One male, one female, both single, both mid sixties (and no, they're not an item, and they prefer it that way.) And we've known them both for 20 years, and we've taken short holiday breaks with them and had many, many boozy barbecues. Thick as thieves, we are. Or rather, we were, until now....
So she came round the other day. "Now that lockdown's lifting we're free to get together again, so I'm planning a party in the garden for next week. Isn't that great?" Errrrm, not exactly, Jane, we thought. For one thing we're sticking strictly to the lockdown rules on this side of the wall, and for another thing you're not. You've got three bubbles on the go, one for each of your kids, which isn't allowed, and you're switching between those bubbles on a daily basis so as to make the most of the twenty-odd people in your bubble world.
And then there's Derek, our other neighbour. Oh, he'll be there at the get-together, obviously. Lovely guy, but a bit lonely, and he does love his beer. Not for the first time, he's just spent several days away at the other end of the country having a prolonged beer-up with all his old mates. Thus driving a coach and horses through the lockdown provisions, and never mind the social distancing either. The very definition of a covid conduit.
So no, we told Jane, we're being very careful at the moment, doctor's orders, and we're not really ready yet to loosen up. "Oh," she replied, "but we'll soon have had our second jabs and then it'll all be over anyway. I really don't know what this fuss is all about."
The fuss, Jane, is that the reason the pandemic is easing is that a lot of us are obeying the rules, although you're not. Yes, we totally get it that you're under more personal pressure than us - we've got a great marriage here, and a big enough house to keep us both fully occupied, whereas you'd be down to watching the TV on your own if you didn't bend the rules. That's awful for you, but the virus doesn't ask you about your circumstances when it zaps you.
No, we didn't exactly say that to Jane. Or indeed, anything at all. We just sort of shuffled evasively and let her suppose that we were lousy friends for not coming to her party. She went a bit cool after that.
Actually, we were probably lousy friends for not telling her straight that her rule-breaking might endanger her childrens' lives even though it probably didn't endanger her own since she'd now had the first jab. That would have hurt her feelings horribly, of course, but probably we should have bitten the bullet and got it over with.
What would you have done, Fools? I get this feeling that a lot of us are going to feel the pressure to open up a little bit faster than we feel ready for. And that some of us are going to lose friends along the way. And that there's nothing much we can do to stop that?
BJ
