I've had a ridiculously sociable weekend

[LegendaryReady]

I seem to have well and truly got back to usual, without even considering the risks. That's quite a change for me and now, in the cold light of day seems quite reckless.

Saturday - I shared a car with 4 others to a sports event that I competed in with numerous others (albeit outdoors). Lunch in a cafe. We started outdoors but then it rained.

• Then I went to a museum, which was fairly quiet and people were wearing masks and distancing.

• Then 20 of us went for a curry. Very busy restaurant

Sunday - long bike ride with half a dozen friends. Coffee and cake stop. All outdoors except for toilet and ordering.

Monday - Group of six (different people to previous 2 days) train journey (masks worn) to busy seaside town to see a band play at a pub. It was outdoors but indoors for the bar and toilet. Then on to a restaurant for dinner and home on the train.

It's been a great weekend and was good to see places buzzing again. Writing it all down I also just realised how much I must have spent! It was good to "live" a bit, finally, before going back to work in school tomorrow.

I am a bit nervous about the LFT I will do tonight ahead of the return though. And also horrified at the number of contacts I will have had, if I did test positive.

I've really been very "good" until the last couple of weeks. No wonder the numbers are increasing so much I'm fully vaccinated and so are the vast majority of people I know, but despite that I think I known more currently positive people now than I have at any point in the pandemic. Thankfully though, they don't seem to be getting very ill and people are testing regularly and doing the right thing as soon as they test positive.

Have others suddenly found themselves relaxing? There were certainly lots of others doing similar to me this weekend.

My life is completely back to normal. I barely give Covid any headspace anymore.

@QueenofKattegat

"a few big gambles". Classic.

I just the user name who posted that and it all made sense

Went on a group weekend camping/ glamping for 30 but we are together inside and out lots of times.
If anyone had Covid it will have spread but all adults double jabbed, some adults and kids including DS and myself have had Covid.
Life has to re start!

@nc5698

My life is completely back to normal. I barely give Covid any headspace anymore.

Or in other words a healthy mindset. Completely agree

Sounds like a lovely weekend, OP! Glad you had a good time. We can't put the brakes on life forever. After uhhming and ahhing, we've booked a holiday abroad for the spring and I am so excited to get away!

@MrsScrubbithatescleaning

Thank god you’re not my DS’s teacher. He’s got more common sense than you clearly have.

No need to make people feel guilty.when all she has done is perfectly allowed. It may have been full on but lots of teachers and parents will have done similar. In fact I know lots of NHS staff colleagues also living busy lives. People are fully vaccinated and taking some precautions and testing too. But do you expect those of us with stressful jobs in public facing sectors to stay home while everyone else enjoys life??

Op in question is testing and will be cautious I’m sure.

Glad you had a good time. We've been away for 4 days with friends, 4 meals out, several bars and a few farm shops.
Away the next 3 weekends too.

*Masks and SD never should've gone. I'd get rid of indoor mixing and reintroduce the Rule of Six outdoors.

And begin to draw up the plans for our next Lockdown.*

But when would it all end exactly? Would you happily have people banned from indoor mixing, businesses closed, numerous rules for years on end?? That’s what I would like to know

Makes me laugh that some parents think it’s perfectly ok for teachers to teach unvaccinated kids for hours on end in unventilated classrooms. That those families all have lives and are mixing with friends and families, children not tested and being sent into school sick. That teachers are fine being exposed to all that and carry on

However a teacher/staff member living a life out of school… no that’s not acceptable. Someone think of the children!!

I've gone through the maths multiple times

What fun you sound.

To be honest, I think with the new system of no restrictions in schools whatsoever, and symptomless siblings or children of positive cases allowed out of their household and into school to mix, I feel that all bets are off now. I work in a school and am not looking forward to seeing what happens this term.

So many people who are close contacts only get positive PCR tests very late that Test and Trace will find it v difficult to advise people exactly what day to take a PCR test. And from the sounds of it unless they themselves have symptoms they are just allowed to go about their normal business. And it’s only advisory anyway, so many parents will not get their young children tested, and they could carry on going to school with only a sniffle, if that, and be spreading it round unawares.

People generally are aware of all this and no-one would blame them for thinking, “well what’s the point of being careful in daily life now that schools will be the vector of community transmission?”

Plus the fact that I know a lot of double jabbed people who’ve caught COVID and felt a bit ill for a few days and then been fine. So I guess there’s that - many of us are double jabbed and assume that even if we catch COVID it’ll just be the equivalent of a standard mild virus with a few days off work, and then back to it.

There is a feeling of “back to it, then” generally, as there often is this time of year anyway post school holidays and with the end of summer.

More and more I see people in shops not wearing masks. It’s a bit of a gamble, I guess, as none of us know how long our immunity lasts, when the next strain is going to come along or what it will look like, or what long term impact even mild case of COVID will have.

And last, but certainly not least, there is the issue of CEV children or their CEV family members - even if vaccinated no-one knows how well they will manage to fight off the virus.

Personally I don’t think that we will ever go back to exactly how life was before the virus so I guess we have no choice but to crack on as best we can and try and enjoy the nicer bits of life that ARE on offer to us.

