Speaking of the C word, a friend pointed this out to me yesterday. Be warned, it's 90 minutes long, but the person being interviewed seems to have his head screwed on and knows there's a "dem" in "pandemic". They divert into a discussion on Lyme disease in the last 15 minutes or so, which might also be interesting for some here.

Thanks for the link. Didn't manage to listen to all of it but as you say, a man with his head screwed on right. We need more of them to be heard,. The risks are there and we need to act accordingly and listen to professional advice. I am fortunate in effectively being self isolated and having plenty of things to be getting on with in my garden. I shall be even more hermit like henceforth.

Plain stupid if you are in an at risk demographic, to take yourself away from the benefits of heating, power, water and sewerage with unlimited availability at home. All of which considerable increase your survival and recovery from basic illness. Plus being away from easy access to pharmacies, gp's and definitive medical care for a protracted period.

If you develop Corona in your van/tent you will be in no fit sate to drive and will run out of water/heat/sewage space....and from that point things will go down-hill rapidly. People have died from plain old flu and other treatable ailments due to being in isolated / socially isolated positions in Highland Scotland, I can think of several cases.

Gradual decline in blood sugar, dehydration and onset of hypothermia impairing cognitive function to call for help (putting to one side the issue of adding to Highland NHS's burden and geographical challenges).

Van dwellers could lay undiscovered for several days, ask my neighbor about the hassle/guilt of suspecting, finding and then reporting a solo tourist who has died in a road-side van; long-stay at risk tourists were already kicking-the-bucket in their vans before 'c'

Hmmm.
I'd like to think that, once those of us lucky enough not to be in a higher risk group (in which, fingers crossed, I count myself being a couple of years or so under 60 in, touch wood, reasonable health) have contracted covid19 and recovered, we'd stick around and help relatives, friends, neighbours etc who may be less fortunate. We're all in it together and will need to act responsibly to ensure we get out of it together.
Also, I'd guess that stocking up would perhaps entail buying a lot of food and supplies before they're actually needed which seems to me to come within the realms of panic buying making it harder for those who can't up sticks and go continue to buy what they need ?
Just my own thoughts - am sure others will have different views.

mash tun wrote:Hmmm.
I'd like to think that, once those of us lucky enough not to be in a higher risk group (in which, fingers crossed, I count myself being a couple of years or so under 60 in, touch wood, reasonable health) have contracted covid19 and recovered, we'd stick around and help relatives, friends, neighbours etc who may be less fortunate. We're all in it together and will need to act responsibly to ensure we get out of it together.
Also, I'd guess that stocking up would perhaps entail buying a lot of food and supplies before they're actually needed which seems to me to come within the realms of panic buying making it harder for those who can't up sticks and go continue to buy what they need ?
Just my own thoughts - am sure others will have different views.

The whole 'panic buying' is a very tricky one indeed.

I was talking to a women yesterday who normally buys a single pack of 4 toilets rolls a week but as we know this is one of the items flying off the shelves just now. So the store didn't have any 4 packs, the smallest they had was 9, so she bought one of these and another for her mum since she can't get to the shops as easily.

I think to most people, certainly to me, this seems fairly rational at face value, but it does mean this women has now jumped from her normal purchase of 4 per week to 18, a 4.5 fold increase. And that's where the news was saying the problem lies, not only with the crazy bulk purchases that go viral on social media but also with the masses of everyday shoppers who are just buying that little bit more 'just in case.'

Not passing judgement or saying I wouldn't do the same of course, but it is food for thought.

I appreciate and respect those who may disagree with me - in the interests of fairness however, I would like to point out that:

- tragically and sadly lonely neglected people die alone at home in crowded towns and cities

- that the strain on the NHS is appalling so eg my partner is a GP in a North East practice with 11 000 registered 'patients' and they have 8 P/T doctors.

- I am personally in the low risk group but whilst I would like to help as much as I could at home, I may well be making matters much worse by unwittingly passing on the virus to those more vulnerable - so little is known about it

- I am not a motorhome 'wild camper' - I use my Landy as a base and Akto it in the hills so no panic shopping here...

As I said originally this is an unprecedented and scary time for all - so lets not descend into a bunfight

I can't see any evidence in any of the above of this "descending into a bunfight". Unusually considered and reasonable expressions of opinion for this site I feel

ChrisButch wrote:And this in a country as laid-back and socially liberal as Norway.

My brother-in-law married a Norwegian and lives out there, I've been over a few times, I wouldn't describe Norway as socially liberal; I always though of it as a bit of a slightly petty nanny state that seeks to legislate and regulate everything. Of course I guess it depends what is meant by socially liberal, if it's something like gay rights then yes but they've mainly been at-pace with England (both countries being well ahead of Scotland or Ulster).

beer costs at least £10+ a pint in Norway - worth it I guess for such an amazing landscape

PS re bunfight see the "Bothy Book Affair"...

CharlesT wrote:I can't see any evidence in any of the above of this "descending into a bunfight". Unusually considered and reasonable expressions of opinion for this site I feel

Agreed. Certainly not a bunfight and no reason for it do so.

And anyway, you can't have a bunfight without buns.......
and there was none (verb singular as none = "not one" ) on my local supermarket's shelves yesterday