Lockdown Three: have you followed the rules, broken them a bit, or broken them a lot?

[Glitter]

I go to the supermarket more often than the ‘big shop’ and I have run with more than one person (although that wasn’t planned - we met the third person when out and they came along with us).

I’m travelling out of my area for a funeral on Friday and can’t promise I won’t hug anyone or meet with them afterwards.

 

[kebabking]

Just had a thought - for my State Sanctioned Exercise (local), I break the rules like a proper bad'un: my walks through the forest, which I'm very lucky to have on my doorstep, cross between Worcestershire and Shropshire half a dozen times...

Unless it's pissing it down we always stop, we (I) take a picnic blanket so the kids can sit down to play and eat, they might do a bit of drawing, make up stories about Fairy's, Giants and Wolves, and I might read a book or catch up with my social media profiles.

There's always a hot drink in attendance...

 

[Artaxerxes]

" Staying in your local area means stay in the village, town, or part of the city where you live. "

Living safely with respiratory infections, including COVID-19

Guidance for living safely with respiratory infections, including coronavirus (COVID-19).

www.gov.uk

Here's the full extract:

Unless your Boris in which case fuck off to Scotland or get a lift to cycle around a park several miles away

 

[Clair De Lune]

I reckon I've probably broken rules unknowingly a few times and taken a few calculated risks. My concern is safety first, rules second. Before schools closed, the riskiest thing I did was go to work in a school that was not practicing social distancing or insisting on mask wearing except in corridors. That meant at times sitting in a room with someone unmasked for an hour and walking through a dinner hall teaming with kids to get outside. Typically that school closed first as their positive tests soared and when they did, whole year groups had to isolate. I hope they've realised they made a mistake and will change things when they return.

Recently I was most concerned when my son reported a friend at risk which resulted in four separate police officers turning up two at a time wanting to come in and question him..none of them in masks. Their only question was 'are either of you showing symptoms? No? OK.' And then wondered why I stood looking anxious in another room. As police officers are obviously mixing with way more people than we are!

 

[iona]

I used public transport when it wasn't essential last week, to get to the allotment (short journey on an almost completely empty train). Other than that I've only been going there or to my mum's (support bubble) when I need to travel to the same station anyway for work, but I had a load of fencing to put up and stuff to plant that was ordered months ago and I couldn't change delivery date for.

That's it this time, I think. Did have my mum drive over to pick me up a couple of weeks before support bubbles were allowed in the first lockdown. She's in her sixties with a dodgy back and the beginnings of osteoporosis and she was going to climb a broken ladder onto her conservatory roof to fix a leak

 

[nagapie]

My support bubble lives in another town and we use public transport to see each other once a week.
I don't do one main shop because when I tried, there were no slots
Otherwise I follow the rules.

 

[Badgers]

Probably been going to the shops for supplies a bit too often #stockpilingfail but otherwise sticking to the rules.

 

[nagapie]

Also currently on a very full bus to work. Almost every second seat has a person in it, upstairs and down, which clearly illustrates with this thread that people are following the rules but too many still have to go to work.

 

[rubbershoes]

I've been out more than once on a few occasions. A solitary run and then a trip to the shops.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

I've stuck to the rules but then I don't really have much opportunity to do otherwise. My life feels very small and dull these days and it is really getting to me now. I go to work, I come home or to my partner's home, I only go out to buy food. What a life.

 

[TopCat]

I have met people during my walks. Socially distanced. Other than that I am hardcore at lockdown.

 

[Boudicca]

i food shop twice a week as I like fresh vegetables.

I have been to B&Q & Wilko for non-essential supplies, but working on projects keeps me sane.

Oh yes and I drove 10 minutes up the road to the glass shop to get a non-essential mirror fixed.

So minor infractions, but nothing that troubles my conscience.

