Poll: Have you broken the rules? (and WYBU)

[CrazyToast]

Inspired by a suggestion on another post (about whether more people are breaking the rules than MN discussion suggests), here is a poll:

YABU: I have never broken the covid rules
YANBU: I have broken the covid rules at least once (even if it was in a tiny way).

Honest anonymous answers!

I know it should be in the Coronavirus area but there is no voting facility there. Feel free to discuss if the results show people are BU or NBU.

Lost my partner this year to cancer and have needed a certain amount of support so have an extended support bubble and make no apologies for it. I would have become suicidally depressed without this support.

STBXH 'left' me two years ago but has refused to move out. I stuck to the rules all the way through the first lockdown. Stuck in lockdown with him. We don't talk. We just ignore each other and stick to a shared childcare routine. It's shit.

Since the summer, I have bubbled with a friend. I go to their house about once a fortnight. It's against the rules, because I'm in a two-adult household. But there's almost zero communication with ex, absolutely no emotional support and, if anything, the reverse - it's taken a real toll on my mental health to be living with him in these circumstances. If STBXH had just moved out when he called time on our marriage (or any time since) then the kids could move between us and I would be allowed a bubble. I see it as a technicality.

He has now got a date by which he has to leave. And then my illicit bubble will be perfectly acceptable.

I don't judge anyone who bends the rules in minor ways. Mental health is important, too.

Not really

I’m mixed throughout as have all my friends and I know not a single person who’s got it - or had it for months -tier 3

I let my son come for walks with the girl he shares a taxi with to their SEN school (40 min journey no mask as too young) and at school they are in the same bubble wity no social distancing even though really his mum and me can only legally walk together without the chikdren.

@FizzyDizzy121 Hard to say really. He’s alone in his workshop, no visitors allowed. Wears a mask, social distances and sanitises when buying essential food shopping. Travelled off-site to a job in closed building on his own. Have to make a judgement call somewhere. Have to pay the rent and feed the family.

I’d be more concerned at the neighbours next door to be honest, especially the old chap who works in the carehome, flouting rules at home then taking it into a vulnerable environment.

I was struggling home from school walking uphill with DD when I had raging sciatica and could barely walk, and my parents came past in the car and stopped to ask if we wanted a lift if we all wore masks and had all the windows open in the car. We can't have been any more than a minute in the car but I know we broke the rules - I was really really struggling to walk though and I didn't know how on earth I was going to make it home. That's all we've done though, we've been very very careful with all the rules.

@yougofargo i have always wondered why each household couldn't bubble with another Just to have change of scenery etc rather than be allowed to meet 5 other people every day at one time
I suppose trouble is too hard to poilce and people would just keep switching bubbles , but i do feel If we could of bubbled with my parents would of been easier all round on all of us - sd still and no hugging etc

We had our household mixing on a different day to Xmas day due to work.

I've broken the rules in a minor way. Had a friend who lives in a flat over to sit in my garden during first lockdown, although we maintained 2m and she didn't come in the house.

Went to another friend on boxing day and stayed over. There were 9 of us in the house, from 5 households.

Other than that I mask up when outside the house, only really go out to work (I work in an office by myself), for solo walks or to do a food shop once a week. I use sanitiser, keep my distance, wash my hands etc and have pretty much followed the rules even though I don't think they make much sense sometimes.

Looks like the majority have broken rules and somehow see themselves as an exception. And that's why we are where we are.

Best friend came over when I self harmed during lockdown. Dh called her because he couldn't calm me down. Not in a support bubble with each other. She had already had covid at that point.

Other time colleague (teacher) in work was distraught, as she found out her parent in icu was dying. I gave her a hug.

Also social distancing in high school in the corridors between lessons is a joke. It's a scrum even with all the tape and reminders to distance.

Yes - sometimes (1-2 times per week max) my 2 year old plays with other children. He's an only child and there is nothing else for him to do now. No nearby family and his dad works long hours (nhs frontline). It's hard.

