Has lockdown contaminated your memories?

[JesusInTheCabbageVan]

When I think back to before lockdown, my memories have been rewritten to include social distancing. If it's a situation where SD would have been impossible (festival, house party, crowded restaurant etc) I feel really quite uncomfortable reliving it. Anyone else? I'm not unduly stressed by the virus or lockdown, so it's an odd feeling.

Yes! You have just described how I feel but hadn’t quite been able to articulate. And I can’t imagine a life without SD going forwards (although I want to!).

Yes.

Yes, and my thought process.

Reading a lot just now. Simple things, mum and her friend were coming to town to visit an art gallery and I was joining the, for lunch. My mind goes they can't do that, where is open? Etc.

Really strange.

No and I think when social distancing ends I'll revert back no problem. When we were first able to meet one other person it felt odd the first time and fine after that. Same when we were allowed to meet in groups of 6. I hate having to dive out of the way to pass someone on a pavement or supermarket aisle, or wait for them to pass it still feels rude and unnatural.

Not memories as such, but I have an instinctively shocked/uncomfortable response to TV dramas/films (clearly made pre Covid) where people are close together or even, shock, touching each other.

I can genuinely imagine telling our children about the times when we didn't socially distance and them being shocked to think of it.

Same as PP - shocked when watching people touching on TV or reading in my book that they hugged etc.

I live in a country where kissing as a greeting is expected. Obviously no one is now and its weird not doing it but also weird thinking about one day doing it again...

Yes to all this. It would be interesting to know what kind of personalities are and aren't affected in this way.

My favourite place is New York and I was recently watching travel vlogs about the city on YouTube. They were pre-Covid and I felt so uncomfortable seeing the huge crowds in Times Square and Central Park - people crammed in and walking so close to each other. I’ve been in those crowds several times but after just a few weeks of lockdown staying apart seems weirdly normal.

I feel very much the same when I’m watching things and it’s obviously pre covid I think my god get away from those people, you’re too close!

It’s hard to ever imagine life before now, all that standing on the tube in someone’s armpit

It doesn't make me feel uncomfortable, but I do think it's odd watching things on TV now that pre-covid.

Yes. I find myself judging TV characters for touching their faces.

No but when I watch TV I do sometimes get a quick flash of "oh they just walked up and hugged each other" or "oh they walked into a shop and went right up to that shop assistant". Not that I am concerned/anxious but just you notice things more because it's different at the moment and its jarring.

I expect in years to come when SD isnt a thing any more, we will watch TV reruns from this time and find it really jarring that everyone is so far apart.

@modge

Not memories as such, but I have an instinctively shocked/uncomfortable response to TV dramas/films (clearly made pre Covid) where people are close together or even, shock, touching each other.

I can genuinely imagine telling our children about the times when we didn't socially distance and them being shocked to think of it.

Do you really think this is life from now on? I really really don't. How would future generations ever form friendships and relationships if social distancing goes on forever. The human race has survived millions of years without social distancing - it is a (relatively) short term measure.

Thinking about it, no. I actually quite like being reminded of Actual Normality. I used to moan about crowds before all this & now I miss them.

Another thing, I'm getting sick of being told by TV announcers that "this was filmed before covid19 restrictions", I want to see normality on TV without being reminded all the time.

No not at all.

Another one saying yes, it’s scary how quickly we can change what comes naturally to us, touching and hugging others etc. I saw an old friend in the supermarket this week, she went in for a hug and I instinctively stepped back, unfortunately she was offended. If the virus vanished tomorrow it would be a long time until I felt comfortable standing directly next to someone for a chat rather than some distance apart.

Not hugely, but I found a picture of my phone that I’d taken in early March of me holding up a 4 pint bottle of milk, taken to show my colleague I’d got the milk in. My first response to seeing it now was ‘oh god - they can see me touching it!’

I’ve had a few meet ups and they were fine, but I think personal boundaries will take a while to return to what they were before. Communal milk bottles are a way off.

We're still using communal milk at work.

I just watched a drama where people were eating at a lovely Parisian restaurant normally and just welled up

Fucking virus

No. Just a blip for a recluse like me.

DS2 was born at the end of Jan...I was clearing space on my phone and his first month, we're in coffee shops and wagamamas in the photos
I think I even let DBro cuddle him ( he's a paramedic).

Now DS1 (he's 4) says things like "are you sure that's 2 metres" and washes his hands like a dr (scrubs the thumb, round the back, up to the elbows)

I didn’t notice it before but yes you’re right, it feels as if we’ve lived this way forever. Pre COVID feels like a past life now.

It's one reason I don't want to watch anything on TV (or film). The TV people constantly do things we're not allowed to do. It's like a bit of sadism. I'd rather do a crossword puzzle or even type here.

This is awful but... I wonder about the kids who are raised in captivity but get to watch TV, like the Fritzl kids. What did they think when watching TV, what were they told about why they couldn't go join that big world? My brain explodes trying to figure out how they reconciled the situation they lived in.

Watching Glastonbury last night on tv seemed weird seeing the big crowds all squished. It’s only been a few months of socially distancing and it’s become so ingrained in my head already.