 

[kebabking]

One of the interesting things about this lockdown is how little people understand what the rules/laws actually are - so to (unfairly) single out Boudicca and her post above, absolutely nothing that she's done even approaches the limits of what we can do, let alone becomes any form of infraction.

Is it that many aren't actually obeying the law/rules, they are 'just' absolutely minimising what they do, whether the rules call for it or not?

 

[LDC]

One of the interesting things about this lockdown is how little people understand what the rules/laws actually are - so to (unfairly) single out Boudicca and her post above, absolutely nothing that she's done even approaches the limits of what we can do, let alone becomes any form of infraction.

Is it that many aren't actually obeying the law/rules, they are 'just' absolutely minimising what they do, whether the rules call for it or not?

I've just in the last ten minutes had a chat with a friend (early 40s, smart, works as lawyer) who asked me if isolating was that different to day-to-day life; like can you go out anyway for exercise and to meet someone if you don't have symptoms yourself...?!

I was a bit speechless tbh, that's been a clear rule for like a fucking year, so no you can't!

So yes, widespread cluelessness about even the simple rules, even from those you might assume would know them.

 

[Pickman's model]

I've just in the last ten minutes had a chat with a friend (early 40s, smart, works as lawyer) who asked me if isolating was that different to day-to-day life; like can you go out anyway for exercise and to meet someone if you don't have symptoms yourself...?!

I was a bit speechless tbh, that's been a clear rule for like a fucking year, so no you can't!

So yes, widespread cluelessness about even the simple rules, even from those you might assume would know them.

I would never assume a lawyer knows anything of the law any more than I would assume the same of a copper

 

[Brainaddict]

In the summer and autumn I was being stricter than the government rules, because they were stupid. During this lockdown I have mostly obeyed, with a few exceptions: I've met two people at a time for walks a few times and I have sat in a couple of friends' back gardens (accessed through back gates not houses). I've been pretty conscientious about keeping distance and wearing masks while doing such rule-bending. Oh, I also sometimes go out for exercise twice a day, for sanity's sake.

 

[spanglechick]

I haven’t left my house or seen another person who wasn’t delivering somethinv since the start of lockdown. However, this is more inertia than obedience so I’ve voted for option 2.

I live alone and have the luxury of a (small and shabby) house in which to do so. I’ve been able to string together sufficient online shopping options (Ocado, chop chop, Amazon fresh) to keep the fridge stocked.

I don’t do walks. I’d love to say with a straight face that this is due to my arthritis and chronic neuro condition (both of which make exercise something of a non-starter), but truthfully I’ve always loathed PE, and been baffled by the idea of “going for a walk” unless there were shops or an art gallery to keep things diverting. I think that, even were I fighting fit, I would still be using lockdown as an excuse to stay indoors.

I do spend hours every weekday teaching via Meets. That can be silly and chatty. I’m lucky to have that kind of job.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I go to the supermarket once a week, see my support bubble, see my kids, and go in to work full time.

In other words, I’m following the rules and simultaneously doing basically nothing different to my usual life, which is quite weird really.

 

[iona]

Is it that many aren't actually obeying the law/rules, they are 'just' absolutely minimising what they do, whether the rules call for it or not?

Bit of both for me. I check the actual rules if I want to do something, just because I mostly don't want to do things that would be against the rules so I don't follow them that closely. Afaik visiting my bubble does count as a reason to use public transport but I still only drop in before or after work apart from that one time. It doesn't feel unsafe when trains are so empty (though I realise they'd be much busier if everyone thought like that and started travelling more), just feels like taking the piss to be jumping on trains every other day just to have tea round my mum's or whatever.

 

[purenarcotic]

Probably been a bit stricter than before. We have stopped any visiting others / having someone come in as our ‘support bubble’ friend was also seeing her mum and a sister. My work moved to a rota between being in and working from home and schools are shut so OH has been at home so between us, compared with previous lockdowns, we are having far fewer ‘contacts’ than we had before. We always followed the rule around mask wearing etc so no change there. The crap weather helps. I am less inclined to arrange a walk where I ‘bump into’ friends because it’s miserable and I hate being out in the cold and wet for any longer than I have to be. Saying that I only did that once.

