To think some people found lockdown really hard and it wasn't their fault

I was on a ventilator, in ICU for 6 weeks in 2020 with COVID and double pneumonia, so no, how the fuck could it have been fun? Lots of people died.
Your MIL is an insensitive cow.

People are still being affected now. These welfare cuts that are coming are to pay for these fucking lockdowns

I found it absolutely horrendous.

Hated it and I still feel that world has never recovered its joyfulness for me. It was like a veil was lifted and I saw the world for what it really was - state control had never oppressed me like that before and I had not been but aware of the full power of the state to oppress and manipulate.

Yes, I was thinking along similar lines. And can I say that I remember some of your posts during lockdown and although you were obviously struggling, you came across as a very positive person.

@Sallysoup yes there was a period in summer 2020 when things were open but with some restriction eg face masks indoors, and then the Tiers restrictions in the Autumn which depended on where you lived, but there was another period of full lockdown January to March 2021 which was worse than the first one because it was in the winter so no sitting in the garden or enjoying countryside walks as a novelty. That was the worst in my opinion.

Suicidal and 8 months pregnant. I can't even remember it now. I think my brain deleted it.

Yeah it was crap. DH and I were working FT, the nature of my job meant it was busier than ever, and we were trying to homeschool a 7/8yo with AuDHD and look after a 2/3yo. I had awful anxiety trying to deal with it all and was working round the clock trying to get stuff done.

It was also very lonely. I cried after my parents popped over and had a conversation with us through the living room window when it was DC1's birthday. We had no other family nearby.

The government threw children and young people under the bus and the way people behaved, turning into neighbourhood police, was ridiculous.

And I am very aware we were lucky really. No-one we knew died. No-one in the family has been left with any lasting effects, mental or physical.

Yep I'd just gone self employed and had very little work. I didn't qualify for any self employment grants due to becoming self employed the month before lockdown! Which was particularly galling given some people the defraud the scheme with fake buisnesses.

I was awaiting and had surgery I had to go through all of the pre tests, appointments and the surgery alone. It absolutely wrecked my mental health as I was so anxious and unsupported.

I lost my grandma in lockdown. Things had eased slightly but she still spent her last conscious hours alone in a waiting room in hospital. We were with her when she died but she was no longer conscious. This breaks my heart.

My partner worked in a health and social care adjacent role so worked very long days and was massively stressed.

These are just a few bits from my experience and I probably got off lightly. It honestly makes me fucking furious that people harp on about how lovely lockdown was. Even if it was or them which I can totally understand, the way they re so self absorbed they can't seem to grasp it was awful for others is astounding a tbh probably one if the many reasons we're totally fucked as a society.

For me it should have been easy, big house, large garden, small town, 3 grown up kids, husband still worked all through, self employed, got my grants but took months to get them so had to take payment breaks, no-one vulnerable. BUT it nearly destroyed me, my eldest had a newborn, 2 younger ones were furloughed. Middle child retreated into cyber world and took ages to get them out. Youngest got stuck in an abusive relationship which we are still feeling the effects on now due to overload of MH services and shutting down of nearly all Gps in our area.We live in an area with a massive elderly population loads of care homes and we had no deaths from COVID at all.We have had several due to missed cancer diagnosis.I was also one of the people who couldn't wear a mask so was trying to stay away due to the abuse. After 3 weeks due to my mh and my eldest we gave up with the so called rules. We saw each other and tried to have some sort of normality. Luckily all my friends and family felt the same. Also I was fortunate enough to live with a scientist specialising in data analytics who talked me through the dark days. I know I was fortunate and I felt for those stuck in awful situations. I will never forgive those that pushed us into lockdown and I will never forget those that judged others for doing what the felt they had to. I have come out the other side a more sceptical, angry ,less compassionate person. That makes me very sad 😞

Depending on the situation.

I loved it but really felt for people with babies and young children and appreciate it wasn't easy for a lot of people.

Absolutely not unreasonable.

It was awful for me and I'm sick of being reminded about that time.

@MistressoftheDarkSide perfectly accurate sadly !

Oh God. I have so much unresolved rage about lockdown that I daren't even try to articulate it.