I'm cev immunosuppressed and in a small subgroup which research is showing very unlikely to have any antibodies after vaccine, but I'm thankfully fit and well. Very high risk of poor outcomes if I catch covid though. Child due back to school soon which will be great for her and dh will be hybrid working. I had to resign as worked with public and the levels are 26x last years and delta is worse than the earlier variants. I'm hoping the gov will give my group monoclonal antibody infusions. My friends and family are obviously wanting to socialise indoors more especially as the weather changes. I am making excuses about not be able to make it as I don't want to be called neurotic or cowering/hiding. If people ask what I've been up to I am deliberately vague as i dont like boring people and don't want false pity. I know it's just luck of the draw and these conditions can happen to anyone, and rather me than my kids. I can't believe how much my life has changed since diagnosis last year. I can just about cope with lack of social life but not being criticised on top if that for being a chicken or neurotic. I'm lucky I'm fit and well and can get out for long walks, and I'm not forced to work with public like some cev teachers

To cut a long post short please understand cev people, we are being careful for good reason as our risks are very different.

I’ve been enjoying everything I possibly can.
Have been with each successive lifting of restrictions.
This weekend I went to see my footie team play and then stayed over in a hotel - ate out at a lovely restaurant with friends.

This week I’m going to a graduation.
Then I’m off on holiday.

It's called living. Good for you OP. It's great to be out and about again

SorsDici my friends is in the same boat, just been tested for antibodies and basically the vaccine didn't work. She's effectively shielding again when everyone else is getting on with things.

Sounds lovely

Sounds like you had fun OP, no need to feel anxious you've done nothing wrong.

We've had a great last couple of weekends too. Big party at our house, all indoors as it was raining. Lots of laughing, hugging and general messing around. I go to sports clubs multiple times a week with anywhere from 25 to 55 people indoors. We've been to pubs, restaurants, indoor shopping centres and had a blast!!

Covid doesnt rule my life. I've had it, it was fine. I've had worse colds. I'm living my life!!

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor

SorsDici my friends is in the same boat, just been tested for antibodies and basically the vaccine didn't work. She's effectively shielding again when everyone else is getting on with things.

Same boat, same creek, dodgy paddle...I like people who contact me for chat or zoom but talk about other stuff apart from covid! I sometimes think immune systems are so complicated it's amazing anyone's works at all

Sounds lovely. We've got to live our lives, that's my take. We've always lived with illness.
There's no end game politically beyond the vaccines. Zero covid isn't viable in the UK, and it's not going well in Oz & NZ now either.

I feel like I've been cautious but realistic about wanting/needing some sort of life back.
This weekend I

• went to a friend's picnic, outside in a park, no really close contact but food and drink were handed round.
• went to a gallery; fairly quiet, distanced, mask-wearing was 100% as far as I could tell.
• went in a cafe – fairly busy but I only went in to order, then sat outside.
• used the tube (London); busy-ish – not full but certainly not always any empty seats between people. Mask-wearing was not brilliant, TBH; I wore mine as always, but it was probably only about 65–70%.

I did feel a bit twitchy, about the tube particularly, but not as scared as I would have if someone had suggested doing those things a year ago. I don't really know how to feel about it all any more, if I'm honest.

@DiscoDown21

Makes me laugh that some parents think it’s perfectly ok for teachers to teach unvaccinated kids for hours on end in unventilated classrooms. That those families all have lives and are mixing with friends and families, children not tested and being sent into school sick. That teachers are fine being exposed to all that and carry on

However a teacher/staff member living a life out of school… no that’s not acceptable. Someone think of the children!!

I don’t think many people think that do they? The main poster who seems to think the OP did something outrageous also wants another lockdown to get to zero COVID so presumably doesn’t want children in classrooms too.

I honestly don’t see what is the harm with the odd teacher testing positive before schools go back if it means they have had a decent summer? Our DS’s teacher could also have any number of illnesses which mean she needs some time off. And of course there is something she could do that would a hundred times more inconvenient for me/ DS (and is not even that unlikely)… and that would be to get pregnant. I would be a pretty shitty person if I complained about that wouldn’t I?

I took 2 risks bank holiday weekend

Went to family party mostly garden but some indoor.
Some hugged me including couple i don't know well who travelled from near London.
I travelled England to Wales.

Sat met freind a weatherspoons with no windows to meet freind tried keep far away from people.

I still wear masks round shops and indoors although feel like odd ones out.
I also let my kids play with mine in our garden some have been away and they all attend different schools.

I'm now stressing as 2nd child wants birthday meal at busy buffet restaurant and freind said thats a bit risky.

Can we stop framing normality as "taking a risk"? Who is it helping? Why is this narrative being pushed? "Gambling", "risk taking". It's just called living. We used to do it.

@banoffeee

*Masks and SD never should've gone. I'd get rid of indoor mixing and reintroduce the Rule of Six outdoors.

And begin to draw up the plans for our next Lockdown.*

But when would it all end exactly? Would you happily have people banned from indoor mixing, businesses closed, numerous rules for years on end?? That’s what I would like to know

NannyAndJohn has previously positioned a hard lockdown for 12 months. Apparently it would be tough, but would result in Zero Covid. Presumably based on much vaunted maths calculations.

My close contacts have massively increased this week, although not through socialising.
Educational setting - no more social distancing, no masks in teaching rooms, with lots of partially jabbed adults close together 8 hours a day.
It seems almost pointless to be putting on a mask to pay for petrol. Except it might hopefully protect others there.