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.

I got a speeding ticket on the M3 when I went for a job interview (school) on the second November "lockdown" which wasn't really a lock down to me as schools were open. Normally it would be really tricky to break the speed limit heading south on the M3 at the end of the working day!

Obviously I shouldn't have been speeding but I only saw about 10 other vehicles in my direction and I drove a distance of 4 junctions!

@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal

My DM lives alone and used to seeing me and the DC a few times a week, so the early part of the first lockdown was really hard for her.

I remember DS skipping round the house singing that he was "as happy as a hamster" that he got to hug his grandma again, after the government brought in the single person bubbles. In hindsight I'm amazed I let my poor mum going that long without cuddles, when we were all healthy and symptom free.

An old neighbour of mine lost her husband just before lockdown, her mum was her only family support for her and her 2 boys but she didn't hug her until she was allowed a support bubble. Utterly crazy!

Social media posts about the 'selfish idiots' sitting outside in a park on a sunny day. 'Say the fuck home' became very easy virtue signalling took didnt it?

The post on here where someone suggested grating cheese into your coffee if you'd run out of milk so you didn't go out to the shop more than you're allocated nano second a day

People quarantining their shopping and washing things like fruit and vegetables in disinfectant.

Clear skies, noticing so much more nature...trees, flowers, more birds, foxes, etc. No traffic pollution, hardly saw a car about. Having an early morning walk and seeing nobody. They were the nice bits.

Surreal bits were the tape round the kids park to stop people getting in, queues for the supermarket and the fear of somebody getting a little too close.

Returning from my daily walk about two weeks before lockdown 1 and a couple walking towards me stepped into my front gate entrance. I wondered what they were doing (were they coming to sell me something?) when I realised they were stepping out of my way to let me walk past them without realising that I was heading for the gate they'd walked into. That was the first time I experienced the 'people crossing the street to avoid you' trend.

Seeing kids' swings tied up and together with cable ties and a laminated sign from the housing association saying "These swings are out of bounds due to Covid" or something similar.
I went back the next day and cut the ties with scissors and removed the sign. It never got put back up
Ditto boundary tape put all around a park bench to stop people sitting on it. I removed this too.
When police officers were stopping young kids from playing football on the outdoor pitches in a deprived area. I said to them that by herding them off the park the kids would only gather together in a smaller, more enclosed space and the risk of Covid spreading would be higher. The officers told me with regret they were under orders and had no choice.

During lockdown one DH and I were chatting to a friend outside a supermarket, socially distanced and well away from the entrance and some bloke had a massive shouty rant at us for blocking his way (we weren't). He then went inside and got the manager to have a word with us.

Going on Mumsnet and seeing how bonkers people were. Getting upset about people walking in the country in case they needed an ambulance.

Coming back from the supermarket and stripping off my clothes, putting them in the washing machine and taking a shower. Meanwhile my husband wiped down every carton and tin with hand sanitizer....

Seeing the residents of our nearest seaside town go over the top on social media about how we MUST NOT VISIT and they pushed a campaign to get their local police to put a physical blockade on one of the main routes into the town. "We don't want you here ". It was surreal coming from a place where they rely so much on tourism, an industry that had been wiped out almost overnight.

I worked for a local council as their equivalent of a "Covid Marshall" during the second lockdown. Unlike many districts, this one decided that we would be very "soft touch" - recommending, advising, suggesting, answering questions etc and NOT in any way aggressive, no powers at all, always light and friendly.

Most people, as soon as they realised this was our remit, were great. But I was verbally abused many times for just saying things like "hi guys, try to remember the 2 metre thing" when there was a crowd of people snuggled close together in the street, or saying "Hi, just checking you're in a bubble together" when 2 people were sitting closely on a bench in the street.

Secondary school children were possibly the worst, and I was threatened a couple of times then we were told to no longer talk to them for our own safety and in case of malicious reporting by them or their parents.

I was screamed at outside a shop by a woman walking in with a teen not wearing as mask - I'd just said don't forget to put your masks on. Apparently I should have somehow known the teen was exempt, and she didn't see why her son should have to be "branded as SEN" by wearing a lanyard stating this. I should have somehow just known.

Being asked by the local community police to go with them to a hysterical complaint of people partying in the middle of the day. Was a Pentecostal church, and the "loud laughing and partying by dozens of people" was actually the 8-10 church volunteers doing a deep clean between services. Oddly enough, they weren't doing this in total silence but talking to each other across the rooms - loudly because they were socially distanced.

Seeing all the official signs reminding people of the rules being defaced and ripped down.

Later on during the summer seeing entire towns plastered with anti-vaxxer and covid denyer stickers, including ones stuck across bus timetables, disabled parking signs etc. Then being warned to take great care if we removed them ourselves, as in some nearby districts there had been incidents of razor blades being stuck under them to injure anyone trying to remove them, and stickers with caustic substances on them so if you touched them you would get chemical burns.

The lady refusing to wear a mask in a shop because "God loves me and protects me, so I won't catch covid". One of the local ministers was in ICU at the time with covid.

