Change of Festive Plans - What are you doing?

[Broch]

OK, our plans have been turned upside down with the lock-down in Wales and changes to the Tier system in England. There will be a lot of people much worse off than we are with their thwarted Christmas gatherings and I feel for them.

Our 4 year old Granddaughter is very upset she's not coming to see us but, if I'm totally honest, with what is going on right this minute I think it's for the best.

So, the weather looks reasonable in Mid-Wales for the 25th. We are going to walk down to the wood (about a kilometre), light a fire in camp, and sit eating smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches followed by mince pies and washed down with a glass of bubbly. By the time we get back in the afternoon our main meal will be gently cooking away for the evening.

I hope you all manage to do something 'special' over the next week or so and not let this pandemic take away our holiday entirely

 

[swotty]

I've got two weeks off and looking forward to some local bimbles on the Mendips. We're going to pick up my dad have him at ours Christmas day and drop him home in the evening. I'm not sure it's the right thing to do but he's 86 and I haven't seen him since September as I'm a tutor teaching set construction in a uni. My mum's in a home with dementia and not being able to see her had hit my dad very hard mentally, I have no siblings so he hasn't seen anyone. Looking forward to relaxing, the woodburner going and cheese!

Sent from Somerset using magic

 

[Broch]

I've got two weeks off and looking forward to some local bimbles on the Mendips. We're going to pick up my dad have him at ours Christmas day and drop him home in the evening. I'm not sure it's the right thing to do but he's 86 and I haven't seen him since September as I'm a tutor teaching set construction in a uni. My mum's in a home with dementia and not being able to see her had hit my dad very hard mentally, I have no siblings so he hasn't seen anyone. Looking forward to relaxing, the woodburner going and cheese!

Sent from Somerset using magic

It sound like the right thing to do to me! I hope it all goes well.

 

[Billy-o]

I tend to think that the govt (here and there) isn't really doing enough to prevent the spread of the thing. And, I understand. Who want's to get tagged with unnecessarily slowing up the economy or demanding of people what they are very unlikely to do in terms of keeping themselves to themselves.

There's no bubbles here ... people just think there are ... rather, there's a pretty unclear instruction to stay out of other people's breathing space.

Anyway, we are fully stocked up and apart from grumpy kids and a general lack of presents (dearest wife lost her job at the start of all this), I for one am looking forward to sipping scotch, eating mince pies and sweeties and re-running American Gods Maybe I'll get some slippers

 

[Herman30]

Perhaps this is a suitable book to read at this moment.

 

[Nice65]

Stepson has purchased £56 worth of ribeye, relatives are at last being understanding about the seriousness of the disease and not thinking we were being over the top about being careful. So, stepson, grandson, myself and Lara for the day. Still reading World War Z by Max Brooks, the intro is succinct as it is zombies that are spreading the virus and they really do need brains.

It goes by many names: “The Crisis,” “The Dark Years,” “The Walking Plague,” as well as newer and more “hip” titles such as “World War Z” or “Z War One.” I personally dislike this last moniker as it implies an inevitable “Z War Two.” For me, it will always be “The Zombie War,” and while many may protest the scientific accuracy of the word zombie, they will be hard-pressed to discover a more globally accepted term for the creatures that almost caused our extinction.

 

[Robbi]

World War Z by Max Brooks,

just ordered it

 

[Toddy]

I'm going to do a socially distanced visit with my son and his girlfriend tomorrow and swap bags of presents. Wish them well, just actually see them for a few minutes.
They live in town, and they are in a bubble with one of GF's friends who is a foreign student here who has been very isolated and is missing family very much. I've made up a minding for her too, so there's a little surprise on Christmas day.
If it were my daughter so far away from home, and during this dreadful time, I'd hope someone thought of her too.

At home there'll just be me, Himself and Son2.
We're just going to have a totally chilled out festive season. Lots of walks, but the weather has been so wet that the woodlands and the riverside paths are a quagmire.

M

 

[Wander]

I'm very lucky - Covid 19 has had a minimal impact on my life.
The recent Tier 4 annoucement doesn't affect our Christmas plans at all.

 

[John Fenna]

No changes here either....

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Thanks to the lifting of travel restrictions, my better three quarters will be spending christmas eve & day with her parents & our daughter in Paris & I shall be on my lonesome, though I will have the dog & cat for company.
For christmas day lunch I plan on throwing a thick slice of lamb into the frying pan, with parsnips & home made stuffing, accompanied by Brussel sprouts, peas & carrots, washed down with a tin of draught Guinness. For dessert, a slice of home made christmas cake (without icing) & a generous dollop of mascarpone, standing in for thick double cream, to be followed by an Irish coffee, (also with mascarpone)
After taking the dog out for his customary walk I hope to spend a good few hours pigging out on fruit jellies in front of the tele, providing of course, we have some kind of TV reception, dodgy at the best of times..
So yeah, no change here either.

 

[Tengu]

No change here except Dad is moaning more about things that don't affect him.

I haven't found a bird yet. I am told the bird has to fit the oven.

