Are driveway drinks allowed

[NotPawPatrolAgain]

With neighbours if sticking to the 2 metre rule?

Are some not opening their windows because of you know breathe travelling?

I don't think the rules ARE that clear. They would have been much clearer if, each time there was a change, it would have been stated 'new page - forget what was before, this is NOW'.

That would have made it clearer.

At least the replies are civil (mostly) on this thread. i don't know why the ranters bother replying, they're not needed by anybody.

@mochajoes
It is 20mins for social media/ texts !!
It’s people like you putting everyone else at risk.
🤣😂🤣

@TheLadyAnneNeville a driveway is your own household. Are you not going out in your back garden either when the neighbours are out?

'I think people are missing the point here. A minute or two clapping is not the same as getting your deck chairs out over the fence and chatting for 3/4/5 hours over drinks. Chatting at 2m to an elderly resident who has no other visitors is not the same as groups of neighbours, who live with 2/3/4 other people, choosing to create a quasi party when we’ve been asked not to congregate'.

I'm failing to see how if people exercise some common sense this is any different to someone sitting in their garden at the same time as their neighbour. The only difference is they're speaking to each other? Or is it the drinking alcohol that's the problem? You could just as easily catch the virus in those few minutes stood next to your neighbour clapping.

If cigarette smoke can waft across from one driveway to the next, what's stopping the virus from doing the same?

Cigarette smoke is a totally different substance to particles of CV and behaved in a totally different way.

Pishposhpashy

Yes, I'd go into the back garden if the neighbours were outside, and I'd talk to them across the hedge, but our gardens are very big (around half an acre). Recently when we've chatted, the neighbour was standing approx 5 metres from the boundary on their side, and I was 5 metres from the boundary on my side.

I wouldn't have drinks on my driveway.

The trouble is, a list will be created then smart arses will come up with a bunch of variations on a theme, it creates mass confusion and people throw in the towel and don't bother complying at all.

KISS principle works for me, Keep it Simple Stupid.

We're holding out for the vaccine, and in the meantime not socialising, other than waving to someone we know in the village at a distance, and continuing on our walk. We'll meet again when this is all under control.

When sitting on your balcony, can you talk to the neighbour on the next balcony?

No. Nothing is allowed. If you ever think about looking at another person again, you are personally responsible for killing the queen,destroying the NHS and killing a bunch of kittens.

If you see your neighbours run,run as fast as you can. Hide in the safety of your house and have 5 Dettol bath. Then self flagellate as appropriate. 5 strikes if accidental, 10 of you enjoyed it, 50 if on purpose.

And I’ll raise a glass to you when none of us can go out at all later this week

What countries have said you cannot go out at all?

and in the meantime not socialising, other than waving to someone we know in the village at a distance, and continuing on our walk.

There are no rules, anywhere, preventing talking to people from 2 metres away.

Is it airborne though?

Aerosols and airborne means different things, don’t they?

I was weeding the front garden yesterday, next door was weeding hers. My DH bought me out a cuppa, hers bought her one out.

We downed tools and sat in the sun, chatting over the hedge. We were a full rake and half a broom length apart (we checked, after saying how hard it was to accurately measure two metres by eye. Surprisingly tricky to hover gardening tools over a hedge, like duelling Charlie Dimmocks).

We've lived here five years and not really clicked with them, but sat chatting for best part of an hour. Was really lovely to have some human interaction with someone other than DH and DD. We're not going out, so not seeing a soul! Not sure if we were breaking any rules, but didn't feel like it?

Namechanged7 Are you saying that people should not use their gardens at all? Or create a rota with the neighbours so they don't use their gardens at the same time? Or is the crime just speaking to each other?

The children next door play football ALL DAY LONG. Does that mean I can't use my garden? They speak to each other and I speak to my son. What on earth difference would it make if I spoke to them as well?

