To think this is just a joke now?

[Justinversusmrtumble]

Portugal possibly going back onto the amber list.
The only thing keeping my parents going is coming to celebrate toddlers DD’s birthday in the summer. It’s getting beyond ridiculous now. Feeling so low today, I miss my family so much.

@AngeloMysterioso

Remember the good old days when it was ok to be upset about something without a bunch of vicious harpies jumping down your throat with their “UGH you’re so STUPID and SELFISH WHINING about something SO TRIVIAL and UNIMPORTANT don’t you know WE’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC WHO CARES IF YOU CAN’T SEE YOUR ELDERLY PARENTS don’t you know there’s a VIRUS don’t you know people have DIED.

I’m so fucking sick of it.

Absolutely agree. This whole pandemic has created division like nothing I've ever seen before and made it acceptable (to some) to shout others down

Its like the mask police who demand the right to bully and harass the vulnerable

I'm with you, I'm sick of the whole fucking saga and before anyone says anything yes I do know people who have died of COVID and one of my best friends has Long COVID. But I also have 2 relatives who have now passed with late diagnosed cancer during the last few months

@AngeloMysterioso Completely!! 👏 (love the user name too 🤣)

@BingBangBong1 ‘Politely’ 😂

@ilovesooty

I don't think I remember these good old days. There have always been different points of view and differing levels of empathy. Report anything you think breaches Talk Guidelines.

That was my thought too. Been around this site for more than 10years and there has always been people having to top others with their hard luck stories.

Btw I am NOT saying people that have family members that have died are topping others, I am just saying Covid hasnt changed people's responses to other's upsets in their lives

I don’t want to face time my parents

and this is the problem I mentioned in my first post. We are all encouraged to think that we deserve what we want "because I'm worth it". The reality is that we all live in nation states and we are lucky enough to live in one of the most accommodating. However the harsh reality is that whilst we are usually able to to as we want sometimes we have to do without in order that the nation state can do what is necessary. In this case it is necessary to reduce unnecessary foreign travel and to quarantine those who do need to go abroad. Your family's personal preference to meet up in person rather than facetime each other does not trump the greater good that is the need to restrict travel for a bit longer. As I said before it is a very similar situation for those with elderly parents or other relatives in carehomes where only one siblings family can visit. It's hard (we are in the carehome position so I know just how hard it is) no one is pretending that it isn't.

@Londonmummy66

I don’t want to face time my parents

and this is the problem I mentioned in my first post. We are all encouraged to think that we deserve what we want "because I'm worth it". The reality is that we all live in nation states and we are lucky enough to live in one of the most accommodating. However the harsh reality is that whilst we are usually able to to as we want sometimes we have to do without in order that the nation state can do what is necessary. In this case it is necessary to reduce unnecessary foreign travel and to quarantine those who do need to go abroad. Your family's personal preference to meet up in person rather than facetime each other does not trump the greater good that is the need to restrict travel for a bit longer. As I said before it is a very similar situation for those with elderly parents or other relatives in carehomes where only one siblings family can visit. It's hard (we are in the carehome position so I know just how hard it is) no one is pretending that it isn't.

I could say the same the necessity of someone getting married could cause an outbreak or the reopening of indoor restaurants ... everyone has got necessities and many cause outbreaks, someones necessities shouldn't trump others. there are many things that aren't essential but 1. the risk of job losses, 2. for someone it's essential , some of us have been too long just face timing our families, we were told get the vaccines things will get better, but seems like even getting the vaccines doesnt get you closer to your family. the goal post keeps being moved,

@TheKeatingFive

I think you know. When you dismissed her very real issues as ‘moaning’.

You simply saying you were polite doesn’t make it true. You were very dismissive and hurtful about someone going through different challenges to yourself.

How is saying people moaning rude or vicious? It's an adjective! I used to describe how someone who has lost family would see complaints about restrictions Jeez.

[quote AngeloMysterioso]@BingBangBong1 please point out where I referred to you specifically? Or used the word vile?

As someone who has also lost family, I stand fully by my comment and the words I used in it.

Harpy- bad-tempered, scolding woman.

So I think describing some of the responders to this thread as vicious harpies is rather accurate. If you feel like I’m referring to you specifically, maybe you should have a look over your posts and consider what it is about what you said that would place you among their number.[/quote]
You suggested those disagreeing with the OP are.

And OP, you really do come across as entitled and actually, really rude

I will never see my Grandmother again. She practically brought me up. Because I moved away and had a child and husband, I wasn't able to attend her funeral, as lockdown tiers prevented it.
But I understood why and will celebrate her life in my own way with family when possible.

My point of view is, everyone has stories of hardship. No one's is any greater or lesser than anyone elses. Not in a Pandemic.

We can't think of ourselves in this situation. We have to think of everyone else. People we know and people we don't. People we will never meet.

I doubt anyone will come out of this with a positive outlook.

But sorry, you really are rude.

I shall prepare for your oh so funny use of emoji and put downs and you running to HQ because someone dares disagree.

@BingBangBong1 no I didn’t. There are plenty of people who have disagreed with the OP and said why without being nasty, mocking her reason for being upset or telling her she is “moaning”.

@AngeloMysterioso Thank you 🙏

Now, I’m being called rude etc etc. Proving the point made by myself and many others that some people can’t merely debate, they resort to personal insults, but keep going.

This was just on the Six o'clock BBC news a moment ago and I was shocked to here that airline companies are 'putting on extra flights' so people can get home before Tuesday to avoid the 10 quarantine period!

This seems crazy to me and its just asking for trouble. Why do the government allow this to happen by saying the rule is from a certain day in the future?

If they feel the rating (green to amber) needs to change it should be immediate, not on a delay as people will try to cheat the system a bring infection back.

