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2 minutes ago, Your Fight Site said:

unless you go out in a field to shoot your own turkey.

Which everyone should be doing anyway before moaning about having to use food banks.

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I've lived away from some or all of my family for the last 20 years, so Christmas has long been a little bit of a non-event; actually, it started to feel more significant in the last 4 years, since my parents moved back to the UK, and I've been up to Yorkshire to see them. Before that, quite often they would go away at Christmas to see one of my brothers or the extended family, and I'd be working jobs that meant I was either working Christmas Day or until relatively late Christmas Eve and back in on Boxing Day or the 27th, so it was never viable for me to travel for Christmas. So I'm quite used to spending Christmas on my own, or with mates or a girlfriend, and then picking it back up with my parents a week or so later.

This year, I've already written off any chance of seeing my parents, and as I said earlier, I'm still not entirely confident that I'll see my girlfriend either. I've already revised my plans several times. If the pubs are closed, I don't know if I'll see my mates either. Even if I could make it up to see the family, there's too many of us for the whole lot to meet up together under current guidelines. 

I'm expecting we'll have a number of "mini-Christmases" next year, once things have started to calm down. I wouldn't be surprised if the government actively encourage it, maybe with an additional bank holiday thrown in. Could be quite fun to have big daft second Christmas at a completely arbitrary date. All watching Muppets Christmas Carol in the middle of July.

 

Thing is, even if all the restrictions are dropped for Christmas week and I'm allowed to get on a plane and go and see my girlfriend, drive up to my parents', see all the nieces and nephews and do everything I'd do normally, I wouldn't. Christmas is pretty good, but it's not as good as not giving my dear old Mum a serious illness.

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24 minutes ago, Your Fight Site said:

Christmas will be cancelled, unless you go out in a field to shoot your own turkey. Then you can have Christmas with 30 of your nearest and dearest.

It's terrifically selfish, but I'm still looking forward to the Boxing Day clay shoot this year. One of the finest piss ups. 

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39 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

Absolutely no chance Boris "Probably has too much coke and champagne for breakfast and ties a cracker around his bollocks at 10am and spends the rest of the day trying to get one of his cousins to pull it' Johnson will cancel Christmas. No way.

As far as monikers go it’s not exactly Richard The Lionheart.

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I assume the real issue isn't so much "do we have restrictions at Christmas" as "do we have a national rule or go by the tiered/localised system."

"Follow the science" is not going to cut it when Boris Johnson's faced with the prospect of confirming Surrey households can meet up on Christmas Day but Lancashire ones can't.

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Not going to make it home for the first time ever. 
we have a small family but Mum (who just got made redundant) will probably be spending Xmas alone which breaks my heart. 
Obviously not worth making her Ill but I know it’s going to be a struggle. My siblings who live local don’t seem to care.

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It is a really tricky subject. My wifes grandad has terminal cancer and is not expected to last the year and he is of the opinion that he doesn't want to sit alone at home slowly dying when he could see the family, his stance is Covid might kill him sooner but he is 89 and has terminal cancer so he is not fussed. 

We always do christmas at my wife's parents, they are both under 60 and very fit, they have of course been sensible throughout and have done ad hoc childcare when needed. No idea what the plans/expectations are this year. 

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I'm not sure what we'll be doing. We normally have Christmas Day itself with just the two of us, and see family on either side of it, but this year, who knows. We're lucky in the sense that nobody on either side is at risk or shielding, and nobody's been ill with it yet, but at best all I can imagine is sitting at opposite ends of a room for a cup of tea. My wife is talking about it on the assumption we won't see anyone at all; I'd like to see what the restrictions end up being before making a decision. The parents will want to see us, but that may just be me driving down, dropping off presents outside and saying hello from the doorway. 

If things get better, maybe we can go inside. If the government does a "a few days over Christmas will be fine, everyone, then back to staying at home", I'm not risking it.

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1 hour ago, ElCece said:

I think any tough love approach will be completely disregarded my a significant proportion of the population TBH. I think a detailed and specific set of guidance limiting contact might be more effective.

To be fair, that's what I meant by 'pretty restrictive measures', I don't expect Christmas will be 'cancelled' but at the same time it pretty clearly can't just be a 'week off' from Covid. Public health has to come above turkey dinners no matter how unpopular that might be. A significant proportion of the population will absolutely ignore whatever guidance is in place either way, and the government will hopefully account for that in whatever they plan for, but at least if there are detailed and specific rules like you've suggested then that would make it easier for me to say to my family that I don't think it's going to be worth taking the chance for the sake of a Christmas that just isn't going to feel right.

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9 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said:

To be fair, that's what I meant by 'pretty restrictive measures', I don't expect Christmas will be 'cancelled' but at the same time it pretty clearly can't just be a 'week off' from Covid. Public health has to come above turkey dinners no matter how unpopular that might be. A significant proportion of the population will absolutely ignore whatever guidance is in place either way, and the government will hopefully account for that in whatever they plan for, but at least if there are detailed and specific rules like you've suggested then that would make it easier for me to say to my family that I don't think it's going to be worth taking the chance for the sake of a Christmas that just isn't going to feel right.

Exactly my thoughts. Plenty will do what they want regardless but any actual attempt to 'cancel' Christmas would be the straw that broke the camels back regarding adhering to the rules for millions. 

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Christmas Eve 4 years ago, I was in my new flat after my wife booted me out. The post arrived with the divorce papers and then my work called me to sack me. Even the guy who writes Drunken Bakers tweeted me to see if I was alright. Spent the day drunk watching Werner Herzog films. Don’t think I can ever top that years festivities. 

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4 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

Christmas Eve 4 years ago, I was in my new flat after my wife booted me out. The post arrived with the divorce papers and then my work called me to sack me. Even the guy who writes Drunken Bakers tweeted me to see if I was alright. Spent the day drunk watching Werner Herzog films. Don’t think I can ever top that years festivities. 

Is this the start to the new Richard Curtis? Bit bleak like.

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