The guidelines are completely clear. If the government didn't want people to use their gardens they would say so. They obviously don't think it's a problem. Hopefully people are sensible and don't hang over each others' walls chatting close together. And IMO the clapping shoulder to shoulder IS worse because in that case many people are definitely standing closer together than the guidelines suggest. And closer together than the distance people are queuing at in supermarkets.

Yes, you would still be on your own property.

However, you would be socialising with those outside of your household.

In this global pandemic I would rather err on the side of caution and would rather hope others would too for the sake of a bloody drink.

No, you aren't meant to mix households at all even with the 2 m rule.

You can go outside for medical purposes or to pick up medication, to do essential shopping, for exercise, to help a vulnerable person, or to go to work if you cannot work from home.

Those are the only reasons accepted. They are accepted because they are safe. They are not completely safe, that is why the high risk shielded group are asked not to go out even for any of those reasons. Going out carries risk and therefore is only allowed for things the govt has deemed essential.

BAD TYPO! They are not accepted because they are safe.

Cigarette smoke is a totally different substance to particles of CV and behaved in a totally different way

OK. Please elaborate on exactly how far you believe aerosolized coronavirus can travel in the air, citing sources.

If you have a drive, the chances are high that you'll have a garden - use it!

What on Earth would the difference be between sitting on your drive and having a chat over the fence to sitting in your garden and having a chat over the fence at the same distance. Struggling to see why one wound be ok and the other not. Or can you go in the garden (but not the drive) and be sure to not so much as make eye contact if the neighbours also venture out?

How ridiculous some of these responses are. Reminds me of the puritans in Blackadder who sat on spikes and castigated others fit smiling.As they said in the satirical Now Show on R4 this week, signal your virtues by being miserable. Being seen to enjoy anything is verboten/even if totally harmless.

@Samtsirch 🤣 actually I'm disconnecting my wi-fi & phone line soon as I'm taking it seriously.

If you remain in your own home area, which includes gardens and yards or we'd have been told otherwise, and you maintain a 2 metre distance from people not living with you, then yes it's perfectly allowable. There simply aren't any rules about talking to neighbours. It doesn't matter whether you're drinking, doing cartwheels or playing musical statues. None of this is a matter of opinion either. If people prefer not to do it, that's fine, but there's nothing at all within the current rules to prevent it.

OK. Please elaborate on exactly how far you believe aerosolized coronavirus can travel in the air, citing sources.

Why do I need to do that?

The official guidance says keep a distance of 2 meters.

I abide by that.

This would not prevent me from

Being in my own driveway
Having a drink
Having a chat with a neighbour who is also in their own driveway, having a drink.

Its no different to being in the back garden and shouting over the fence to neighbours. Good way to relieve tensions I think so long as distances can be maintained. Maybe not sure a good idea with younger children - maybe stick to the back garden and talk through the fences.

It is not actually a lockdown - if you go back to the speech Boris makes he deliberately avoided that phrase. It is the media that have called it that. There are defintiely more steps that could be taken to lock us down properly.

I think we are more at risk from going to the supermarket than chatting to neighbours while socially distances - after all some people are still in work ffs

It's like 'shall we come up with a list of ways to interpret/stretch the rules'?

• Can I go to a group exercise in the park if we all stay 2m apart?
• Can I take my child to the park and walk 2m away from my best friend and her child if I bump into her? Both children are in pushchairs.
• Can my husband and I take a flask of coffee out on our daily walk and stop half-way to drink it on a bench? Would we be allowed to take a sandwich and a piece of shortbread as well?
• Can DH and I take out toddler down to the seafront for a walk? Can we take spades and buckets and make sandcastles on the beach as long as we stay standing up and keep moving all the time?
• Can I visit my holiday home at weekends and stay overnight as long as we stay 2m apart from any locals? Could this count as essential travel as we absolutely need to check on the property once a week?
• Can I drink coffee on my drive and my neighbour drink coffee on her drive at the same time? We have measured with a metal tape measure and we would be a minimum of 1.98m apart at all times. Does 2cm really matter?