People's behaviour in London

[catandcandle]

NC for this, because I probably sound like a bit of a loon. We left London as the lockdown 2020 started and have been living in deep rural bliss in an EU country ever since. Here we still have social distancing, madatory masks indoors everywhere, sanitisers at every entrance. I have spent a lot of the pandemic not going anywhere much, I WFH and it has been possible to pretty much isolate throughout. I did get on a holiday to another European country in the summer (after being double vaccinated) but it was country with low rates, I wore an FFP3 on the plane, and because it was a hot country I spent nearly the whole time outdoors and only went to eat at outdoor places etc.

We decided (after DS aged 12 has now been double vaccinated), to come on a trip back to London (DH for various reasons including fetching things he had to leave behind, me and DS just to see London again and see some friends). DH has gone today, DS and I plan to join him on Friday, for the weekend.

DH has just arrived in London and he called me telling me I am going to freak out, there are people in the shops without masks, no sanitiser at the doors, and when he asked someone to please social distance in a shop they mocked him. He is right, this will be very difficult, I have not encountered these things through the whole pandemic!

I am not asking AIBU, I very possibly am, but this is how I feel, and I hve been managing the pandemic this way because I could. I still want to go to London, and I realise I can take my own sanitiser and keep myself away from people. There is no way I am going to go indoors or on public transport without a medical-grade (FFP3) mask. The rates are just too high for me.

So, I just wanted to ask, are there still people who are going to be as cautious as me there? Will I be stared at and mocked because I (and DS) are wearing masks, shy away from contact and sanitise our hands? I don't suppose I should really care what people think of me, but I would just like to be prepared. I feel incredibly nervous about this trip now.

I think it is difficult to go from somewhere very strict to somewhere relaxed, it’s going to be a bit of a head fuck. No one will stare at you for wearing a mask or sanitising (and most places still have it at the door) but don’t bother asking people to socially distance, you’ll get nowhere with that.

Great to hear places are getting back to normal! Thank christ i thought everyone was brainwashed.

Wear a mask, don't wear a mask no one will care.

I also went to london at the weekend and was quite surprised how few people wore masks - it was definitely the minority even on the tube . I live in the midlands and mask wearing is fairly high especially in supermarkets and public transport

I wandered maskless untested never sanitising around central London weeks ago with adult DD. Yes, you'll be a huge oddball there. I gather a heatwave is coming so maybe you'll get a chance to eat cafe food outside this weekend.

My queries are

1. curious where @catandcandle is living now. Rural.... Italy?

2. just do you own thing. I think your bonkers but what do you care if other ppl think you're bonkers. I doubt you're important enough to random strangers for them to think about you or care what you do or don't do. It's 3 days of your life where you don't need to care what anyone else thinks. Did you come on this thread to tell us why you're right & everyone else is wrong? Or do you want us to convince you to change - what is the point of this thread?

London numbers are low compared to the rest of the UK - but not particularly compared to some other countries. I am in London most days for work - it's starting to get busier on public transport etc though still not back to pre-pandemic levels. Mask wearing is, depending on time, probably about 50/50 - sometimes much higher, often quite a lot lower.

I am pretty Covid cautious but must admit I don't always sanitise my hands all the time now, though I do at GP etc and I hope that stays. Am amazed by how many people have returned to not washing hands after going to the loo...

I wish people were being more careful here, OP, but they're not. Better to be prepared for that. You won't be mocked for wearing a proper mask or anything - but you may find social distancing tricky.

My DH was not being mean, he was as shocked and nervous himself. He was just warning me!

@catandcandle are you living in Germany?

@catandcandle

My DH was not being mean, he was as shocked and nervous himself. He was just warning me!

He was 'shocked'?

Had he not heard that mask wearing and 'distancing' are no longer mandatory in England, and haven't been for months?

Very poor preparation on his part.

There are some people who are still wearing masks and being cautious but the majority aren't. If you ask people to social distance from you then some people might mock you, yes. You won't have a chance of distancing if you plan on travelling on the tube.

I knew this thread would bring all the charmers out.

I was in London a couple of weeks ago. I had an FFP3 mask for the train and tube - I was the only one wearing FFP3 and almost the only one wearing any mask on the train in (masks not compulsory)

About 50%/60% mask wearing on the tube (masks are compulsory but no enforcement).

I have never used sanitizer, entirely pointless for an aerosol virus. I don’t think people really use it in shops?

Tube was back to normal- ie no social distancing. I think you would get short shrift from anyone of you ask them to social distance - it’s a bit 2020.

