PARK LIFE

Now that the dust of outrage and misinformation has settled here's the real story from someone who was there. Yes I'm talking about  Covidgedon, Tuesday 30th March, Primrose Hill; The Gathering Of The Clans, Apocalypse Now, Primrosestock etc

The sun came out on Tuesday and the rules changed the day before. The cocoon burst open and the butterfly of optimism flew out and headed to Primrose Hill. Groups of six lay down on their collective blankets, popped the corks and broke out the Canapés to bask in the unprecedented view of London town. Well, I say groups of six, but there were also Magnificent Sevens, Dirty Dozens and what seemed like the 300.

The youth of London and beyond were out and about on the hill, a couple of girls had driven from Slough to enjoy the "beef' free environment of this picturesque corner of London and the atmosphere was one of a festival rather than an angsty jamboree.

The old bill showed up and made their presence felt but any feeling of aggression or threat from those gathered was absent, rather the ambience was one of cocksure youth stretching out and promenading.

Reports of a stabbing were misguided. Yes a fracas took place at the top of the hill and some idiot stabbed someone on Gray's Inn Road Islington but it was disingenuous how the two incidents were glued together to provide an 'I told you so' story on feral youth.

The crowds were diverse, the humour good and by and large the biggest negative in terms of the social contract was the disregard for keeping Britain tidy.

In terms of Covid, we all know that one of the by products of being young is the misguided theory of invincibility which meant that social distancing was disregarded by a good many.

People have been adhering to Lockdown for what seems a lifetime and within this period there have been stories of  illegal gatherings at christenings, protests, weddings, birthday parties, football league title celebrations and members of the good and the great bending the rules for their own private and exclusive events, we also have a number of cases of our elected officials taking liberties with impunity, so we need to look a bit deeper when we see a crowd of predominantly young people doing the same; having double standards is an easy trap to fall into.

I thought there were too many people getting a bit carried away with group numbers but I also saw many many people happily adhering to the rules. 

Was Primrose Hillgate a concern or was it just an understandable collective sigh of relief? not sure, but what I do know is that when I was young I didn't have to live under lockdown, I was free to go wherever I wanted to without worrying about undesirables attacking me as I simply avoided certain areas, and as  for pandemics, we had the Aids crisis but precautions could be taken to manage its spectre.

The days and weeks ahead will be interesting as parks and open spaces greet groups of sun lovers. Let's hope that a sense of group  responsibility filters in and that a collective approach to managing one's debris becomes a habit.

The summer of 2021 will be an interesting one, not least for this current generation of young people who have and are living in unprecedented times..