To miss the first lockdown?

Saw it with MIL. Prior to the lockdowns she was pretty independent, doing her own shopping, going to the bank every few weeks to sort out her bills, travelling around on buses etc. She was starting with dementia, but could "cope" with regular routines, i.e. paying her papers every Monday, going shopping by bus every Friday, etc. It was like "muscle memory" for her.

With the lockdowns, she just stayed home and vegetated. We bought shopping for her and took it round, we paid her papers, we drove her to the bank every month. When lockdowns ended, she couldn't use the bus, she had no idea where the bus stop was anymore, no idea which bus to catch, etc., even when we told her and walked her to the stop (literally within sight of her home on the same street!). She'd forget straight away. We started taking her shopping to the supermarket, but she didn't know what to buy, where things were, etc. She never got back to any kind of independence and her dementia worsened almost weekly through lack of doing things for herself.

I saw that so much with older people, it was horrendous

Glad you liked the quietness! For thousands, it was anything but quiet as they were trapped at home with noisy neighbours who were also enjoying this “ lovely weather” and unable to escape it

Of course the lovely weather was another sign of climate change so even that was blighted

The more people who say they enjoyed it, the fewer people who'd object when it happens again and they try the same illogical and stupid restrictions. We need a more sensible response next time with restrictions needing to be proportional and more mitigation measures to allow things to continue in slightly different ways - not the stupid knee jerk reaction to ban virtually everything, even things that were clearly very low risk!

So are the public frightened or happy or what then. Hopefully next time a vaccine programme will come about even quicker and lockdown wont go on as long. They can learn from 2020.

I miss it too. Of course it was hellish - scary, people dying etc; and for us we were worked to the bone, both working fulltime plus childcare & homeschooling, taking it in shifts til gone midnight. But I do miss the it.

Yes I totally agree. There’d be a revolt.

Later on even government psychologists came out and said maybe the "fear factor" was slightly over done. No shit Sherlock!!

It might not be the main factor, but I think the government knew that because the people were so frightened, they could “get away with it”, and drag it out week after week. The government was certainly monitoring the public mood very closely indeed, and Boris Johnson was so desperate to be liked, that sure what the public “wanted” had some influence. But the government were also strongly influencing the public mood using the press, leaking what “might” happen to test the public reaction.

So you think the main factor the government will use to determine if they should do another lockdown in the event of another virus killing people worldwide is some people saying they enjoyed it?

A HUNDRED TIMES THIS!!!!!!!!!!!

This is precisely why I felt it was vital to show resistance from the very start, before the idea of lockdowns became normalised, which I do fear may have already happened. And during the mad time (and maybe even now), for all we know some of the lockdown-loving posts on social media (including Mumsnet) were from government stooges.

I wrote to my MP several times to make it opposition to lockdowns very clear indeed. It terrified me that there was no public resistance at all. I took down signs about social distancing in parks, to create a tangible resistance. (I learned later that lots of people were doing this covertly, but they would have been crucified in social media.)

And even now, the harms of lockdowns are still being minimised and hushed up. WE MUST NOT LET THIS HAPPEN. We must keep screaming our opposition to future lockdowns.

The trouble is that when some people claim to have "enjoyed" lockdown, it starts to give the government of the day the idea to do it again the next time we have a pandemic! We should all be giving a clear message to governments that we won't stand for nonsensical restrictions and that they'll have to be more savvy with their recommendations to reduce and control the spread - not the lazy "close everything down" stupidity we suffered.

I knew an elderly gentleman who would always speak very fondly of his experiences growing up in Poplar during WWII, but I am pretty sure for most people it was pretty horrendous! Both DP served during WWII. DF would speak a lot of his experiences and DM to a lesser degree (I think she always regretted joining-up). DF didn't even have to join-up as he was in a protected occupation. I was always told never to ask DM's DB of his experiences at that time as he was a POW in Burma. Strange how such traumatic worldwide events can evoke such different memories for different people.

@chocolatemademefat I’m so sorry - it’s because of the sheer number of people like yourself dealing with unimaginably awful situations that I think posts like the OPS are in poor taste.

Good for you. I was at home with a doubly incontinent terminally ill husband with very little medical help. Hope you had a lovely relaxing time.

I recall the surprise when things started to open up again, bogs didn't and al fresco crapping rates soared.

There was an amazing website called Lockdown Loos, it told you where you could find a loo that was open. Absolutely brilliant idea (says the women who always knows where the nearest loo is on any journey she does because she gets really grumpy when she needs the loo and can't find one😅).

And there was the urinary leash, in that most public toilets were closed, so you had to plan carefully.

Well what else was there to do other than shopping or exercise, including walking. Most places were shut.

I agree with you OP, but appreciate I was very lucky. I annoyed DH a bit by saying “Aren’t we lucky!” So many times. DH later pointed out that lock down “saved” DD.
The second lockdown (from school) was dull as ditch water, though. I didn’t notice the others, apart from Christmas Day.

I lost my business and DH was working in intensive care. I still enjoyed lots of elements of it. We did lose two family members to COVID but not until lockdown 2.

I have a ridiculously busy life, crazy social life,, kids do loads of sport, both work full time. It was very grounding to pause. Of course there were shit bits and DH had it hard but the kids were strangely happy in the main and we bonded as a family a lot.

The kids really enjoyed meeting their friends when the rule of 6 happened and spent hours in the park and exploring our massive city on their bikes in a way you couldn't now because of the traffic.

Along with the myth that only one hour a day was allowed. Gove improvised words to that effect during an interview, and it rapidly became the accepted gospel truth, especially on mumsnet. The government failed to correct the record, and allowed this myth to flourish.

Remember only being allowed out for excercise?! That was so silly. Can’t believe we all fell for it.

I couldn't see my dad, then he got dementia. Then we were back to one visitor only at hospital and wearing masks and I couldn't take my kids into hospital to say goodbye. So no I don't miss any of it.

I'm guessing you weren't financially ruinedby it, or a hospital nurse, or lost three members of your family.

Fortunately I didn't experience any of the above but for many there was no joy