Wales 5

[DdraigGoch]

The old one filled up before we could link a new one but here we are.

I think you’re being unkind to Eeyore @Lupinhere37 , MD reminds me of a Dementor

My DS was 3 when he last saw family other than DH and I. He is now 5. They have missed out on a big chunk of his life. Fine when cases and deaths were high and no vaccine but completely unjustified going forward. Drakeford has mentioned not being back to normal in 2021. Will DS be six by the time he sees family?

@Doilooklikeatourist

You’re right; I am being unkind to poor Eyeore

@Themostwonderfultimeoftheyear. I know how you feel; so many milestones missed with family, especially the small children. I so badly miss the small children in our family. I feel like I have no relationship with the youngest now, which makes me sad.

Sounds like the stay local rule will only be until the 29th March @AlohaMolly then can travel anywhere within Wales. Still be hard to holiday with no shops or cafe's or pubs open though but I guess change of scenery will be enough for some.

Being able to see people in garden might be good if weather improves but I have looked at LT weather and no heatwave on the horizon. pleased for my children they will be able to play with friends outside which is something they really want to be able to do.

Surely if self contained holiday accommodation opens on the 27th (as suggested by the BBC Wales site) then stay local must go by then? I don't imagine many people want a holiday within their local area!

This is what the Guardian is saying. Things might be improving dramatically from tomorrow!!!

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/mar/12/wales-set-to-ease-covid-lockdown-restrictions-from-saturday

My friend with a holiday let has builders in at home so they moved into let. The kids are loving it, they're roaming around eating ice-cream and chippy food, walking in the park, they don't want to go home. Friend says it's fun no worries about the home, garden.

@AlohaMolly

I don’t understand how we can go on internal welsh holidays but still have a stay local/five mile rule? So I can book a cottage in Pembroke (I’m in n Wales) for 29th March abs travel all that way but then be restricted to a five mile radius once I’m there, after I’ve dragged my covid germs from snowdonia anyway?

Drakeford has just said that the aim is to lift stay local rules on the 27th - just in time for that Pembroke holiday 🙂. It’s odd though - that’s ahead of the next three-week review. I expected it to be much more rigid and rules-bound.

I just want to know when they will allow the uni students to travel back. Officially, until now they've been told to stay home if they came home for Christmas.

Ahhh well. We have the teeniest, tiniest bottle of prosecco for tonight, to celebrate DS going back to school at least.

Did anyone hear if we can exercise in the sea again yet? WG website not updated fully yet. Want to have swim in the sea.

Hang in there all. There are brighter times ahead. Haven’t seen my family for over a year but no point in us all making these sacrifices only to then be back in tighter lockdowns again because we couldn’t wait a bit longer (extenuating circumstances aside of course).

@Msmcc1212 I would have thought so, as long as it's within a reasonable distance to you. So five miles (ish) if you're urban, but more if rural.

That said, I'm absolutely certain they won't even try to police the Stay Local thing. It's a guideline rather than law, and it's only for two weeks anyway! Maybe they'll turn back the odd wally driving in from London, but that'll be it.

My parents and I live on opposite sides of the border - them in Wales. They will be interpreting the five mile rules as being able to cross the border and come and see us as they are less than five miles than the border!

@Frazzled2207 as it happens MD addressed exactly this point in the Wales Online -

"Yes, you would be able to travel across the border but once you have crossed the border you would have to observe the rules there and the rules there will not be stay local, they will still be “stay at home”. So I'm afraid you wouldn't get very far across the border."

Fair enough but there's never been any clarification on the english side as to what local means. Plus there is zero enforcement. It's not far but they will risk the few miles.

I was hoping for a bit more, tbh, but I suppose it is far better to open up too slowly than too fast. At least we can get a haircut!

@Frazzled2207 I think that if they stick to the letter of the law, they'd end up hopping back and forth across the border for the next few weeks. You won't be able to bring them a cup of tea, but you can watch them through a telescope and cheer them on.

Not laughing at you btw. I have parents in England too and it's bloody frustrating

Good news for tourism, I for one am excited to be able to get a change of scenery. Was a bit at the FM saying if any holidays lets were found taking bookings from England, it would all be called off! Smacks a bit of a teacher punishing a whole class to me for the sake of one rule breaker. He can't just give us good news can he?!

So once “stay local” is lifted in Wales and “stay at home” is lifted in England (29th March), does that mean I can travel from England into Wales to see my mum? It may need to be outdoors, of course....

@PuzzledObserver yep! Stay Local should hopefully be lifted by then, too, so... mind you, thinking about it, the traffic is going to be insane that weekend. Travel on a weekday if you can, definitely!

@hellswelshy

Good news for tourism, I for one am excited to be able to get a change of scenery. Was a bit at the FM saying if any holidays lets were found taking bookings from England, it would all be called off! Smacks a bit of a teacher punishing a whole class to me for the sake of one rule breaker. He can't just give us good news can he?!

Nah, what would be the fun in that?

@hellswelshy

Good news for tourism, I for one am excited to be able to get a change of scenery. Was a bit at the FM saying if any holidays lets were found taking bookings from England, it would all be called off! Smacks a bit of a teacher punishing a whole class to me for the sake of one rule breaker. He can't just give us good news can he?!

I've been railing against whole class punishments for ages now.

[quote JesusInTheCabbageVan]@Frazzled2207 as it happens MD addressed exactly this point in the Wales Online -

"Yes, you would be able to travel across the border but once you have crossed the border you would have to observe the rules there and the rules there will not be stay local, they will still be “stay at home”. So I'm afraid you wouldn't get very far across the border."[/quote]
But as there was never any restriction in England on driving for exercise, there's presumably no reason now that you couldn't drive to meet them outside in a public place.

@PuzzledObserver

So once “stay local” is lifted in Wales and “stay at home” is lifted in England (29th March), does that mean I can travel from England into Wales to see my mum? It may need to be outdoors, of course....

That’s how interpret it and what I’ll be doing. However my parents are only just across the border which makes it within the “local” definition