Are driveway drinks allowed

[NotPawPatrolAgain]

With neighbours if sticking to the 2 metre rule?

Are you going outside for exercise, to travel to work, to collect medicine or to attend an emergency appointment

There is nothing saying you can't go outside whilst staying on your own property. If there were, doorstep clapping wouldn't be allowed.

people a few streets over from us are doing a weekly social distancing 'street party' which according to someone on the street turns out as adults starting in their gardens, moving to their front walls to sit, moving closer but the lids are out playing on bikes and scooters in the street itself pretty much ignoring distancing but it's alright apparently as they mainly keep moving...
the friend now takes his kids to the park for that couple of hours as it's impossible to keep separate, even the adults forget after a drink or two...

I'm a real stickler for the rules at this awful time but I absolutely think this is fine. You're on your own property. And if a glass or two of wine means you're going to leap the fence and start hugging the neighbours than you've obv got other issues to deal with.

I suspect there are a LOT of people on Mumsnet who just don't like their neighbours, and therefore can't imagine interacting with them in a way that doesn't involve silently fuming about the way their hedges grow, or involving lawyers.

My partner is currently building a shed in our garden (NON-ESSENTIAL!! We already have TWO SHEDS!!) - and sometimes he might speak to a neighbour who is in their own garden while doing so. Yesterday I had a long chat with our neighbour, a teacher, from our respective driveways. The idea that this event might somehow have flipped from 'fine' into 'ohmygod you don't care about SAVING LIVES' had we a) booked it in advance and b) drank beer, instead of tea is, frankly, bonkers.

Can we get something clear?

We are NOT in lockdown.

Countries that are in lockdown have a very more stringent approach.

China was in lockdown and it was far far worse than what we have here.

You are allowed to go out (beyond the boundary of your house) for essential shopping, medical appts, or for work if you cannot work from home.

You are allowed to sit in your own garden or drive.

I think inviting neighbours to sit IN your drive might be pushing the boundaries.

There is some evidence anyway that the virus can spread further than 2 metres ( some experts have said more like 20 feet if someone sneezes or coughs.)

If you want to chat over the garden fence and keep your distance, I'd say fair enough.

But getting chairs out and congregating in a driveway would look a bit too much like a party and could be seen as the thin edge of the wedge ( more people might join in, you might not observe the distancing, etc.)

no, you should be inside with the lights off, flagellating yourself in thanks to "our" NHS and weeping over your daily handful of hot gravel. Cold gravel would be better obvs.

Seriously though you're sufficiently far apart from others, presumably not getting drunk and out of control, and as a pp said the Queen's speech had neighbours out on the street!

Oh and you are allowed out for exercise once a day.

I am part of a rota system in our small village to shop for the elderly or vulnerable. I do about 5 other people as well as my own family. I do their shopping in disposable gloves and mask then drive to their houses. I put the shopping by the door, knock and then stand on the other side of the road till they open the door. Generally we have a chat for 10 minutes at a distance of 3 or 4 metres. It's an absolute lifeline for some people, the chat as well as the groceries, especially my widowed 80 year old NDN. I can't imagine running off without a friendly chat!

If everyone thinks it's fine to clap the NHS out the front but not speak to your neighbours for 10 mins they are completely without common sense imo.

Of course it’s ok. Why are some posters being so deliberately obtuse?

Friends did this. They all sat on their drives, and were easily. 2m away from neighbours. It was a way of keeping in touch. As long as people don’t start congregating in large groups together. People doing the NHS clap,often stand on drives, so it’s not much difference to that.

Yes it’s absolutely fine . What’s the difference to sitting in your back garden talking over the fence to neighbours . They are all sitting with ample distance between them on their own properties .
God some People on mumsnet want to suck the happiness out of everything

How are driveway drinks different to garden drinks?
I live on a row of 4 houses and all of us were out in our gardens having drinks yesterday. Two of the houses have kids and they usually play on the lane and fields out the back. They're private and belong to all 4 houses. We just took it in turns letting the kids out so they were never mixing with each other but they had a chance to ride bikes/scooters.
The adults never left their property and at no point was anyone within two metres of anyone other than their own family.
Lockdown doesn't mean locked in your house. You're allowed to use the outside bits of your property too.

The police were called to several of my neighbours yesterday who were sat out the front of their houses having a drink in the sun with their children. The houses front doors open straight onto the pavement though so there isn’t a front garden for them to be sitting in just a metre strip of grass. I missed all of the excitement but someone posted on the neighbourhood Facebook asking if everything was alright and that’s when the story came out. It’s fair to say that the responses were universally angry/ exasperated though. I wouldn’t do it.

Saturday night in our row of terraced houses - everyone in their own gardens having a drink chatting.

Seriously - some people need to get a life

The place where you are living includes the driveway.

Of course it's fine. People have totally lost the plot here and they're sounding hysterical.

There's nothing wrong with having your own drink, in your own driveway at the same time as someone else having their own drink, in their own driveway.

Until they ban hanging out in your own driveway and/or drinking of course.

How’s this any different to millions of us standing outside our houses to clap for the carers? “It’s not allowed” is like being in school again and it’s easy to spot who was a pain in the arse.

What's the difference between that and talking a neighbour in the back garden? I was chatting to my neighbour over the 3ft fence at the weekend (making sure we were 2m apart). Should I have run inside when she came out?

Well people are dancing in theirs streets so yes!

I chat with my neighbour over the road. She's a good friend. The kids play on their own drives and chat too, supervised by us. We are at least 15ft apart, minimum. Sometimes I even take a cuppa out with me.

It's perfectly allowed. The Coronavirus Dementors are out in force I see.

My neighbours do this as a daily occurrence whenever the weather is warm enough. I don't enjoy listening to them through the windows, and I for various reasons, have no desire to join in so I suppose I would be predisposed to think this wouldn't be acceptable under lockdown rules. This year, they are more spaced out than usual. And bearing that in mind, I actually think it's fine. There are certainly lots of people on this thread who seem determined to make life even more miserable than it needs to be. What are you all gaining out of this?

Am I the only one who remembers that Blackadder clip where his Puritan aunt and uncle come to visit?
Blackadder: Please, Aunt, do have a chair! Sit down, sit down!
Aunt: A CHAIR, Blackadder? A CHAIR? At home we have a SPIKE. Nathaniel sits on the spike and I sit upon Nathaniel. TWO spikes would be an indulgence.

weemadarthur but that's not the same is it? Those people weren't on their own property with no natural demarcation, fence etc to help keep a distance. The 'slippery slope' argument is a bogus here as it always is. You can't x because it might lead to y. But it doesn't have to. They may not have kids, or do this after they are in bed, or kids who do as they're told. They may well be moderate in their drinking habits, not breaking out a slab of Stella. I loathe this assumption that we can't trust the vast majority of people to make common sense calls. I also hate how normally sensible people are being terrified into not trusting their own judgment on this and / or are terrified of being reported. As a pp said elsewhere, its not hard to see how police states get informants so easily 😕

As long as everyone remains on their own property, yes.

There are certainly lots of people on this thread who seem determined to make life even more miserable than it needs to be. What are you all gaining out of this?

Exactly this.

And that sentiment's really dangerous. If perfectly allowable things like this are helping people keep their sanity at a really tough time, then you have no business whatsoever trying to shut them down.