Is this the new normal?

I agree with you, Polnan! One minute they are telling us to take public transport everywhere to cut down on fumes from cars and the next they are saying that they are going to cut down on bus numbers so they will be jam-packed and a perfect spreading ground for the virus when everyone goes back to work. Many people have walking problems, in my case a dodgy knee and atrial fibrillation, which mean I can’t walk far without being in pain and out of puff. I can just about make it to the bus stop and I couldn’t make it as far as the shops, do my shopping and back again.
I use my bus pass a lot, but if they cut down on bus numbers, I will have to take the car, thus adding to air pollution! What planet are these people on?

I’ve never understood this attitude of diving into conspiracies

I don’t understand why people hate bill gates. Or 5G

I'm 73, I'm grocery shopping, and I'm protesting the idiot governors power grabs. It's all about power-especially Bill Gates and his vaccine machine-more billions for him and more power over the WHO. There's a lot more evil than just the virus out there-our freedoms are being chipped away with COVID19 as an excuse.

It will be if you let it be. Life is what you make of it. Get out there in the sunshine and fresh air, walk, boost your antibodies by being with others. Being a recluse will do you no good and actually harm you. Don't believe all the hype. The flu season had taken many, many, lives and the media doesn't bat an eye. We don't even know about it most of the time. Basically live the life you have left and keep the faith.

I know I won't feel confident being out and about until I have been vaccinated. After a bout of TB and more recently pneumonia, I suspect Covid would finish me off!!

I thought you did a lovely job Guineagirl

Summerlove you put it better than me. Never was good at expressing myself

Eazybee I think about younger people too. Next door is 84 he goes out twice walking the dog, in car somewhere, rides his bike in one day, in street not social distancing yesterday.

His life hasn’t changed, he has a house he likes living in with no desire of moving, his pension from the Council and daughter bringing food. Young people have a job worry, housing worry, and if they are in house share have had to move out and away from their partners if they don’t live with them.

I agree eazybee. The younger generation is in for the long haul and a lot of trouble. While most of the Grans on here, and in general, it seems seem to be relishing in the slowing down of life, younger generations do not have that luxury. They are doing three or four jobs at home with working, parenting, teaching, and general house maintenance, all while worrying about their livelihood. This is not the calm time it is for many on here (despite obviously missing family, which they are also doing).

I am getting a little fed up with people who say that they’ve only been to the supermarket and out for a daily walk each day and moaning about it! I wish they’d consider those who’ve had the scary government letter and have to shield. Shielders don’t get to do that.

I’m hoping that as the R rate is now below 1 we’ll be allowed officially to go for a walk if we stay off the beaten track and away from too many people.

At some point we are going to have to bite the bullet and go OUT.
It seems most of you don’t want to, even if allowed.
And I understand why. But it isn’t really realistic to stay indoors forever. We have to be brave, but a,so careful.
I don’t feel I can impose on my daughter forever, she has her own worries and stresses. So I have been venturing out once weekly to my small local cooperative shop.
I do a quick shop and straight home in the car.
It’s never crowded, but I must admit I feel nervous being near people, but I do it anyway. Needs must and all that.

No "cowering" here - just behaving sensibly, based on the awareness that this is a new virus that is at its most potent with those of us over 70. I have the information and I act accordingly. It will be our "new normal" for some time to come.

I imagine once it is safe to do so, most of us will gradually accustom ourselves to going out again. After all, unless you really have to due to ill health, no-one would choose to live like this.

It may well be that the activities that usually stop during the summer won't this year. They have all lost income during the lockdown and will want to try and make money after it.

I have been isolating since last November. I was diagnosed with Aplastic Anaemia, had my treatment and had to be and still am being very careful. My immune system is compromised and I am Shielded. It is now starting to get to me. The fact that I cant see my children, friends and just as I had started to do normal things carefully now I cant. I have had a bad couple of days feeling very sorry for myself. It makes me cross when people flout the lockdown rules. I miss the normality of popping into local shops buying what I want and the fact that if I forget something now, have to wait for the next delivery. Covid is going to be there for a long time and I fear that I'm never going to get back 'out there'. Sorry if that wasn't very positive.

‘back’ not ‘by’ ?

I will be delighted to get by to the gym and having a coffee with my friends.