At the start of the first lockdown, queuing outside Asda on a hot sunny day with severe hayfever & people getting hysterical if I sneezed or blew my nose

@WouldBeGood

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

See to me this just continues the divide and the blaming culture of the last two years. Would it not be kinder to appreciate that a lot of us were terrified and that at the time of the strictest measures the numbers of people dying of covid or in icu were really high and fear and uncertainty makes people act in ways they wouldn't normally. When things are scary and unpredictable it's natural to try and 'control' the situation. It wasn't all malice and the govt messaging scared so many of us. A bit of compassion both ways would not go amiss.

Spending Christmas Day 2020 completely on my own, eating pigs in blankets and deli cold turkey slices. And presents not exchanged for months (May I think?)

My husband wanting to go to the shops to buy mini roast potatoes even though we had full size ones and real potatoes in stock and me genuinely thinking "oh god, are we seriously all going to die for the sake of mini roasties?!?!"

See to me this just continues the divide and the blaming culture of the last two years. Would it not be kinder to appreciate that a lot of us were terrified and that at the time of the strictest measures the numbers of people dying of covid or in icu were really high and fear and uncertainty makes people act in ways they wouldn't normally. When things are scary and unpredictable it's natural to try and 'control' the situation. It wasn't all malice and the govt messaging scared so many of us. A bit of compassion both ways would not go amiss.

I don't doubt some people were scared but for others it was the chance to be absolute arseholes. People spying and reporting on their neighbours for example, I have no compassion for people who did that.

I was screamed at outside a shop by a woman walking in with a teen not wearing as mask - I'd just said don't forget to put your masks on. Apparently I should have somehow known the teen was exempt, and she didn't see why her son should have to be "branded as SEN" by wearing a lanyard stating this. I should have somehow just known.

Tbh I don’t think it was necessary for people to remind others to wear a mask, and those who were exempt did get pretty pissed off at people interfering

There was a bit of weirdness re pets at one stage harbouring covid in their fur. Vets got somewhat leery. They were wiping them down with wipes

@Pyri

I was screamed at outside a shop by a woman walking in with a teen not wearing as mask - I'd just said don't forget to put your masks on. Apparently I should have somehow known the teen was exempt, and she didn't see why her son should have to be "branded as SEN" by wearing a lanyard stating this. I should have somehow just known.

Tbh I don’t think it was necessary for people to remind others to wear a mask, and those who were exempt did get pretty pissed off at people interfering

If you note from the top of my post, it was my JOB to remind people (among other things). I was, as always when working, wearing my pass and a branded waistcoat over my other clothing showing the council name and logo, and my role.

The vast majority of exempt people wore a badge or lanyard to indicate that, and I never reminded them about masks. Someone not wearing a lanyard/badge would usually just say they were exempt, and I would say that's fine with a smile. I would never, ever even consider asking them for any reason why they may be exempt as a) that was against the rules and b) that would be rude. Some people did tell me (without being asked of course) and with some we chatted about their condition - again only ever at their instigation.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

See to me this just continues the divide and the blaming culture of the last two years. Would it not be kinder to appreciate that a lot of us were terrified and that at the time of the strictest measures the numbers of people dying of covid or in icu were really high and fear and uncertainty makes people act in ways they wouldn't normally. When things are scary and unpredictable it's natural to try and 'control' the situation. It wasn't all malice and the govt messaging scared so many of us. A bit of compassion both ways would not go amiss.

I don't doubt some people were scared but for others it was the chance to be absolute arseholes. People spying and reporting on their neighbours for example, I have no compassion for people who did that.

Yes. And it's really problematic to suggest that people are being divisive by talking about times they were badly treated by others.

Reading some of the things people did makes me wonder if we as a family took the whole thing seriously.

We tried to SD and I still wear a mask as I don’t want to catch a cold. But we worked closely with other people throughout lockdowns 2 onwards.
Dd was in direct contact with over 1700 children over November and December 2021 and almost the same amount during most of December 2020. Nearly all of dds peers came down with Covid both times but Dd despite being unvaccinated remained Covid free throughout.

We have never sanitised anything, we didn’t have showers or change our clothes or not go out.

I hated queueing so would shop at night when the supermarket was restocking the shelves.

We decided on a diy project during 1st lockdown and going on the B&Q website to order anything involved a long queue.
The announcement that you were 869747th in the queue to access the online store was surreal

"Hi, just checking you're in a bubble together" when 2 people were sitting closely on a bench in the street.

You really approached 2 people who were sitting, minding their own business? Bloody hell!

On a first world problems note I never ever want to watch Normal People again as it just reminds me so intensely of lockdown 1 .
Reading the posts on here it was just such a dark and hideous inhumane time especially for people who were deprived of precious moments with dying loved ones . The Sarah Everard case as well the poster mentioned just awful .
Personally I hated all the sneaking around taking shopping to my dad and looking over my shoulder and not seeing much of my grandfather who passed away in late 2020 but so many had it so much worse reading the responses on here .

Petrol for 99c a litre when we couldn't go more than 5km from home