Going to the pub

[Realitea]

A friend has asked if I’ll meet at the pub soon and I just don’t feel confident about it. We’d be sitting on a picnic table which means being pretty close together albeit outside.
I know it would be good for the children to see each other again (we both have 1 each and they’ve missed each other) they’re old enough to be sensible
But I have been socially distancing for so long and it just feels a bit too soon.
I can see myself sitting right on the edge of the bench wiping down my glass with an antibacterial wipe!
What are other people’s thoughts on this?

Some people will be happy to go, some wouldn't. I imagine they're going to be very busy today so if you're nervous I'd probably avoid it.

My plan is to wait till 2021. Can you meet up in your garden / a park instead?

I think I’d feel happier in a garden or park!

If you're going to sit at a table in the pub garden and not "socilaize" with anyone other than the group you arrived with, I agree, do it in a park or one of your gardens. Cheaper and nicer.

I agree a park/garden will be nicer.

It's raining here today -has been for two days and it's foggy and generally miserable so I don't think there will be crowds outside pubs.

Maybe not such a bad thing.

The weather will certainly help keep numbers down hopefully.

If I am going to the pub i don't want rules and regulations. No music/signs everywhere/giving your details at the door/remembering the SD-no thanks. I am happy to wait until it's not such hard work.

Don't go then. I'm going next week and can't wait! And those of us meeting are nurses!

If everyone waits until 2021 there will be no pub industry to return to.

We are going to our local tomorrow. I’m not particularly worried, we’ll practice good hygiene and social distance in the same way we would if we were meeting in our friends’ garden. I always have my ID as I’m 31 and have been ID’d all my life! I’m actually pregnant so won’t be drinking alcohol but looking forward to being around people again.

I hate music in pubs as I struggle to hear and a couple of additional signs up doesn’t really seem to me to be a good reason for killing the pub industry in the long term.

Social distancing seems to be a problem though if two households are meeting up and squeezed on a picnic bench, there’s no way of doing it. Has it been reduced to 1 metre now? If it has I’m sure the rule was 1 metre as long as masks are worn and precautions are taken. I can’t wear a mask and drink!
I just feel it’s a bit of a mess at the moment. I think I’d feel differently if it was just my family going but mixing households.. I’m not so sure

I live in an absolute shithole of a place and there have been queues outside Wetherspoons since 7am. It’s no surprise where I live though, sadly.

All Dh idiot ‘friends’ who he went to school with have been texting him constantly today to come and get slaughtered. They’ve been on countdown since the news about today came out. Not that they haven’t all been drinking together anyway. Thank fully he has more sense.

These are 37 year old men with families, not kids.

(Christ I sound like a snob, I am. I can’t wait to move from here).

I'm going tonight with my husband to meet some friends. Little quiet village local, will wash hands lots and no licking.

Blimey @Billyjoearmstrong. 7am?! What time did they open? And, yeah, move as soon as possible. It sounds dire. And you don’t sound like a snob!

@WhereILiveIsWhereIStay

"Don't go then. I'm going next week and can't wait! And those of us meeting are nurses!"
What difference does you being nurses meeting up make?

I don't see why garden or park will be safer... but totally your decision to make.

@DownWhichOfLate Wetherspoons opens at 8am. They were already stood in the queue drinking cans. Useless tossers.

They’ve also been gleefully sending Dh the made up names for track and trace that they were planning on using all week. As well as made up addresses/phone numbers. It’s boils my piss.

Sort of sums them up:

🙄

@Billyjoearmstrong. . I would be fuming as well!

I'm sure people who write memes like that one above are just on the wind up.

OP I wouldn't go in those circumstances, doesn't sound much fun for anyone. Another time without the DC maybe.

Why do some people get so angry about other people doing stuff that they are allowed to do? I don't get it.

@AlecTrevelyan006 because some people (like Dh friends) are idiots and take things to extremes.

I can bet that at least one of them will be puking outside come 5pm being egged on by the others. Is there any need to be straight down the pub at 8am having pint after pint with your fry up? After all that’s happened in the past few months. All I’ve seen in my area throughout all this are idiots who have no sense of the wider picture. They just wanted to carry on with their life of drinking/House parties and doing what ever the hell they like with no concern for the health of others. Sadly there are hundreds of thousands like them all over the country.

I was in the pub last week (in Ireland), had a lovely meal and a few pints, it was fab! Tables were far apart, hand sanitiser everywhere, plastic menus carefully wiped down etc, mind you i saw the waitress biting her nails in between courses, so whatever precautions an establishment take, it can all come down to the staffs personal hygiene.

@NotEverythingIsBlackandWhite I was pre-empting the going to the pub will land you in the mortuary, are you an idiot? You wouldn't be going if you've seen CV first hand, selfish, you must have a drinking problem if you can't wait to go to the pub, I hope you won't end up drunk and using emergency services posts

Going tomorrow. Will wash hands before and after. Avoid face touching. We're booked in for 90 minutes, their max time.

Probably going to be more so socially distanced than the supermarket.