Have you discovered any upsides to the pandemic?

[Blonchette]

I guess I should preface and say I’m being light hearted so I’m not meaning things like better quality of family life etc. Although obviously I hope many have found that.

It’s just that as I was washing my hands earlier for the millionth time today it suddenly occurred to me to wonder if things like incidences of threadworms were down due to increased hygiene. I don’t know if they are or not but it would be a small plus point of the pandemic if they were.

Anything else?

Parents evening via video call - a real game changer. The only problem was you got cut off after five minutes, some teachers liked to have more time and were cut mid talking.
I'm closer to my friends and family, although I soon found out who really cared.
I've developed a love for outdoor exercise and now make time for it.

Restaurant boxes that you can cook at home. They're absolutely brilliant, we get one a week now from all over the place. We've got an Angela Hartnett Cafe Murano one tonight. I really bloody love them, fantastic innovation.

Ive always worked at home. Now there are no interruptions from random people wanting me to:-

buy tat
give to collections
listen to religious/political chat
invite them in for some spurious reason

I have one of those wonderful little cameras mounted above my door which gives a view of the entire street. So I can see cars/vans approaching from a distance.

The only callers I open the door to are expected guests/appointments and couriers/post/delivery people. Everyone else gets to be ignored.

Last week I went 3 days without seeing anyone. Wonderful.

Being able to have two bus seats all to myself. Sadly that seems to be over now

I used to think I was a mad, bad person because I was so depressed all the time. During the first lockdown I realised that no, actually, I was having perfectly normal reactions to my situation,.

I also discovered that I’m bloody marvellous in a crisis when lots of people are falling apart and it’s a pity I didn’t realise this before and get a job that uses this. Perhaps I’ll be able to do something with it later in life.

Not having to go to endless parties (ILs very big and loud family).
Wfh, blended working.
Holiday - because we couldnt go abroad as we'd planned we found a holiday park and have had the best holiday EVER.

Table service in a pub/bar
Less people in the swimming pool at the gym
DS going to school in his PE kit 2 days a week
WFH now being made permanent at work meaning no commute, however the lack of commute means the weight has piled on

Much prefer table service in pubs.

Like prebooking slots at museums, gardens etc.

Some friendships have developed in a way they wouldn’t without the pandemic. Many others have withered and died too.

I’ve read lots more than normal.

I know this is a trivial one, but I used to make a big pile of sandwiches if we were at home for lunch (weekend or holiday) and would be having a hot meal in the evening.

When we were all wfh / online schooling I couldn't be bothered to do this every day. Now everyone makes their own lunch. I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner!

@NannyAndJohn

I think a lot of people don't realise just how beneficial the pandemic has been for women in general.

Not for those who were working from home and home-educating at the same time, while their husbands worked upstairs in peace.

No nits is the only think I can think of
Everything else is worse - I bloody hate zoom.

My eldest hasn't been hospitalised or has a chest infection since the start of the pandemic due to increased hygiene and social distancing. This in turn means that he has kept weight on over winter and has caught up a little growth wise. Hes in 3-4 years at 5 years old.
I know this sounds small but since his birth at 33 weeks his immune system has been terrible and he was always exhausted from colds that he'd eventually have no strength left. My little boy is fitter and stronger now and is finally healthy

Rolling out of bed 15 minutes before I need to start work and showing at lunch time

Spending so much time outdoors, if the weather is fair I do all my work calls outside. My skin is so much nicer and brighter (not in a tanned way, just generally less grey and no more dark circles)

Showering*

Video calling gps when you just need some antibiotics or similar, and they send prescriptions to the chemist.

PE kit worn to school. Kids should just go to school in PE kits permanently.

School work online so if you miss a day, you haven’t missed work.

Realising that there is so much available to do online and taking advantage of it.

Haven't been out loads due to kids but I absolutely loved table service in the 2 bars i went in. Scanned QR code on the table and it too me to the website, chose and paid and it just turned up. No elbows needed to get to the bar!
Zoom parents evening was good too.

I'm an introvert. Isolation and reduced social life would have been absolutely amazing if I didn't also have two young kids. All the books and video games I could have enjoyed. Sigh.

I am still thankful that my kids are not school aged and that I finished my medical treatment abroad before lockdown started !

Having phone appointments with the consultant instead of having to schlep into the hospital, so much more convenient and my condition doesn’t need physical examination anyway.

Video calls with doctors and the medication coming in the mail has been really helpful as it's difficult for me to get out at the best of times.

I finally learned how to make bread

Online parents evenings.
Sports clubs going to online pre booking- loads better from bith the participant and organiser view point.
Not having to attend social events.
Not having to visit or host people at Christmas was great.

@ufucoffee

Work training via Teams takes a few hours instead of a whole day and I can switch off my face and microphone and get on with work whilst listening. I love that.

As someone who has tried to deliver training via Teams, I find it really difficult as with cameras off I can't gauge whether people are understanding what I am saying so don't know whether I need to repeat myself, slow down, rephrase something, speed up if people are ready to move on to the next part of the training. In person or with cameras on I can see if people are confused, or if someone looks as if they want to ask a question. Over Teams with camera off I end up asking "does that make sense? Does everyone understand? Does anyone have any questions?" every few minutes. As for getting on with other works, switching off camera and mic is one thing, actually doing other work while you're supposed to be being trained is really rude and disrespectful to the trainer.

To answer the OP, I think the only positive I have personally found is table service in bars and pubs, and ordering and paying via an app. Table service is something I always like when abroad, and would love it to continue at least in some places here post covid.

@NannyAndJohn

I think a lot of people don't realise just how beneficial the pandemic has been for women in general.

Seriously?

Personally preferred having parents evening over the phone, ditto counselling sessions. It’s just more convenient for me. Also prefer the one way system at my DC’s school which they’re thankfully keeping, they built a new exit so it’s definitely prevented human traffic jams.

We live near very busy roads in NYC and I remember rather wistfully how quiet it was for the first couple of weeks. I could actually hear occasional announcements from the elevated train station.

I was made redundant and have found a better job with much nicer people. It wasn't until I left that I realised what a misery their bitchy blame culture was.
I work from home 3 days a week now so stress in down, emissions are down, food bill is down. time with ds is up.
I just feel relieved.