It strikes me this virus could be wiped out if only everyone behaved like me.
I live alone which is much safer than living with someone else. Not only is there nobody in close regular contact but I never have to worry about them going out, catching the virus and bringing it home. Obviously if I lived with someone else I'd be very careful when I went out so definitely wouldn't catch it myself. But you never know for sure where your other half has been, so living with someone else just isn't worth the risk.
One of the chief ways this virus spreads is between family members, but you won't catch me spreading it this way. I live over 100 miles from the rest of my family so I can't be tempted to nip over see them at the drop of the hat. If only everyone lived miles from their families and couldn't just 'pop round' to see them, everyone would be much happier and thousands of lives could have been saved.
I always stay far enough away from other people when I go out. Everyone knows precisely how far away that is, the scientists have made it very clear. If I see someone coming and a close pass looks likely I'm careful to step out of the way to maintain the minimum recommended distance. And yet all too often I encounter other people who seem happy to pass much closer, almost as if they're working to a completely different standard. On what misguided basis are these careless idiots endangering my life? But I note that some people choose to step out of my way as I approach, entirely unnecessarily because I was never going to breach the definitive minimum threshold, and I find this quite offensive. I don't smell, I've not got the lurgy or anything, so what's their problem?
I don't understand why people go out in the afternoon. Streets and parks are much busier in the afternoon, from what I've seen, so it makes much more sense to go out in the morning instead. Social distancing would be so much easier if everyone went out in the morning, like me, rather in the afternoon.
I see people travelling and I don't understand why they're doing it because I don't need to. I have no need to hop on a bus so I don't, leaving more room on board for others. I also have no need to get on a train so I don't, because I am mentally capable of confining my horizons for an indefinite period. I venture no further from home than I think I should be permitted, but it seems many people aren't respecting the same limits as me. I can conceive of no reason why travel is strictly necessary, certainly not in my life, so we could save countless lives if everyone took the same approach.
I can't believe how many people keep going out for a coffee. I never go out for a coffee, mainly because I don't like the stuff, but even if I did I wouldn't go out for it. Anyone can make perfectly decent coffee at home using readily available pods and granules, so there's absolutely no need to leave the house to get someone else to make it for you. Admittedly I do go out to buy a newspaper sometimes, but that's completely different because the news you get indoors just isn't the same so this makes for a perfectly legitimate journey.
Also I don't get why so many people keep going out for takeaway food. There's plenty of food in your kitchen, or at least there is in mine, so there's really no need to keep going out and buying one-off meals elsewhere.
I fail to understand why so many non-essential shops are still open. They sell things I don't need because I've already got them, or stuff I can't ever imagine using, so we'd be a much safer country if they were all shut down. Everything can be delivered these days, indeed couriers are fast and very reliable, or better still just sit tight and make do with the possessions you've already got. Obviously it was useful that John Lewis was still open for click and collect when I needed a new smartphone, but that was plainly an essential purchase and the exception that proves the rule.
I haven't formed a support bubble with any other household. I'm legally entitled to, living alone, but I consider it'd be an unnecessary elevation of risk. My mental health is perfectly capable of withstanding a year of full-on isolation, because that's how introverts roll, and everyone else basically needs to get with the programme to save lives. Meeting other people is incontrovertibly worse for your wellbeing than being cut off from them for months and months, so we must all make every effort to stay detached.
Also I don't have offspring which simplifies my life enormously with regard to childcare. I don't live with small humans who spend the day mixing with classmates in a so-called secure bubble, I don't need to go to the supermarket to feed hungry mouths so often and I'm never dragged to the park when I could be securely tucked away indoors. Also nobody knows what surfaces little hands might have been touching, nor where teenagers have really been when they say they've been out on their bike. A country in which nobody had children to look after would be able to defeat the virus much faster, it's basic common sense.
I have no problem staying indoors because there's nowhere else I have to be. I don't have a job that requires me to travel, endangering my life and others, indeed this entire pandemic could be ended if only nobody had a job to go to and simply stayed at home.
Even if I did have a job I would make sure it could be done remotely, as all proper professional jobs can. The country ticks over perfectly well on Zoom, as we see on news broadcasts daily. If everyone got themselves a job that could be done from home most unnecessary travel could be halted overnight, stopping the spread of the virus and thereby keeping our hospitals staffed and operational.
Also I've already had the virus so I can't catch it again. I'm sure I had it because I ticked off at least one of the list of symptoms and fought off the infection just fine. Admittedly the government weren't testing us back then but I'd definitely have been positive, or so I've convinced myself, which has very much changed my mindset going forward. The science is very clear that you can only catch it once, so even if I did catch it again I couldn't pass it on.
The obvious solution to the pandemic is for us all to stay at home alone while the last traces of infection burn them out. The country would still tick over, the lights would stay on and the NHS would no longer be overwhelmed, and then we could all get back to normal within a fortnight.
I have my own rules, which are the official rules as they apply to me but perceived through the filter of common sense. I know my limits and which boundaries I can push, as I'm sure do you, but your interpretation of the rules may not be as correct as mine. Indeed I often get cross that other people aren't doing what I would do in the circumstances, which ought to be patently obvious because in my view the rules are perfectly clear.
It strikes me this virus could be wiped out if only everyone behaved like me.
