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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think this lockdown is pathetic

212 replies

Applepea1 · 14/11/2020 19:04

Why are so many places still open and not enforcing social distancing? I went to the garden centre today and they had a whole big Christmas section and it was packed, including a tractor for the kids to play on. There was no queue system to get in and all the Christmas displays were so close together it was impossible to keep a distance anyway.
I know I obviously could have stayed at home and will be in the future (apart from my local shop, one trip to Primark and a quite few trips to the pets shop for dog food I've done all shopping on line since March)
Most of my socialising is with school mum's and although everyone is aware we are only allowed to go for a walk in pairs they all stand together chatting in the playground. The primary school is next to a large secondary school and we have to fight our way through crowds of teenagers before pick up every day. The whole of year 11 are in self isolation as there's so many positive cases. My adult daughters boyfriend is allowed into work as they all tested negative last week. It just seems a limp excuse of a lockdown for me.

OP posts:
Wannabangbang · 14/11/2020 20:47

I don't even understand where garden centres are essential. You are part of the problem. Stay home unless you need food or a walk. How bloody hard is it.

LaVitaPuoEsserePiuBella · 14/11/2020 20:49

@Loveable1

You could have stayed at home but chose not to. Hmm
Exactly
Original poster
Applepea1 · 14/11/2020 20:50

If you'd read all the my post I said I wouldn't be going again, I was completely unprepared for how badly it would be managed. I wanted a couple of plants and had to walk through an over crowded Christmas section to get to the till. I've hardly been out since March and it shocked me. I definitely won't go again!

OP posts:
millymollymoomoo · 14/11/2020 20:52

Cases had peaked prior to lockdown, and we all know it was based on completely inaccurate and floored data
I’m glad things are open, wish everything was

Chicchicchicchiclana · 14/11/2020 20:54

I guess independent garden centres are open right now under the "work from home unless you can't work from home" guidelines.

While the likes of B&Q and Sainsburys Home Base stay open with their tacked-on garden departments, I can't see any convincing arguments for forcing small garden centres to stay closed. They do need to put social distancing measures in place, which obvs OP's garden centre has failed to do.

literallyshaking · 14/11/2020 20:55

@millymollymoomoo

Cases had peaked prior to lockdown, and we all know it was based on completely inaccurate and floored data I’m glad things are open, wish everything was
Do you mean 'flawed'?
ImAllOut · 14/11/2020 20:56

Going to the garden centre alone for something essential is a bit different to taking the family out for a Christmas trip...

Today was the first post-lockdown weekend in Wales. My local town centre was absolutely heaving. I had to go and get nappies as I made a mistake and only had two left; the two closest supermarkets had long queues in the rain so I thought I'd try Boots/Wilkos in town (under cover!) instead. I assume that the many, many unmasked groups of 3-4 people from different households queuing 20 minutes for New Look and Costa carring massive shopping bags didn't have quite as urgent a need. I've been pretty uninterested in what other people are doing about the "rules" as I don't really care, but I was pretty shocked today!

I can only imagine England's shops post lockdown will be 100 times worse given the proximity to Christmas.

QuacksInTheDark · 14/11/2020 20:56

People need to fuck of with this moaning and whinging now. If you don’t like bloody stay home.

GooseberryTart · 14/11/2020 20:57

I certainly wouldn’t class a garden centre as essential OP.

If you want to do your bit I certainly wouldn’t class going to the garden centre as doing so.

We both WFH, food shopping is click and collect once a week, one visit a fortnight to the local butcher per week, one local takeaway delivery once a week, all our two teens are doing is going to school, none of us are socialising outside of school apart from I am going on a socially distant walk with one friend at a time about three times a week and DH and I go for a walk in the daytime with the dog. Pet food gets delivered (but did before lockdown). I have noticed on FB a few small local independent shops are doing Click and Collect and offering free local deliver of Christmas goods.

If everyone gathers in the Christmas sections in the garden centre, has whole family days out to Asda and the Range what is the point.

m0therofdragons · 14/11/2020 21:00

We get our dog food from local garden centre but the social distancing has been fine in there. Asda was horrific with full families doing weekly shops. I can’t understand why families do that when there isn’t a pandemic but I’m not taking my dc into the supermarket! (Single parents haven’t got a choice so this isn’t aimed at them).

Fcuk38 · 14/11/2020 21:00

Ok you kinda lost it there when you said you were at the garden centre too 🙄🙄 if it’s open people will go simple
As you yourself did? Incidentally what did you go to buy?

sirfredfredgeorge · 14/11/2020 21:01

Lol at grow your own food. In 4 weeks during November. grin In reality everyone's out buying inflatable Santas for their garage roof

You mock, but it shows just how out of touch you are with growing your own food, November is the month we plant out garlic, and to get the new raspberry canes into the ground! (I've actually got some that I dug out if any one's near by and wants to avoid the garden centre...)