I made the thread just to get an idea of what London behaviours are like now, so I can be prepared. I specifically did not say I was right and anyone was wrong, I even acknowleged I may seem to some to be a loon. This is just how I have dealt with the pandemic, and moving outside of my bubble is a step for me, that's all.

I am in rural Ireland, if you really must know. And they are planning to lift all the measures later this month, so I am going to have to get used to relaxations in any case, unless I never leave my property!

Case rates might be higher here but with high rates of vaccination and hospitalisations low for double jabbed we are starting to accept that we have to get back to normality and live with Covid. That being said, you won’t look out of place wearing a mask but I wouldn’t do what a previous poster did and start challenging others about wearing theirs!

@Warhertisuff its the same for my family back in singapore, except that everyone has to wear masks outdoors as well as indoors. And only 2 vaccinated people can sit at a table to eat at a restaurant together. Singapore has a higher vaccination rate than the uk,80% as opposed to UK's 67% as a lot of the kids are also double vaccinated

They are still enforcing fines on those who do not keep the rules:

www.straitstimes.com/singapore/188-people-caught-flouting-covid-19-rules-in-hawker-centres-at-the-weekend

'During enforcement action on the first weekend of increased restrictions on dining out, officers found the offenders gathering in groups of more than two or not maintain a safe distance of 1m.
Others did not wear a mask, had pulled their mask down or continued to drink alcohol past 10.30pm, NEA said in a statement on Monday.
Offenders can be fined $300 for the first offence, and $1,000 the second time. Since August, nearly 500 fines have been issued for such breaches, NEA said.'

Just wear your mask and sanitise as I'm doing. My adult son is double jabbed and could die if he even caught a mild form, I'd quite like to be able to see him again before he dies.

You won’t be stared at, people are t interested nor is a mask new and plenty still will them.

You might want to miss busy places / PT so you don’t have to ask people to move away

I’m pleased to see its busy and more normal in central London but others who visit might find it full on.

Just go where you feel comfortable

Aren’t

DH was not logically "shocked" in that he had not realised that all mesaures had been lifted. We know what is going on legally/politically. He was just emotionally unprepared for the actual sight in real life of all those unmasked faces in public! And people standing closer than 2m from him. We just don't do that here (yet).

I think it's not just London back to normal were I am is the same no masks no social distance good to feel free again.

In a related issue, my work is all still in the UK, and it would be prudent, for business reasons, for me at some stage to start attending some meetings there in person. So, unless there is a huge spike or terrible new variant or something this winter, I am planning to start that again probably in the new year. I need to psychologically pan for that. It won't involve travelling into central London or anything, or large gatherings, just small one-on-one meetings mostly in the home counties, but I am having to start considering how I am going to cope with that. The meetings will not be able to be done with masks.

Maybe my trip to London now will normalise things for me a bit and help me start to plan that.

You made an 11 year old strip to their underwear every day for an airborne virus? And you think that’s what’s “kept you sane” and that your behaviour to your child is justified because you live in Ireland?

No, no one’s going to stare at you for wearing a mask, sorry to disappoint. There’s no expectation of social distancing here, if you you want to socially distance don’t go.

You won’t be mocked for wearing a mask, but you will be in the minority. I don’t see anyone making any particular effort to social distance, but maybe they are and I just don’t notice.

I am one of those people who quarantined their post, sanitised their shopping and stripped their DC to their underwear when they came home from school until fairly recently

With this level of anxiety, I don’t think you will enjoy your trip. Going from a quarantining post to a basically normal tube train is a leap.

@catandcandle

DH was not logically "shocked" in that he had not realised that all mesaures had been lifted. We know what is going on legally/politically. He was just emotionally unprepared for the actual sight in real life of all those unmasked faces in public! And people standing closer than 2m from him. We just don't do that here (yet).

Bless you, I can't imagine what that must be like. I have been living and working in London throughout the pandemic so I think rural Ireland would be a shock to me in a different way!

Good luck if you decide to make the trip. As PP have suggested avoiding some of the more crowded places will help and presumably your son is itching to see his mates so hopefully that will be a nice distraction?

Iv just been to London and I got into a very small elevator, a guy tried to get in and I asked him could he please not as it's such a small confided space.
He seen me later on and asked was it because he was a male and I'm a lone female!!! Clearly that wasn't the case. It's the fact we was in London for urgent medical treatment, small confined space and COVID!!!! I said I didn't want to risk our treatment an we was simply isolating in the hotel until we could go for treatment then home. I think people have forgotten