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?

I had a baby in the summer. If DH or I had covid he couldn't have been at the birth, and then after I gave birth we were advised to be very careful for the first few months. So much was still unknown then.

I disagree you cannot blame the high cases on just schools reopening in September. People just don't care and ignored the rules they think they are invincible and won't get covid, lots are with the attitude "no one is telling me to stay in" "I can do what I want" etc etc. I live in Wales and some towns were on lockdown due to high cases, people from these towns decided they would visit another town not on lockdown for a day out absolutely ridiculous. Mind boggles when people were visiting cinemas, where were these open? Why would anyone walk into a restaurant with a mask on, then take it off, and eat a meal does covid stop at the front door

Yes @LolaSmiles if rates in your area were high then travelling around seeing people wouldn’t make sense.

Is it really that difficult to understand that in some areas cases were very low. So the chance of sitting in the pub with an infected person was low...
I’m very pleased I made the decision to see family just as we came out of lockdown in July. Was the safest time of all. We’d all been in lockdown for months. They live far away so if I hadn’t seen them it would have been a year.

As long we we are within the law then everyone is free to do their own risk assessment. Even my ECV in laws relaxed a bit in the summer and ate out. They kept an eye on local cases and made their decisions based on that.

Pleased my children has a reasonably normal summer.

We took advantage of the eat out to help out but only with immediate family. I live in an area that has been under severe restrictions for what seems like forever. We could not go on holiday.

Is it really that difficult to understand that in some areas cases were very low.
Evidently not.

I just think it's interesting that after a year of on off on off on off, stay home, eat out, stay home, go on holiday, schools open, schools shut, schools are safe and don't cause community spread, go have almost week at Christmas, oops maybe not only have a day, open schools for a day, close them again, national lockdown, tiers,changing tiers, another lockdown and so on, we are now in Feb 2021 and in yet another lockdown.

And in this lockdown we still have people arguing that they did X Y Z but obviously couldn't have contributed to the current situation because it's pesky other people who spread Covid, and anyone who didn't go off all over and mixing was just choosing to have their year disrupted and not see loved ones.

It's probably a good time to reflect on whether the overall approach of some on here that translates as 'but the rules let you go on holiday so stop moaning that we've had a year of restrictions' is particularly helpful.

When did people lose the ability to accurately risk assess?

It’s a seasonal virus. Viruses do exactly what they always do. So no I don’t think mixing and eating out in July or travelling caused the second wave.
Funnily enough there was always going to be a second wave. No matter what you do (unless you stay in lockdown for years).

We actually pushed the second wave back in to the time when the hospitals were under maximum pressure which was pretty stupid but hey.

I’d you stayed cooped up in Summer, when pressure on the hospitals were low, when cases were low then that was your choice. But I think it was a pretty sensible time to get out and about and do things that were within the law. We’ve given up enough of our freedoms. It’s shocking that people are prepared to go even further than that and impose even stricter rules on themselves...

@LolaSmiles

Of course it was going to ramp up enormously in winter, irrespective of whether people went on holiday.

Flu is almost non existent in summer.
Goes through the roof in winter

We had some nice times in the summer, spent a prolonged period in France with family but it definitely was not normal. We drove instead of flying, managed not to have a wee for 8 hours to avoid using services. Didn’t go out as we normally would , went to the beach at 6pm to avoid crowds on a few occasions.
Got to have a few days away with a small group of friends.
Kids played with other kids in their bubble outside in July and September etc.
All within the rules where we live. It wasn’t normal but I feel very very lucky. The poor people living in the north haven’t been and to do anything, they must have been going out their minds, I think perhaps they were overly harsh there, but it’s hard to know how many more seriously ill there would have been with less restrictions.

We haven’t been anywhere or mixed with anyone for almost a year. Our children haven’t played with other children apart from at school for the one term that they had.

A 30 minute socially distanced walk from the house is the furtherest we’ve been.

Sorry not the point of the post, but if you have had a UK holiday, been for meals, swimming and museums, you have hardly been cautious. I have not done any of these things. I wouldn't say I am overly cautious.

