People saying ‘we’ve had a year of this’ - what did you do last summer?

[Bubbinsmakesthree]

I keep seeing people saying things like “my child hasn’t played with anyone else in a year” or “I’ve not seen any friends in a year”. I know some people have been shielding or live in areas that have had tougher restrictions for longer...but if not, what were you doing last summer?

I think I’ve been fairly cautious but we still managed holidays/trips away in the UK, lots of (socially distanced) meet ups with friends and family and my children saw lots of their friends. We’ve been to museums, meals out, swimming etc. Other than children not social distancing with each other I don’t we broke any rules. It certainly wasn’t a normal summer but in comparison with the current (really miserable) lockdown things were pretty decent.

Lots of people I know were regularly in bars, making cinema trips, foreign holidays and taking the children soft play (i drew the line well before it got to soft play myself!)

Are people forgetting what actually happened or did some people remain in voluntary lockdown all year?

Well you’ve just said it yourself, you broke a pretty big guideline. Social distancing was needed so those who actually followed them, no their kids haven’t played with others all year.

Worked to cover the people who were CEV and got furlough.
My kids stayed in because we had to work twice as much.

But kids can play socially distanced can’t they? My kids are in school as key worker kids, they all seem to be playing and having fun! It’s not normal no, but they’re still socialising!

I know what you mean - I think by “we’ve had a year of this” people mean a year of restrictions. Last year wasn’t normal even in summer with social distancing/masks/queueing to get in everywhere. But we went away (uk holiday) and still had a nice time. I still didn’t see my parents in summer as dsd is vulnerable so they were shielding. Have only seen them about 5 times since last March and that was sitting outside.

I’m hoping this summer will be at least as good as last summer, we have another uk holiday booked. Parents have now had their jabs and I’m leaving it up to them to decide if they want us to visit.

Good for you, I guess.

We didn't do any of that.

Because so many people did, the virus spread like wildfire throughout the summer, early autumn...

Here in the North West we had about 3 weeks of being able to mix in households...then back to restrictions again.

Cancelled my holiday in the south of France. Spent a miserable week in a caravan in Cornwall where the weather was shit, it was impossible to eat out in a restaurant without having booked three months in advance and most decent attractions for kids were closed.

Spent the rest of it at home, staring at the same fucking bald patch of grass (I know, at least I have a garden, etc).

We did similar to you - went on holiday, went out to museums and restaurants, saw family following the Rule of Six / mainly outside. I don't particularly remember it being that different to usual to be honest. Masks etc didn't come in until July/Aug so it was all relatively normal until then when you went shopping etc

Bar September when we sent ds to nursery he hasn't mixed with any other children since last March. Nursery is small and classed as one bubble, they had to close for isolation in October, open a week, then closed again in November, we chose to keep him home for December so we could family mix over Christmas, then we went into tier 4, so nevermind seeing family... we haven't sent him back yet.

The summer had loads of restrictions. July 4th was the start of unlocking, we could travel and stay overnight somewhere else. I guess that you had broken a few rules if you were mixing. The rule of 6 was in place and only two households.

The lockdown people on Leicester have stayed in for a year hasn’t been voluntary

Yep some of us have had restrictions throughout...

I bought a stand up paddle board and me and dds spent the summer on the lake near our house. The kids loved the open water swimming and their swimming came on a treat. There were lots of kids there and it has a holiday vibe especially when the sun was blazing. Probably one of the best summers we’ve had.

I think we had about 3 weeks before additional restrictions came back in and there was no more mixing with other households. I went out for tea with my sister once.

I've not had anyone in my house since march last year - not big enough to social distance in and I doubt most people's are so technically speaking a lot of people did break the rules when the rule of 6 was in. Likewise with eating out /drinking with friends - people were still meant to social distance from anyone not in their household but everyone seemed to turn a blind eye to that! My kids weren't in school from March to September so summer definitely didn't feel like the normal welcome break. DH and I still working from home and all annual leave used up for homeschooling so no actual holidays. Family are all abroad so closed borders and quarantine arrangements mean we havent seen any family for over a year.

