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.

Mine is easy. It was when the government decided that literally everyone should stay home because of the sheer danger and scope of the virus, but if you were in construction, you are immune to covid and should get back to work ASAP.

That and the first "clap for the NHS". I was majorly insulted on their behalf, the poor people wore bin bags and essentially worked tons of unpaid overtime and the best that could be mustered was a "have a clap for them" rather than payrises etc etc.

One of the nicest things was the VE Day celebrations with all the neighbours in their front gardens and the children playing in the road. June 2020.

Probably wasn't allowed but after those awful months of home schooling and the children missing friends it was so nice to see.

Feeling utter despair at trying to WFH, home school and keep everything going. Especially when it became clear that school was finished for that academic year. Working at night to make up the hours. Awful.

Working for the Foreign Office and trying to repatriate British Nationals back to the UK when flights and acquiring planes were not in our gift.

Some utterly heartbreaking stories together with some of the most unreasonable people I've ever had to interact with and this was not my first crisis.

The sheer fear felt by many will stick with me, but the threats and unkind vitriol were not warranted.

This by Glowtastic, every word

'Too many farcical nonsensical moments to mention. Overriding that I continue to be angry at the ludicrous situation that was forced upon us for far too long, the damage to kids education and mental health... And safety! So much of it was utter nonsense. I'm afraid I've lost a lot of respect for a lot of people I thought were intelligent but turned out not to be the case with their parroting about rules and irritating virtue signalling. The reality is a lot of people liked being babied and controlled by the state and a lot of people are lazy.'

@SoItWas

"People just went totally mad didn't they"

People were scared

"Fear is the mind killer"

Of course but to angrily telling off a kid playing on his own with a football is not on. Also commenting on other peoples shopping is not on

Going into a supermarket two days before lockdown wondering how we were going to survive on duck in plum sauce oven meal, biscoff spread, garlic naan, a leek, 1 carton of liquid eggs and a packet of triple chocolate chip cookies. I very rarely used to do weekly or monthly shop, just buy as and when so my cupboards and fridge were a bit sparse.

A friend asked how many packs of toilet paper I had and was really upset when I said had 3 rolls. She offered to drive over and give me two rolls.

Arguing and negotiating with my husband about how many times he could go outside. No you can’t go for a 6am run then a 1 pm walk then another evening walk. On days that I didn’t leave the house would use my walk allocations bonkers

He would use my walk allocations

I went for a bike ride down the canal and came across a man who was swinging his dog's lead (the dog wasn't attached) from side to side across the tow path to get me to stop.

He had a go at me for not keeping a two metre distance from him. I tried to explain to him that it's impossible to keep a distance of two metres from somebody if you're both on a very narrow path but he shouted at me to learn the rules.

Being with my daughter in hospital after she broke here elbow. Coming out if the ladies toilet, she was five meters away against the flow of the one way system. I tried to get back to her by going the ‘wrong way’. Was forced to walk the ‘right way’ which meant I had to walk through the waiting room, x-ray queue and triage. Hundreds of people, but at least I went the ‘right way’!

Seeing how some people reacted when somebody got a little too close to them at the supermarket.

Seeing benches and playgrounds taped off

Having to wear masks when you walked in a restaurant/cafe but you took it off as soon as you sat down. But you could go to a nightclub or football match where you most likely be crammed next to people.

people saying they quarantined and washed down all their food shopping

The whole unvaccinated v vaccinated debates I saw time and time again on here.

The tier system - weird & didn’t really make any sense.

Illegally going to see my in-laws a month before we were immigrating. We had to cross counties and I was so nervous about being caught.

I'll never forget how quickly the UK government went Draconian. My family in the Netherlands were also under lockdown, but it was different over there. There were no travel restrictions and people were advised to only have two visitors a day, but the police couldn't fine people behind their own front doors. Playgrounds weren't taped up. It was recognised that people needed fresh air and exercise and a sense of freedom. The government even said that people should try and stick with 1 sex buddy if possible.

Queues for IKEA snaking round the car park once it had reopened (I didn't bother going that weekend)

When McDonald's reopened and we could buy a meal again.

All swings removed from the swingsets at parks.

Telling my best friend I was pregnant and she hugged me, then she realised we weren't supposed to be hugging.

One walk a day.

My local shop managing to get a massive sack of flour and selling it in smaller weights in plastic bags they'd measured out themselves.

Trying to get hold of flour, yeast and macaroni pasta, which were all in short supply.

Trying to decide if I was going to disinfect the food shopping (I didn't bother)

Lockdown baby and having to go to all appointments and scans by myself. DH was allowed to come to a scan where we found out the gender but he had to wait outside until he was called in for our turn.

People crossing the road if you were walking towards them.

Doing lots of baking and having grand plans to declutter but it not really happening.

