I’d be interested on views on this

GP next door had friends in garden at safe distance. Brought own chairs.

Aepgirl
Are we not told what not to do ?I live on planet earth, don't know where you are, and constantly hear 24x7, via the media, what I should not be doing.

Yesterday my two GC 15 and 20, stopped by to say hello. It was a lovely surprise. They could only stay 10 mins but they walked round the side of the house into the back garden and we stood and had a well distanced chat. Hadn't seen them for ages and couldn't really see a problem with that. DH and I have had the virus. However be sure your sins will find you out! As they arrived I was filling up the sink to do some washing up, DH called me to say that we had visitors and everything else went out of my mind. Needless to say I remembered as I went back inside to find hot soapy water all across the kitchen floor and just lapping at the dining room carpet.
So meet up at a distance but check you've turned the taps off first.

People should just apply a little common-sense. if they live nearby, and there is no danger of children rushing into the 'danger zone' then it's perfectly alright.

My daughter and granddaughter stop at the gate, while walking their dog, and we have a chat at a safe distance. I just wish that I could do the same with the rest of the family, who live in Australia. Our chats have to be VERY long distance, via Facetime. My 3 year old GD keeps asking when I am coming to her house. It should be next week, to see her little cousin when he is born, but heaven knows when it will be now.

If you are able, go and enjoy your family visits, but stay safe!

I see some neighbours on a Wednesday when we take out the bins. We have a bit of a chat from the correct distance and it is very pleasant. We agreed yesterday that on 8th May, our cul de sac would have a V E Day afternoon tea. We shall sit on our front lawns and provide our own tea. It is something different to do. I haven’t been further than the bin for 5 weeks. And I shan’t on that day. I’m looking forward to it.

GreenGran78.
There's always a 'virtual cuddle' which many ,self included, have to be content with when loved ones live overseas.

Well I am a law abiding citizen and I’ve just had a cuppa and a chat to my daughter, son in law and grandchildren. I stood on the pavement, they stood on their drive and we chatted, blew kisses and had air hugs. I collected the shopping they had kindly added to their own delivery. I do not believe I risked my own or their safety but I certainly appreciated seeing them all.

My family bring groceries. They deliver them to our door and then go back to the top of the garden, we have a little chat, then they go home. From us at the door to our garden gate is over 2 metrès. Only when we need food. We videochat mainly. It is very hard not seeing them all. I appreciate how others feel here too.

Nannan2 I'm well aware there's a pandemic. I'm not stupid.
I was quite happy at first having to stay in as I have M.E and the stress of having to be in certain places and do particular things was removed. My body has really appreciated the break. But the novelty of that has worn off.
And thank you for your gloomy prediction. Just what I need right now!.

my daughter comes down the garden for a while when she brings food round, she wore just round the corner from me so it's not a special trip. We keep apart at least 2 m, usually more, and I have wipes in case she touches anything, she usually has a drink of pop and puts the can in the bin on the way out. I have a long back garden, I chat to my neighbours from a distance so its no different. She doesn't let me see the dogs, as although they don't get cv or carry it, she worries someone who might be carrying it might have stroked them if they saw me they'd run to me, and we'd have trouble distancing

The big issue is that none of us actually know if we have the virus. Many people have it and are symptom free. Some are symptom free for the first few days then develop a slight illness. If you have the virus, you shed it. This can be via coughs, sneezes, touch or even talking. If you sit on anything, use anything, touch anything etc you will be shedding the virus. All this can be mitigated by washing hands thoroughly with soap and water or sanitiser, wearing disposable gloves and face masks and not touching eyes, nose or mouth.
The problem is that one lapse can pass on the virus. If you cough unexpectedly, sneeze unexpectedly, lean forward and laugh etc.
That’s why the guidance says “stay at home” . By not going into another home or garden, you are minimising your chances of getting or passing on the virus.
It’s the only sure way to reduce the risk and to help slow down the contagion until a vaccine is available.
If you visit or are visited, you take a risk.

Photo in the DM showing Prince C cuddling his youngest GS Louis taken by mother Kate at the Cambridge's home in Norfolk. How come its ok for Prince Charles to ignore lock down but not for us lot stuck at home with only the phone to contact our loved ones.

Unless your a government minister or Prime Minister (or his fuzzy) anything that you want to do is not permitted. If you fall into the former groups, then anything it seems is permitted.

Sorry fluzzy not fuzzy, even it's thought to maybe ..................

Daughter and grandchildren brought some shopping round yesterday, on their daily walk, to leave on the step. I happened to be upstairs and saw them, so opened the window and we had a chat at a very safe distance. I think now we have got into the habit of self isolation, we will be more aware of risks than we would have been at the beginning of this nightmare.

Thank you, Artysue. It is what it is so we just have to keep b*ggering on!

I think that photo of Prince Charles is from last year. Prince Louis looks quite small.

When DDs bring food, they place it by door, ring bell, then retreat to the other side of garden from where we hold a conversation with me at front door. One DD arrived this morning desperate for a wee, so she went into the back garden and availed herself of a bush - I did not ask which one!

I see familes locally all chatting to each other on the drive at a safe distance. I only wish my children were nearer so I could do the same ?

