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 can't decide whether this is yet another goady thread about how "abroad" is so much better than the UK but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. In London people have better things to do than fuss about whether or not other people are wearing masks and sanitising their hands. So, you do you and wear your mask and take your own sanitiser along and do your hands whenever you feel like it (ie take responsibility for providing your own rather than expecting it to be on tap for you). If you want to be distanced from other people then step away if you think they are too close (ie you move rather than asking them to).

If you are going to be here for a while then it would be good if you would do what lots of us are doing and do regular lateral flow tests every couple of day or so. Amazing how all the expats tell us about their wonderful masking and sanitizing regimes and never mention testing even if you have no symptoms.....

@catandcandle

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!

You will find it different to where you are and busy / quite close to normal London with some in masks

I guess you’re coming regardless but hopefully it will be enjoyable. Some galleries have near full number wearing masks so there are various places that do it

That'll be why we're having 35,000 cases a day and most of Europe are on only a few thousand. It's so easy to wear a mask in a shop, sanitise your hands and give people a bit of space, but there is no social responsibility in the UK, people are far too selfish and entitled for that.

Don't come to London if you're going to be all panicky. Most Londoners aren't wearing masks. It prevents infected people from being contagious. It doesn't protect you from contracting an infection.

Oh I don't l quarantine my post etc any more! I just mentioned that to show that I was very nervous in the early stages of the pandemic and so have a long way to travel back to "normality" whatever that turns out to be.

And I always got DS to change after school anyway, he is invariably covered in mud or something, and usually has after-school activities, so needs to change anyway. I don't think that is abnormal. I just, in the earlier stages of the pandemic, made him change his clothes the minute he walked in.

I went to London the other weekend - from a small city in Scotland. Honestly, up here people are still wearing masks, it feels a lot more spaced out - but then there are less people?

I didn’t mind the lack of masks, or lack of social distancing. Felt like life was back to “normal” and it was lovely to enjoy for a few days. However if you have high levels of anxiety about that then London’s maybe not going to be the place for you right now.

I will be blunt here, so apologies if this offends...but you are being totally unreasonable. There is just no need for you to behave this way.

I think I really do need to go, for various reasons (not least because I have promised DS!) , but at least now I know what it may be like. I will have to manage the anxiety. Thanks for all the info. As I said, for busness reasons I am going to have to bite the bullet and face the situation soon in any case. I need to see how I handle it.

I was not trying to be goady. Ireland isn't perfect. But where I live the rates are very low, vaccination levels very high, there is a lot of space, and few people, and everyone is very compliant, so that is what I am used to right now.

Various people are meeting up all over the place in London, some with masks, and lots without. Sanitiser is of no use at all in the main. Lots of people have become quite carefree about Covid now, despite seeing the news each day, regarding the figures of how many cases there are each day, and how many deaths etc.. Some people just go by their own rules.

It may seem unreasonable. But as of now my government is still telling me I need to mask, distance, distance etc. In the country where my parents live they can't even stay out in the evening. And in both these countires the rates are lower than in the UK. So for some my anxiety may seem reasonable.

I live and work in London. I don’t think people care whether you wear a mask or not but most people I know don’t. No one keeps any distance but again I wouldn’t expect someone to be mocked if they did. Sanitiser is a personal thing so you won’t find it in all shops but you can carry your own so not really an issue. Avoid rush hour and stay outside as much as you can. I hope you manage to enjoy your trip.

And it is also the case that at the place I used to work (within the NHS) the Trust still requires everyone to be masked at work, there is staggered WFH and distancing in the offices etc etc. So are they being unreasonable?

I live in London and wear a mask on the tube. Also went to the theatre the other night and the audience had to all wear masks during the performance.
In most shops people don’t wear masks and it’s a bit difficult to social distance if you want to walk up and down Oxford street.

I don’t know what you would need to look like or how you would need to behave for Londoners to think you were a loon though. I think you would need at least two heads to be noticed

And FFP3 masks DO prevent you from contracting an infection, if worn properly.

@catandcandle

And it is also the case that at the place I used to work (within the NHS) the Trust still requires everyone to be masked at work, there is staggered WFH and distancing in the offices etc etc. So are they being unreasonable?

But...we are not talking about somewhere where you used to work, which is totally irrelevant. We are talking about the behaviour of people in London.

Haha, yes, I think I have forgotten what London is like. You generally have to be pretty unusual for anyone to take much notice of what you are doing!

@RoseRedRoseBlue it is relevent because it is in London. And there they are still maintaining these measures, they presumbaly have a reason for doing that. What I mean is that, if it was "unreasonable" for Londoners to still be taking these measures than why is a London NHS Trust still doing this?

I'm in London and over the past year, everywhere I've been outside london has seemed much more relaxed. Eg on Kent coast in the summer, there was virtually no social distancing and barely anyone wearing masks compared to London.

Every tube, train and bus I've been on in London has had almost everyone in masks. In shops etc it seems about 50/50 now.

You'll be fine, and unless you're unlucky enough to encounter a total arsehole (which you might do anywhere, not just London), nobody will mock you or bat an eyelid, ime.

Many people are just wanting to live their lives. People’s opinion on risk is also very different. I wear a mask if need be in a crowded area and wash/sanitise my hands as I did at the height of the pandemic. I have jumped back on the merry go round of life and I’m enjoying it. You really can’t be that shocked that many people are just getting on with it.

Also went to the theatre the other night and the audience had to all wear masks during the performance

I'm considering a London trip next month for theatre (live in Denmark) - is this the rule across the board for double-vaccinated? Because then I will have to wait.

Its not London- it is the whole of the UK. If anything mask wearing is higher in London in recent my experience.

@grapewine I went to the Noel Coward theatre recently and you were invited to wear a mask. Most didn’t, I did not. You had to show a vaccine status or negative LF to go in. There was no option of social distance there anyway. It’s packed at the loos and bar etc.

Was a great night, felt really normal.

London is busy again. I've had to go into the centre for meeting recently and there was a high level of mask wearing except in young men. You are braver than me is you demand that young men should socially distance. There will be hard stares but that is as far as it goes.

@catandcandle

Oh I don't l quarantine my post etc any more! I just mentioned that to show that I was very nervous in the early stages of the pandemic and so have a long way to travel back to "normality" whatever that turns out to be.

And I always got DS to change after school anyway, he is invariably covered in mud or something, and usually has after-school activities, so needs to change anyway. I don't think that is abnormal. I just, in the earlier stages of the pandemic, made him change his clothes the minute he walked in.

Was stripping your local advice? It was never the advice here (except for certain professionsas in contact with CV19)

We just went down South and it's like Covid never happened OP, where I live we are all doing pretty much what you describe so I know how you feel. I think London is more relaxed as so many people have already had it.