 

[Toddy]

A friend rang the doorbell yesterday (that's a event in this house, I'm pretty deaf the doorbell is really, really LOUD) and left a black bin bag on the front step.
The bag held a brace of pheasants, so Himself isn't having turkey after all.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

A friend rang the doorbell yesterday (that's a event in this house, I'm pretty deaf the doorbell is really, really LOUD) and left a black bin bag on the front step.
The bag held a brace of pheasants, so Himself isn't having turkey after all.

I hear the Scots are policing their border roads so the Brits can't come into Bonnie Scotland with their new strain of COVID,......so I guess there'll be no roasted sassanach on the menus this xmas.

 

[Wayland]

Just completed the last expedition to our local farm shop.

The provisions are all in so we are battening down the hatches until 2021 now.

 

[Toddy]

I hear the Scots are policing their border roads so the Brits can't come into Bonnie Scotland with their new strain of COVID,......so I guess there'll be no roasted sassanach on the menus this xmas.

Firstly, Scots are Brits.
Secondly, we aren't cannibals.
Thirdly, the new strain of Covid came into the UK, it didn't evolve here. So closing our borders for individuals travelling might actually let us stop the damned plague in it's tracks.
Scotland had the first wave on the run, we had 'no' new infections, no deaths at all, before folks started jaunting in and out on holidays. They brought it back, the tourists brought it back.

Maybe there's a lesson there ......?

Stay close to home, stay safe, help where you can.

M

 

[henchy3rd]

I've got two weeks off and looking forward to some local bimbles on the Mendips. We're going to pick up my dad have him at ours Christmas day and drop him home in the evening. I'm not sure it's the right thing to do but he's 86 and I haven't seen him since September as I'm a tutor teaching set construction in a uni. My mum's in a home with dementia and not being able to see her had hit my dad very hard mentally, I have no siblings so he hasn't seen anyone. Looking forward to relaxing, the woodburner going and cheese!

Sent from Somerset using magic

There’s quite a lot of our much older generation saying the same thing..no one can argue with them, they’ve been through it all.
I respect their decisions.

 

[henchy3rd]

Thanks to the lifting of travel restrictions, my better three quarters will be spending christmas eve & day with her parents & our daughter in Paris & I shall be on my lonesome, though I will have the dog & cat for company.
For christmas day lunch I plan on throwing a thick slice of lamb into the frying pan, with parsnips & home made stuffing, accompanied by Brussel sprouts, peas & carrots, washed down with a tin of draught Guinness. For dessert, a slice of home made christmas cake (without icing) & a generous dollop of mascarpone, standing in for thick double cream, to be followed by an Irish coffee, (also with mascarpone)
After taking the dog out for his customary walk I hope to spend a good few hours pigging out on fruit jellies in front of the tele, providing of course, we have some kind of TV reception, dodgy at the best of times..
So yeah, no change here either.

Can I join you? sounds just perfect.
All followed by a Diet Coke no doubt.

 

[henchy3rd]

I've got two weeks off and looking forward to some local bimbles on the Mendips. We're going to pick up my dad have him at ours Christmas day and drop him home in the evening. I'm not sure it's the right thing to do but he's 86 and I haven't seen him since September as I'm a tutor teaching set construction in a uni. My mum's in a home with dementia and not being able to see her had hit my dad very hard mentally, I have no siblings so he hasn't seen anyone. Looking forward to relaxing, the woodburner going and cheese!

Sent from Somerset using magic

That made me sit up.. thought it said some local bimbo’s.. I’ll wear my glasses next time.hehe.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Looks like my Christmas is somewhere between cancelled and postponed.
I live alone and formed a support bubble with my parents. As such, the change to Tier 4 does not appear to have much effect since all the instructions allow an exception for the normal single-person support-bubbles.

However, Wednesday last week my neighbour texted me to say they were being tested for Covid (later found to be positive). I do not socialize with my neighbour, but their cat does come to visit, and he visited the day before they texted. I am pretty careful, always washing or alcohol gelling my hands after petting him. Anyway, come Friday I had a little bit of a sore throat which got a little worse over the weekend, its barely noticeable now. Could be nothing, I do seem prone to sore throats that do nothing more, even this year with minimal human contact. I was also out for a long walk in the cold wind on Thursday, and in my workshop without a dust mask on Wednesday and Friday, so could be nothing, but I cannot be sure. My dad is closer to 90 than 80 so we are playing safe.

Its a big disappointment. We are a small family, just the three of us, and this will be the first Christmas ever that we haven't been together.

It is galling too. Had I been on the ball I would have given the cat the cold shoulder in the run-up to Christmas, then there would be that much less doubt or concern. My last food shop was 9:30pm on the 14th, and I am still paranoid enough that all food gets wiped with bleach solution before being put away. Doing 10 days from the onset of the sore throat without another food shop is going to suck as I will run out of fresh veg and maybe some other things I use as staples. I was intentionally running down supplies of perishables and did not buy any festive fare because I was intending to drive to my folks' today or tomorrow and stay through till after New Year.