Last Thursday’s Rye market looked as though it was dying – and nearly dead – but this week’s market in bright sunshine, though it featured a very harsh, cold wind early on had more than 20 stalls and I was able to get some fruit and vegetables. I even thought about browsing through the book stall.
The clothing stalls were back (or at least some of them) and the garden stall had spread out its flowers and plants instead of hiding in the van like last week. Winter seemed to be coming to an end.
And along Ferry Road there were lots of flowers, and a large magnolia tree was budding all over and will shortly be a mass of white. So perhaps the Thursday market will revive and recover after all from the inauspicious start in the new year.
Image Credits: John Minter .
I went to the market this week, very few stalls and they’re we’re packing up at 11:30. Hardly a recovery
Ditto. When I came to live in Rye in 2013, visiting the market was a weekly pleasure. One could buy anything from “a bootlace to a battleship” as the saying goes, without travelling further afield to Hastings, Eastbourne or even London. All my relatives from Australia and friends from other countries loved the colour and variety of the numerous stalls, most of which have disappeared gradually in recent years to be replaced by stalls selling clothing that seems to have come from the same sweatshop. I see a threat to the continued existence of the market once the corona virus hysteria has died down. I can only hope that I’m wrong.
Dear Helena, To stay away from large public gatherings and public places is not “hysteria” as you imply. It is good common sense and will help protect the public’s health. I am not suggesting not going out but being in close contact with larger numbers of people increases everyone’s risk. That’s science not hysteria. Regards, Paul
Dear Paul.
The market was diminishing for quite a while before corona virus appeared on the horizon. As for hysteria – as a former journalist of 40 years’ standing, I know perfectly well how one and the same phenomenon can be presented in half a dozen different ways. I don’t think my fellow scribes are doing anyone a good turn by sensationalist reporting – a sensible, commonsense approach would be much better for everyone, but it would not sell as many papers. I’m old enough to remember the fear of tuberculosis in post-war Europe, a justified fear in that case as tuberculosis was rife. There is always a threat of something, but humanity managed to survive the Black Death, the Spanish flu, and closer to our times do you recall the dire prophesies that we would all be wiped out by Aids, swine flu, bird flu, Ebola, nuclear catastrophe and so on to name just a few? Humanity is tough as old boots.
Dear Helena,
You say that humanity is tough as old boots. I am not sure I would entirely agree given the climate emergency we are now in, but lets leave that to one side.
Individual human beings are clearly not as tough as old boots. We are told that the old, the sick and the immunocompromised are mostly at risk. That includes a lot of my friends and family and me myself! It includes people I work with, people I rely on and who support me, people I love. I cant regard their vulnerability to this pandemic with equanimity.
There is no point in panicking. However apart from bumping into the occasional nasty on social media, I havent witnessed this hysteria you are talking about. Perhaps I am reading the right newspapers.
We need to move ahead with common sense, listening to experts and taking obvious precautions.
The virus doesnt “just” kill the elderly and weak by the way. Although they are disproportionately affected, the young and fit are not immune. Li Wenliang, the doctor who first raised the alarm about Covid 19 in Wuhan was only 34 when he died.
Let’s take care of each other
Dear Professor Camic and Krista,
I agree entirely with Krista that we need to maintain commonsense, listen to experts (real ones, not panic-merchants) and take obvious precautions. I have only left the house when absolutely necessary for three weeks now, and have not rushed out to buy up what is left of toilet paper in Jempson’s – luckily I have an adequate supply. I believe that what has upset you both is my assertion that humanity is tough as old boots, and this is a view I still hold. If you are prepared to bear with me, I will give just three instances out of my family’s history, and my own, that show the remarkable ability of the human organism to survive against all odds.
