Honestly who’s broken lockdown at least once?

[Madwife123]

I’ll start by saying I have. I’m NHS staff so have been back and to at work anyway but my sisters baby was stillborn and so I broke the lockdown to visit her, she needed it and I felt it was more important at that time than the coronavirus risk. In fact her mental health team suggested it so no guilt and no regrets.

I imagine many of us have had situations where they have done the same for various reasons? Which makes me wonder how effective it really has been.

I took the dog out twice one day - 2nd time when it was very late, pitch black and no-one else about. I also went to B&Q once and I imagine that would be called a non-essential trip. I also picked up a take-away one evening...so 3 times broken. So, no, I have certainly not been perfect, but on the other hand I have only been out shopping 3 times as I can last about 16 days on one shop.

DH is shielding. We go out every day for a walk and see very few, if any, people. Why on earth wouldn't we, we are perfectly capable of assessing risk. This is with the blessing of his doctor, and DH is one of the most vulnerable of the shielded. In fact, I'm so used to it that I may have said on another thread that we haven't broken the lockdown. We haven't been anywhere else, including supermarkets.

I really don’t understand people meeting up with friends, even if they are 2m away and going to sit it families gardens.

Because the risk, if meeting outdoors, is negligible.

I've chatted to my friend on her door for 20 mins 2 metres distance that's about it. Otherwise both me and DH wfh and have done for 6 weeks with minimal supermarket journeys. My DD has MH and ASD so we let her have a friend over on her birthday very distanced in garden. Her MH really worries me- she's getting worse as the lockdown continues so for that reason if lockdown continues for another 3 weeks I'll let her do the same again at some point.
Sorry for your sisters loss OP - it was essential you visited her .

I met my friend for a walk around the local park, is and 6 kids between us... we kept a distance but it was my birthday and so nice to actually see another person to speak to! She also bought me gin... I miss her!

Professor Neil Ferguson

@Weetam68 you are right nothing will be the same again. We've been observing all the rules and went in to lockdown happy and healthy. When lockdown is lifted I expect I will leave as widow.
I broke lockdown to tell my adult children their father was dying. Unexpected, fast progressing and not COVID. We can't be with him in hospital or anything.

I have popped into Waitrose, for loo paper, soap, and probably something not essential while I am about it, and Asda for Wine, and was getting into a bad habit of going to our express shop daily, well at least one member of the family has been, as well as having an online delivery/click and collect
i might have walked the dog twice in one day.
i did sit in dm garden while dh mended her fence

@isadora2007 She absolutely should have been at the funeral but sadly we were only allowed 10 people. In order to include his carers the funeral started from my dad's care home as it is such a wonderful, loving place. My dad needed 24 hour care in the last eighteen months as a combination of advanced dementia and two hip operations took away his ability to walk or do anything for himself. I visited him every day as did friends and other family. He was loved by not only us but all of his carers. In normal times his funeral would have been huge. I wasn't implying anything by saying the carer wasn't a guest. It probably didn't need to be said other than the fact that at the Crematorium the ten family members that were actually "Crematorium guests" did not hug which was really hard. That particular carer was my personal favourite. The last two years my life has revolved around visiting my dad so I have become very close to his carers and fellow residents. In this current situation we gave him the best funeral we could and though his wonderful carers could not all be there we did include them.

posted without reading, so sorry @Stopgo

Tried to keep to the rules as much as possible, but we have had a ‘social bubble’ between 3 households going since end of March we did this for work related reasons. It is apparently against the rules but every situation is different we sat and thought about our situation and how it could work. We are all happy with the choice we have made.

I’ve given a colleague a lift to work a few times because he has a long walk now the bus timetable changed.

Another colleague gave me a lift in her car when I needed to buy some coolant so I that could drive mine home (red warning light)

I’ve had birthday gatherings with family in the garden at a distance (4 family birthdays happen to have fallen at this time) but when I say gatherings I mean 3 visitors.

I’ve been making journeys to the post office to post stuff I’ve sold on eBay

just to put my foot down a bit

Ha, that's ace. I too did that. Went to work via the motorway so I could drive fast.

This whole thing is a public health issue, not a public order issue. All these things are ok from a public health perspective.

