Who remembers social distancing?

[Jomot]

Viktoria, what a sad post.  My heart goes out to so many living with such loneliness.

My father is 88 and has several health conditions, including heart failure, but has actively chosen to measure his remaining time by the quality of it, not the quantity.

Mobility problems mean he cannot shop etc for himself now anyway, but his children, grandchildren, friends and other family members are regular visitors to his home - where he happily receives hugs from all of us - and last night he was out at the club, sitting with friends, playing bingo, and listening to the 'turn'. 

Many at the club are of a similar age to him, and have made the same decision.

On the few occasions where he comes into contact with the general public, eg when I take him to the post office, or in the taxi to/from the club, then he will wear a mask and observe distancing measures, but otherwise his life is as unchanged as it possibly can be, and I fully support him in this.

[iluleah]

Life is ticking on in the same 'new normal' way, local shops in the village people wait in line 2 m apart and chat, everyone gives space and everyone speaks/waves, even if they are on the other side of the road. The cricket fence is full of homemade crafts and the village children have been busy painting and decorating stones making a pathway near the water meadows
The supermarket in town 4 miles away have the traffic lights system, the other one ( Tescos) was very heavy handed at the beginning, I am sure they employed ' ex night club bouncers' who assumed they were dealing with drunk idiots the way they spoke to or rather shouted at customers...the  ' ex night club bouncers' disappeared after a week because of the amount of complaints they got and I am sure because of the loss of customers...I haven't been there since April and I know many who haven't.

The only person who doesn't social distance is my elderly neighbour and I find myself backing up when we happen to arrive home at the same time, her niece was delivering her shopping for a few weeks but my neighbour was very put out she wouldn't come in I found myself defending her niece but it made no difference she was still put out. Once we could go out I made my neighbour a cotton face mask which is now her favourite fashion assessory and I get caught at least once a day as she stands and calls my dogs out , talks to my 'indoor cat' who is outside in her catico or waits for me to hang out washing or weed, but at least I have the ability to social distance with the and she has now come up with another way of contact as she is purchasing treats for my dogs and cat...so as soon as they hear her they are either out by the fence or the cat is meowing

Over the last 6 weeks we normally have a village festival, a fete, a classic car rally with all the trimmings which brings in lots of on lookers from all over and a full week where all the village youth go and help villagers, be it painting, gardening, lifting, car washing, window cleaning or anything needed and the villagers put on food, BBQs and drinks ( pop) for them so all of those have gone to the wall this year......... but the village community gardening club members have been out keeps our village blooming  along with also planting vegetables and herbs in the many tubs and grass spaces in the village.
The police have been out and about ( really making sure 'we' comply) doing road blocks checking licences to see if you are local or travelling... been stopped twice by them as I have an English accent and personal plate car even though I have lived here for 16 yrs it seems I still stand out, but they also are very keen on checking if everyone is OK and need anything

[KGarrad]

Here, in the Isle of Man, there is no social distancing, and no need for face-masks.
Due to the island being covid free for over 90days

However residents are allowed off the island, but must self-isolate for 14 days on return.

This week we have seen one person jailed for 6 weeks - he decided to go to the pub to watch football; and visited another pub the following day. He was bored?!
Also a 64 year-old company director decided to visit his bank, and travel out of town to buy a new phone. - he has been jailed for 4 weeks!

4 others have received police warnings.

So, basically, you have your own miniature fascist state over there. Well done!

Rules have been set, and must be followed.
It's how we have kept Covid off the island for 90 days.
Far better than the anarchist state of England!

We are still on stage 4 of lockdown.
Stage 4 allows island residents to travel, but must self-isolate for 14 days on return.

What's the point of having laws, if there is no punishment if you ignore them?

[sonofthom]

I think that I would be questioning the appropriateness of such laws which appear to lack any proportionality, particularly with the virus clearly now being much attenuated.

[jillruss]

I think that I would be questioning the appropriateness of such laws which appear to lack any proportionality, particularly with the virus clearly now being much attenuated.

I agree, Plus, how easily and quickly said laws are made 'on the hoof'. Do they go through any statutory procedure or is it purely on some minister's say so? Witness the debacle over people's holidays: it seems anyone, anywhere can be 'ordered' to come home or face self isolation for a fortnight. Most of these people have paid hard earned money for their holiday after months of lockdown - why not either give them more notice of the latest whim decision to put a country on the blacklist so they don't have to pay extortionate prices to find a flight home, or, more appropriately, stop messing everyone around and make up your minds whether we're still isolating or whether we're trying to live normally again. Its almost as if they don't want us to get back to normality!

You know what they say about a little power...

[River Tyne Lass]

I agree that this sign (post 11) is not such a good idea.  Yes, there are people who just don't seem to care beyond themselves but I think the majority of people want to do the right thing if they are able to.
There are some people who have legitimate reasons for not wearing a face covering.  This might be a health problem or a disability which makes it difficult to tolerate a mask.
A sign like this seems to me like when people in the past thoughtlessly gave out white feathers to shame with no consideration about who they might be tackling.
I think the type who could wear a covering but won't out of indifference, will likely also be able to shrug off this type of sign but the genuine might become upset.
I think we should give people the benefit of the doubt and trust that the majority want to be doing the right thing - if they can.

[River Tyne Lass]

Viktoria, I agree that this post of yours is so sad.  You have been through so much in life - evacuation during the war and now it has come to this. And yet you always manage to keep so cheerful.  Chin up, hopefully things will turn a corner one of these days and things get back to the old normal. Let's keep hoping anyway.

Take care.

[arthurk]

It's interesting to hear that social distancing is alive and well in some places, but my experience is far more like Rishile's.

Apart from an outdoor table at a coffee shop, I think the only retail establishments I've been in for 3-4 months are a couple of supermarkets. It might be the time of day that I go (early - c.8am) but for quite some time now there hasn't been a queue at either of these and they don't seem to be counting people in and out any more.

Another change is that since face coverings became compulsory, people have actually bothered far less about social distancing: apparently wearing something over your face means you don't have to bother with that any more, so as we go carefully round the store trying to avoid people, waiting to let them pass etc, others simply brush past you and don't even give you 1m space, let alone 2.

Walking outside it's often much the same (though no face coverings). Some people still stand aside, or are grateful when we do, but a significant number don't seem to care and if we move over to let them pass, just give us funny looks.

Since we live close to an area under local lockdown it's all rather worrying, and based on the behaviour we see round here, it seems a second spike is more or less inevitable.

[roopat]

In our local Morrisons last Thursday around lunchtime, the cashier commented on the queue at the cafe which was directly opposite our checkout. There were at least 20 people (some masked) waiting all bunched up in the line just like pre-distancing times, one couple towards the back of the queue were standing about 1m back - in front of them were 2 youngish women, unmasked, picking over the sandwiches. The cashier said they normally have someone supervising the queue, she didn't understand why this wasn't happening. Then she told us that next week 'they' were removing all the Covid signs & screens. She said she will feel very vulnerable being directly exposed to people.


No idea whether she's right. This was OH's first venture into a supermarket - he was just saying he felt much more confident than expected 


I agree with Viktoria, not at all how I imagined I would spend the last few years of my life. I admire the 88 year old who can take such a pragmatic approach, maybe I will find that wisdom. At the moment I find the future rather bleak.