In 1920, my family was among the thousands upon thousands of evacuees from Russia when the White Movement was crumbling. There was a typhus epidemic raging through the south of Russia at the time. My grandmother and three children, aged 11, 8 and 6, were among the families of White Russian officers still serving with what was left of the White Army to be evacuated. Grandmother and the children all caught the disease, grandmother in a particularly virulent form.There was an American destroyer standing out to sea in the port of Novorossiysk, and the captain and crew, with unflinching courage, took as many of the sick on board as possible, and conveyed them to Constantinople (as it was still called then). There were already countless thousands of Russian evacuees from different parts of the country in Constantinople, and they were all housed in makeshift camps on the surrounding islands. As you can imagine, hygiene was non-existent. Grandmother and the children recovered from the typhus, only to be faced with an epidemic of malaria that swept through the islands. Again, they all became infected, grandmother more seriously than the children, but they all recovered in the hastily erected field hospitals that were perilously short of drugs of any kind. Of course, there were numerous deaths from the typhus and malaria, yet most survived. In a way, this is like death in battle, a raffle in which some are killed, and some come through without a scratch.
The first 6 years of my life were spent in Displaced Persons camps in American-occupied Germany. I am fortunate enough to be compos mentis despite my age, and have very clear memories from the age of 4. These camps contained hundreds of thousand of dispossessed, all of whom had survived the war, and most of whom were hoping to emigrate to America, Australia, Latin America and numerous other countries away from war-torn Europe. The American camp administrators feared outbreaks of disease – tuberculosis was rife all over Europe – and took what they felt to be necessary measures to ensure the ability to cope with any outbreaks of epidemics. One such measure I experienced at the age of 5, was when everyone in our camp, regardless of age, was ordered to line up and be sprayed from head to foot with DDT. The medics had a pump-like device they called a “flit” with a canister full of DDT attached to it. Our family, which consisted of 8 people including myself and 12-year-old cousin, were told to close out eyes before being sprayed liberally with DDT. There were no other precautionary measures. We remained in that camp for another year, and I know from my parents and grandparents that nobody died from this radical “prophylaxis.”” Maybe it was carried out due to the Americans’ fear of tuberculosis, from which many of the camp inmates were suffering. I believe the full facts of the harmful properties of DDT emerged first in Rachel Carson’s book “The Silent Spring” published years later. We survived, as did most others.
So yes, it is a dreadful fact that coronavirus has already caused numerous deaths, and will cause more, but panicking will only exacerbate an already fraught situation. The legendary English spirit of “keep calm and carry on” has much to commend it. I am not English, but I try to follow it.
Sincerely yours,
Helena Kojevnikov
Dear Helena,
What an amazing and powerful story. It is humbling to glimpse what other people and their families have been through.
Thank you for sharing this.
We are living in strange times. We have people stripping shelves of toilet roll, some selling online for crazy prices and others saying oh it’s just a bad cold, stop making a fuss.
I completely agree with you that panic is futile. And also that humankind will get through this particular crisis. I am however worried about individuals, my parents, my friends who are vulnerable.
Helena, if you need any help in the coming weeks or months for shopping, books, chat, I would love to be part of that. However judging from your story, it’s more likely to be the other way around!
Thanks again, this is inspiring.
Krista
Dear Krista,
Thank you for such kind words. I apologize for using this public forum and probably breaking any number of taboos, but I hope the editors will close a blind eye in this instance. I have no objection to the Rye News editors giving you my contact details, as it would be great to meet – after all, we have to leave our houses from time to time, or we will all go mad with cabin fever! Best wishes!
Helena
I was absolutely horrified to see 3 coaches in the station car park on Thursday apparently here to visit Rye market. How unwise to travel here by coach. I imagine some could have come from the London area which has been badly affected by the Coronavirus. Many of these visitors made their way to our local supermarket and butchers etc. All our friends in Rye are following the government guidelines and we are all keeping our distances from each other. These visitors are simply increasing the risk to all of us. I like going to the market as do many Rye residents but right now perhaps it is inappropriate for it to continue.