I just can't understand anyone going to Portugal for a holiday whether its green or amber and that Champions League final in Porto a week ago (between 2 British teams!!!! Chelsea and Manchester City) was just bonkers....

@JebelSherif There was just no planning to it at all, huge confusion over here. I personally wouldn’t go abroad anywhere on holiday, just for a holiday as I can wait. I don’t begrudge others who do though. My parents definitely wouldn’t travel if it wasn’t for us being here either.

They’ve changed the rules in France again and will allow eu nationals to come to France from the U.K. if they have their two covid jabs.

This has opened a door for me to go and see my parents with having just the self isolation to do arriving back in the U.K.
Unfortunately the dcs would have to self isolate arriving in France as Obviously, as teenagers, they haven’t been vaccinated.

I’m wondering @Justinversusmrtumble, is that a possibility for you?

Many replies in this thread have just been awful. The OP has been jumped on, for the “crime” of missing her family and wanting to be able to spend time with them.

Judging from the replies on this thread, in regards to this pandemic it seems we really are not all in this together. Many can’t empathise with the OP’s situation, and have instead chosen to have a go at her.

It’s just unnecessary. Yes, we have all suffered throughout this. Yes some have been able to deal with it better than others. And yes, we’ve all had to endure the covid idiots who seem intent on stating that it doesn’t even exist.

But by and large, can’t the majority here at least understand, through their own sacrifices, how hard it is for many people? Some of whom may not be stronger than you?

OP, I understand the reasoning behind many who have been critical towards you. I just do not accept that they didn’t have the ability to express their opinion in a much more sympathetic way. You didn’t deserve being jumped on OP, on the contrary, you deserved a handhold. Some have had it worse, many others have had it nowhere near as bad.

But we are all in this together. We shouldn’t be turning on each other. We should be helping each other and empathising. That isn’t hard to do either.

This thread has been such a disappointment to read.

@ripples101 💐 Thank you so much, you put into words exactly how I feel. I was so upset about it yesterday as I felt really quite low and after a few comments, decidedly worse.
I totally agree with you that I most definitely understand the reasoning some expressed and respect differing viewpoints, however when it became personal and really, rather cruel, it’s really disappointing.
I decided to be shitty back to the people who I felt were shitty to me (immature perhaps) but it felt really unfair to me and the many others facing all kinds of different and difficult hardships and being called selfish and so on, when they most definitely aren’t.
So, yes, I answered rather rudely as one poster said I was ‘Rude and entitled’ and ‘Moaning’ so what really is the point.
To come on to someone else’s post when they’re clearly quite low and berate them and attack is a horrible thing!
Thanks again for your words, it’s easy to lose faith in people at times like this.

@ripples101 Thank you so much for being so kind 💐 Xx

@Justinversusmrtumble I get your frustration, and understand why it feels so annoying to be constrained in this way. There are many people on this board who will understand your situation and get that being away from family is a valid reason to be upset. I think the best option for you is for your parents to come/you to go and follow whatever rules are if you can - it may be painful and costly but better than nothing.

Unfortunately there are many others on this board who dont have family abroad, or who live in a world where there is a 1 dimensional concept of life which is driven only by covid and no other needs matter - even for those cognizant of rules. People like this will run down anyone who wants to travel and you're doomed to their criticisms and they will tell you that you "took risks" or "you're selfish" when you moved abroad and you should have anticipated such a situation.

I was recently told in MN in a separate thread that i was selfish to go and visit my mother abroad when my dad died. Awesome.

Such utter BS to make your blood boil. Yeah we should all never move places, stay put forever and never attempt to grow as individuals.

Sounds not amazing.

Im sure the government are only basing decisions on scientific advise, Im amazed anyone would book to go as it could change at any time. Stay UK and wait i say?

Cant your parents still come OP but will have to pay for tests and isolate etc?

@allmixedup12 So sorry about your dad, that’s just awful 😞
It’s really very bizarre, it’s pretty normal for most of the people I know to have moved around, travelled, lived abroad at some point etc..on here, for some, it seems unheard of and as if you’re doing something very wrong. The views are odd! Ones I don’t encounter in real life 🤷🏻‍♀️

@Coldwine75 My parents booked in January this year, they always book well in advance to try to get cheaper tickets etc. They deliberately booked twice for the summer months, thinking things may be in a better place by then and also when they knew they’d definitely both have had both vaccines, which they both do now.

@Coldwine75 Yes, after all the hype here yesterday on forums etc, it’s looking like they can actually come, but will do all the tests and isolate on return to the U.K., no problem 🙏 Hoping it stays like that over summer.

@QuentininQuarantino

I think posters like that have lost all sense of risk assessment, presumably not leaving the house for fear of anything happening and are hyped up by the internet and entertained by bringing people down. I agree, it’s sad for them and when the virus is a distant memory they’ll still be very damaged.

I think some people have short memories; travelling and moving about is the cause of serious problems with this pandemic. Everyone was full of bravado this time last August that the pandemic was over and look how that ended up.
Thinking that international travel restrictions are in place to protect the population as a whole is not the same as refusing to leave the house.
And travel hasn't even been banned to Portugal!

[quote ripples101]@Justinversusmrtumble

The people who were rude to you deserved being responded to the way that you did. When you did, they then played the victim. They are pathetic in the way that they chose to engage in this thread.

Sending you all the best, and I hope you’re able to see your family soon. Being apart from those close to you is a horrible thing, something every single human being knows all too well. (That simple fact makes it all the more incredulous to read some of the replies you got).

Take care OP, and fingers crossed for you x[/quote]
Are you suggesting my saying about my grandmother is pathetic?

Honestly. I really can't fathom people being so nasty yet saying everyone has been horrid and lacking empathy to OP