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.

I had my friends kids overnight earlier this year while she was in labour. Don't think that was technically allowed at that point..? We've probably been in a park where there were more adults and kids that I knew than 6, standing distanced for a chat.

But apart from that, no. We're being very cautious.

My friend started dating someone a few months ago and stuck to covid rules. They met outside only for dates and kept a distance. On christmas day when they were allowed to form a bubble for a day, she invited him around to her family home and in the evening she kissed him. She called me the next day worried about how she had broken the rules! It's funny isn't it - that was illegal - and now she doesn't know when she can see him again except for outside walks!

In June, when the rule was up to six people could meet outside and in gardens (but had been announced it would change to allow 2 households of any size to meet up outside), my household (5) went to celebrate my brother's birthday with another household (2), so 7 altogether instead of 6.

I also picked a collegue up from the garage when she'd dropped her car there for an MOT, and took her back after work. We work together in a classroom where we're told to social distance as much as possible - and it very much isn't always possible. She sat in the back of the car, passenger side and worse a mask (I'm exempt due to disability) and we had the windows open. It was very cold!

I was in tier two and could drive 3 miles east to a major out of town shopping centre and eat in restaurants etc but if i drove 2 miles south east I entered tier 4 and could not visit my Mums grave!!

I could stand in the field 12 foot away but not in the actual burial ground as the border runs along the edge.

I did break the rules - i dare anyone to give me a real reason that it was wrong.

I see my parents, sisters and nieces regularly. We go into each other's houses and I have had my niece to stay overnight a couple of times.

I have had dinner at a friend's a couple of times.

I have no justification other than I want to.

@Crunchymum

When my mum dropped dead a few months ago, we (me, siblings and dad - so 5 different households) met up at my parents house and sat with her body for a few hours before the coroner came for her body. No social distancing.

Would do it again every single time.

Condolences . It’s never easy and I imagine much harder in these times.

Whatever bullshit excuse you come up with to break them isn’t acceptable

So the above is unacceptable for you @emilyfrost or have you the compassion to release life isn’t as black and white as you’d like to paint it.

We appear to be a nation full of horrible, selfish, thoughtless losers - illustrated by the Sydney backpackers

I suspect that was fake news. Do you really think the police wouldn't have been there immediately to break up a large gathering before it got a chance to get too big? And there aren't any "backpackers" at the moment? You either live in Australia or you don't get in. Those there now, were there in March so are living there temporarily, not holidaying.

And of course they were English (not British, naturally) accents. I don't believe a word of it. Same with the so-called ski-iers, people have posted on the Times to say it didn't happen. 200 people managed to leave their hotels in the middle of the night and nobody noticed? Yeah right.

Don't believe everything you read on newspaper websites. There will be a kernel of truth - eg maybe one family of ski-ers broke quarantine - maybe there was a group of 20 young people (of all nationalities) on the beach in Sydney before the police turned up.

I am in an illegal support bubble with my bf.
We are Tier 4 and didn't want to not see each other for potentially 6 months.
I spent Christmas alone and didn't see my family as penance.

Never broken the rules. BUT I work in school and DS goes to college. Surprised neither of us have had it TBH..... YET......

DDs BF comes here regularly and she goes to his house, I have admitted it on here before and been slated but it’s a decision we have taken in conjunction with his family and I dint care what anyone else thinks of it
It was DS bday last month and his friend came home from school with him for tea, he’s at a new school where he didn’t know anybody from September and I think it’s great hes made friends when they cant meet outside school.
Apart from that we have followed the rules very strictly

We went to dinner at my parents and there was 8 of us when there was the rule of 6. But that because we are a family of 6 and I couldn’t choose which grandchild had to stay home. No guilt.

I think most people have even in tiny ways.

Whatever bullshit excuse you come up with to break them isn’t acceptable

Losing both parents in the space of 7 months is a bullshit excuse??? Really??Does your heart thaw out in the summer or is it always this cold?

