A little lesson in being judgemental & perspective

We moved into a new house the week before lockdown. Neighbours on one side basically ignored all social distancing. Regular visitors & gatherings throughout.

We never said anything, they were very nice with us, but quietly me & the missus would roll our eyes a bit or mutter under our breath when we saw more people turn up to hang out in their garden on an evening

Turns out, the guy retired start of the year to spend time with family. Then was told he had cancer. Terminal. Months to live.

He was advised against treatment in hospital because of covid "go home, be with your family"

They decided to fuck off social distancing because he had no other chance to see family. Then his sister in law died of covid, so there was extended family (her children & grandchildren) in desperate need of support.

I feel like an arsehole now for assuming they were being ignorant about the whole thing. They got it entirely but made a difficult choice.

They chose the risk, because the alternative was even worse

And my heart goes out to his niece too, who told me she doesn't know how to tell her son - same age a my son - that his grandmother is dead.

This crisis has real, heartbreaking stories that aren't always obvious