If you have broken Lockdown rules then what is your reason?

[beesthatbuzz]

I doubt I'll get a lot of responses as no one will admit but I'm getting a bit fed up of people around me clearly disregarding the rules. Having friends and family around mainly, not just dropping off shopping but going into the house, several barbeques, two families (sisters and OHs) with all their kids in their front garden in a paddling pool this afternoon). And it's not just one person, it's loads of people. Call me a curtain twitcher all you want but I'm genuinely interested in people's reasons and I'm too chicken to ask them in real life.

I am desperate to see my Mum who lives 150 miles away, My lovely Dad died 3 weeks before lockdown so she's grieving and depressed but we are sticking to the rules, even though it pains me to see her in tears on our daily messenger chats.

Many other people seem to be doing whatever the hell they want and I'm wondering if we are actually the stupid ones for sticking to it.

I’ve stopped by my 2 local daughters/grandchildren’s front garden a couple of times a week as they live round the corner, no different than talking to my neighbour at our doors
Also my youngest son, furloughed, living on his own in a flat, has sat at the end of my garden a couple of times for ten minutes half way through his daily walk.

I've let my teenage son do two sessions of outdoor exercise on some days. He is quite serious about his sports and is trying to maintain a high level of fitness. However he has also been out for some walks with me. Because of a medical condition that I have I can't go out on my own. The rest of the family have shared out supervising me but if its DS's turn and he has already been out then I don't stop him. We live in an out of the way place and chances of him coming into contact with anyone else during either his solo exercise or whilst helping donme are very small. Someone walking in a city probably gets closer to far more people in 10 minutes that DS would going out for two hour lots of exercise so I don't think its placing anyone at risk. We have been indoors for nearly 2 weeks now in fact as DH had some mild symptoms but we can go out at the weekend and I won't object if DS wants to go for a run and join me on my walk.

@MrsAvocet unless you're in Wales then there's no law against two or indeed more firms of outdoor exercise a day

@T0tallyFuckedUpFamily I’ve been to the cemetary quite a few times now. It was a better vibe in the early days of lockdown - only a couple of people max were there at any one time so less crowded than the pavements, and no one glared daggers at you if you dared to sit on a bench.

"At end of day we all surely have common sense"

Are you sure about that...

It’s lovely, isn’t it Goatymcgoaty. Ours is large but very peaceful. It’s just lovely to walk on grass and listen to the birds and everyone we meet is so friendly and nice, from 20 feet away.

• Goatymcgoaty

I had my brother round with his pregnant wife and 3yo autistic son last week.

We lost our mum last year very suddenly and unexpectedly, she was not old. I have been struggling to come to terms with her death as have my young children, their 3yo is has autism and adhd, they have been isolating in a flat with no outdoor space and close to breaking point.

As all of us had been isolating, I took a calculated risk and I do not regret it.

Not yet but potentially about to.
My partners mum was terminally ill and my partner moved 300 miles away the week before lockdown to care for her. As soon as she is ready, I will go down and visit. Although to be honest I’m classing this as fairly essential under the circumstances for both our sakes - she has been struggling badly with the circumstances and I’ve just been signed off work with bad MH. Seeing each other will help both of us massively.

I'm off to buy another case of sparkling wine tomorrow. I'll buy just enough food to hide it

Because I'm happy to read the material that's been made available and do my own assessment of risk. When you're discussing two households mixing when both are essentially isolating (ie only leaving the house once a week to go food shopping), the risk is as low as it's going to get. My mum is a housewife and my dad is a farmer (who works alone), so hardly very 'risky' careers, either.

Weighing up the 'risk' versus the reward, which is my toddler gets out of the house and gets to see her grandparents, my grandparents get to see their granddaughter and their heavily pregnant daughter, and everyone's mental health is improved, it's worth the risk of CV.

I'm aware that I'm lucky to be able to visit my childhood home (which is a stone's throw away from my house) and be able to safely enjoy exercising in the fields with absolutely no one anywhere near us. However, no one's condemnation of me 'breaking the rules' is going to stop me from doing it.

