Why do I feel I’m the only person still following the Covid rules?

One OF my friends went to a barbecue at the weekend, but found herself scratching her head when it turned out three families had jumped at the invite and, with children, the party added up to 14 guests.

The Government stipulates you can meet five people so that was one rule broken even before the corks were popped. But, of course, it would have been rude to turn their backs on their host and drive home.

And, in any case, Isle of Wight Mp Bob seely had done the same thing a few weeks before, and he’s promoting the pilot track-and-trace app. If those in charge are doing it, what’s to stop the rest of us?

Reader, my friend stayed. After a few glasses of wine, things got worse. social distancing attempts seemed pointless as each guest shared salad servers and plates. then a thunderstorm meant everyone was driven indoors.

‘Does it make a difference that we kept the door open?’ she wailed to me afterwards. I don’t think a mass gathering in the conservatory is quite what the Government had in mind.

Am I the only one who’s still trying to follow all the rules? I feel embarrassed to be such a stickler when I see the way some of my friends are relaxing their attitudes.

I’ve noticed a growing horde of people who consider lockdown pretty much over. skipping over to the neighbours, a nod to social distancing by not hugging, before cracking open a bottle of rosé and thinking, ‘what the heck, we’re all in it together’?

I can’t bring myself to join them. this is where I am, and it feels like it’s becoming an increasingly lonely place. the gradual lifting of lockdown has left us in limbo. And with all of us in our own camps when it comes to following, or bending, the rules, it’s hard to know where you are, even with your family.

At least my friend was invited to a party. I haven’t had any invitations, I suspect because my friends realise I would turn them down. But I do keep hearing about them. I feel like putting my fingers in my ears when I’m told about garden parties that turn into dinner parties and the refrain, ‘oh, no one’s taking any notice of the lockdown now’.

Does this make me guilty by association? I know my friends are mostly respectful of the rules, but I can see some of them becoming irritable that I’m more of an uptight stickler as relaxation spreads. I’m sure some people have been inclined to break out because of the ‘Dominic Cummings effect’. perhaps they have seen the mass protests and sunny beach trips and decided a small gathering in the living room is relatively low risk.

FOR MY part, I am nervously begin-ning to take advan-tage of seeing loved ones outside in gardens and in the park, all fully within the guidelines. I want it to feel normal, but it’s a strain.

Last week, I met up for a walk with a friend who thinks she had Covid-19 in March and there was a lot to catch up on. But it was a weird, slightly tense experience as I mentally measured two metres as we navigated narrow paths together. Groups around us had no such compunction — there was free-flowing contact and I envied them.

I’m afraid it’s only going to get worse for us Lockdown Loners as the rules get looser, with pubs, bars and restaurants possibly open in less than a fortnight.

Already the cracks are getting wider in the logic of it all. How does it make sense that I can go into a TV studio four days a week and sit two metres from my co-host and four camera operators, but I can’t leave television Centre and walk down the road to my best friend’s family kitchen?

Our basic need for human connection is at the bottom of the priority list but, yesterday, a ray of hope emerged as the Government eased social distancing to allow ‘support bubbles’, so people living alone can join the bubble of another household.

single parents and single grand-parents can stay overnight with their relatives from saturday.

At last, some humanity has crept into the rules. Although it will lead to some painful choices, such as elderly parents having to choose between their adult children. But at least there will be hugs again.

now come on Boris, expand the bubble to a wider group.