My friend has multible support bubbles

It is very clear that there are many Gransnetters flouting the rules. No wonder the virus is now on the rise again.

Support bubble is with a person who lives alone and has the support of one other family of any size. All other rules apply like meeting in outside environment only.

The children and their families are probably not in the same bubble, so it's immaterial; that she is in a bubble, separately, with the three of them. She is not being true to herself, deliberately or through ignorance. But, really, is it a concern of yours? It is, but only insofar as she is trying to make your daughter resent you to cover her ass.

Really annoys me these people who don't "understand" the rules.
Rules don't matter to them!
It should be easier to name and shame and give them a hefty fine every time they break the rules.

ExD, it seems that some people have real trouble adapting to change - including the current rules.

They seem to convince themselves that the traditional, expected customs and hospitality overrule everything else.

And, of course, they use that old chestnut - the rules 'don't apply to them personally' because ....(insert any convenient flimsy excuse).

I see all my grandchildren and their parents and to hell with these stupid bubbles We socially distance wear masks sanitise and when outside. minimise going shopping etc .they dont mingle with other people except their necesscary school stuff ..

PS forgot to say - my friend lives alone.

Yes, you are correct and your friend is wrong. However, I have to admit to being in a support bubble with a friend who is also in another support bubble. She has become very depressed during the pandemic. She is also in a support bubble with her sister - who works full time and can't always keep an eye on her, so I fill in when she is at work. So, my friend is actually in two support bubbles - but we just don't know how else we could do this (she has no other family). But your friend just sounds like someone who is ignoring the rules. I would send her a link to a very good page on BBC News website under "Support bubbles: How do they work and who is in yours?" That makes it very clear that it's a maximum of TWO households (which has to include a one person household). This is clearly not her situation.

That doesnt seem right but taking a step back, people are finding this tough and confusing. I find it easier to ignore what others may be doing because unless you are intending to report them to the police (which would guarantee the end of your friendship) there isnt much you can do. Perhaps if the government had followed the advice of Sage in September for a short circuit breaker we wouldnt be in the position of different rules which confuse people.

Absolutely agree. We all want to see our families but can’t just yet. And the more stupid people break the rules the longer it will take for the rest of us to get to see those we love. Very selfish

cheaton

Why don't you stop being a busybody and concentrate on your own family? If the PM doesn't know the rules, how are we expected to?

Since when has Johnson ever been anything you’d judge yourself against to excuse your behaviour?

Why don't you stop being a busybody and concentrate on your own family? If the PM doesn't know the rules, how are we expected to?

HootyMcOwlface

I think your friend needs her bubbles bursting! As far as I know you are allowed one bubble. And then there is the rule of 6 which you can’t exceed unless your household is already more than 6, so she wouldn’t be able to visit them if that bubble has more than 5.

Your support bubble can be more then six.

I do not think many people take much notice of Piers Corbyn, or his brother, whatisname, you know, used to lead the Labour Party. People have too much sense.

The problem nowadays, is that a very few people who make a lot of noise and prance around in front of cameras waving placards and shouting, can give an impression of having a large following, when in fact the total number of adherents, on show and hidden is really very small and can barely take the count into 5 figures.

Let him leap up and down if it makes him happy, the rest of us can point and laugh.

Piers Corbyn should be put in prison for inciting and endangering the general population. Lock him up until the virus is over and he can do no more damage.

I doubt if huge fines do any good. They just become unreal. For example those three students fined £10,000 each. They probably already have £10s of thousands of student fees and loans anyway. Much better to have a smaller fin, say £1,000e and imsist they pay it off at £100 a month in person to the court clerk. It will bring it home to them - and fellow students - that these rules are there to be obeyed . In fact a system like that might be effective for everyone under 30 who braches the rules.

Do people actually PAY these fines? Piers Corbyn was supposed to have been fined £10,000 for organising one of his rallies, yet he was reported organising yet another one the following week! Did he pay that first £10,000? Was he fined a 2nd £10,000?

Maybe someone needs to produce a public service short video to be screened at the start of the most watched programmes?
I sometimes feel that we are a nation of pathetic selfish idiots - unable to grasp simple ideas about restricting contacts in order to halt a pandemic.
Maybe if the fines for flouting were huge? Public humiliation threatened? Examples of bad behaviour on TV?
Having been very ill in May, and last week losing my dear MIL to Covid, I am very sensitive to all these stupid, reckless, thoughtless actions.
I am positive that I would report any flouting I observed -maybe a talking to by the police would wake some people up?
Ignoring really dangerous behaviour helps nobody.

Good point Kamiso (about the hospital beds).

Surely at least one of your friend’s daughters must realise they are being disingenuous and putting themselves and their mother at risk.

People locally are using words like punished, as if they are being singled out personally. They are actually boasting on local groups about flouting the rules that they don’t think apply to them. Idiotic to be flouting them anyway and doubly stupid to admit it on public forums. The authorities need to make an example of them.

Should they be allowed to take up a hospital bed if they bring it on themselves?

I’m absolutely fed up of it. I’m in a high risk area but many people seem completely unaware or they just don’t want to know. All neighbours and a few friends are just carrying on regardless. One ‘friend’ told me she doesn’t follow the news channels anymore and refuses to live her life in fear! It makes me despair, it really does.

holiday chalet

My daughter and her DH (she's not in my bubble) need to travel from the lowest tier (is that 1?) for the funeral which will be held here, and will need to stay overnight as they will be travelling over 200 miles ).
My friend can't understand why they won't be sleeping over at my house, but have booked a self catering holiday nearby. We will meet them at the funeral, where there'll be named seats in the church, and afterwards for a brief 'wake' - and that's all.
I would dearly have liked to have then stay with me, and it was this friend's reaction to what she thinks is my 'callous behaviour' in what she sees as 'not welcoming' my own daughter into my own house that prompted me to ask this question.
She had me convinced DD and I had got it wrong and my daughter and family could stay with us as they would have done had times been normal.

ExD, your friend cannot have anyone in her house as you say she lives in Tier Two. She could, as I understand it, be in one support bubble and then mix with that family, but she certainly cannot be in three. Does your friend not understand the rules or is she deliberately flaunting them? I don’t think my 93 year old mother properly understands the bubble concept (my husband and I are in a bubble with her) but it’s not so crucial as we are in Tier One, so only the rule of six applies here at the moment.

So many people are just making up the rules as they go along - always to suit themselves.

Obviously, this second wave is going to escalate out of control - directly due to this stupid behaviour.

Last time, fortunately, the NHS was severely tested - but not overwhelmed. It was summer, now it's winter.

Don't they realise that there won't be any spare beds in ICU when they need them?