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Original poster

Have people forgotten about social distancing?

139 replies

confuseddotcomma · 04/07/2021 08:42

Went to a big family get together yesterday. Everyone was hugging and kissing and there was no social distancing at all. Is this the norm these days? I got a lot of weird comments for saying I didn't want to kiss anyone hello or goodbye!

OP posts:
TeddingtonTrashbag · 04/07/2021 17:59

@hamstersarse

Yes. Sounds like you re-entered the rational world yesterday
Like the Hamster said.
CovidCorvid · 04/07/2021 18:02

I don’t socially distance with friends or colleagues, I barely do in shops….the small corner shop I do but it’s next to impossible in tesco. Would take 3x as long. I also ignore the stupid one way system Waitrose still have in place.

IcedPurple · 04/07/2021 18:05

[quote TheVampiresWife]@Ifitquacks or maybe warning that police will stop you and ask to see your supermarket receiptnif you're outside/arrest you for being in possession of non essential milk you've nipped to the shop for.

I had a look back at some of the old threads the other day and was gobsmacked, I tell thee.[/quote]
Or the person who suggested - apparently quite seriously - that people should get a financial incentive to snitch on their neighbours for having 'too many' guests over Christmas.

I hope some of these gems have been preserved in MN Classics. Because if not, I doubt anyone would believe that these were actual serious discussions.

ilovesooty · 04/07/2021 18:06

Don't think I've ever been barked at or heard any barking.

osbertthesyrianhamster · 04/07/2021 18:10

@ilovesooty

Don't think I've ever been barked at or heard any barking.
I run in strange circles, sooty. Really close one, too, with no social distancing or masks. I even pay with cash sometimes.
Ifitquacks · 04/07/2021 18:11

@ilovesooty

Don't think I've ever been barked at or heard any barking.
Dictionary definition:

To say or shout something to someone in a harsh, brusque or angry tone

I have definitely been spoken to in a harsh or angry tone for mistakenly not following a counter intuitive one way system in a supermarket.

TheVampiresWife · 04/07/2021 18:12

I even pay with cash sometimes

GRANNY MURDERER

TheVampiresWife · 04/07/2021 18:17

I get barked at in charity shops regularly. All the ones on my local high street insist on no more than four customers in at a time, sanitising on entry, following floor markers, no holding clothes up to yourself or trying them on, no cash payments, shopping alone, and on and on and on. They won't let you use your own sanitiser ('you could have anything in there'). They've always got queues, months after everywhere else. It's nuts.

ilovesooty · 04/07/2021 18:18

No, definitely not been barked at. According to Mumsnet, it's happening all over the place. Hmm

Ifitquacks · 04/07/2021 18:19

@ilovesooty

No, definitely not been barked at. According to Mumsnet, it's happening all over the place. Hmm
Just because it hasn’t happened to you, doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened to other people. Like me. HTH.
Ifitquacks · 04/07/2021 18:19

I’m not sure why it’s so unbelievable that other people may have been spoken to brusquely or harshly Grin.

osbertthesyrianhamster · 04/07/2021 18:21

@TheVampiresWife

I even pay with cash sometimes

GRANNY MURDERER

I know! I was also invited to stay another day on that holiday. I'd run out of clean masks, so I wore a dirty one. Wonder how many others were doing the same. Have to use my teenager's acne cream on my face, but soon I won't have to Smile. Yay!
ilovesooty · 04/07/2021 18:26

@Ifitquacks

I’m not sure why it’s so unbelievable that other people may have been spoken to brusquely or harshly Grin.
Oh they might well have been. The word barking always seems to me to give the impression that people are all too ready to maximise or even exaggerate the extent of it.
osbertthesyrianhamster · 04/07/2021 18:28

The World According to Sooty. I see. Didn't someone already write a novel in that context Grin.

Ifitquacks · 04/07/2021 18:29

People use language for emphasis. It’s a very common thing to do. Just like people on here say that unmasked runners are regularly ‘huffing and puffing’ all over them, rather than just breathing heavily, for example.

ilovesooty · 04/07/2021 18:31

I feel for the exempt who have struggled through this and I hope that the lifting of restrictions and personal choice being in place. The mask refusers always seem to be the most stirring, vocal and most prone to exaggeration.

ilovesooty · 04/07/2021 18:32

I mean I hope that personal choice will make things easier for the exempt.

osbertthesyrianhamster · 04/07/2021 18:33

@ilovesooty

I feel for the exempt who have struggled through this and I hope that the lifting of restrictions and personal choice being in place. The mask refusers always seem to be the most stirring, vocal and most prone to exaggeration.
Oh, I've never refused to wear a mask. And of course, restriction aficionados are well known for their startling lack of hyperbole. 😂😂😂
ilovesooty · 04/07/2021 18:33

@Ifitquacks

People use language for emphasis. It’s a very common thing to do. Just like people on here say that unmasked runners are regularly ‘huffing and puffing’ all over them, rather than just breathing heavily, for example.
Yes, people exaggerate. Mask refusers on Mumsnet are rather prone to it, I've noticed.
ilovesooty · 04/07/2021 18:36

And I accept that the most fervent people in favour of increased restrictions exaggerate too, as do the people proud of and defiant about refusing to follow the guidelines.
Once restrictions are lifted I don't see why people can't just let others live as they see fit.

Ifitquacks · 04/07/2021 18:36

Using a word for its intended purpose as described in the dictionary isn’t exaggerating. It’s using language correctly. Being spoken to brusquely is to be barked at, as per the OED.
No idea on the mask refusal thing though as I’ve never refused to wear a mask.

CovidCorvid · 04/07/2021 18:39

[quote TheVampiresWife]@Ifitquacks or maybe warning that police will stop you and ask to see your supermarket receiptnif you're outside/arrest you for being in possession of non essential milk you've nipped to the shop for.

I had a look back at some of the old threads the other day and was gobsmacked, I tell thee.[/quote]
I swear that genuinely happened at my local sainsburys on day 1 or 2 of the first lockdown. There were multiple posts on fb from people saying it had happened, along with a photo of the police out the store…..I still wasn’t convinced but then the police tweeted that yes they were doing it and initially stood by their actions but then seemed to back down.

I think some individual officers went a bit bonkers with the power those first few weeks!

Liamandlee · 04/07/2021 18:45

It's always been the norm it's the last year and a half that's not been the norm

MiddleParking · 04/07/2021 19:53

Never mind all the ads in Scotland about still meeting up outside even if double jabbed and the gal walks into the sunshine in this massive garden in the sunshine. In the West in a flat and clouds of midgies, too bad! 'Let's' make safer choices . . . ' Let's fuck you off.

What the fuck are they playing at with those adverts?! Anti vaccine rhetoric in the ad break as sponsored by the health board. I couldn’t believe it when I first saw it.

110APiccadilly · 04/07/2021 20:00

I was definitely barked at in Morrisons a while ago, by the checkout lady who wanted me to stand on the floor marker. As it happened, I was standing on it, so I've still got no idea why she felt the need to yell at me.

If I go to Morrisons now, I use the self-service checkout.