"you should only be leaving the house for essential reasons"

[RaspberryCoulis]

Says Jeanne Freeman and Sturgeon and Jason Leitch every day at the briefing.

But nobody's doing that, are they? This isn't one of those threads where a poster moans about people being in parks or Asda being busy. It's more a general recognition that the message being sent out - stay at home, do not leave home - just isn't reflecting reality any more.

Most people I know are stretching the definition of "essential reasons" to leave the house and quite right too. Seeing elderly relatives they've been banned from seeing for a year. Allowing teenagers to meet in each others houses. Meeting friends for a social wander and a takeaway coffee and not "exercise". Kids playing football in large groups in the park. I even texted my hairdresser (who comes to the house) last night to tell her the very second she was back to work I wanted booked in and she texted back "well actually I've started doing wee sneaky cuts/colours so just let me know when suits" - she's not a selfish covidiot, she's just a self-employed worker who has had her income slashed for a year and has 3 kids.

So the messaging needs to change quickly, doesn't it? Because it really doesn't reflect the reality of the situation and the more out of touch the government appears, the less we'll all comply.

I go outwith my council area as it makes more sense to click and collect 25 minutes away in another area than to drive for an hour to the far side of my region.

I went outside my council area last weekend for the first time. I just couldn't face doing the same walk again for the 100.000th time in the past year. I was really really depressed and just at the end of my rope. I felt like an escaped convict and couldn't really enjoy it. Everything just seems so flat and pointless.
My elderly mother has been seeing people at home because she just couldn't cope if she didn't . She lives alone and would have totally lost the plot otherwise.In bad weather she can't walk outside, is she supposed to stay locked up without any human contact indefinitely? For many elderly people, this might be the end of their lives, and it's no way to spend your final year or two.

My 88 year old relative has just been diagnosed with very advanced cancer. Prior to lockdown they were full of life and always socialising. Not been out for a year. I find that so sad and terrifying. It could be anyone’s last year, you don’t know, and I’m buggered if I’m hiding away

I have been to the supermarket every couple of weeks. I have sometimes had a short walk, short because there isn't much to walk around other than streets.

However, if I can get out for a drive for a change of scenery I will do so, even if it means not leaving the car. I have left the car for short walks in fresh air and open space twice in the last year because otherwise I am no longer able to function at all.

I've not put anyone at risk. I have avoided going anywhere else or getting close to anyone, I have not had a hug for about a year. All I feel is worry and despair.

My neighbour feels the same but does have a family bubble which I don't.

I feel like I leave the house a lot just now. Go to work... food shop (although I have decided to do a click and collect from now on) deliver clean clothes and collect dh's washing from hospital (sepsis not Covid) and then today Covid vaccine.

I haven't drank kool aid nor have I lost any plot. Have your own view I respect your right to it.
But me having mine which is different does not make me addled or deluded.
Some of us work in professions where a Covid breach allegation amounts to Gross Professional Misconduct so regardless of you may think of the rules we are not prepared to risk our careers and incomes .

I went to a neighbouring council the other week and (perhaps because I was looking for it) there was a noticeable police presence on the roads. The worst was a police car sitting at an angle at the bottom of a slip road onto motorway. Just waiting to put the 'neenaws' on if they spotted anything. The man at my local garage told me he'd heard of cars being pulled over for minor infringements that previously went unchallenged.

I’ve been all over the place (legally) and never seen any police presence

I feel we pretty much stay at home, I work from home, get supermarket deliveries, only go out for a walk.

But then I started to think about it... I've collected 'non essential' items from argos. I've visited my mum, but only in garden. I took the kids sledging and there were lots of parents I knew there so we stood and has a socially distanced chat for an hour (it was lovely!). We got a new carpet fitted.

My 10yr old meets his friends in the park most days. He also still goes to football training.

My 6yr old has had a friend round to play one afternoon, no adults though, we called it childcare because his mum, like me is working from me.

Without these little things I deem to be relatively safe life would be so much more miserable. I feel we're mostly following the rules but I can't stay at home for ever, it's so isolating.

We drive down to Irvine from Glasgow at least once a week to see MIL, who’s recently widowed and on her own. If we were stopped we’d have a decent excuse but we’ve not been stopped once. Never seen any police presence.

@WouldBeGood

I’ve been all over the place (legally) and never seen any police presence

Me either. Last weekend I drove to Edinburgh airport for a Covid test and then to E Lothian on Saturday for work. Did see a police car in Maryhill Road at about 5am on Saturday morning but that's hardly peak time for wee jaunts out. No police on way back through from E Lothian late afternoon and there was plenty traffic on the road (even though it's the only time I've never been caught in queues at Sheriffhall on the bypass).

Still following the rules here and dh is still shielding. The rates are still relatively high where I live and working for NHS I don't feel it's right to break the rules.
I've lost a relative last month to covid and a dear friend last year, it's just too close to home.

Yes I agree. During the first spring lockdown, people really only did go out for essential reasons. One walk per day, maybe a weekly trip to the supermarket if you couldn't get a delivery.

