Risk tolerance (222/365)

[white_hart]

I had an email recently from an academic who said how nice it was to be able to do the things that they hadn't been able to for ages - theatres! bookshops! pub lunches! - which left me thinking how nice it would be to do those things, but I definitely wouldn't feel comfortable going to a theatre at the moment, or anywhere where I would be spending more than a few minutes indoors with people I don't know. I am OK with going into shops, and have considered going to a bookshop, but given how high case numbers have been it felt a bit frivolous when I don't actually need any more books*, and might well not actually buy anything.

I know that I am pretty risk-averse, and it's also been long enough that I've almost forgotten what it was like to do those things; doing them now would feel strange and new, which would require more impetus than I can muster up in the face of ongoing pandemic "is it actually safe to do this?" anxiety. I do wonder whether I am being excessively risk-averse, though I don't get the sense that many of my friends are doing much more than I am.

Anyway, this is really just a preamble to a poll!

Poll #26014

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 64

View Respondents

I live in the UK, and I would currently:

View Answers

use public transport to commute
18 (37.5%)

use public transport for leisure purposes
21 (43.8%)

have a drink at a pub or cafe - indoors
17 (35.4%)

have a drink at a pub or cafe - outdoors
39 (81.2%)

have a meal at a pub, cafe or restaurant - indoors
20 (41.7%)

have a meal at a pub, cafe or restaurant - outdoors
36 (75.0%)

go to a shop for essential purchases (however you define essential)
45 (93.8%)

go to a shop for non-essential purchases/to browse
24 (50.0%)

go to the theatre
8 (16.7%)

go to the cinema
7 (14.6%)

meet friends in an outdoor public place
44 (91.7%)

meet friends in a garden
46 (95.8%)

meet friends in your or their house
35 (72.9%)

I wouldn't do any of these things
1 (2.1%)

I live outside the UK, and I would currently:

View Answers

use public transport to commute
8 (50.0%)

use public transport for leisure purposes
6 (37.5%)

have a drink at a pub or cafe - indoors
1 (6.2%)

have a drink at a pub or cafe - outdoors
9 (56.2%)

have a meal at a pub, cafe or restaurant - indoors
1 (6.2%)

have a meal at a pub, cafe or restaurant - outdoors
8 (50.0%)

go to a shop for essential purchases (however you define essential)
15 (93.8%)

go to a shop for non-essential purchases/to browse
5 (31.2%)

go to the theatre
0 (0.0%)

go to the cinema
2 (12.5%)

meet friends in an outdoor public place
13 (81.2%)

meet friends in a garden
13 (81.2%)

meet friends in your or their house
9 (56.2%)

I wouldn't do any of these things
1 (6.2%)

*at the moment my kindle TBR pile appears to be going through a significant growth phase

Comments

[white_hart]

I think ice cream is pretty essential. It's food!

[white_hart]

Yes, I do drive which means I have an alternative for journeys beyond walking distance, though in normal times I used the car much less than I have been.

[white_hart]

Yes, I think the degree of crowding is really key. I went to a local museum with visiting friends and their five-year-old because I knew they had pre-booking and reduced capacity; cinemas and theatres here can now book to their full capacity and it's hard to make that decision when you won't know until you get there how busy it will be.

[white_hart]

Yes, I'm actually more reluctant to do things now restrictions have been relaxed (almost completely removed) here than I was a few weeks ago!

[white_hart]

Yes, I think my general feeling is that I don't want to be sharing enclosed spaces with anyone who I don't know well enough to be reasonably confident that they have a similar attitude to risk. (Pretty much everyone I know is now double jabbed, though Delta makes that seem much less relevant.)

[white_hart]

I feel similarly - I'd quite like to start getting the bus to and from work again, rather than driving, but the queues I pass at bus stops make me fear that the buses would be busier than I'm comfortable with.

[white_hart]

I hope that you enjoy it!