There is also a photo of Louis on his second birthday (23rd April) He looks more grownup than he does in the one of his grandad giving him a cuddle, and is dressed more like a "big boy". Nowhere do I see that the cuddling photo was taken on his second birthday - six months earlier, I would guess from the look of the child. Prince Charles said that was "his favourite photo" - not surprised, it is a lovely natural pic of a boy and his grandad.

Prince Charles has been at Birkhall on the Balmoral estate since 21 March in isolation SHW so no way he has ignored lock down! As SueDonim says it’s an old photo from last summer

Well said Cleopanda - I think many people are forgetting how dangerous this virus can be.

My friend lives in a cul de sac of 15 houses and they all stand on the pavement or in their front gardens every day at 3pm for a long chat. They are 2 metres apart and outside. When I see friends shopping in my village I dont ignore them. We stand 2 metres apart and talk. I shop once a week in a very large Tesco for two vulnerable neighbours and I talk to the chaps controlling the queues, other shoppers and the lady on the till, as do most other people - we still social distance. If these things are routinely going on then I see no reason why family members cant talk 2 metres apart and outside if they live near to each other.

I don't think anyone is stupid I think everyone should be extra careful during this difficult time. Every time my son takes out his little twins for a daily walk I tell him to make sure they don't run in case they fall. The last thing anyone needs is to end up in A&E. Good health to everyone.

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Frankly, most of the rules have been made up on the hoof by certain people with very little brain and no regard for human rights. It seems to me to be a direct method of breaking up the family. Just as the rule about a Husband cannot be with his Wife for the birth of their child. Another that is completely illogical is that one cannot shop specifically for decorating items such as paint or tiles in order to decorate your house! So the local family-run and mine-of-information Hardware Store goes into liquidation while we internet shop from the giants.

Did you know the organisations that can already access your ISP records and monitor everything you do online? It's expanding. You should acquaint yourself. I mean, do you mind the Food Standards Agency having free access without your knowledge to everything you do while connected to the internet? Every letter you write here or email... Then there is the Department of Health, Department of Transport, NHS Trusts that provide ambulance services.... Why all these? If we are doing something criminal then surely it is a Police matter?

But with the immense fear around due to that the huge amount of effort the Government has put in to keep people terrified, plus the current need to be virtue signalling which becomes so emotional on Westminster Bridge that even Cressida Dick is not bothered about those corona droplets from nearby public as people ignore the 6feet rule. Our Nightingale hospitals await. Empty. Our normal hospitals stand on guard more than half empty. Our poor in every sense Carers keep caring for our elderly in Care Homes, wondering how long it will be before they get the virus and maybe die, for lack of protection. The elderly in the Care Homes just die. Without their family holding their hand, even if they do not have CV and if the family give it to them now, well, it's a bit late wouldn't you say? Thank God for those Carers, many of whom are the Immigrants Boris Johnson felt were excessive additions to our Country. Indeed common sense, normal intelligence, and compassion have all died.

What amazes me is the ready way people accept these stupid ideas and are prepared to think up excuses for supporting them. People do not think "why?" People do not ask, "how was this decision made?" It was made actually on the basis of a very questionable set of predictions of mortality on a paper supervised by Professor Neil Fergusson at Imperial College.

Professor Neil Ferguson, of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College in London, produced a paper predicting that Britain was on course to lose 250,000 people during the coronavirus epidemic unless stringent measures were taken. His research is said to have convinced Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his advisors to introduce the lockdown.The numbers, he later changed drastically. But this 'paper' was never Scientifically published, and thus not Peer reviewed so not given the scrutiny of the Scientific community. Epidemiologists and other Scientists across the World were horrified when they saw the predictions which were the basis for Boris Johnson shutting down the country and leading it to financial strangulation.

Neil Fergusson the man who in 2009 wildly over estimated the effect of swine flu with devastating results, and was behind disputed research that sparked the horrific mass culling of farm animals during the 2001 epidemic of foot and mouth disease, a crisis which cost the country billions of pounds. This very man was chosen to make the novel Corona Virus predictions which led to the decision that will affect our Grandchildren all their lives for they will be paying for it. Where has common sense gone? Nobody said why aren't you asking some other scientists? Or why isn't there a proper debate? Or why are Out Korea's death figures so incredibly low? Or why is Sweden coping so well, not having any terrible death figures, with people being sensible about distancing but not shutting down the economy?

Or, importantly, why was this Fergusson man chosen when his record has been so disastrous, he has made one terrible bad decision after another. Remember how, separately he also predicted that up to 150,000 people could die from bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or ‘mad cow disease’) and its equivalent in sheep if it made the leap to humans. To date there have been fewer than 200 deaths from the human form of BSE and none resulting from sheep to human transmission.

Worse, where have Civil Liberties gone?

I greatly fear that life has changed far more than we realise. We have handed over our precious freedoms and personal privacies, our rights to debate and discuss openly with respect for one another. We have given up our right to do so many things we took for granted, thinking it was important to save lives, support our NHS from being over-loaded. Yet our hospitals have empty wards. Our Police have been able to tell us we cannot buy paint, we cannot sit on a bench, we must go home, just as they please, not with any guidance or with real evidence that it is better for the greater good if an elderly couple, say, taking a seat on their walk, must be told to get up straight away and go home. Our Police are changing. The Police we used to be so proud of are no longer here.

My country has changed. We can only protect the common sense, decency and our human rights if we begin to recognise that we have let them slip through our fingers.

South Korea! Sorry!