Bending the lockdown rules

 

Perhaps I shouldn’t be so grumpy. The man from British Gas (or rather a third-party plumbing company contracted by British Gas arrived and duly put in a new ballcock. Problem solved. Also, I managed to call Bulb to complain about the electric bill and I managed to get through after only about 10 minutes. The person in the call-centre seemed mildly interested in what I was saying and said she’d refer it to “the team”.

I don’t hold out much hope. I did have it confirmed that they’d switched my account to single rate, rather than a cheaper night rate, so I’m not happy. They have also put prices up this week!

Lockdown continues with a small easing of restrictions at the beginning of this month to allow children to go back to school and allow you to meet two people outdoors. I have been bending the rules (past breaking point) by going to see Max and Inna and taking Alice for a walk. Margaret won’t go with me.

People are breaking the rules right, left and centre, but I don’t think they’re all being reckless. I know only two or three of my friends who are sticking rigidly to the rules. Even Margaret (a stickler for rules) has bent them a little. It is hard. We’ve had massive restrictions placed on what we can do, who we can see and where we can go and people are a bit fed up with it. As more and more people are vaccinated (we had our first dose on February 10 of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine) they feel safer and more inclined to break the rules.

Well, it’s been nice to see Max and Inna and to meet Alice for the first time. I’ve seen all my other grandchildren within a few days, sometimes within hours, so this was very odd. It has been bad enough for us in lockdown, but for new parents it’s been an extra challenge in a challenging time. Alice seems quite a good baby and, although sleep deprivation has been an issue (of course) they are managing quite well. Max has about eight months work left on his PhD and Inna is due to go back to work in June.

Marina (Inna’s mum) will have Alice two days a week and Max will have her another two. I think Margaret and I will be able to help out too, but we’ll have to sort something nearer the time.

Arthur and Saoirse are staying with us this weekend. Lucy dropped them off after school/nursery last night. Arthur has thrived at school. He’s changed a lot and has learned lots since he started in September. Saoirse is a real charmer. She’s a very happy child, confident and talkative. She loves to jump off things. They woke up at 6am this morning. I’ll take them back to Soham on Sunday night.