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Original poster

To burst all of these bloody bubbles

203 replies

kirktonhouse · 11/01/2021 19:52

A single person can bubble with one single other household, yes, I get it, it's really useful for those living alone, however there are so many other bloody fake bubbles.

Single elderly parents having 'bubbles' with every one of their children's families

Work bubbles

School bubbles (different in the morning and the afternoon)

Sport bubbles (stupid fucking footballers)

Camping bubbles (yes really, some friends in the summer)

Play bubbles (with whoever happens to be at the park/beach)

Dog walk bubbles

You can't call everyday life a fucking bubble. Just stop seeing so many bloody people and calling it a bubble to pretend that it's ok when it really, really isn't.

I feel better for that. I'm going back to my miserable bastard bubble, does anyone want to join me?

OP posts:
unebaguettepastropcuite · 12/01/2021 08:50

Basically it boils down to people being selfish. They know they are wrong but are just looking to justify themselves

Peanutbutterblood · 12/01/2021 08:51

Totally agree op. I have a childcare bubble with my mum. She is the only person (and my dad who lives with her) who I see outside of my own home. Havent seen other family for months

Bil has 2 childcare bubbles, a work bubble, his wife's work bubble, his mil has another work bubble within her house as well as 3 single people bubbles yet my dh thinks IABU for suggesting they are bending the rules to suit themselves

I'm so cross, more with my husband and I feel like being a martyr and saying to him "fine if I am unreasonable you can drop two days work for the foreseeable and my parents wont have the children"

GhostPepperTears · 12/01/2021 08:51

It does seem as if the term 'bubble' has lost any speific meaning - instead being used to formalise any arrangement in which people meet regularly.

It is such a shame because it should have been a lifeline for some people who needed it. Instead it's a get out of jail free pass for everyone.

AmoElCafe · 12/01/2021 08:54

It still is a lifeline for those of us who need it.

Bathroom12345 · 12/01/2021 08:56

I agree with you completely. Its getting completely out of control.

Also people citing MH issues, going bananas unless they do this and that. That is why this lockdown isnt working.

Yes, and I agree some of the elderly are doing what they like, support bubbles, couple shopping because that is what they have always done) seeing grandchildren (because they are in yet another bubble) and making every excuse under the sun including that they will continue with their life because they will 'take the risk'!

They really wont, they and their family will be screaming for help when they get ill.

StCharlotte · 12/01/2021 08:57

@Alicealicewhothe

Agree i have a genuine support bubble who are also my childcare bubble (technically according to the guidelines i could have two different bubbles)

but as myself and husband both keyworkers with DH directly working with covid patients we have one set of grandparents to be both childcare and support bubble to minimise spreading but allowing us both to work. We don't want to send DS to childcare yet due to risks of further spreading. I am worried what will happen if they cancel bubbles as it means one of us will not be able to work despite both being front line workers.

All because other people take the mick with the bubbles or have multiple ones!

See this is where I'm confused. As I understand it yes, you're entitled to a childcare bubble but, assuming you live with your DH, how would you be entitled to a separate support bubble (if you did have one) since you're not a single adult living alone which is what I thought support bubbles were for?

I hasten to add I'm not being critical, God knows we need all the support we can get, but there seem to be so many blurred lines.

TitInATrance · 12/01/2021 08:58

As previous posters point out, it’s not the rules it’s people lying about what they are doing. Think of it in the same way as misuse of disabled parking spaces or going sick from work when you fancy a day off. The answer isn’t to abolish disabled parking and sick leave. Name and shame for bubble misuse and all of these things would be my way forward - we have lost the power of shame.

Far more people are arseholes than I would have believed. I’ve seen a lot of life and I thought I was pretty cynical but this is ruining my faith in human nature and making me into someone I hardly recognise. Might be a mumsnet effect as I only have contact with my bubble and neither of us know what goes on locally!

I think the net effect will be a swing to the right, unfortunately.

ukmail · 12/01/2021 08:59

"Agree i have a genuine support bubble who are also my childcare bubble (technically according to the guidelines i could have two different bubbles)

but as myself and husband both keyworkers with DH directly working with covid patients we have one set of grandparents to be both childcare and support bubble to minimise spreading but allowing us both to work. We don't want to send DS to childcare yet due to risks of further spreading. I am worried what will happen if they cancel bubbles as it means one of us will not be able to work despite both being front line workers.

All because other people take the mick with the bubbles or have multiple ones!"

That's not a support bubble. That's a bubble you have invented unfortunately. A support bubble is a single person living alone with one household. Not a couple and a household.

ParisJeTAime · 12/01/2021 08:59

I blame the government tbh. They have been so unclear about all of this. The guidelines have loopholes a mile wide and more grey areas than your average winter in Aberdeen*. They also have u turned so much that, while something IS 'allowed', or perceived to be allowed, of course some people are going to do it, before there's another fucking u turn!

Also, all this "we're closing schools... but actually send loads of kids in. Just a handful have to stay off" is creating a very nasty divide, where parents who arent keyworkers feel as if their kids are being massively let down while everyone else gets an education. That is the government's doing. Bunch of fuckwits. So now, some people will start to say, "why should I sacrifice any more for the 'greater good'?"

It doesn't make them good people, but I understand it and think it is almost inevitable.

*no offense to Aberdeen - I used to live there and it was lovely, but grey in winter, due to the granite and weather.

Ineedalargeone · 12/01/2021 09:00

I agree, people are being silly now. A FB post of a group in a hot tub - 3 households and the caption was having fun with our bubble! They also see they adult children who don't live with them and his grandchildren. No wonder it's spreading like wildfire. I feel for the elderly since they are the ones dying in the vast majority of cases.