I can't fully isolate him for such a long period of time - I'd feel cruel. I've got a PGCE with an early years specialism and have a good understanding of socialising in the crucial first years of life and how important it is. Everyone I know is doing the same except for one friend whose toddler hasn't seen another child at all since March. I just couldn't put my child through that and don't care what anyone else thinks of that.

@Perfect28

Looks like the majority have broken rules and somehow see themselves as an exception. And that's why we are where we are.

It really isn't. Viruses spread, it's what they do. All of these precautions, the masks, the restrictions, the sanitiser - it makes no difference. It will still spread.

Blaming each other is just what the government want, because then we might not blame them.

Not that I think we should blame them, because virus.

Been pretty rigid really and have stuck to it all the way. One small flout the other day when we travelled 40 miles in car for a really long walk with DC. Tier 4 to tier 4 though. Needed a change of scenery. Didn’t speak to anyone and masks on. Was absolutely heaving there though. 😬

@Saltblood but you had a positive case so your dh could of been a carrier as was in house and sd etc only help limit
I think its one step up to break rules when you knowingly have a positive covid test member of your household , we all need to work and pay our bills
I lost my job and am only temping but I still stayed off for couple days awaiting test as did DH and kids , he also lost money and things are tight
Luckily I was negative but it positive we would of had to loose more money

Yes, allowed DD to have a sleep over at a friend’s house (in same class bubble at school). Another of DD’s friends who is in same bubble stayed at ours one night, as her mum was ill and needed childcare.

@HollywoodTease

I've broken the rules in a minor way. Had a friend who lives in a flat over to sit in my garden during first lockdown, although we maintained 2m and she didn't come in the house.

Went to another friend on boxing day and stayed over. There were 9 of us in the house, from 5 households.

Other than that I mask up when outside the house, only really go out to work (I work in an office by myself), for solo walks or to do a food shop once a week. I use sanitiser, keep my distance, wash my hands etc and have pretty much followed the rules even though I don't think they make much sense sometimes.

Yet mixing with 5 other households pretty much undoes all the other good stuff.

I haven't broken the rules but I'm outside of the UK and rates are much, much lower here (because people generally comply with the rules) so the rules arent as strict.

@Saltrock just read he works on his own , thought you meant going into peoples houses to work etc

I have seen my parents. My mother has dementia, and my father would have gone insane had we not been around. I've also seen my sister and her partner. Who are my support system, and without those two I'd have also not been able to function. We have all isolated.. where is the problem??

I hugged my parents the first time I saw them after the first lockdown. It was seven months since I'd seen them and my cat died the day before.

And we spent two nights with the ILs for Christmas.

Otherwise we've pretty much exceeded the rules. I ignored the instruction to get back to the office except for critical design meetings, my husband hasn't been to the office since March, all shopping online.

@Janonomouse whereabouts are you ? In general here first lockdown had high compliance , but many have been under strict rules for over 9 months now that makes it harder and harder the longer it goes on, plus some rules like you can meet your parents at a park but not in garden don't make sense when you see how busy some of parks are

I haven't broken the laws but I guess I have broken guidance by not making my 2 year old observe social distancing 🤷🏻‍♀️

My husband goes for lunch we with his mum a couple of times a month,.even though she is in a bubble with her brother and his daughter. I saw my mum and dad for an indoor coffee the week before Christmas. We had the windows open and sat far apart. Not massive transgressions but still.

Worked in the office rather than home from September onwards. I enjoy the mile and a half walk there and back, no public transport and generally only another person there once a month at most.
I live alone, and the lack of differentiation between working/not working was sending me slightly bonkers.

Gallery visits with a friend a few times - but no less socially distant to her than with others in the gallery.
Met my sister in a restaurant for lunch & Christmas present exchange mid December.
It was my birthday 2 days before the end of lockdown mark 1 - met friends for a takeaway in their garden.