Bubbling over with hard choices

It’s the social event of the year.

Have you already chosen which household to link up with?

Like some bad dating show from the 1980s, the weekend was spent by many families and households wrestling with the thorny issue of whose bubble to link to, if any.

With only one to choose from it feels like an important decision. Get it wrong and prepare for weeks or more of regret.

Should it be with the well-meaning uncle and aunt, who have struggled to cope, or the party animal friends from just down the road?

Should a family put aside its own cares and needs and let their son see his girlfriend for the first time in weeks? Woe betide the household with more than one lonely teen.

The Civil Contingencies Authority’s decision to relax lockdown rules a fraction will, like many of the choices over the coming weeks, provoke some head scratching about how it affects each individual differently.

For, as Deputy St Pier says opposite, it’s not always possible to be fair. Every member of the family might have their choice of who to bubble up with – but only one can have their way.

Likewise, each home must sort out its own priorities.

One thing to consider long before linking up is the small matter of trust. Do all the members of the other bubble follow the rules? How much risk do they bring into the package?

Families who are not certain, especially those with vulnerable members, have the awkward duty, if asked, to find a nice way of saying no thanks.

Like not shaking hands, hugging and kissing and keeping two metres apart, it feels unnatural to be so standoffish.

But this is no time to be bound by social niceties. If Covid-19 is to continue being driven into the dust these incremental changes must be carried out with safety ever-present in mind.

The safest bubble is the one we are in. Enlarging that should not be a casual decision.

After all, you may have to live with the consequences for a long time.