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Sweden, as of yesterday's report, has 9685 confirmed cases and 870 deaths. County numbers ( 1.7 million inhabitants and including the second largest city) are 902 confirmed cases (365 this week) and 49 deaths.. The nearest cases are 45 km away. Many people here were more than well prepared for isolation thanks largely to a government leaflet telling us how to survive in the event of war or crisis. This was updated for the first time since WW2 and sent out to all households some time ago. The ensuing rampage in the supermarkets to stock up with non-perishable goods means that most can manage a month in isolation now. It hasn’t, however, stopped people stockpiling once again because of this pandemic so many should manage two months without a problem. For the Scandinavian nations being alone is no great problem as long as they can be alone outdoors! Many, like us, live relatively isolated in the forests or by a lakeside and most town dwellers own or rent a summer house. These are very small places, just a few square metres, with room for sleeping or shelter from the rain and with facilities for simple cooking. In a summer house you should get near to nature so just about everything is done outdoors. Many town dwellers have now moved to these already because of the virus. Being surrounded by forest also means being surrounded by 'food' - wild boar, deer, elk, mushrooms and berries. Many people also stock up on these and own several freezers - we have four large freezers full of food. Believe me, an elk takes up a lot of space in a freezer even after it’s been butchered! We've always made our own bread so I've always got flour, and yeast cultures at home so no problem there either. Really the only things I shop weekly for are fruit, veg and dairy products. We stocked up with fresh milk in the freezer, butter and margarine which I now have in a reserve fridge in the garage, potatoes, root vegetables and hard white cabbage all of which keep for ages. We haven’t met a soul for 25 days now, but like Ex, Bedlingtonian we’ve good garden space and empty forest trails for exercise (not to mention all the gardening and housework that’s getting done). Water temperature in the lakes is around 8 degrees now and at 13 degrees we can start swimming. As I said to Maggie recently, If my parents could survive a five year war in Bedlington and Netherton with 10 children and no mod cons then this should be a doddle for us - two people living in the comparative luxury of today. We read a lot about Sweden’s strategy for dealing with this virus. It’s certainly different to any other method we’ve read about and opinions are divided here, not least among the political parties. Like most places, the health service here is undermanned and under-budgeted to deal with this crisis. The idea here is to avoid any sudden, very high peak in the number of cases which would be beyond the present capacity of the health service to deal with. Instead they are aiming for a lower peak, but one which will last considerably longer, for which there is health service capacity available. The Swedes have a few things in their favour. Firstly, as I mentioned above, isolation is not a big problem for many. Secondly, also one which aids isolation, more than half of Sweden's residents live in one-person households because at 18yo you are entitled to separate living from your parents if you so wish (and most do), so a lot of council housing is single person accommodation. The third thing in our favour is that working from home is nothing new for many people. It's been common practice here as long as I've been here. It's the same with working hours. Flexi-time is the most common of all so journeys to and from work usually don't have rush hours on the same scale as England. Schools are still open for compulsory education (up to 16 years). The idea being that adults will still be able to work and keep the country going. However, many work places have been forced to close, particularly in the industrial sector, because they cannot get raw materials from other parts of the world. So far many of the newly unemployed have been found work in other fields that have now become more important. For example, most air hostesses for Swedish companies are undergoing additional health care training so that they can assist in care institutions and many factory workers are being dispatched to help in postal companies such as pharmaceutical companies which are under pressure just now. In principle, the whole thing sounds logical but only time will tell. The Swedes are a nation of people who rely on their government to do the right thing in an emergency. 'Recommendations' rather than 'rules' have always been the norm here and that seems to work so there is no 'official' lockdown but in effect that is what we have. It's just that it's voluntary and the Swedes appear to think that the present government is doing a good job as the prime minister's ratings have soared the past few weeks.

Latest Northumberland figures........ https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/health/coronavirus/more-30-new-northumberland-coronavirus-cases-confirmed-death-toll-rises-2498497

Hello all, my first post. I read with interest about the Ha'penny woods. Having lived in Bedlington station all my life except for a years folly into Newbiggin I think I have something to add. I remember that Fergusons, the transport company had something to do with the Ha'penny woods, probably owned it at sometime. There was a Ferguson daughter whose name may have begun with an 'E' who either died young or inherited the woods, probably the former, and the woods were handed to the people of the community as a free amenity by her relatives. The woods still retained the Ha'penny woods title. I did seek and find the plaque which I did read when I was a lot younger but sadly weather has taken it's toll and cannot be read. I cannot remember what was inscribed on the plaque. I don't remember anything about a fox and a horse rider but that doesn't mean it's not correct, most likely is. Something I noticed when reaching the second half of the path before the barbed wire fence was what appears to me to be slag from the iron works as a surface of the path. This got me thinking, why is it there. The rock faces in that area appeared to have been worked at sometime so was the slag laid so the iron works could transport the limestone rock for the iron making process or as blocks to reinforce the banks upstream of the dam and water wheel that supplied power to the iron works. If I'm correct it wouldn't have been a single path because rock is heavy so was probably transported by cart on a much wider track rather than on the back of horses or mules. I will take a magnet to confirm it is slag on my next walk on the path. I think Doyles shop closed at the end of the 60's or early 70's. I used it 1,000's of times being brought up in Tomlea Ave. I remember a 3 or large 2 story house at the start of the free woods at the furnace bank end. I believe a family called Blackburn lived in one of the houses and were the last occupants before it was demolished. Something else that has me thinking. Which way were the completed steam engines moved from the works. I suppose they could have travelled towards the Kitty Brewster or beyond to flatter ground and joined the rail network in the Bates pit area. The furnace bridge is an arch but is flat on the top so the engines could be wheeled/dragged across it with teams of horses. Then there would be the problem of getting them up to the bank top. I doubt horses could pull them up but perhaps a stationary steam engine could pull them up but where would they go from there. There was a rail track from the iron works that ran along the edge of the river towards the black bridge. This track was paid for by the Iron Works and connected with the Barrington pit track that brought coal to the riverside for transfer onto barges. The iron works then had coal delivered directly to the works. I'm not sure if the trains went along that track because it was probably not a standard gauge track and was used to carry tubs of coal. The trains could have been loaded onto a barge though that would be risky and where would they be off loaded. I'm a bit puzzled. There is a stone block wall next to the furnace bridge which was probably reinforcing the land behind it and was used to tie up barges bringing supplies to the Iron Works or taking some of the other goods produced at the Iron Works. The Iron works also produced 100,000's of stamped nails that were transported all over the UK and the world. Further info on the Barrington Pit track. It originally ran only to Granery point staithes through Binnes farm. This could have been limiting for getting the coal away via ships because they will have needed a full tide or very close to it to get docked and then cast off so would have had a turn around time of 12hrs from high tide to high tide. There could be full coal trucks or tubs waiting to discharge their loads when the next ships were able to dock so inefficient. A branch line was brought to the area west of the black bridge where barges were tied up and then filled. They would also have to wait for a full tide but the coal wasn't waiting to be loaded because several barges could be docked at the same time. The stone block wall can be viewed from the south bank of the river. Also an arched underpass can be viewed in the same area. This is not very high which is why I don't think the steam engines left that way. Jammy