 

[kebabking]

We're going to form a Childcare bubble with my mum and dad. You could argue about whether we need it as I'm WFH, but I have found it quite difficult to get some of my work done while the kids are about - I'm getting up at 5am to get a few hours in before the zoo-keeping starts - but it's also at least as much about the kids and my folks as it is about me.

It'll be sleepovers (which is allowed) because they live 80 miles away, the regs say it's 'best' if the bubble can be local, but we don't have anyone locally. I know mum and dad are pretty careful, they don't have anyone else, and we both do lateral flow tests twice a week.

For me, the most interesting thing will be seeing how I feel when we're doing it - I'm pretty certain that we're well within both the law and what's (relatively) safe, but I'll be interested to see what effect the drip-drip of self-policing will have on my thought process....

 

[Numbers]

My brother in law dropped around some tools a cpl of weeks ago, but didn’t come inside.

Apart from going to the chemist, supermarket or local shop we’ve not done or seen anyone for quite some time.

 

[andysays]

Broke them today, walking the dog met three people I knew, couldn't exactly blank them so we kept social distance.

I think that if you happen to encounter someone you know when you're out and about anyway, as opposed to having a pre-arranged meeting, you're allowed to stop briefly and chat, providing you maintain social distancing.

If not I broke the rules yesterday, and possibly on a couple of previous occasions this lockdown.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

With regards to exercise in this and previous lockdowns I have interpreted local as 'within the Godalming Hundred which gives me a fairly large area to play with. However as someone who has taken long, solitary dog walks since way before the plague came to town, I know of the best spots to avoid seeing other people anyway. Although did go to West Wittering a few weeks ago, stretching the definition of local to include 'South East England', which was a bit naughty but very much reset the kids' noggins. And I also don't count the dog's exercise as mine, so she had a walk at 6am today, I will be off for a long bike ride soon.

 

[Sasaferrato]

Option 1

* polishes halo *

Ich auch.

 

[Sasaferrato]

Been fortunate enough to be in a position not to have to break the rules or be tempted in any way. Helps being older - I'm more self sufficient/self entertaining and socialising doesn't have the strong pull it used to have.

So, like me, to quote the meme:

You only realise that you are a grumpy antisocial old fucker when there is a pandemic and nothing much changes.

 

[Steel Icarus]

I don't really want my kids going to the dentist in a fortnight

 

[tony.c]

I have kept to the rules, but occasionally it was impossible to keep 2m away from other shoppers or staff in a supermarket.

I am able to get deliveries now, but still have to get click & collect occasionally so had to go into supermarket.

 

[NoXion]

Haven't even been to the local supermarket since before Christmas. Everything I've had from there since then has been delivery only. Too many thoughtless dickwipes to risk going there in person if I can help it. I think I might have went to the local newsagents last week? I try to keep my visits there as infrequent as possible, people are better behaved there but it's got too many cramped spaces. Otherwise I've had literally no other reason to go out. The furthest I have ventured in the past year was back in September when they relaxed the lockdown enough that my work made me come in. I didn't like that.

So yeah, I'd say I've been observing stricter measures than officially recommended. I'm not in an at risk category, but I really do not want to catch this virus. It could still knock the shit out of you, and could have life-long implications. Fuck that.

 

[girasol]

So, like me, to quote the meme:

You only realise that you are a grumpy antisocial old fucker when there is a pandemic and nothing much changes.

I’m not an antisocial old fucker though.We have a childcare bubble with 5 year old granddaughter and home school her when she’s here, which adds up to 12 days a month. My main social activity is now online until dance studio opens again, I went to those classes 3x a week, including Fridays, and we always had dinner and drink after. I miss that a lot but I can cope with it.