This time most people are going for walks with various people, going to the shops for bits and pieces, going to b&q for DIY stuff etc. Etc.

I'm one of the BTW, and I have NO problem with people doing any of that stuff.

And obviously we're still hugely constrained by what's still closed. Usually on a Thursday i'd be volunteering in a charity shop which has been closed since Christmas Eve. Can't meet friends in coffee shops as they're closed, gyms closed, swimming pools closed, cinemas, restaurants, bars.... so even though people are breaking rules it's in a very low level way. Nobody I know is having a house party for 50+ people.

I have not really been going anywhere against the rules though I suppose my time outside with a friend walking but also sitting would not constitute a strictly essential reason but then we could also exist on canned food and not shop for a month.🤷

All I can say is that I'm not sharing indoor air with anyone outside my immediate family for more than 15 minutes (in the supermarket) every few days which in terms of infection avoidance is pretty good compliance.

Oh and my twice weekly coffee takewawys aren't essential either. So no really I'm not complying with the lockdown.

@NaeBor

It's frustrating because I would have been fully in support of a lockdown if it was actually a lockdown.

If they'd told everyone to prepare and closed everything not absolutely essential (and I mean everything, i.e B&M, my relatives gov run workplace which is not fucking essential but pretends it is) for 1 month, 1 person allowed out once a week for food, then I would have followed it. And I actually think we could have had a shot at it.

But people are tired. Absolutely tired of it all and this stupid half-arsed attempt which means everyone is suffering for months with no end in sight and negligible effects on numbers.

I decided after Christmas I couldn't do it and have been seeing extended family in their houses.

The messaging absolutely needs to change and they need to stop this lockdown and start opening up NOW. Anyone who is vulnerable and not been jabbed can do a few more weeks for their own benefit.

Totally agree with this.

I follow the rules ! I go supermarket once a week ! My kids are only allowed out to exercise! And medical appointments.
It’s harsh and unnatural but I won’t have anything on my conscious if anything happens to someone I love x

I travel to Aberdeen (I’m In the shire and about 7 miles from Aberdeen) and have never seen a police car. My mum (single person) and mil (single person) both live there alone. They both come inside our house and vice versa. Legally only one should...
Like a pp, I would rather have had a tough 1 month everything shut down situation rather than months and months of this shite.

@WouldBeGood - thank you. I wish we could but we don't live near family anymore and although we've made friends here, not any we can bubble with.

Still sticking to the rules here. I work for the NHS so feel it is the right thing to do.
My primary aged son meets a couple of friends to play football most days and my 14 year old cycles a few times a week with one friend.
More social interaction = longer restrictions.
Even when the restrictions were lifted last time, I wasn’t socialising other than an odd outdoor coffee/drink with a friend or two.
Haven’t seen my elderly father or in-laws for over a year so I am desperate for this to end.
Haven’t had a hair cut for most a year as my hairdresser is in Glasgow and I am in another area which has always been in the highest tiers.
Am I fed up and do I want to do more- absolutely, yes. But I’m not going to.

I don't see any rule breaking either to be honest. I expect some people are sneaking in and out of each other's houses, but I imagine they're the same people that have been doing that since the start of the pandemic, and not 'new' offenders!
I'm sticking to the rules and everyone I know well enough to tell me the truth is also sticking to them. That said, I am rural Highlands so there is nothing to do usually except go for walks and meet friends anyway. Now I have to meet friends one at a time for walks, but I can live with that. I'm not missing the cinema, the swimming pool, or the clothes shops because we don't have those things anyway!
There is way less rule-breaking by tourists this lockdown. In the April/May lockdown there were loads of tourists in the Highlands illegally. This lockdown I've hardly seen any. Maybe it's because it's winter, not because they've all grown a conscience...

Completely agree. I see friends and family as much as I can and even go into their houses. We have a camper van and have travelled throughout lockdown, even staying in hotels.

I am against the lockdown and I crack on with life (as much as I can) regardless. Everyone I know is enjoying the start of spring and is meeting up with people to cope with the loneliness. Good on them.

@prrtnyao

Completely agree. I see friends and family as much as I can and even go into their houses. We have a camper van and have travelled throughout lockdown, even staying in hotels.

I am against the lockdown and I crack on with life (as much as I can) regardless. Everyone I know is enjoying the start of spring and is meeting up with people to cope with the loneliness. Good on them.

I couldn't agree more! Think they have overstepped the mark here trying to go overboard and be stricter than England. They can fuck right off with that. St Nichola and the lockdown luvvies would like nothing more than making the country a prison, with no one allowed to leave or enter, but that's too fucking bad. This is the United Kingdom. When England opens up, there's nothing to stop people from crossing the border and back so she can fuck right off with her hotel quarantine. This isn't fucking Gilead.

Had it with this shit.

We are following the rules. A friend lost her grandfather last week (to Covid) and is finding it very hard that it has happened at this stage in the pandemic when he was very close to being vaccinated.

I know I would feel that same sadness and regret to know that my parents and in-laws are so close to be vaccinated so we won’t take the risk for the sake of a few weeks.