We went away to Croatia on holiday to visit my family for 3 weeks and that was a much needed dose of normality. They had barely any cases in july/August and life seemed like before. It was lovely.
First lockdown we barely went out, but second wave we would see people for distancing walks etc. My partner work is so busy, he doesnt see much difference in his life. Im on furlough and have been homeschooling. We go to parks and i let my daughter play with one friend outdoors (both our families had covid). Mostly we stay home but i try to do a few normal things too. Its so hard.

My husband (senior management in secondary) didn't get any time off work, and I think quite a lot of people in the public sector (eg health) were the same.

Social distancing was always required, lots of people have had massively reduced income. Anyone worried about getting COVID would have curtailed if not cancelled activities.

But I get your drift - it's not been continuously this bad for a year - it just feels like it sometimes

Not much really we went as a family to a farm and a cottage and the seaside and a cafe but no more! And most things have been shut here since October
So no swimming lessons for the children since last March or any other classes
No play dates
No parties
No going abroad
No family visits (only a couple of outdoor park meet ups social distancing in place in the summer

Feel really sad and depressed about all the things we would have normally done and been doing and have missed out on a whole year of activities we used to do and people we used to see

But I feel at least we did / are doing our bit

Towards the end of summer me and my 2 friends (along with our 3 children) formed a little bubble of sorts. We stayed socially distanced but the kids got to run about together so that was nice. We have a botanic gardens in walking distance so we were there alot up until the recent really cold and horrible weather, so the kids could run safely (all toddlers).
We managed a trip to the zoo, a nearby safari park and a nearby family park (farm). We managed a couple of walks at the local beaches. And once whilst things were reopened we managed to meet grandparents for a meal. So we still managed to do things. Unlike just now the weather keeping us in at the moment. But definitely not a normal summer.

No I didn’t do a lot to be honest. Children had a few socially distanced walks with their friends. Didn’t go on holiday or to the beach.

I didn’t go on holiday after March last year. I saw 2 friends once a week in our garden and I saw my parents and mother in law in their gardens until the tougher restrictions came in for us in October.
I went out for a meal on 2 occasions when the eat out to help out was brought in. I’ve not been in a bar or cinema etc.
My daughter met with her friends in a garden once a week. My other 2 children didn’t meet up with their friends at all. We have had no days out other than local walks. Just because the restrictions lifted, I was very well aware that the virus didn’t go away so I was very cautious and therefore didn’t go out much at all.

Children have met with friends too much as they can't social distance. We did have some meet ups with family and weekend away and our planned uk holiday. One afternoon in a bar but very few other in door activities. No cinema or similar and no swimming.

We went to stay with my parents at the beginning of the school summer holidays. Had some nice things planned (within guidelines). First day there DS broke his leg. So that was that. Bloody shit year.

If it had been anything like normal last summer I would have gone to Spain to see my son and his family. Instead I haven't seen them for 18 months. We live in Cornwall and were very concerned by the number of visitors who came last summer and by the way they behaved. As it turned out, the second wave was not as bad as we expected. But the third has been much worse. Because we were tier 1 until almost, Christmas people piled down here and Covid took hold and the numbers are only now going down. It was the families and friends of people who live here who caused that. At least we didn't contribute to it because, even though we longed to see our family, we spent it alone. But it gives me no pleasure to say that.

We’ve been in tier 2 aside from national lockdowns and we’ve not had any play dates or visited anyone’s home. We did go swimming, soft play, days out, UK holidays as a family. Not with other people which is the crucial thing for social development in small kids.

Well you haven't had a year of it because you didn't stick to the guidelines surely

We did nothing last summer.
My best friend is extremely clinically vulnerable, so we did not see her and her husband.
We naively thought we might get away for a UK break and meet up with them in October, but cancelled that as things got worse.
They arrived to surprise me on my birthday in December and we sat on camping chairs on the green in front of our house, metres apart, freezing our nuts off. I cried my eyes out - it was so wonderful to see them.

I was ill with suspected Covid late March and have had Long Covid since. So yes I have had almost a year of it.

I’m guessing you live in the south!