What we're the most bizarre/memorable moments of the pandemic for you?

[Jaggerdagger]

Just wondering what they are for you?

I'll start. One of mine was seeing a children's playground cordoned off with tape, including all the park benches.

Sitting on the grass in the park in the sun and being asked to move on by a PCSO

Mad, isn't it, how much you suddenly when a post like this comes up. Dhs dad came to drop off a birthday card for him. He left it at the door then walked to the end of the path. Four year old ds spots him and legs it past us towards him only for him to shout 'no. Stop' broke ds's heart. Dfil worked in a place where the infection rate was sky high and he was terrified of passing it on. Not sure their relationship has recovered yet.

Taking very old cat to the emergency vet with a suspected stroke on the first weekend of lockdown, having to leave the carrier at the door and get back in the car. Vet nurse came out in full PPE, wiped the carrier down before she took it inside. I sat in the car and cried for half an hour.

Cat was ok and is now purring next to me but it was a horrible experience.

Walking with dh and the dc in our village and an older lady fell badly nearby. She was on her own, so I went to check she was okay. She had cuts to her hands and face, and struggled to get up. I kept my distance, but she was absolutely petrified that I would come near her. I won't forget the look of fear on her face in a hurry.

Also, as others have said, seeing the playgrounds taped up, so sad and absolutely obserd.

I think the worst thread I saw on here was a woman asking if she'd be breaking the rules if she drove 10 minutes to the graveyard where her dad was buried on the anniversary of his death.
People were so cruel in their responses.

The most surreal moments:
First lockdown - being told school would close and no one knew when they would open again. (I'm a teaching assistant.)

Having a window side vigil for MIL as she was dying of Covid in a care home. Took her a week to eventually pass away.

The weather was glorious, sunny and beautiful, we took a picnic, and our primary aged DC each day. They played hide and seek lots. When MIL was more lucid in the early days she passed sweets out the window to DC and we held her hand. No regrets.

Second lockdown:
Walking in to school after Christmas and being given a register, a class of key worker children, a lesson plan and being told the teachers were working from home until further notice.

No one had actually told the TAs that was the plan until that morning .

Mine was being stopped by the police twice on my way home from work and being grilled as to why I was out and about. I'm a civil servant and my department were considered key workers. It was so bizarre.

It didn't help that a dress down policy was implemented as we were seeing no customers. I don't think I've worn the denim shorts and Dr. Martens combo since

@blackfriars

Walking into hospital to be induced to have DS by myself as DH wasn’t allowed to be with me. He was allowed in for the last 20 mins - ie once I was pushing!

I could of written this!

Also, spending a week in hospital with ds after birth, DP only got to see him for one hour and had to wait a week to see his baby again.

Having to stand on the pavement outside the hospital having severe contractions, leaning on a car. Having to wait for a midwife to come and escort me, alone, to the maternity ward wearing a mask, visor, apron and gloves.

@louderthan

I think the worst thread I saw on here was a woman asking if she'd be breaking the rules if she drove 10 minutes to the graveyard where her dad was buried on the anniversary of his death. People were so cruel in their responses.

This reminds me of a discussion on a phone-in radio show in Ireland. People rang in saying they were continuing to go to their loved ones' graves, even tho it was outside their 5km restriction. Some heart-breaking stories.

The caller after caller rang in saying how reckless they were being, often with sad stories of Covid loss they'd experienced.

I remember one chastened elderly lady saying she would stop.

I remember thinking this all seemed like such a normal conversation. It came up later with some Government ministers & people were reminded the Gardai would be checking & potentially penalising people who did this

And that still seemed very acceptable 😳

Local farmer died and there was a public footpath that ran through his land, with gates. His family got the local press to run a story about how walkers had killed him by transferring their Covid germs via the gatepost It was already known at that point that the virus didn't survive well in sunlight, plus how asymptomatic transmission was a thing, but I guess it's easier to blame strangers than accept you may have passed on a virus to a loved one that resulted in their death.

The other one I'll always remember was the nurse who had all her tyres slashed. I'm in a national park and apparently she was staying in a self catered cottage to avoid transferring the virus to her family, but the yokels thought she was a second home owner staying in the area and lost their minds a bit. I refuse to go back to that village now to spend money in the cafes etc, even though it's lovely, because of the bile they were putting out on social media about anyone not local.