Being shouted at for holding my husbands hand. We were ‘spreading it!’

Summer last year being asked in a job interview what was the most exciting thing I had done during lockdown, I answered playing swing ball!!I got the job!

A nation who weren’t allowed to hug their dying loved ones having the absolute piss ripped out off them by Johnson, Cummings and cronies with their parties, and the acceptance of their ridiculous excuses.

The man who turned up to a Welsh supermarket in his pants because clothes had been deemed non-essential.

Walking through the town centre on a Saturday afternoon when it would normally be heaving, and not another single person anywhere in sight.

Being scared to sit down on a bench when out for our permitted daily exercise in case the police came and told me off!

Having to have my baby's first vaccinations outside in a car park as we weren't allowed into the surgery.

The emptiness of the streets when walking to drop food off at my parents house in the first lockdown. Then sitting with them in the garden 2 metres apart breaking all the rules at that time.

Being covered in PPE to say goodbye to my dad before he passed away from covid and then having to tell my mum by phone that he had passed away while she was being treated for covid in another hospital. Then her later being transferred to the ward where my dad passed away, only for her to pass away too - nursed by the same staff.

Home schooling and my kids popping up on zoom work calls.

The clapping always seemed pointless to me. But, the lovely old lady opposite was helped to her door by a carer to join in and when I saw that I took the dc out to join in more for the lovely old lady. After a couple of weeks we saw an ambulance there and she'd passed away. Absolutely heartbreaking that she couldn't have any visitors other than carers while she was so ill.

Around the same time being stood in a massive queue on a Sunday morning waiting for Asda to open, I'd got there almost an hour before opening and was maybe 10th in the queue when an old lady arrived visibly upset and struggling to walk. The queue must have been 50 people long by then so I told her to go in front of me. No one further ahead offered but the lady was grateful anyway and I helped her as we waited, offered to do her shop and take her/the shopping home for her (which she didn't need, her dh was in the car but couldn't manage the queue and trudge).

All the 'be kind' bs didn't seem to apply to my town. I was told picnicing is against the rules... when I stopped on a walk to bf my tiny baby and gave dd4 a snack while she waited 🙄

Someone’s Tesco shopping in the bath with the floating cauliflowers.

This time last year having to go to central London for a hospital appointment, my husband drove and we drove straight in, no queues, no hold ups, all the traffic lights were pretty much green and if not green then you managed to go through them on the first change. We then drove through 'proper' London on the way out and it was eerie, it was so deserted it did feel spooky, very 28 Days Later vibes, all very bizarre to how it had been pre covid where we had to allow an extra hour at least for the traffic and we would crawl from Richmond to Moorfields hospital.

Wearing gloves which I then washed to deliver community aid leaflets to the houses on our road.

@BookkeeperBobby

This is the photo I was thinking of. There were others: police had drones so that they could take pictures of people on their non essential walks.

Absolutely nuts the hysteria the government (because we all know now that they were doing far more than walking a dog miles from anyone else), and the press created.

Also the photos in the press of the murderers having the audacity to go to B&Q and buy plants and bbqs!

So much fear was created.

Some people will never get over that.

Queuing to pay for my non essential shopping in Aldi, and the woman on the till (leaning past the covid shield) shouting ‘two meters!! Everyone is entitled to TWO METERS’ at the queue.

I’ve seen the same woman snap ‘I’m busy!’ at customers since then, so I think the pandemic just gave her the courage to be herself 😂

Going to B&Q at 7am to beat the queue, only to find 20-30 other people thought the same. After the first time, I started taking a flask of coffee and making the best of it.

The most bemused I have been was at the video of police threatening to pepper spray, and eventually arresting a man who was dropping shopping off to a relative.

yeah, the clap for carers thing which I could never say because it always came out as clap for covid. The quiet skies and roads.

My boss telling us,via zoom,that we didn’t have jobs to go to for the next few weeks and that the new starters wouldn’t be getting paid (he’s a cunt,but he did offer up his own salary to help them out)

My friend ringing me up to say her adult son with sn had gone to stay with her mother and she didn’t see him for 18 months-we met for a walk and I just hugged her-I’d never seen her cry before

My children are adults and live in my hometown-i moved away 6 years ago-I couldn’t see them unless it was via zoom
I remember my sons job meant he was coming to work in the next town along to us,so he asked if he could come and stay with us
I remember getting him from the train station and almost smuggling him home in case the neighbours saw us

My fil ringing us to ask what we wanted to do for Christmas (we either go to them,or them to us) and me crying down the phone saying ‘yes!we need to come and see you!’
Getting the phone call from my mil the next day to say they didn’t feel safe having us (she seemed to think we’d get arrested on the way) so could we do the following year instead?

He died from cancer in the March-we didn’t get our last Christmas together