The 2 metre spacing is not proven to be safe or unsafe. In fact spray from coughs and sneezes travels further.
I personally am cowering at home, very afraid of the consequences of catching the virus. I have only been for a walk once. The local woods have never been busier and most dogs off lead. A lot of people here being blasé - mostly the retired folks. The families with young children on the whole being very careful.

mass hysteria caused by the Government whilst they continue to use their country houses and enjoy fresh air with no thought to those living in high rise flats with no outside space. Power is what they are aiming for now ...without admitting they were too slow to act in the first place..WHY are people coming into the UK only NOW being tested (well, temperature alone) at airports ???? too litte, too late and now we are being incarcerated whilst the economy collapses along with jobs and people;s lives. Sadly (or luckily !) I won't be around to see what history has to say about this incompetent 'government'

My daughter is going to ask the dr. if she can completely isolate for 14 days can she and her 2 boys can move in with us until the schools open. We miss each other dreadfully

We must all remember too that the social distracting rules state that you are able to catch the virus standing closer than 6ft "for 15 minutes or more" Therefore the only place after lockdown I will feel unsafe in for a while would be INSIDE a crowded pub or restaurant where I need to stay in one place and where there is no fresh air circulating. Other than that I will go where I want, keep social distancing but not get paranoid if someone is near me for a few minutes, and wash my hands often. If I feel ill I will self isolate to protect others from me coughing or sneezing on them. BUT I will enjoy life again and worry about getting this virus the same amount that I worry about getting a cold virus, gastric virus or flu . The only things I would not do for a while is hug people, shake hands or go into a house or crowed place with lots of people. I will keep safe but will not be paranoid. This virus will be around for a while so I need to live alongside it safely not spend my time trying to run away from it. Face it safety and enjoy life again.

I personally am used to the lockdown, being a cancer patient makes you have a word with yourself, and I adapted to a “new normal” very quickly, it’s sink or swim.
I am immensely grateful for every day, and that there is help out there, for everyone. It reminds me of when I was a little girl, shopping deliveries from the local store, we were lucky though more people had allotments back then. Nostalgic I know, it has made everybody slow down and take stock. Very impressed with my neighbours home schooling their children, I hear them every day, and they even allow the allotted lunch and break times for a charge around the garden.
A friend posted an image to me of Blackpool, the sea water was clear, wow! I find small things like that very uplifting.

I don’t agree that we are “cowering in our homes”
But when you have had drummed into you from every side “Stay indoors, save lives” it engenders the feeling that to do the opposite might endanger lives.
In addition, while most of us can be confident that our precautions are observed reciprocally , at least by our friends and family - that is not necessarily going to be the case.with the general public. Most of us do go out for walks (at least we should for the sake of our general health) and it would do nobody any harm to have a cuppa with a friend who has been similarly aware of sensible precautions - but when does that become a takeaway coffee, then perhaps a 15 minute break at a cafe, for perhaps tea and a cake. In isolation those may themselves fine - but what about the people around you?
That old cliché about giving an inch and taking a mile ?
I saw people having tea or barbecues in their gardens or drives yesterday - all observing the correct distance if not further, then I walked the dog later in the afternoon and saw a couple of bigger parties, still in front of their houses, in their drives but 15-20 people? All sitting round one big table? Or milling about with drinks in their hands? I was disappointed and while they may not have caused any harm, it made a nonsense of the efforts of the rest of us.

I’m in Wales like a previous poster. I’d love it if they could find a way to open libraries.

Can I give some information on swimming pools, if it is a quieter pool ( not overcrowded with kids etc). The clorine in the swimming pool kill covid viruses and bacteria. Being in a swimming pool you are near enough being sterilised ?. If you have an individual shower cubicle to wash thoroughly way from other people after leaving the pool then that is safe (or leave until you get home, not showering after) and get dressed in separate individual cubicles and then once dressed wash your hands thoroughly ....you are in a reasonably safe place compared to shopping etc. You are more likely to get a skin fungal infection from being in a pool area than viruses or bacteria simply because of the high amount of chlorine. A good swimming pool ( specially now with special measures being put in place) should have cubicle walls and seats cleaned with disinfectant regulary too. If you take a virus wipe or spray with you and spray the locker you put your clothes in, then your clothes will be in a virus free place as well ( or put them into a bag and then in the locker). So if it's not too busy swimming pools will be the least contaminated place to visit outside the home. So a visit to a pool outside peak time would be an ok leisure activity to start doing again. I hope that helps someone.

I just don’t understand why so many of you are cowering in your homes, afraid to set foot outside your own boundaries. I know that some Gransnetters have health and mobility problems, but most of you can go for a walk, or a short drive to somewhere nice to take some exercise. IT IS ALLOWED!!!!

Some of you seem to be developing agoraphobia, or paranoia about venturing out. There is no risk to your health, as long as you keep a safe distance from passers-by. You can even stop and have a pleasant chat.

For the sake of your mental health, stop being so timid, and get out there! Why are you all so scared?