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Original poster

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

758 replies

Jaggerdagger · 11/03/2022 07:09

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.

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BigRedDuck · 11/03/2022 22:26

The completely empty roads to work. Empty schools and footpaths.

Me and my team becoming a very tight knit family because we couldn't see our own relatives or our friends.
We still talk to this day despite us all having burned out and moved onto pastures anew. We laughed, cried and held onto each other every day.

MrsBerthaRochester · 11/03/2022 22:30

Ds1 finished his exams and never went back to school. No saying goodbye to friends/teachers or prom. His 18th fell during the second lockdown so no party/pub/ rite of passage. He has still never been to a club.
The kids getting fed up up of being dragged out to see rainbows In windows.
The police being absolute cunts to me when I was having a psychotic mental health episode.
Crying my eyes out to ds2 teacher as Im a complete luddite and couldnt cope with online lessons.
Lockdown has left me with acute anxiety. I can go weeks without leaving the house now.
I think we have not even begun to see the tip of the mental health crisis that is looming due to these lockdowns.

Taswama · 11/03/2022 22:40

Going for a walk with my friend (once allowed) and her being afraid to open gates.

Going into work in June to pick up a new laptop and being so happy to have an hour off homeschooling and able to talk to different people.

Seeing one of my team in about June (when we were allowed to meet in gardens) and giving each other a hug.

Sitting on a beach in Cornwall in July 2020 and realising I hadn't cried that day.

Meeting up with my team for a walk in October 2020 (just before 2nd lockdown) and realising they missed me as much as I missed them.

DB refusing to meet on the border of a neighbouring nation (where he lives) at Easter 21 in case they were caught crossing the border.

Walking across that border, although we had parked on our side and wondering if it was legal.

Cycling over the M5 and seeing it deserted.

WouldBeGood · 11/03/2022 22:41

Everyone who obeyed this unquestioningly and was awful to other people should be very ashamed of themselves

Pyri · 11/03/2022 22:45

@WouldBeGood

Everyone who obeyed this unquestioningly and was awful to other people should be very ashamed of themselves
No, I don’t think people who obeyed the rules unquestioningly should be very ashamed of themselves. We put people in power and trust them to make the right decisions. This was at a time when no one know how awful things were.

Now those who were dicks to other people - sure. But people who just followed the rules, there’s really nothing wrong with that

JackieCollinshasnoauthority · 11/03/2022 22:47

All those people that died. Crazy times.

greenbirdsong · 11/03/2022 22:51

The things I remember the most are :

One way systems in the supermarkets and people shouting at you if you forgot something and tried to 'reverse' back up the aisle.

Having to wear a mask to walk into a cafe/pub, take it off at your table, then put it on to walk to the bar/toilet, then take it back off at the table.

Kids playgrounds being taped up and closed and having to explain it somehow to my then 2 year old.

Living on a main road that overnight became eerily quiet.

But I do have some fond memories of me and my then 2 year old going for a daily walk, counting rainbows in peoples windows and writing letters to grandparents and walking to the post box to send them as we couldn't see them.

pawpaws2022 · 11/03/2022 22:54

Getting these texts (not my mobile number, it's the one it comes from!)
Receiving a shielding food delivery box

What we're the most bizarre/memorable moments of the pandemic for you?
FrasierCraneDay · 11/03/2022 22:57

The day the schools closed and we were told only key workers that couldn't work from home could take their kids back the following week. I spent the weekend in a total state of "how the fuck do I manage this"

indiesearcher · 11/03/2022 22:57

The first time I went over to the big Sainsburys and the shelves had been stripped bare. It was a terrifying moment of 'how the fuck am I going to feed my children?'

After that I bought a second freezer and batch cooked what we could - note, didn't panic buy, just made extra and froze it.

Now I'm a bit of a prepper. I never ever want to have that fear again.

middleager · 11/03/2022 23:06

My cat dying suddenly and having to stand outside in the dark in November at the vets, with her in our arms in a queue.

That same vets still makes everybody queue outside in the cold. The chip shop next door still has markers on the floor, and people ridiculously spaced out, so the queue snakes outside also.

