Lockdown started two years ago - what did you all think was ahead when it was announced?

[goaskmum]

So the very first lockdown started this day 2 years ago! I can’t believe that.

I remember hearing earlier that day that BJ was to do a big televised announcement in the evening and then being on edge not knowing what came next.

I also remember taking my dog out at half 7 that night for a walk because I wasn’t sure if it would be made illegal after he did his announcement!

What were you all doing and what did you make of it/think was going to happen?

The day before lockdown two of my colleagues literally came to blows about covid. And I mean literally. (Professional firm!). They had to be pulled apart. I recall feeling incredibly scared at what this was doing, and the sense of an apocolyptic unknownI recall a rising anxiety and then when lockdown for 3 weeks was announced I recall feeling relieved because I thought it would just relive the tense pressure cooker feeling.

Then our boss who is a stress monkey anyway started constantly calling people about their working from arrangements and insisted on us screen sharing with him throughout the day so he could monitor our output. (Again- professional firm with professional people in it who are all paid on results. Just wierd to not trust us to get on with it).

I went back to the office for 2 days (on a rotational basis) last September. Still have not seen some of my colleagues in the flesh.

I knew we were in for the long haul. I knew dd wouldn’t be back at primary (year6) I knew she wouldn’t get her year 7 prep, I wasn’t even sure she would start that year.

I’d watched how it had played out in China, Italy etc and knew we were in it for a long time. I remember Chris whitty saying that you can expect them to run for 4 years.
I told dh, he laughed. He thought it was weeks, I knew it was months, probably years.

It’s easy to say that with hindsight now. But it’s what history tells us.

I remember getting some cash out thinking I'd need it if the banking system failed (And not being able to spend for months).

I said goodbye to my DM that week in hospital wearing full PPE and was incredibly grateful to the hospital staff caring for her. I am thankful that at least I got to say good bye. Two years on, and with some perspective, I'm also glad she didn't have to live with covid isolation which she would have hated.

Lockheart

Soffit

They did say from the start to brace ourselves for two years of it - based on previous pandemics. I privately accepted this but many people would/could not do this.

No "they" didn't. If the govt had told everyone they'd be locked down for two years there'd have been chaos

Poster said we were told to brace ourselves not that there'd be two years of lockdown

It was a Monday evening. I’d just been away for the weekend with my DP. I then didn’t get to see him again for weeks, and spent weeks with no human contact, because bubbles didn’t exist in the first lockdown!

Oh it was such a strange time. But wonderful too.

Here in NZ autumn had just begun and we were in a v strict lockdown. The weather was stunning and suddenly the streets were empty and the footpaths full, people were walking and running and cycling, family groups out together.

Our neighbourhood was awash with acts of kindness, people giving away food, offering to do shopping for anyone afraid to go out etc.

We celebrated birthdays at social distance with closest neighbours, had outdoor movie nights and it was actually a little bit sad when it all came to an end 7 weeks later.

A really hard time at work and possible unemployment for me. I thought it might go back to normal in summer then lockdown again. I knew it would be the next spring before we had a vaccine. What I didn't expect was my office to stay shut so long or Omricon.

Wow 2 years! In some ways it seems like a lifetime ago, in others it's flown by. I didn't think it would be 2 weeks as they said, but didn't think it would pan out how it did. At the time I found lockdown extremely challenging in hindsight though the days of tiger King, animal crossing, tik tok, walks, more time with DS, not having anywhere to be seems quite nice through the rose tinted glasses. It just seems so odd now like the toilet roll shortage, not being able to see loved ones, still can't quite get my head around it.

It was my partners 50th a couple of weeks before and I remember a conversation where we said we might have a couple of weeks of lockdown.

When the first lockdown started their was a sort of bizzare excitement around, because so much was unknown I guess

From what I read about previous pandemics I expected life to be 'off' for 2 years. Wish it was back to normal now..

Wasn't expecting such ineptitude from politicians.

The vaccines came quicker than expected and had a very high take up rate.

My DC's will never get back what they've lost though.

I heard 2 weeks to lower the curve or whatever and thought what a load of shite. The whole thing made me feel claustrophobic, and depressed. It was all very anxiety inducing at the start, but tbh got over that fairly quickly when it was clear it wasn't exactly the bubonic plague. Then bored very deeply bored.

I thought it'd really just be couple of weeks. Pandemic over by Easter 2020.

