I live alone, my partner (my support bubble and only person I see) lives on the other side of the small city where we live (approx 12 miles/25 mins drive away). He lost his Mum last week (covid) and, at present lives with his elderly, and invalid Father.
His Father prefers him to stay very local at the moment, does not fully comprehend all of the lockdown rules, & does not want visitors to the house at the moment, both, given the loss of his wife, understandable, my partner works in the opposite direction to where I live.
He cannot work from home and is with 200+ other employees. I am furloughed.
I suffered badly last March lockdown from the lack of any company and my mental health started to decline, him as my support bubble is vital.
We are both trying hard to follow all of the rules. But, especially while he is working, seeing each other is nigh on impossible if the rules are followed, we don't live 'local' to each other, and if I go to his side of town we sit in his car (if it's the evening) or we go for a walk.
As my support bubble can I travel further than 'local' whatever 'local' is? Can we sit in the car or do we have to exercise? Can we have a coffee in the car? If the answer to those questions is 'no' how are we supposed to support each other at this difficult time, especially as he is grieving his mother?
I am hopeful that given time his Father may have more understanding of the rules and at that point will feel happier about my partner visiting me at my home.
For further info, my two grown up children live in London and I have no parents, siblings or other relatives.
I realise that every single case is different and yes, a lot of people are breaking the rules, but I feel that individuals like myself, my partner etc etc etc are actually being used as the scapegoats in a way for the fact that so many shops are now doing click and collect, unnecessary shops are now open (Go Outdoors for example) and many company's are now asking their workers to go into the office. The roads earlier in the morning 7.30am ish (which I can only assume is work traffic) are virtually as busy now as in 'normal' times.
Just having a general muse about this and would welcome your take on the situation.