Tier Two & Last Minute Visits

Well, we headed into Tier Two restrictions last night, and will no longer be able to meet with others indoors.  This won't actually affect myself and OH in London, save that OH may not be able to do home visits for his work, but LB won't be able to go around to her friends houses from now on and as the weather is cold it's getting harder to meet outside too, so it will curb her social life significantly.

She is finding out today whether or not she will be made redundant from her part time job in a pub restaurant.  We're hoping it will go okay and she'll be kept on, but who knows.

On Thursday, we had an area Managers' meeting online at work, so all of the shop managers for our shop were in work together for once.  I brought up the subject of Christmas, as both the other managers will probably be visiting family in Europe and then quarantining.  

As a consequence, I requested the week before Christmas off on leave, as I will likely be the only one working after Christmas for a couple of weeks. The Shop Manager agreed in principle, which was good, as we have reserved accommodation to enable us to go back Yorkshire, but can cancel it for free up until the first week in December.

Anyway, when I got home, the realisation hit me that with London going up to Tier two last night, it is probably highly unlikely that we'll get to travel at Christmas at all this year. I then decided to look for some accommodation for this weekend to make a visit before travel restrictions are imposed.  It may be our last chance to visit this year.

We found a nice house for a long weekend and booked that too, and again we can cancel up to the last minute at the cost of just one night's stay, so it was worth taking the risk. I now just have to rearrange my hours this next week or book some more time off.

We're obviously not intending to go inside anyone's house, but we could stand or sit in the garden, if the weather is okay and at least be able to deliver Christmas presents in person and leave them with everyone. I haven't been back to Yorkshire at all this year, which seems crazy and I am looking forward to going.

Best case scenario, we'll deliver presents and have outdoor masked, socially distanced chats or worst case we'll deliver presents, talk through windows and spend most of our time relaxing in our rented accommodation and taking country walks with the dog. It's not ideal either way, but it's the best we can do. We can't take any risks with OH's parents and my sister who are all vulnerable, so if people don't want to see us at all that's fine. Just knowing we've made an effort is what is important to us and getting a break from London while we still can, before the long run up to Christmas.

I think I might at least be able to settle down into getting on with things and focus on work at our busiest time, without having to worry about Christmas shopping for family members, what happens next, etc. We'll have done our best and done what we can.

It might mean a bit of a last minute dash this week to finish my Christmas shopping, but it's doable as I've already bought a few things for family members. I think a big shopping day on Monday might be on the cards, followed by getting the wrapping paper out of the loft and a big wrapping session.

Wish me luck.