Howay the lasses - it's thread (but hopefully not tier) 3!

[PennyDreadfuI]

Haway if you're in Sunderland, of course

@FrolickingLemon do you ever post out through RM or courier?

@NoseringGirl I've been doing similar where I can. For DS' toys I've used the usual suspects but putting together hampers for my parents and DP's parents using local suppliers.

I've just found Screaming Chimp hot sauces who are relatively local to us - worth a look for any fans of hot sauce!

Hi @juneybean and @Someaddedsugar I've not looked into courier costs properly just yet, but I will do that and report back asap.

Still around.
Hadn't seen a postman for a week and yesterday he arrived with a lovely letter telling me someone else in DS1s bubble has tested positive, so his isolation end date has changed. It should have been up on Friday, instead he needs to isolate until Midnight of the 30th. Which is exactly 2 weeks since last in school & pretty much 2 weeks of isolation.

There's a bit of.. confusion in regards to when his bubble will go back due to staff being very poorly. School said they'll let us know at the end of the week. The only plus point is, if his class doesn't go back on Tuesday, at least he can actually get out for a decent walk. Poor staff though, I do hope they're all okay & it does put my issues/worries in to the background.

How lovely nose ring
A pre Christmas gift..
You can now watch bodies on Netflix 😂

Hope he and the staff are ok @Shitfuckoh. I really feel for teachers and parents at the moment.

I love our postman as he's so cheery, and breaks up the monotony of Teams calls and the same four walls each day, however haven't seen him for a while and haven't had any post for about a week! I think Royal Mail seem to be struggling and I imagine Christmas orders are causing huge backlogs but that does worry me that key letters aren't coming through.

Has anyone been to Fenwick's window yet this year..is it mental are ok? Been putting it off x

I haven't been up to Newcastle since early September :/ I'm damn well going to mke myself a hair appointment as soon as I can, though. My winkleman fringe is now mouth length.

We see lots of the posty but they park near our house. She even had someone else's mail in her pile for us, today, though was incredibly apologetic that it had been sorted wrong! (well, the door number and city were correct, but that was about it!)

@clareykb we've been - I would suggest going first thing in the morning to avoid the queues and the shoppers (still lots of people on Northumberland Street). Depending on what tier we're put in it'll only get busier too!

For hampers etc. The shop Discovering Durham shop in Prince Bishops has some lovely food items.
I have my fingers crossed for tier 2

My postman is always cheery too. He said there's a lot of staff off with the virus at the main sorting office and even a lot of the local postmen (and women of course!) have had to isolate so it's had a knock on effect. Plus he said it's the busiest they've ever been for parcels, letters etc.
Not sure why the school went with a letter rather than email / text / call though!
They've closed 2 more bubbles today & I must admit I'm now wondering when rather than if, they're just going to close the full school again.

I've noticed a lot fewer schoolkids walking past while waiting for ds2's taxi.

Hi all. Not been around for a while & couldn't find thread last night. Glad it's still here.

What Tier are we thinking The North East will be in? (I'm Co Durham)

I'm thinking Tier 2, I haven't had a check the last few days but I don't think our numbers warrant Tier 3.

@PickAChew
It's a bit of a mess really isn't it.

I agree, Co Durham’s figures don’t deserve Tier 3. The numbers that the council post, are showing a large drop, but I don’t trust anyone, anymore.
I want to eat a meal out, meet friend in coffee shop. I’m bored of meeting for a walk in park. I also really want to go to the cinema.

I just want the soft plays to open. My days with two toddlers on my own are hard & it's so cold to go for walks. I'm praying we are Tier 2

I think we're being primed for tier 3, unfortunately.

Had parents evening over the phone, this afternoon, and the bubbles are proving to be really positive for ds2. There's almost 300 kids in his school, now, so break and lunchtime were often challenging for him. Now they have, as well as the year group bubbles, one for the discrete autism provision of about 20 pupils (so glad we didn't burst that one, last week!) and they have the yard to themselves so he doesn't get as overexcited.

I never want to be asked if I want to go for a walk ever ever again. The answer is NO.
Our figures are coming down, if we aren’t tier 2 what is the point. Nothing we do is going to be good enough.
Even Christmas, we will only be a total of 7. And no I don’t want to zoom or FaceTime.
Hopefully soft play will be open.

@MissEWeatherwax

I never want to be asked if I want to go for a walk ever ever again. The answer is NO. Our figures are coming down, if we aren’t tier 2 what is the point. Nothing we do is going to be good enough. Even Christmas, we will only be a total of 7. And no I don’t want to zoom or FaceTime. Hopefully soft play will be open.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/making-a-christmas-bubble-with-friends-and-family/making-a-christmas-bubble-with-friends-and-family

Read this and see if the word bubble doesn't start to look odd.

I read the guidance before & it really does make a mockery of the word bubble. No one I have spoken to round here plans on sticking to it. 1 is saying Christmas Eve she'll go to her sisters as usual, where her sister, her & her sisters breakfast and their kids (all in totally different 'bubbles' at school) will have a fun breakfast etc. Then Christmas Morning she'll see her inlaws (Parents & sister in law - from 2 different households) then she'll go to her parents where there's her family, her parents, her sister & family. She doesn't know yet if her grandparents will go for the meal or if they'll all go to see her grandparents at their house.

Exclusive bubbles aren't going to be happening for those who usually have Christmas with multiple other households.

Mine will be the same as last year, I'll stay home with the DC. Their dad might come see them Christmas Eve - unlikely he'll miss that one despite not seeing them for months... & I usually see a friend after Christmas at some point but not sure if it'll happen this year as of course her 'bubble' will be her family and we'll be back in tiers after it.

@PickAChew
1 of my worries is being the one to pop a class bubble Even though the DC are only going to school and we're going no where else and seeing no where else. Which means if they did get it, it'd be from school. But would be my luck for my DC to be the one with symptoms closing the class!

Sisters best friend, not sisters breakfast - wish MN had an edit button.

I think we (N Tyneside) will be tier 3, if the council's decide to go in together the whole region will be tier 3, the gov seem to be priming everyone to go back into a higher tier than they were in before.
We are only having my Mum for Christmas

We don't go anywhere, either, @shitfuckoh save food shops and, rarely, other shops, so long as they're quiet. I hate crowds, anyhow. I've offered to bubble with my parents because they'll be alone and we'll be alone, otherwise. We do low key Christmas, anyhow and normally spend the day, just the 4 of us, all in separate rooms, much of the time 🎉🥳 and visit my parents for new year, when my mum and I watch crap telly and chat over gin or plonk while das goes to bed early and dh snores on the sofa.

And I swear that Bozza spent an afternoon in front of a mirror, saying "Christmas bubble" over and over.

I read this morning that Hancock is supposed to be announcing the tiers at 11:30 - I'm hoping he's running late again as I'm usually on the way to get DS3 from nursery at that point!

It's been speculated Liverpool will be Tier 2, as will London for now. So based on those, not sure how we can be Tier 3?