We met my brother, SIL and children at the park on Christmas day. The adults all maintained 2m distance. It was worth it to see the DC play together for the first time in months. Other than my DB who had been at work (on his own in an office) and one dc who was in school everyone else had been at home for 10days+ before hand and we're all staying at home again now just in case.

@emilyfrost

Nope, because I’m not selfish and irresponsible.

Whatever bullshit excuse you come up with to break them isn’t acceptable.

That statement is bullshit in itself

That statement is bullshit in itself

Oh for a like button.

@underneaththeash

We did in late October - were moved to tier 2 and there were no covid cases in our village or nearby. Literally none within a 5 mile radius. Went to a friend's house for dinner (with DD).

Not a chance now, it's covid-central here and we're doing nothing social at all. People are being generally good and they need to be at the moment.

How odd that you had no cases, ignored the rules, and now you have cases.

Can't think what happened there....

@FloodedRoad

I am in an illegal support bubble with my bf. We are Tier 4 and didn't want to not see each other for potentially 6 months. I spent Christmas alone and didn't see my family as penance.

Why is it "illegal"? Support bubbles still exist.

I have broke them from the start. In the original lockdown before “bubbles” were a thing I saw my dad and sister all the way through as my mum had passed away just before last Xmas and my dad needed the support.
My dad became my bubble but I have still seen my sister (and sometimes her husband) in each other’s homes all the way through.
I also see my mother and father in law, we are in a childcare bubble with them but we see each other socially in each other’s houses.
So no illegal raves or mass gatherings or anything like that but rule breaking is rule breaking.
We have all worked all the way through (minus mil who retired early) and luckily none of us have knowingly had it yet or had to go for a test.
Currently tier3 here.

Why do people not understand that YOU DON'T ALWAYS KNOW IF YOU'RE CARRYING/SPREADING THE VIRUS??

Break the rules, don't break the rules. But do NOT pretend that you aren't putting people at risk.

No, I haven't broken the rules.

Since March, outside of my household, I have been to Tesco weekly, B&Q twice, visited a family member once, been to one funeral and had friends over for coffee in the garden. Now Tier 4, I've been for cycling with one friend. Otherwise I have seen only my DS, and my ex when he collects him.

I'm pretty independent and resourceful, I've never had mental health issues or depression. But now I'm struggling. I've done my best but the thought of another four months of isolation is daunting.

@Mintjulia, assuming you are single (your post makes it sound as if you are) then you are allowed a support bubble. If you have someone to form one with that is.

Thanks. I am single and I know I can form a support bubble but I'm in my 50s and reluctant to risk my friends' (who are all the same age) health, given that I have a child in school.

You're right, I might have to loosen up a bit to get my balance back

I think part of the problem is that when you see people break the rules in a major way (not just DC but the public in general) it’s easier to justify breaking them yourself. Plus when they make no sense it makes justifying it easier. For example on my FB feed there are at least 4 people who have gone away for a uk break. We are T3 so shouldn’t be going. So when my DD says can we go shopping to X city to spend my xmas money (T3 to T3) then in your head you think “why not?”
When I can go abroad for half term in October but not go and see my Mum 10 minutes drive away it all seems nonsensical.
Plus I think some people genuinely got confused over the bubbles. Sil was saying it was ok for my mum to come here xmas day morning and then to theirs later as we were 3 families - when I mentioned that her family would be there too she said yes but that’s still 3 families together.
Some people are just saying sod it, some people are remaking the rules in a minor way and some are sticking to them rigidly.
I have admitted (and been slated but that’s fair enough) to having DDs BF here regularly and 1 other child once but that doesn’t mean we completely ignore all the other rules. I feel it’s similar to speeding, I might do 75 on a motorway but it doesn’t mean I’m going to do 60 in a built up area, despite watching loads of other cars whiz past me.

@cakewitch

They widened support bubbles recently to include households where "you are the only adult in your household who does not need continuous care as a result of a disability"

Im sorry if this is wrong but I have taken that to mean that if one parent is caring for the other due to Dementia, that they would be able to form a support bubble in that case. I can very much see how that would be needed