[white_hart]

Although I know from our own building reopening that it's perfectly possible for spaces without external windows/doors to be perfectly adequately ventilated, psychologically it's hard to separate "adequate ventilation" from "lots of fresh air"!

[white_hart]

Yes, that does make sense! We've booked a self-catering holiday though I do think it would be nice to have an outdoor meal somewhere...

[white_hart]

I'm generally OK with outdoor things unless they're really crowded. Though it's generally not possible for Oxford in the summer to be anything other than really crowded!

[white_hart]

I am certainly getting very fed up of not doing things! Though I find it hard now to remember what I used to do.

[white_hart]

I hope you managed to find suitable presents and enjoyed the browsing!

[white_hart]

I am partly disappointed about The Green Knight not getting a theatrical release, and partly a bit glad to have been saved the dilemma. (And this is Oxford, so I imagine cinemas would be packed for it!)

[white_hart]

I normally commute by public transport, but since I've returned to the office I've been driving instead. I would prefer to be back on the bus, though, and hope I'll feel safe enough to do that soon.

[white_hart]

Yes, I feel like I still need case rates to drop further before I'll be happy moving away from mostly-outdoors.

[white_hart]

I went to the Natural History Museum a few weeks ago, and it felt pretty safe as masks were required and they were keeping numbers low. Eating indoors definitely feels too risky right now.

[white_hart]

If I was to take public transport it would mostly be commuting and that would likely be busier, which I think makes a difference.

[white_hart]

Concerts in churches definitely tend to have more space!

[white_hart]

I've only actually seen my parents indoors, but I think I'd be happy to meet friends if I knew they were double vaxxed and had a similar risk profile to mine. I'd generally prefer outdoors, though.

[white_hart]

Yes, I also feel more reluctant to do things now restrictions have been relaxed than I was before!

[mrs_redboots]

More space, and you can leave the door open!

[mrs_redboots]

I worry about air-conditioning, as often it is just recirculating the air already in the building, as it did in the last office I worked in.

[conuly]

When I said I'd "meet friends", I'm not meeting friends anywhere indoors unless they're vaccinated, and if it's outdoors and they're not vaccinated OR it's a crowded place, masks.

[qatsi]

I'm going in to London tomorrow, for the first time since March 2020. I've just booked the train ticket, which was painful. (I have a GWR smartcard, but no, my ticket cannot be delivered to the card. I must install The App instead. I must have a seat reservation for the outbound journey, which means committing to a specific train. And so on. Some of this is more reasonable than others. At least, now I can truly blame the government.) The current policy is WFH mostly but "we'd like you to visit the office once or twice to get used to it", which sounds reasonable. And I've persuaded a couple of team members to join me, so we'll actually get to meet each other. I am double-vaccinated for just over a month, but they aren't, yet. Though the desk booking system has its flaws, it seems to have worked; it looks like the office will be very sparsely populated when I'm there.

Ironically, the trigger for the trip is social, meeting some former colleagues (outdoors) in the evening, so I end up maximising the number of people I might meet in the time. Shurely some mistake?

I have mixed feelings about going to any Proms this year. It's one thing to wear a face covering on public transport, or visiting a health care setting, but it's something else to be recommended to wear one at a cultural/leisure event. (I'm not disagreeing with the current recommendation, but I don't look positively on it as a medium to long-term normalisation, and it tells you a lot about what you need to know now about crowded spaces; from watching on TV it looks like around 75% compliance - of course there may be some exemptions in the others.)

I share your indecision about whether I have been too risk-averse, and I don't feel entirely comfortable with my proposed course of action, but I think the more compelling argument for me is that, if there is something you want to do, it may be better to do it now than in a few months' time.

[melannen]

I would prefer a public transit commute, sans pandemic! The trains around here are kind of petri dishes in the best case, though. I have several friends who had previously used transit who did not go back to it when they were forced back into a commute this summer (one of them bought an adorable electric scooter.)