We have had those restrictions on us all last year & still current today, its how we managed to keep the covid numbers relatively low here in straya, i don`t feel trapped at all but that`s only because its a massive country & border restrictions permitting we can go where we like.

However if i was still living in the UK i try to imagine how i would feel right now? probably i would feel claustrophobic, my social life in the UK was the pub.

Mezo.

It's interesting how the mental health charities are talking about the stress and trauma of lockdown, yet have never made this point about prisons.

I vaguely remember a terrorism hostage (?) talking about his extended incarceration and commenting that he wasn't too affected as he had been a border at an English public school in his youth so was used to not having liberty.

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

We have a motorhome stored in Germany and another stored in New Mexico so we sometimes tend to be more than a little annoyed that our very wise government won't allow us to risk our life by going and using them.

But then, sitting comfortably in our other motorhome on the banks of a river in nice cool Tasmania (having first run the gauntlet of state border closures by crossing from NSW to SA, to Victoria) , I do have to admit that there are worse places to be trapped.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/8uX6vhGKkCZ621Zg8

__________________
Tony
Click here for Travel Photos & Travel Map

Tony, there is a slight possibility that I could think of a productive use for your New Mexico motorhome. I mean, in hopes of lowering your obviously high levels of stress while you're trapped in Australia. As a special favor, me to you.

You're welcome. Don't even mention it.

Mark

Isn't the whole idea of incarceration. That it is a punishment. It's meant to be horrible. That's the deterrent right ?

You are correct though. The mental health toll is going to be unsurmountable.


I won't deny that I'm really struggling with a winter lockdown in the U.K. Summer was bad enough but at least I could enjoy the outdoors and I was kept busy fixing bikes.

I don't have any work in the winter so that is my only time to travel and escape the British winter which I utterly detest. I can only bare the U.K in general because I immerse myself in work throughout the summer.

I feel utterly trapped. Poor. Useless and BORED UTTERLY SHIRTLESS. I don't even know what day it is anymore.

And I do believe most of my anxiety is the trauma of it all. It's new to me. I've had a life of freedom and privilege which has been ripped away from me so suddenly. And I've done nothing to deserve it.

But most of all I feel TRAPPED. That helpless feeling that it's all totally out of my hands. There is nothing I can do to escape it.

It's 9am. Too early to start drinking ?

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Hi Ted ! at 9 in the morning you are allowed to drink ............... tea + coffee............. but no booze till 9.30 !

Were all in the same boat ............ some sort of ark !

A friend of myne went for a motorbike ride last week with another person and at a petrol station was a police car............ nothing happend !

Ted it's not good . But I agree with the other posters , being a retired middle class guy with no mortgage on furlough , there are alot of people worse off then me / us .They include those that have died , have or are about to lose there jobs.....the list goes on . When I was a policeman I was very blase about death , not immune to it but unfortunately used to it . Things are different now , doesnt mater what your status in life is , you could catch this and be deep in the shxt .
So while you are feeling trapped and low.....remember that life does move on and generally there is light at the end of the tunnel........chin up and no booze till after 1200

They shut our town centre police station down a couple of years ago and moved them to a small office on the industrial estate. Can't remember the last time I saw either a cop car or a cop in person in the town. Whatever they're doing they're most certainly not walking the beat and checking your mask.

The old police station was redeveloped into a retirement housing 'tower block' - guess where all the covid cases are.

I do have a lot of sympathy for Ted's state of mind. Getting out of the British winter every year has been right up there on my list of lifetime ambitions and, like the other top ranking items, something I've failed miserably at. But it's one thing being stuck here through the ties that bind or lack of money or some other self inflicted reason but quite another finding yourself having to live in a dark and dismal plague pit because the government has locked the exits. Having said that it doesn't look like the usual bolt holes are any better - and in some cases considerably worse. 6pm curfew in France anyone? Plus there is a bit of media induced guilt factor about social responsibility etc. We're all supposed to lash ourselves to the masts and wait the storm out while the 'key workers' scuttle around trying to stop the ship hitting the rocks. No wonder everyone is turning to drink

What's even worse is that as the restrictions have continued and tightened I've noticed my desire to go anywhere has lessened. Even if Boris said tomorrow it's all back to normal I'd have to work up to travel again. It's a bit like when animal activists break into a zoo and open all the cages, a lot of the animals stay put as the bars are all they know.

I predict scammers will be moving into online 'counselling services' next to cash in on the upsurge in post covid PTSD. So, if you'd like to discuss your 'feelings' Ted all I need is your bank details to kick things off. A few sessions and we'll soon have you back on an even keel. Don't worry, I am a well qualified professional; you'll be in good hands.

And me Tony

When they opened the NSW/QLD border last July i packed my motorhome & headed north, and here i still am (Yeppoon).





My Chinese Vespa.



Having a cold one.



God i`m missing those English winters.

Mezo.

Excellent thought out and intelligent replies guys. Thanks

I read them all. Properly.

Perspective is very important I agree. But I refuse to accept a new normal, I don't think I'm physically or mentally capable of doing that. As to me that would be giving up.

I'm fed up with being treated like cattle by those in charge. Even pre-covid.

I'd probably be a lot happier if all of my bike projects weren't waiting for parts.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Well lets hope there`s no bovine afterlife for you then Ted, well unless you're reborn in India then you will be worshipped & can wander around without 'the man' telling you what to do.

Accepting the new normal is what everyone on the planet has got to do unfortunately, its not a permanent thing its just until we get on top of this poxy virus.

I would be building my bike from the ground up & planning my trip, i have friends like yourself in the UK who are not handling this very well (i put it partly down to the UK winter blues) but yeah the fact nobody is allowed to travel is pissing everyone off.

Forget 2021 its not going to happen, look forward to the vaccine & 2022.

Mezo.

There all kinds of ways to be trapped--by poverty, ill health, prison, our own poor choices, family, in a shxtty job that pays too good to quit, plagues, true oppressive government--ones that will kill you and your family because they don't like your religion or ethnic group, etc. At least with covid it appears we will soon be clear of that, except those who die from it or become long haulers. I've had worst situations before, I know I could be really in trouble or pushing up daisies.