ParisJeTAime · 12/01/2021 09:02

That's not a support bubble. That's a bubble you have invented unfortunately. A support bubble is a single person living alone with one household. Not a couple and a household

No, this isn't right. You can have a childcare support bubble. If your child is I under 1 year old you can have a childcare bubble AND a support bubble, even if you are in a couple. This is what the government have said. So if you disagree with it, you need to get snarky with our great (snort) leader and his merry band of arseholes.

Ineedalargeone · 12/01/2021 09:02

Prof Whitty tried a different approach and say every single interaction is the potential for spreading the virus. I think he was appealing to the common sense of individuals. However so many people just don't care at all. Theses same people are moaning how awful the 'lock down' is!

Handcarthell · 12/01/2021 09:05

Prof Whitt's request that we see people only when necessary doesn't look like it applies to the people I know either

Whole weekends bubbled up, supermarkets together. 'We can we're in a bubble'

When not together they both work... mix with others... then back to their 'bubble'

Crazy.

LazyName · 12/01/2021 09:07

@stillhappytohelp

I agree. MIL tried to use this with us and say that we didn’t need to form a bubble (we couldn’t anyway there’s too many of us!) because we used to live with her and uni students etc are allowed to go home to their parents so we can too... I had to remind her we were at uni some 30+ years ago!
😂😂😂
BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 12/01/2021 09:08

Absolutely agree OP. They aren’t bubbles anymore they are huge Venn diagrams of viral spread.

My SIL posts on Facebook all the time. One minute it’s a picture called “my bubble” with her and her DH plus one of their daughters, her DH and their two children. Next day it’s “my bubble” again, another grown up daughter, her boyfriend and his son. Then later on she’s visiting her Mum, stepdad, sister & nieces. None of these as legitimate reasons for bubbles but she puts the pictures all over Facebook while sharing “Clap for Carers” and ranting about a woman she saw with her mask under her chin in the park. 😡

MessAllOver · 12/01/2021 09:09

We have no bubbles, childcare or otherwise. We do have nursery but that's on borrowed time, I suspect.

minipie · 12/01/2021 09:10

Perhaps people need to be reminded that if anyone in their bubble (or any of their bubbles) gets Covid, or has suspected Covid, they will need to isolate, as they are deemed part of the same household.

That might make people think twice about how many they bubble with.

twobrews · 12/01/2021 09:12

PIL are in about 10 bubbles but are pissed off with us for not letting them in the house!

megletthesecond · 12/01/2021 09:14

I'm in a miserable bastard bubble too. I don't have one. It's just me and my teens, week after bloody week. we were sick of each other by april.

Dinosaurcatcher · 12/01/2021 09:15

The key to this is in the word SUPPORT.
Support and social are two very different things.
I have a child under 18 so I’m entitled to a support bubble. As I don’t need support with my child I don’t have one. If I was to take advantage it would be for the social aspect - to see a friend because I’m entitled to not because I genuinely need support.

HarrietteNightingale · 12/01/2021 09:17

No, this isn't right. You can have a childcare support bubble.

No, a childcare bubble isn't the same as a support bubble. You can't mix freely as a household within a childcare bubble, they just look after your children.

A support bubble is for single adult households, households where a person is a carer for another disabled adult they live with, and families with a child under 1.

Within a support bubble you can mix freely. You can have a childcare bubble as well, but again you're not supposed to socialise with those people, just your support bubble.

Hoppinggreen · 12/01/2021 09:19

I asked a single friend if she would like to bubble with us, she said she did.
Last time I saw her she mentioned meeting up with someone else, apparently it was fine because the person was single so also in a bubble with her
I don’t think so

Fembot123 · 12/01/2021 09:20

I’ve not seen any of this, I have no bubbles 😂

BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 12/01/2021 09:21

I’m not in any “bubbles”. I live with DH and DS. I COULD bubble with the old lady over the road but we agreed that as I work in a school (yes still open) I was probably a risky person to be with. So she has no bubble but I do her shopping and leave it on the doorstep and have long phone chats with her. Even people who CAN bubble legitimately should take a long hard look at the associated risks. If I had a parent I would NOT be bubbling with them unless it was because I fancied an inheritance! (Emergencies aside of course but if my neighbour needs, for example, a blocked sink sorted I would tell her to open the door and shut herself in another room while I fixed things and then sanitised before leaving - no contact necessary).

89redballoons · 12/01/2021 09:21

Am I the only person who hasn't seen anyone abusing the support bubble/childcare bubble rules?

I am in a support bubble with my mum, who lives alone. We also have a childcare bubble with MIL and her partner. (My mum can't do full time childcare - she's only in her 60s but has an illness that makes her very fatigued some of the time). We have a one year old and both work. DH genuinely drops our son off with his parents when he goes to work, doesn't stay to chat when he picks him up. My mum comes round to our house once or twice a week and watches DS or we have a meal together or watch TV together etc.

We moved house in May 2020 and mum is genuinely the only guest we have had inside the house since we moved in.

I actually only know of one other household with a bubble - my best friend has a baby and a 2 year old, and they have bubbled with her parents now her DH is back at work. I haven't seen my friend face to face all year, apart from in the park/garden during summer.

As far as I know my neighbours aren't having visitors. I'm not a curtain twitcher but I do live in a terrace so it would probably be quite obvious if my next door neighbours were at least.

All I see on social media is photos of people outside for walks with one other. (And screenshots of zoom calls, and people moaning about not seeing anyone).

Just thought I'd add some perspective.