Boris on a bike 7 miles from home – Is it a sign?
Though not on a visit to a castle to test his eyesight, as his recent advisor DC was, Boris has been seen with his bicycle clips at the Olympic park some seven miles from home. The questions raised are, did he cycle there, or was he driven, and what constitutes local exercise?
And in a sense that is the problem, interpreting the rules, as the pandemic is changing the normal flow of our daily activities. When there seems no defining rule book, with over eager bobbies now looking to slap £200 fines on ladies two looking to exercise together.
In the context of the estate agent and letting agent world, the never-ending changes in government edicts, and the interpretation of these rules is adding further strain to a very challenging period.
Real estate is ‘business as usual’ but with the opposition in government questioning the logic of strangers waltzing around other stranger’s properties in the pursuit of a new place to live, versus the alarming rate of new infections, I think that tightening of the confusion of rules will ratchet up a pace, and real viewings may soon be off the menu.
Maybe Boris just needed some quiet ‘me time.’ Many schooling from home again would certainly like to get on their bikes and be seven miles from home, for a few quiet minutes, but the reality is we are all very much in the thick of it now.
Another element I now see creeping into the pandemic / real estate vector is a worrying stillness, as if everyone is gently holding their breath, there is a perceptible gravity and lack of fun, and many of my extrovert agency friends are very much in hibernating bear mode.
I try to get their spirits up, but I sense that this time around pandemic fatigue, 24/7 News fatigue about the pandemic and a diminishing of their normal privilege’s is taking its toll. On a positive the roll out of the vaccination programme is moving apace, and the days will start to be full of more daylight.
Returning to where I began, like Boris I like to cycle too; though I got a puncture three days ago and have not sorted it, blaming my hectic work schedule.
Maybe tomorrow will be a bit brighter, and maybe tomorrow I will get back on the bike – once I have re-inflated. The question then will be how far can I travel, should I travel and who knows what the rules really are?
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