A_Northerner said:
The whole country got locked down to save London and now those living in the North are exhausted by restrictions put into place before they'd even seen significant cases.
I was working in London from the 22nd Feb until the official 'lockdown' on 23rd March, but in reality it had been locked down for two weeks before that - I had a memorable drink date on March 9th with an old friend on The Strand, and we were the only ones there. Piccadilly Circus was also empty. Three people in a tube carriage at rush hour, etc. We went back in July for another three weeks, and although the suburbs were busier, the centre was still very quiet and the City was deserted - like Sunday every day. I think London being what it is, everyone realised the seriousness of the situation and just did it themselves, rather than being made to. They now have some of the lowest rates in Britain but a lot of that is social distancing. A lot work from home, but I would imagine most don't, so there must be something else going on.
I'm not sure if the measures nationwide have been specifically tailored to protect London though, and although I'm bored a lot by the lack of activity, I'm not exactly exhausted by the restrictions - they seem quite light for a national emergency, but I don't have a family and live on my own, so I guess I have less risk on a daily basis - I am currently working with two guys who have partners and kids though, and having to share a van. I don't really get the idea that wearing a mask is an infringement of my liberty though - I quite like it. With shades and my hat on I'm pretty much The Invisible Man.
It also depends where you are as to what people do. My street is 'cosmopolitan', let's call it, and about half of the local population are not wearing masks in shops, by my count, and are very slack generally on social distancing. If I walk half a mile to a 'posher' area, people have crossed the road to avoid walking even 4m away from me, the pavements are so wide - and I'm presentable. Yesterday in the local pharmacy two people walked in without masks, and the sweet old lady behind the counter immediately demanded they wear one, and if they didn't have one they had to buy one
now - 50p please. They both bought one immediately and put them on. Now if she can do it, but some big tough guy in a supermarket is too 'afraid' to challenge his customers to wear one, even though the checkout signs state they will not be served without a mask, then I'm afraid we're in bullshit world again. They're just stupid, anti-social and greedy, basically. They won't lose any money, which is mostly what they care about.