I have applied common sense. Judging by our local Facebook group there is some kind of competition going on as to who can do lockdown the best.
I have taken my car out a couple of times and have taken it to the local Kwik fit for a new battery. If my mum, daughter, sister had an emergency I would go to them without a second thought.

So sorry about your sisters loss

We abided by the lockdown for six weeks but this past week we went to DPs dad's to get tools out of his garage - the flat needed some repairs done and DP is going on deployment in 3 weeks for I don't know how many months so it needed done. Since we were there we did have a cup of tea in the garden.

I also met my sisters for a walk yesterday. I usually see them 3 times a week and have been really missing them. They live together and i live elsewhere.

I don't know how long this will go on for but it will be a whole other kettle of fish when DP is deployed, I could potentially go months without seeing another human.

@WoollyFoolly

I think this is a deliberate policy to pursue herd immunity by stealth

I agree. The powers that be know full well what they were doing, when they didn’t announce another 3 weeks legal extension yesterday. They know many people tend to rely more on the media headlines, and will relax the rules this weekend thinking lockdown is officially over on Monday.

It’s all about not overloading the nhs and having the resulting chaos beamed across the globe. On an individual level they couldn’t care less. They want it to spread, just slowly.

Sorry about your sister's loss OP and for the loss of your dog @imabusybee . for everyone who has had to support family and friends through difficult times.

I've made non essential journeys a couple of times (less than 2 miles) to visit friend / family members and have stayed talking on drive for a while. Will be getting together for drinks with my DS later but again this will be well distanced, in the garden (side gate to house) and only a short distance.

I think that doing small things like this makes longer term lock down more bearable.

@Goatinthegarden stop feeling guilty.
You did the right thing in the situation.

Do people really think we can carry on like this indefinitely? Mental health is important.
People working & having jobs is important.

We are going to have to accept that lockdown will be lifted and we have got to live with the risk- just like we live with the risk of flu, of car accidents etc etc

Most of these posts are not really flouting lockdown though are they? More like minor interpretations.

Sitting in someone’s garden for 15 minutes is not in the same league as going to a birthday bbq or driving to the Lake District. Sitting in someone’s garden is not spreading the virus in the same way as going to Cheltenham or a heaving national trust property. We should really make our own risk assessments - going out for milk is fine. It’s the people who are too thick / don’t care, and wouldn’t even understand what a risk assessment is, that are the issue.

Yes I suppose so. We have a tesco Express opposite us and regularly nip in for non essentials (tonic if we run out, ice cream etc.) We do take antibac and wash hands but it is probably breaking lock down. Have done a few non essential trips to my grandad and sat on end of his drive to chat (about 8 metres away). He lost his wife last year and normally has a very active social life with friends and member of clubs etc. Being alone 24/7 is very difficult for him.

@Weetam68 I really don't understand what you are trying to say here.

We all know the whole world has changed and that changes are here for the long term.

Therefore are you saying that people are right to be giving one-off mental support to a loved one, or meeting up in a perfectly safe way, or that they shouldn't be?

A lot of these aren't actually breaking lockdown rules.
My mum came to see me after six weeks. My GP recommended it as my mental health had gone downhill.
So that fits under the supporting someone vulnerable rule.
We did hug though so that was breaking a rule.

So sorry for your sister's loss OP. I think your situation and some others on here count as care for the vulnerable so not breaking lockdown at all.

Personally because I am a goody two shoes since childhood, who hates breaking any rules I haven't broken lockdown. Reading about all the people who have had scilg distanced visits to driveways and gardens has me in two minds. Part of me thinks why don't I just do the same and meet my boyfriend or a friend outside somewhere. But the other part of me thinks if so many people are bending the rules, some of us still need to stick with them to keep lockdown being effective, and so I need to carry on as I am.

I've sometimes gone for a run in the morning then in a walk in the evening with DH. We're harming no one, and there is no risk to us or anyone else.

Last weekend I went to buy some plants. The shop was open and social distancing applied.

Other than that I've stuck to the guidelines and not really been out as we have shopping delivered.

If buying Easter eggs was breaking lockdown, I broke it too

Though I didn't go into a shop purely to buy Easter eggs.