A bubble a day keeps the doctor away, but what if you’re not in a bubble? I have lived with loneliness for a very long time. I cope as best I can and sometimes do well and enjoy good contact with friends, but sometimes I am unbearably lonely.
It is worse this year as everyone rushes into their Christmas bubble: the travel window is just an empty pane of glass for some of us; the Christmas food shop is much like any other food shop, but with the Christmas music emphasising our aloneness.
I am not full of self-pity, and I make as many plans as I can – online, on the phone, or just alone at home – but this year is very hard. I can’t volunteer to make good use of my time and my need for contact, I can’t go on a yoga holiday although I will do a “retreat” online. The biggest problem is pushing back the heavy tide of depression that wants to keep me in bed, keep me inside my house and keep me constantly in the biscuit tin.
I can’t even add my own name to this letter, the shame of loneliness is so great, but I hope it will reach out to others and be a reminder that, perhaps, we are not in fact alone.
Name and address supplied
• Why does Boris Johnson talk about postponing visits to elderly relatives and avoiding seeing older people (Covid rules relaxed but Christmas should be small and short, says Boris Johnson, 16 December), suggesting that all choices must be made by people who are not elderly and that older people have no agency in these matters. Many of us are perfectly capable of making or contributing to decisions about how to stay safe within current rules.
Margaret Roberts (aged 80)
Sheffield
• Johnson’s original Christmas humbug and fudge: toxic, do not swallow.
Ian McCormack
Leicester
• Prof Chris Whitty said: “You wouldn’t drive at 70mph if it was a very icy road, even though the law might say 70mph is what you can officially drive at.” A better analogy would be to say that the government is making a special dispensation to allow anyone to drive dangerously, speeding on the ice with bald tyres and no seatbelt after a few drinks over the festive period, while just noting that they would prefer it if you didn’t. That’s not good government or leadership. I’m reminded of “Stay home, protect the NHS, save lives”. This seems to fail on all three.
Bill Stothart
Chester
• I have told my children and grandchildren that I won’t be joining them for the normal big Christmas Day celebrations. As I’m now into my 80s it’s something that they will experience in the future, so they can have a practice run this year to show that they will be able to cope.
Ron Brewer
Old Buckenham, Norfolk
• My father survived the war in Europe and was one of the overwhelming majority who voted in 1945 for the Labour government that delivered the NHS.
Within days of the summer solstice of 1944 my paternal grandmother heard that one of her two sons had landed in France with the rest of his tank crew, while her other son had been killed in the Burma campaign. Six months later, there was no prospect of her surviving son being at home for Christmas.
Out of respect for the informed, selfless actions of my father’s generation, I will follow the advice of NHS professionals rather than heed bluster about saving the economy and Christmas 2020.
Nic Howes
Hereford, Herefordshire