And you are of course correct that it's certainly the season for the inflatable ornament purchase - and nothing is more essential than that!

Original poster
Applepea1 · 14/11/2020 21:01

The primary and secondary school entrances exits are in a dead end road, it's a nightmare at the best of times!

OP posts:
MushMonster · 14/11/2020 21:03

It depends on how they have decided to manage their business. I am in Waales, so out of the lockdown, but the usual Christmas shopping is ongoing, less people than usual, but still too many for SD. All shops I have been in are talling people in and out and have queues and people managing the entries. So it did not feel crowded inside the shop at all. We also had regular reminders to keep appart and wear masks. I heard of other places in Wales being too full, with too many queues to SD outside!
This garden centre could and should have been controlling how many people are inside.
I think we have become quite conscious of people getting less than 1.5 m or so from us after all what we have gone through.
Just in Jan this year we would happily be there and shop all by each other and no even notice. How crazy in a way!

SomewhereEast · 14/11/2020 21:04

"This lockdown is pathetic" I thought, as I pottered around the garden centre in search of plants,....

mayflowerapplepie · 14/11/2020 21:06

This shit makes me so glad not to be in the UK. If a garden centre can’t open in a COVID safe manner it shouldn’t be open. The expectation should be that if it is open it is doing it correctly. The same for shops etc. OP made the sensible assumption that this would be happening in some way and it wasn’t.
The unreasonable thing of all this is calling it a lockdown. It seems more to be “random restrictions which will both fuck the economy and kill people off” as per usual from Boris

Newgirls · 14/11/2020 21:06

Sounds like the schools could stagger that better

Our secondary has dif entrances and times for every year. Local primary is staggered and I see parents spaced apart when walking home.

Garden centres don’t need to be open in nov sorry. I think they did in spring when it was a key time for them to sell and survive but not now.

weepingwillow22 · 14/11/2020 21:06

I agree in part OP. I think all shops should have remained open but have much stricter social distancing in place and strict limits on numbers entering. All that is happening now is that more people are congregating in the few businesses that remain open. It is also extremely unfair to those forced to close.

Piwlyfbicsly · 14/11/2020 21:08

I understand what you are talking about. I don't like lockdown, it wiped away a large chunk of DH's income before and now. Still, people continue to live and behave as usual. While we are suffering...selectively.

islockdownoveryet · 14/11/2020 21:10

So you went to the garden centre but you were shocked how busy it was ? Maybe the others did too .
Honestly stop with the Ive not been anywhere since March and I'm allowed out but why is everyone else .
I went out to next for my click and collect at 5.30pm thinking it would be quieter, there was still a queue but what made me laugh was a family in the queue mother father and 2 dc at least 12/13 years old returning 1 parcel but yet the mother was telling someone else that this isn't a lockdown as everyone is going out still .
Yes love that trip to return your parcel involved the whole family .
That's the thing people like to make out it's everybody else not them but their trip out is so essential but everybody else could stay home . Hmm

slothtrot · 14/11/2020 21:10

Why were you being pathetic and going to the garden centre? Hardly essential is it?

People are going to work and putting themselves at risk and you think it's OK to go to a garden centre? Biscuit

TickTickClock · 14/11/2020 21:17

A garden centre / nursery selling plants from an outdoor location is one thing. Other "garden centres" are more indoor gift shop than plants supplier. I think they should have had to close the indoor parts and only allow outdoor browsing. I saw one woman on the news who sold plants in a lifestyle corner of her gym and therefore deduced that she too was a garden centre and could stay fully open. Why are all these people trying to bend the rules when the rules are there to protect their health and those of their friends / family / communities?

Flutter12 · 14/11/2020 21:20

Is this a joke? You've been to primark and a garden centre and your moaning that people are going to these places - even though you are going yourself!

You say you just wanted a couple of plants which is even worse as it definitely wasn't essential. Everyone else who is going there is saying exactly the same as you are now.

If you think a stricter lockdown should be in place then don't go to these non-essential places and then they will be able to close and get government funding.

MagicMabel · 14/11/2020 21:21

@QuacksInTheDark Grin Someone will be along shortly to call you a granny killer!

Vintagevixen · 14/11/2020 21:22

Shops are not big drivers of infection, at least I have seen no scientific evidence that they are - in my opinion all shops should be open. Main routes of transmission are in households/indoors. The government having no plan for the large movement of students in September despite being warned didn't help.

Transmission is vanishingly unlikely outdoors so outdoor school pick up not a problem IMO.

No one is stopping me leaving the house as many times as I want, I am out several times a day including to the shops.