london

However on Christmas Day we are not allowed to see them! Tier 4 rules!
maddyone if this is what you want to do, then that is part of your childcare bubble duties. I expect your DD and SIL might be spending half of Christmas Day nodding off, they must be exhausted, so you will be needed to look after your grandchildren.

maddyone I really feel for you. I am in awe at how nurses and doctors have coped throughout this crisis. Their job is stressful at the best of times but this last year must have taken such a toll on their mental health and there is a long long way to go yet.
This sort of situation also takes its toll on the whole family, the children and grandparents too. Your daughter and son in law are so lucky to have you, and this is where we as grandparents have to hold things together. (I have done it myself). Then to be in tier 4 just about breaks you. It's no good others saying to someone, "many families are in this position." Across the country many, many parents are at least working from home, even teachers are off this week. In tier 4 shop assistants, hospitality workers hairdressers etc are all at home.
I can understand why maddyone, feels aggrieved and upset. I felt I just had to answer her on this thread even though she won't see the comment today because she is busy with her grandchildren.

maddyone

We are in Tier 4. Tomorrow we will take care of our three grandchildren, who are in a childcare bubble with us, for eleven hours whilst their parents are working, as they are key workers. On Tuesday we will care for them again for a further eleven hours.

However on Christmas Day we are not allowed to see them! Tier 4 rules!

On tier 4 childcare bubble rules, the government site says: 'Parents are able to form a childcare bubble with one other household for the purposes of informal childcare, where the child is 13 or under.

So you can see them on Christmas Day, if their parents are working.

However, you can't see them with their parents on Christmas day because you are no longer doing childcare.

Many the families are in the same position.

We are in Tier 4. Tomorrow we will take care of our three grandchildren, who are in a childcare bubble with us, for eleven hours whilst their parents are working, as they are key workers. On Tuesday we will care for them again for a further eleven hours.

However on Christmas Day we are not allowed to see them! Tier 4 rules!

paddyanne I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your MiL, and I hope she enjoys every minute with you. My mother was hospitalised after a fall, and has contracted Covid at the hospital. This after we kept her safe all these months. Luckily she doesn’t seem to be too ill, although she is very weak. She is 93 years old, and all alone in hospital. No visitors obviously. I haven’t words to say how I feel about it.

GardenerGran of course your friend’s daughter must be at home with her family at Christmas. How anyone can call her behaviour selfish is beyond me. Some people only think of themselves. This young woman has worked all year on the Covid wards. I understand why she is exhausted, my daughter and son in law are medics and are similarly exhausted. My mother is having support and treatment from the physiotherapists at the hospital where she is at the moment. Physiotherapy has a vital role in the treatment of Covid patients.

My friend is in England, Paddyanne but thanks anyway. I hope your MIL enjoys her Christmas.

My son lives and works in London - a key worker, so working right up until Christmas Eve. The plan was for my husband to drive down to London to pick him up after he finished work on Christmas Eve, and return him on Boxing Day ready for work the following day.

Those plans are gone now, of course.

And what makes me sadder than ever is that his flatmate left for Holland this morning. He caught the last plane out before Holland led the charge to ban travel from the UK. So my son will now be on his own.

I know we're no worse off than countless other families who are facing the prospect of loved ones being alone, and having only seen him once since last Christmas, but I am so sad about this. I know he's an adult and yes, we can Facetime, but we all know that it's no substitute.

I think it makes it worse because he's the only one of our family who won't be here. My other son lives with us, and we are the support and childcare bubble for my daughter and granddaughter, so they will also be able to be with us.

Both that son, and my daughter, have birthdays in January, so we will keep everything crossed that we can get together to celebrate both occasions in one.

essential travel has been allowed since the first lockdown SD if your friends son is in Scotland he can go back to his mums ,Its exceptional circumstances.I dont know what the rule is down south but here its fine.Really they just expect us to use common sense .
My OH will be collecting his mother and bringing her 40 miles to us.She has been on her own for most of the year and a recent hospital stay ,so she's coming here for a week .We have been very careful because of OH's heart issues so she'll be as safe here as at home .

Sensible post Woodmouse, a bit of perspective. The media love to agitate.

A close friends daughter works as a physiotherapist on the COVID wards in London. This was the first Christmas she has had off in three years to be able to go home and spend it with family. She was due to travel home today but managed to get on a train home last night for a much needed break otherwise she would have been alone in her flat over Christmas. She is mentally and physically exhausted.

