Just Grantastic!
Joy for families as new ‘support bubbles’ are allowed
IT WAS the moment she had dreamed of for three long lockdown months. And as this devoted gran wrapped her arms around her three grandchildren yesterday, she savoured every second.
The emotional scene was replicated throughout the country as families began to reunite with the creation of ‘support bubbles’.
The new rule is a slight relaxing on social distancing, meaning adults living alone can form a network with one other household.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called the measure a ‘targeted intervention’ to help those at risk of being ‘lonely or struggling’.
In Susan’s case, it meant a joyful reunion on a sunny day with grandchildren Emily, ten, Daisy, seven, and four-year-old Benjamin in Ashtead, Surrey.
Meanwhile, Lucia Delves, from Bracknell in Berkshire, finally met up again with her mother, Amalia Cardarello. She said: ‘It feels amazing to be able to finally cuddle her. We are like best friends so having to resort to video calls for a few months was so hard.’
Among those also reunited was Adam Smith, who had been separated from partner Natalie Haughton since the lockdown came into force on March 23. He said: ‘I don’t look for rules normally, but this has been a matter of life and death. I’ve had three people I know die of Covid so that brings it home. I would have felt terrible if we had broken lockdown and anything had happened.’
Natalie, a single parent with two children from Birmingham, added: ‘ The past three months have been so difficult, worrying and challenging.’
The easing of restrictions means that adults who live alone or with children under 18 can visit specified friends or family and stay overnight in their homes. The new measures do not apply to multipleadult households or to vulnerable people who are shielding.