I imagine that the 'rules' will be relaxed in the next week, anyway, allowing what I've done to be acceptable. I think as long as both households are sensible, it can work.

Half of these "infractions" are actually allowed anyway!

Thanks Mascotte
I'm not in Wales. I wasn't sure if it was actually illegal but I know it isn't what's being recommended so I have felt slightly anxious. The probability of anyone even noticing, never mind complaining are miniscule where we live, but you never know. Some people seem to have taken neighbourhood watching to extremes at present!

@MrsAvocey absolutely no need to be anxious if you're obeying the law. Get him outside! 😃

I miss my mum a lot. She lives a 5 minute drive away and lives on her own. My dad has died of coronavirus (they’re separated and I have a step-mum). I have a toddler and could do with a break. I haven’t broken the rules. I don’t think it’s worth the risk.

My mil, sil, neice (who I work with) and grand neice walked to our house yesterday and we spent half an hour in the garden together for dps 50th birthday. It was lovely.

I've been meeting my friend for an odd, 2m distance walk. She lives alone and has only been leaving the house once a day to tend her horse. I am probably more of a risk to her than she is to me!

On Monday my mum is going for a walk with me and ds9. It's been 7 weeks. We need to see each other. We understand we can't hug or anything, but she misses my ds so much and we miss her.

Not personally. A few of me neighbours since the beginning of lock down have all been together out the front having wine etc. I was a bit chucked at first then as the weeks went by I can see why people are breaking the rules when it's breaking them.

My* not me

Shocked. Not chucked. oh I give up

I've been to b&q to buy plants (not essential!)
I've had 2 15 min chats (at a distance) with friends on my doorstep when they were dropping stuff off for me.
My neighbour has been into my garden and chatted to me a couple of times recently (from a distance!) shes elderly and caring for her severely disabled husband with no support so needs those little chats.
I have however not managed any daily bloody walk/exercise because I've been unwell recovering from covid19 the whole time we have been in lockdown so feel my slight flexibility with the rules is more than offset my the amount ive stayed at home.

I'm a single parent of two young boys with additional needs and absolutely endless energy and attention needs. I have no friends to talk on on social media. I struggle with anxiety, serious stuff, like paranoid delusions, flash forwards to vivid disasters yet to happen. The boys dad lives 100 miles away in another city and lives with his mum - a nurse dealing closely with CV patients, he won't be able to help me out for months. I'd been locked in the house with the boys for weeks, screaming at eachother, trying to do every damn bit of home schooling sent at two completely different levels, cook healthy food (my parents had been leaving it on the doorstep), and keep the house clean and tidy. I have a young pup she's 10 months. I put all her needs before mine too. I hadn't seen/spoken to another adult properly in what felt like months. I almost collapsed. The world went blurry. I was eyeing up a knife to slash my wrist because I couldn't cope anymore. I went to my parents garden in desperation, and the boys played on scooters and ran around and it was bliss. We were there about half an hour. I see my parents every few days now for a little bit. The boys need their mum - so that's my reason.

We’ve moved in with my parents. Baby teething, hubs not working and PND (dr said the most effective thing for me was being sociable) meant six weeks just the three of us was too much. It was move or up my meds. Everyone is so much happier.

I've stuck to the rules other than twice taking my car out for a 15 minute trip around the block to make sure it still works.

Took DD with me when I went to deliver some books to a volunteer who is running a mobile library for people who are isolated. I could have left her home with OH, but it really did her good to get away from these four walls.

OH took her a few weeks back when he went to deliver some 3D printed parts he's made for visors. She stayed in the car both times.

It's the only time any of us have been anywhere other than for groceries.

I went to my parents garden in desperation, and the boys played on scooters and ran around and it was bliss

This isn't against the rules. If your boys have a disability and this is the only way they can safely exercise, that's allowed for in the rules.