Madness.

godmum56 · 11/03/2022 23:15

oh that moment when they started vaccinating!...and then the glow knowing my older siblings had got theirs followed by the AMAZING day when I got mine.

godmum56 · 11/03/2022 23:17

all the lovely posts on local FB groups from folk who would shop, walk pets, collect prescriptions and so on for shielders.

TheDoveFromAboveCooCoo · 11/03/2022 23:23

@WouldBeGood

Everyone who obeyed this unquestioningly and was awful to other people should be very ashamed of themselves
Don't be so ridiculous. Of course people followed the rules. We were afraid and placed our trust in the government (however misplaced that trust might have been).

But it's going a bit far to say we should be ashamed for doing that.

Would you have said the same to people putting up blackout curtains in WW2? That they should be ashamed for doing what the government told them to?

Gotajobthrunepotism · 11/03/2022 23:26

About a week before lockdown going for lunch with a friend beside a local uni. Everyone was obsessively using hand sanitizer and all the young people were on their phones trying to arrange trains and flights home. We knew lockdown was coming

WouldBeGood · 11/03/2022 23:35

@TheDoveFromAboveCooCoo I should have added the ludicrous comparisons to WW2, thanks for reminding me.

A little critical thinking wouldn’t go amiss. If Boris told you to jump off a cliff, etc.,,

GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal · 11/03/2022 23:36

The DC and I got "moved on" by the police because I'd stopped on our daily walk to let them climb a tree - in an almost deserted public garden which contained one other family on the opposite side of it. Sad

WouldBeGood · 11/03/2022 23:43

Oh, and Ann Frank 🙄

robinwoo · 11/03/2022 23:45

Seeing two women in Waitrose having a fight over loo roll.

QuebecBagnet · 11/03/2022 23:48

Police on day one of lockdown doing bag inspections outside local sainsburys and telling people off if their shopping was deemed non essential. People think I’m making this but it happened.

gettingolderandgrumpy · 11/03/2022 23:49

Loads , before lockdown going to the shops and the shelves stripped bear .
Planned night out on the day the pubs shut just bizarre.
Crying because my sen child was told he couldn’t go to school .
Crying because my boss was cutting hours ( this was just before furlough was announced )
During lockdown
Thinking that I couldn’t take my child out for a walk because I’d already been for a run this lasted a week before I thought wtf .
Also the 1 hour exercise rule that people decided was the rule it wasn’t .
Just people talking general rubbish on social media like friends complaining that people are out queuing for essentials when they are doing exactly the same thing . I came off social media for a while for this reason.
I’m totally done with it all now and I actually think we’ve all suffered a kind of trauma throughout this last 2 years . I also think it’s scary how people will believe that going for a walk is going to kill someone.

mrsmacmc · 12/03/2022 00:00

Standing at the back door the first Sunday of lockdown and being amazed / slightly uneasy at the silence. The only noise was birds singing. Felt like I had been transported back to a Sunday in my early childhood

FavouriteMug · 12/03/2022 00:04

I'm going to copy and paste this thread into a big word document to show to my grandchildren one day.

So many things I'd already forgotten - what a horrific few years this has been 😢

babymama471 · 12/03/2022 00:15

Having to go into hospital to be induced alone. Things quickly escalated into an emergency caesarean and DH just made it as I was being wheeled into theatre. I suffer from anxiety and was petrified about going into the hospital alone. Afterwards we were wheeled up to the ward and then DH was told to leave before we entered. I was then left with a newborn in the crib next to me and I was still numb from the spinal so could not reach her.

Having to homeschool 3 other dc with SEN with a newborn baby and recovering from surgery with a bad infection. DH was working ridiculous hours as a key worker and I was trying to establish breastfeeding with 3 children on zoom calls. School would not allow the dc to attend as I was not a key worker. Resulted in horrific PND.

Buzzinwithbez · 12/03/2022 00:19

Feeling really pleased that our neighbours had been slightly ahead of the curve in having family in their garden. We knew then that at least they wouldn't be judging.