Finally, there's a cut through near my estate that's a flight of stairs that go around a corner and probably cover about 100 metres in distance. If you start at the bottom you can't see who is at the top. There is room for two people to pass but not social distance. Most people just accepted it, but one day I started up and got around the corner and a woman immediately began screaming at me to go back down. Didn't even ask nicely once. I refused because she was so rude. Now whenever I walk by her on the estate I cough into my elbow. Petty I know but she was awful.

Screaming into a pillow when I heard the schools were closing. I had no idea how we were going to cope as a family (and we didn’t, a lot of the time).

Posting on here in desperation when my DD’s mental health was suffering during the first lockdown and being told it was my fault for ‘projecting’ my anxiety onto her. I’ll never forget that.

Watching adverts on TV about the slower pace of life, and having so much time to do the things you want, and people telling endlessly about enjoying the lovely weather.

In the meantime working 12 hours a day at home, and expected to somehow home school my child at the same time.

It nearly broke me.

I remember sitting at my best friends kitchen table a few days before it all kicked off and her telling me off because I hadn't 'stocked up'.
I popped into B&M the next morning and the certain aisles were wiped out. No food, medicine, cleaning products. All just gone.

Being removed from work by my boss, the second that she found out that I was pregnant. Her trying to hurry me along without getting close was weird.

I caught it anyway 3 days later and then started bleeding. I remember realising that nobody would even look to see if my baby was still there and trying to come to terms with just not knowing. There was no point in upsetting anyone else so I just didn't tell them but was convinced that I'd lost my baby.

Six weeks later, I had to go to my 12 week scan alone, still not knowing whether there would be anything there.
The road and the city centre was totally empty. Not another person to be seen. Like some kind of post apocalyptic movie.
Thank goodness everything was fine. and I drove home via my parent's house. I broke the rules to stand 5m away from them in their garden and WhatsApp the scan picture, just so that I could see their faces.

A few weeks later, we went to a local beauty spot for a walk. The police helicopter hovered above us the whole time. Regularly getting quite close and gesturing at people.
It was the weirdest feeling.

Clapping every week, just ridiculous

Someone on here saying if you ran out of milk, you couldn’t go and get more. Maybe put cheese in your coffee?

Feeling mad for having some intelligence and questioning these terrible restrictions, whilst the world obeyed and called me selfish and a granny killer

Aye all that people stayed home kitty o'Meara crap pissed me off massively. Although I guess if I had a couple of mill in the bank and no fucking comprehension whatsoever of the world beyond my gated community I'd have thought the same.

People exchanging Christmas presents in a freezing cold park. Families parking up, extracting brightly wrapped gifts from the boot and marching off to meet whoever at a predetermined 'oh what a coincidence seeing you here' point.

Realising the kids and I would get to stay in the house for longer before we had to move to a flat. I was really grateful for the garden in lockdown 1. We had an extra three months in the house. We had moved by lockdown 2.

The Friday when the kids were sent home and we knew they wouldn't be going back in on the Monday.
Going into town when only essential shops were open. Covid Signs everywhere and tape on the floor.
Going into the vaccine centre in the evening in a deserted Bradford in Jan 2021. The big white tents for testing centres and vaxx centres. It was deserted and felt apocalyptic.
There were many moments. I don't like to remember them though. Most of it needed to be done and was done and now covid is moving towards endemic.

@bookworm14

Screaming into a pillow when I heard the schools were closing. I had no idea how we were going to cope as a family (and we didn’t, a lot of the time).

Posting on here in desperation when my DD’s mental health was suffering during the first lockdown and being told it was my fault for ‘projecting’ my anxiety onto her. I’ll never forget that.

Some were cruel. Not good

Thanks Marsha. You’ve been a voice of sanity throughout.

I feel like this thread should be saved for posterity.

Seeing an elderly man sitting on a bench with a load of shopping, and a copper telling him to move on.
Being shouted at to go home from someone hanging out their window. I was walking my dog!
Being scared my mum would be stopped and turned back on her 50 mile journey to see me.
My friend illegally visiting me, and having to tap on the door ever so quietly then speaking in lowered tones incase the neighbours could hear.
A security guard in a shop berating me for having wine in my basket.
The social media posts.... utter madness! Ongoing commentary about other people's shopping, the moaning about the amount of people in parks (posted by someone also in the park), local rags posting pictures of queues outside The Range... and their journalists counting how many non-mask wearers were in the town centre even though you never had to wear them outside.

Standing at my doorway one sunny evening hearing my whole town banging pans for the NHS. I generally thought the clapping was a load of crap, but I was balls deep working on a Covid ward and that week all the patients I'd cared for had died. My husband forced me to stand at the door and listen, hearing the sound of it made my arm hairs stand on end.