DH got his shielding letter in the first tranche so his release date twelve weeks later is the 13 June. We’ve both shielded to make life easier. Subsequent letters haven’t been changed. As a previous poster says her DH has only just received his and it still says twelve weeks. Civil service inefficiency.
A couple of weeks ago when car journeys were allowed for the masses, we decided that, since the infection rate in our area is very low, we’d go out carefully. We drove to where we keep our little boat, chugged up the river. Onto the broad. Had a picnic and sat in the sun watching kingfishers and heron and chugged back. We didn’t see a soul. It was wonderful.
Since then we’ve been out more. Driven to somewhere quiet and gone for a walk. Seen our DC and DGC - at a distance and chatted. But we haven’t been into a shop or anywhere where there’s more than half a dozen people - although we did have to walk in the middle of the road to get around a queue (the half a dozen people) waiting at the chemist near us.
I think its a case of using your common sense according to your own situation. We know to be really careful, but staying inside in confinement against the benefits, both physically and mentally, of a walk in the sun and maybe passing the time of day with another human being - albeit at a distance - has to be considered. It’s nice to know that we now can do this without losing all the other benefits of home deliveries, etc.