Oh Maddyone I do so agree.

I’m absolutely sick of the whole business. I can’t be bothered to offer an opinion or argue with any of you. I’m just sick of it all. It causes other problems and difficulties that are nothing to do with Covid. I’m had enough of it all.

We'll be lucky in this country to see 2021 virus free ! Meaning this time next year, as a pandemic can exist for a couple of years but it will never be eradicated so the only deterrent is to be vaccinated worldwide. An ordinary 'flu epidemic can last a couple of years.

This new strain that's come about is very much like the pattern of the Hong Kong 'flu infecting thousands in its path, but had the opposite effect of this pandemic in that it killed those under 65. It hit the country for two winters--1968/1970.

Our neighbours son,wife and daughter have just driven up from London into our tier two area purely for a social visit.They were last here a couple of weeks ago.They are going home on Tuesday?‍♀️Our neighbours have acted all year as though they are above the rules.We decided early on in the pandemic not to get upset by others behaviour as what is the point but when I saw them earlier I said a few choice words?We are very lucky to live in an area with a low number of cases but that situation isn’t going to last I don’t think.

Our new rules say you can't walk with a friend from another household. You can go to church though or have your dog groomed.

Well here in Wales I am taking advantage of the fact that despite being in a high tier, 4, we are allowed to take a walk - or several - each day which is more than we could in the first lockdown in March when I was (and still am) in the sheltered, high vulnerability group. Every county in Wales has been treated the same, despite the number of cases in each. London and the south east etc are not alone.

It is is sad not to see the family, particularly when they mainly live locally, which is a bit frustrating, we have had some wonderful Christmases in the past. DH and I will enjoy our Christmas lunch together, we have decorated our home and we will catch up with everyone on Zoom and FaceTime. It’s only a day for goodness sake.

So the rest of us will be infected after this mad rush to get on a train it’s never ending.

geekese I live alone in London and can't see my family indoors.

However, I can get out to walk my dog, so can greet other dog walkers. I can also walk outside with one other friend.

When I'm home, I can read, paint, facetime or talk to friends & family, watch TV or just sit & meditate. It really doesn't feel so bad and I'm just grateful I'm well ( so far!).

It's important to enjoy each day.

Well said WOODMOUSE

Harriet Clugston, shared a video of the crowds on Twitter and said the 8pm service was "crammed". This is the one that hit the news

This person achieved what?
Increased panic and anxiety - for those living in the Tier 4 areas? - yes
Increased fear and anxiety - for those living in the rest of UK? Yes

East Midlands Railway have pointed out today that that train she referred to was short-formed to five coaches due to an earlier train fault. It changed at Derby to an 8 coach train service. Hence the crammed train.

Trains to the midlands today have been reported as much quieter. Only a handful of passengers could be seen getting off the 9.30am direct service from St Pancras in Derby, which rolled into the city station at around 11.40am.
One lady interview had come up from London to Derby to start work at the Derby Royal Hospital. She said the train was really quiet.

There was obviously some panic by some people last night but today has shown that Tier 4 people are staying put unless they have to travel.

It sickens me to read how much some, on GN, use generalised statements. In that all Tier 4 people have the same labels such as stupid - senseless - idiots.

Eurostar busy too as other countries are closing their borders to UK travellers, it just goes on.

This variant of the virus was identified in October. It will already hav travelled up th

trisher

EllanVannin

Maybe vaccination certificates from those who fly into the country ? Why not ? I remember having to show one in 1974 on a holiday in Tunisia.

There are countries as well where you have to spend 14 days in isolation, in a hotel (and pay for it) if you come from abroad . Australia and Singapore both operate this system. Although some of the measures taken in Australia might be seen as unacceptable here they seem tobe working.

Unfortunately, despite that, COVID has still managed to escape and spread, probably due to flouting of rules by guards supervising those who were quarantining. The guards were poorly paid and were moonlighting.

I expect we will have to prove we have been vaccinated before we are allowed into Australia.

merlotgran

^To be fair to some of those people at the stations, they could well live in the Midlands/North and were returning home after working in London^.

Wouldn't they have travelled home on Friday?

I think you'll find there is a huge difference in price. Train at 6 pm after work on Friday nearly £80, same journey on Saturday afternoon/evening £22.

My first thought was that the virus will now be seeded in the whole country. But I really can't blame anyone for bringing their plans forward a day or two. Literally hundreds of planes took off the day before peppering the world with this variation. I don't know what the answer is.