Day 47 of the End to End in 2019 was to Vulcan Close in Vulcan Village, hence today’s title. I was also walking in this area on 5th January 2020 when we were joining up some sections previously walked. See ‘Wigan Appears Again’ on the afterlejogblog: https://foowr.org.uk/afterlejogblog/
It was good to walk through industrial areas like this on the green corridors that have now been created by the canals, and in some cases former canals, like in the Sankey Park. This became the ‘new normal’ a couple of centuries after the canals were first built. To begin with these were major transport arteries for coal and iron and other heavy products. Life for those living on the canals was pretty grim. The introduction of railways led to gradual abandonment of canals. This must have meant huge changes of life for the people who lived and worked on them. Already precarious and barely sustainable, many must have faced worse poverty and its accompanying ill health and poor education.
These changes from one normal to ‘new normal’ happen as a result of human activity and different economic demands. We face challenges about a new normal now in 2020. As ever it is the poorest people in our population who have already seen the greatest affects of COVID19. And of course, those in middle income groups fear finding themselves in similar situations. The reinventing of ourselves, our economy and our society are ongoing projects. What will be the equivalent of these green corridors in our new normal 2020?
Already there are plans for more cycling and walking in towns and cities, something that others have been campaigning about for years. What are the implications of on line working, or the ability to provide temporary housing for homeless people during the Pandemic. Could these signal new ways of working or housing people that are possible and maybe more sustainable in ‘new normal’. If we can teach 15 children in a class for some reason, why would we go back to teaching 30 in a class for other reasons?
Unless of course we’d misunderstood the challenge and didn’t think we should upset the status quo. Unless we thought it was fine for the poor to get poorer and the rich to continue to benefit from tax havens. Time for the Magnificat again I think. May the force be with you.
From the remembered bible: Mary Sang: ‘The poor will be lifted up and the rich turned empty away’
Mary’s song (to the Tune of Waltzing Matilda!)
Once long ago in a village called Nazareth,
An angel told Mary a mother she’d be
As she watched and prayed and sang this Magnificat
God gets bigger and bigger in me
Chorus
God gets bigger, God gets bigger
God gets bigger and bigger in me.
And she watched and prayed and sang her Magnificat
God gets bigger and bigger in me.
Oh how my spirit rejoices in God on high
Just like the mother of God you see,
As I watch and pray and sing my Magnificat
God gets bigger and bigger in me.
Down go the rich and up come the humble:
God always sides with the poor you see,
And I watch and pray and sing this Magnificat
God gets bigger and bigger in me.
JAL: 22.05.2020 in Longdendale.