What got to me the most was the sudden realisation how easy it would be to recruit people into the Stasi. It was almost a global Standird Prison experiment in many ways. And the oppression of discussion in case "misinformation" was hugely frustrating.

Any other veterans of the "State of Fear" threads here? The shrieking of far right every time conversation got interesting or mildly controversial?

On a personal level it was utter shite for so many reasons, and I know others had it worse, it was absolutely harrowing for so many people. All the guilt tripping and WW2 analogies, and accusations of lack of resilience were revolting.

Covid was a pivotal point, far more damaging but as significant as 9/11 IMHO, in terms of decline in so many directions. And when people say oh, but "the greater good" etc, they overlook that every previous sensible pandemic strategy had been scrapped and defunded in I think 2016 (correct me if I'm wrong), and the clowns in charge basically winged it, merrily lining their own pockets along the way.

I'm going to go and try and bring my blood pressure down now, before I say something "not in the spirit".....

@limefruit I sympathise- my son was 21 at the time living in a shared house in London- he had to do his job from home at this point and at one point had 24 laptops on his bedroom floor and had to arrange delivery to various places every day( they were being set up with particular systems and software) - the house had no lounge and just lived in his room and the kitchen. His mental health went to pot and he smoked far too much weed to cope- luckily he turned it all round quite quickly

@ThePartingOfTheWays duh, of course! Silly me wasn't thinking big enough. Neither was OP according to MIL

I think with it coming up to the 5 year anniversary a lot of people will be reflecting like that, and we'll see more threads on here.

Yes, with the weather, I remember the hope of coming out of winter, the start of spring... and then it was month upon month of fucking lockdown, dragged on and on by stealth, boiling frog style, looking as if there was no exit plan, and no end in sight, and the phrase "new normal" made it look as if lockdown was going to become very, very permanent.
"Reviewed in three weeks."
"Three more weeks."
"Three more weeks."
"We can turn this virus around in twelve weeks."
"One last push."
"Pleeeeeeeease don't throw it all away now." (Party in background)
"We need to squeeeeeeeeeeeeze the brakes on reopening."
"Normalish by Christmas."
"It would be inhumane to cancel Christmas... oops, I've just done it."
"Significant normality by Easter."
"Just until the over 70s are vaccinated."
"Just until the over 60s are vaccinated."
"Just until the over 50s are vaccinated."
"Irreversible roadmap to freedom in June."
"July."
And poor old Boris never got to have his big moment making an official heroic announcement ending restrictions, because it was all Ukraine.

I will kill myself

IKR, maybe OP should've organised herself to monitor developments in all the wet markets and labs around Wuhan!

Definitely the weather has brought it back.

I was on a walk earlier and had a flashback of those first few weeks. Very strange feeling.

How does "being more organised" mitigate an international pandemic? Is she always so tone deaf and thoughtless!?

Exactly. Children and their futures were thrown under the bus to keep granny alive, miserable and isolated. So many people's mental and physical health was sacrificed on the altar of "protect our hallowed NHS", which is now having to deal with the aftermath of the cruel and brutal lockdowns. Several posters have said that their elderly parents lost their independence as a direct result of lockdowns. We must make the distinction that much of the damage was not caused by the pandemic, but by LOCKDOWNS. That difference is important.

Also, I have not forgotten that the party which is now in government was one of lockdown's biggest cheerleaders, had absolutely NOTHING to say about the very obvious harms caused by lockdown and the ruthless campaign of fear, and in this respect completely failed to be the opposition. The only criticism they had of lockdowns was that they ever ended. They had plenty to say about Partygate, which conveniently overshadowed the real scandal of the harms of lockdowns.

Yes, there seems to be a tacit agreement of "Shh... we don't mention lockdown, it wasn't that bad, and it never really happened", especially among politicians. But we must talk about it. The damage caused was very, very real, will probably become even more apparent when the lockdown children become adults; and I expect the government will try to minimise it, and hope that people will forget how bad lockdown was, ready for the "next pandemic" which Bill Gates and other billionaires keep mentioning with a little too much certainty. At the moment, the default solution to any pandemic is lockdown, with no debate allowed. This narrative must change. This is why we must keep talking about the harms of lockdown, lest we forget.