@Mousehole10

Well you’ve just said it yourself, you broke a pretty big guideline. Social distancing was needed so those who actually followed them, no their kids haven’t played with others all year.

It was allowed in Scotland.

OP we had an alight summer, all within the guidance. I guessed winter would be shit so wanted to make the best of it.

We're in France.
I had a good July and a fantastic August. My dc came over to stay. Dd was furloughed so stayed 3 weeks.
Went out to bars with friends at night as we could sit outside in groups of 10.
Took dgs to Disneyland Paris. So quiet, and the social distancing rules, masks and gel on hands were stuck to rigidly.
By September everything changed but summer was great for me.

Last summer... isolated at home for 2 weeks in order to be able to drive and visit grandparents who are vulnerable and were shielding. From them to see other vulnerable family members.
In order to see those family members we voluntarily didn't eat out, go shopping etc
We made that decision because once school started again we didnt know when it would be possible to see them again.
This was all voluntary but decisions based on not wanting to be responsible for possibly infecting those people.

Yes we did UK holiday, day trips etc. Saw family (not local) a couple of times. Indoor hospitality only once and with great trepidation.

I am CEV although you wouldn’t know it and thanks to totally shit communication between my specialists and my GP, nor did I (until a couple of weeks ago). I did however suspect I was higher risk and acted accordingly. DH also higher risk.

Guidelines for CV seemed to be based on ticking one age / condition box. I didn’t meet the threshold for any. Came close to ticking several though (more than one condition) and GP suggested I should assume I was CV. So no, not voluntary lockdown, but months of vigilance and considering every trip or outdoor meet up very carefully. Far from normal.

Sounds like you managed to do an awful lots of things that others didn't.

Since last March we've been away once, to visit grandparents. We've seen my parents once and MIL 3 times, siblings/cousins not seen them at all. My kids did go back to school sept - Dec but no after school activities in person, literally just school then straight home, didn't ever go to the park on the way home.

Eldest (13) has not once met up with friends outside of school, middle (11) has been for a distanced walk with a single friend 3 times, and youngest (8) has met one friend outside of school once (it was friends birthday and friends mum died 2 months earlier so we said sod it to the rules).

I think we've driven somewhere for a walk maybe 3 times, apart from that it's all walks or cycle rides from home. DH went to the pub with friends once and I have been for a walk with a relative twice, no friends meeting at all. We have not been to museums, days out, swimming etc.

Some of us have kept ourselves to ourselves far more than you. I'm not forgetting what I did last summer at all, I've just managed to list every social thing we've done since 21st march last year as each one is so memorable. So I'd say some people are quite right in saying they haven't met friends or their kids played with others for a year. Just because you did, doesn't mean everyone did.

I haven’t had anyone in my house for a year. Regardless of what is “allowed” it’s still a risk to mix with anyone. In the summer it may have been a low risk but that is not the same as zero risk. It wasn’t a risk I was willing to take. So even when it was technically permitted to go to pubs and restaurants, I didn’t. Neither did I go swimming or to museums etc. It’s impossible to make small children socially distance so we didn’t even attempt it, we just stayed away from everyone. We didn’t mix at Christmas either, even though it was technically allowed.

All the places we used to go to were shut or restricted we went to one day trip where there were other people the rest of the time we just pokemon hunted walked water balloon fighting we played it safe

@RandomMess

Yep some of us have had restrictions throughout...

I can’t imagine how utterly shit it has been in areas like Leicester that have had a ban on household mixing for almost the entire year.

Granted some of the “we’ve had year of this” sentiment comes from people who really have had a year of it. But it’s something I hear from people who live in areas which were only under national restrictions in summer and weren’t obviously shielding/CEV.

Sadly, it's all these 'little' rule breakings that means the rest of us still can't do anything. Including earn money.

Glad you had a great summer though

In Manchester we had restrictions lifted a bit for a couple of weeks. But basically we have been locked down for a year.
It’s shit.