I'm really scared we'll be banned from seeing other households again

[Flowersinthewindowstill]

Just that really. I only see one other household and have been living alone. I didn't see my partner for four months during the lockdown restrictions and we only resumed visits again at the end of June.

With what Chris Witty said about having to have 'trade-offs' for schools to go back, I'm worried this will be the first on the list. There's a big difference between people seeing 10 different households a week, having parties and BBQs etc. and people that see literally one other household.

If this one thing gets taken away again, I honestly don't think my mental health will cope. Hopefully they'll still keep the 'bubble' thing even if they ban households meeting

@thedaytodayyesterday I’m in a similar boat. I’m in this new lockdown area where we are not supposed to be mixing households, but I have extremely bad mental health, getting worse by the day and I still have PND, even though my son is almost 2. He’s very demanding and without the usual playgroups etc I will massively struggle once my DP goes back to work full time in September.
So we’ve decided to form a bubble with my in laws, even though it’s not strictly allowed under these new restrictions in the North, but due to my vulnerable state, I don’t think the police would make an issue out of it and if they want to fine me, they can. My mental health is as important as physical health.

@lissy23 I think you have done exactly the right thing. I'm simply not physically capable of being without help again like I was at the start of lockdown. I've done my 12 weeks on my own and I can't do it again. I can't work and be alone with a 3 year old for 12 hours plus a day six days a week. I have a neurological disease which has deteriorated during lockdown due to sheer stress and exhaustion. I was unable to walk or talk for much of last week, but I have had my parents to help so i was feeling relieved at the light at the end of the tunnel. Then to be told on Thursday night that we were back to being banned from this I almost lost it, so bubble it is. I suspect there will be plenty of other people in the same boat as us who barely made it through lockdown and have now been thrown back into hell again. But I think they will struggle to enforce this as the pubs are still open etc. The only thing they've banned is people from doing is seeing their own families and I think it's disgusting.

Like others on here OP it's already happened to me i.e. the one household I really want to mix with I can't because they're in GM. My parents didn't see their only GCs for 7 months and now they can't see them again. I literally couldn't care less about mixing with any other household.

I won’t be going to work in an office then! I’m not going back to work if I can’t see friends and family.

KrabbyPatties I haven’t seen my mum in a year either, she’s in Wales, I’m in London. She’s also shielding which doesn’t end in Wales until 16 August, and the way things are going I’m worried we’ll lock down again before I’m able to see her.

There’s no word yet from the Welsh Govt on whether/when we’ll be able to stay with family in Wales, it’s too far to go there and back in a day. It sucks doesn’t it! I do hope you get to see your mum soon.

@FluffyKittensinabasket OK then hope your employer is flexible otherwise kiss your job goodbye

If it means schools are back I am behind it 100%

We don’t have any additional restrictions here at the moment, but we’ve already decided that we’ll form a bubble with our neighbours if it does happen (neither household has any family within a 180 mile radius, and we’re all young and healthy). The kids will be in each other’s bubbles at school in any case, and all 4 adults are WFH for the foreseeable future. Doing this will probably be against the rules, but we feel it will be beneficial for our mental health and that that outweighs the tiny extra risk of contracting Covid.

I am in an area with restrictions again. Not really a lockdown as we can meet up in the park etc
However very frustrating when my area has very few cases And others have much higher but aren’t locked down. In fact one of those is opening a nightclub this evening as long as they don’t dance.
I really think bubbles are safe but really don’t get this ‘lockdown’

I’m in a newly lockdown area and I’m struggling. I had a baby at the start of March and I have a recently turned 3 year old. The first 3 months were bloody tough. My mental health was a struggle. Things picked up a bit when DD1 could go back to nursery, gave me some time to breathe & enjoy my no longer newborn. Then as things eased further, having some family support has been invaluable. I don’t need much, a couple hours here & there to be able to blitz the cleaning & tidying in my house or get some jobs done etc or god forbid sit on the sofa for 20 minutes & watch some grown up TV! As I’ve returned to a few hours of work, I also rely on my family for childcare.

That’s all been snatched away again & I’m angry & gutted. Angry that no-one can offer a childcare solution other than ‘holiday clubs or nursery’ .. my children is 4 months old. I’m not putting her into nursery at such a young age. But I need to work to keep a roof over our heads. So I guess I’ll illegally send my baby to my cousin anyway.. 🤯

@Jussayingisall

If it means schools are back I am behind it 100%

I presume you don't live alone. I went through 4 months of complete isolation and it has destroyed my mental health permanently. If I had to do it again I'm not sure I'd come out of it alive. Even thinking about it is causing severe depression. Yes, limit social contact, but it's not as simple as 'don't hug Granny.' Isolation can be torture. I'd back the bubbles idea rather than a blanket ban.

I don't live alone no and I can imagine it must be hard but they do say the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

I think by that point people will just make their own risk assessments. I.e if this will have an adverse affect on my mental health I will see my friends. I for one will not go back to only leaving my house once a day to exercise... I can’t believe we even follow this initially!!

cyclingmad - like half of the population I’ve been working from home and will continue to do so.

they do say the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

What you are describing is utilitarianism.
That mentality can justify slavery, gang rape, homophobia etc. This leads to major discrimination for those with disabilities. Terrible mentality

I presume you don't live alone. I went through 4 months of complete isolation and it has destroyed my mental health permanently. If I had to do it again I'm not sure I'd come out of it alive. Even thinking about it is causing severe depression. Yes, limit social contact, but it's not as simple as 'don't hug Granny.' Isolation can be torture. I'd back the bubbles idea rather than a blanket ban.

Don’t think about it. It won’t happen to you as you don’t have to follow the guidelines

Well they can hardly do it on a case by case basis can they

@Jussayingisall

I don't live alone no and I can imagine it must be hard but they do say the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Ah OK, so collapse of mental health and potential suicides of thousands that live alone is cool, as long as kids are back at school. Gotcha.

And FYI, I do think that kids being back at school is a national priority and should be put above many other things. But it's also not cool to pretend that people that don't have kids/aren't kids don't matter full stop.

Just keep seeing them, create a bubble just between yourselves. I hardly think they’ll pursue you as a priority even if is technically against any new “rules” (which rarely have legal force anyway, it’s always worth checking in detail).

@Flowersinthewindowstill

I share your agonies about lockdown, and about the devastating MH effects of this.

You do know, though, that whatever the government says: you can still use your common sense. I saw my (non-resident) DP throughout lockdown, because if I hadn't been able to see him (on top of losing my job, and my DC being at home full time), my MH would have been so badly affected that my DC might have ended up motherless.

DP and I were not, and never have been, any risk to one another or to anyone else. And even if we were a risk to one another, it's a risk we can choose to take. And there is no government minister or curtain-twitcher alive who's going to stop me from doing it again, should the need arise.