Some overriding memories of that time:

Driving back from work listening to the radio news that schools were going to close, crying my eyes out with fear and helplessness and wondering if we had enough leave between us to make it to the Easter holidays.

Crying with relief a few days later when our CEO made an announcement to “work the hours you can, even if it’s none”. (I actually managed to work about 80% of my hours all the way through).,

Watching the news from Italy and France, horrified; then feeling really miffed that we were locked down for 3 weeks initially, when France had only been locked down for 2.

In the first few days, before the clocks went forward, walking up the hill behind the village on a very cold, dark evening with DS (then 11) and looking at the stars. I love this memory, I think of this evening often. It was so calm and beautiful at such an uncertain and unsettling time.

I remember thinking how I needed to step up and lead and having to give myself a little talking to in the bathroom in work. I remember watching the announcement with eight members of my team and they all just turned around and asked “so now what do we do?”

I went into overdrive as did my husband for his job and we didn’t have wfh for one day in the past two years. I remember thinking that we had to be present and visible if we wanted the same for our teams.

The unknown was palpable but to be frank it was the most disruptive and exciting event in my career and I thrived off it.

I was putting the washing away and DH had the news on and we watched Boris. The work group chat went wild! I'd just found out I was pregnant with DD2 so had been wfh for a week or so but it was still weird. We spent lots of time in the garden, spent lots of time online trying to buy fence paint, and lots of time watching Netflix.

It's so strange to think back to how our behaviours changed

I thought it would be a long slog, I wasn't reckoning on long covid though.

I remember feeling life had already fallen apart at this point, our very much long awaited and look forward to holiday had been cancelled a couple of weeks earlier and would of been flying out that two years ago this weekend. Husbands business had already begun to many contracts and jobs cancelled in the week leading up to it, the rest followed the next day. My own business and it’s bookings followed the next day, summer weddings were off. I remember panicking and thinking how the fuck are we going to pay our mortgage if we can’t work. I thought it would last a few years as I watch & read a varied amount of news, science & business. I felt cross too as much of this was seen coming in many ways, even my son’s primary school had begun taken some precautionary measures & changes in the fortnight leading up to the announcement. I listened to it on the radio over dinner and thought it was madness to be closing schools, whilst Dc1 was really excited, it didn’t last.

I thought my CEV husband would certainly die, along with his CEV mum. I thought, at the very beginning, that my asthmatic youngest and pregnant eldest were in danger, as were my vet fit but elderly parents.

Here we all are husband has Covid right now. Minor symptoms and passing the “peak” period tomorrow. Thank providence for scientists!

I had just been diagnosed with cancer and didn't know when my treatment would start.
I have never felt so scared and vulnerable.
Will never forget watching Boris announcing lockdown and just crying and feeling so numb.

I quite enjoyed seeing group psychology play out in real time though. With rumblings about the virus emerging in early January 2020 or earlier, all of those people who were alarmed and preparing being pooh poohed and called chicken little and conspiracy nuts. To presumably those same people quarantining their shopping and going a bit mad. To some people anything the BBC hasn't given an opinion on doesn't exist, or never happened, odd.

My OH and I were oblivious. I think all the fake news of the preview years as well as intense media hype just left us doubting and critical of what we were hearing. We thought this was another so-called crisis that would blow over. We spent the first many months of it bewildered.

I was worried about what it meant for my degree. In the end it was the best time of my life! I lost 4 stone (put more back on since), the weather was glorious and my mind was still. Since been diagnosed with ADHD as I realised how much I was struggling beforehand.

I will always grieve for how I felt during the lockdowns, the removal of responsibilities and to be honest I think I have some lasting trauma.

I was very lucky that I don’t know anyone that got COVID never mind became ill or died (except my sister who just caught it last week!!). I know it was a scary time for others that worked in health care or had elderly family (dad is only in his mid 70s so not too old and he wasn’t worried at all) but my mental health has never been so good. I don’t want the lockdowns back and never hoped for them, I only realised how much they helped me with hindsight.

I worked in healthcare, we had already locked down by the time Boris announced, and our staff were already taking extra precautions. Tbh when he announced it I thought it was too late, and was relieved he'd finally done it.
I remember the surrealism of driving to work on empty streets and enjoying quite walks around empty parks with my son. But I also remember all too well being in head to foot PPE, watching it on the news about people flocking to the beach and feeling such despair. And honestly, the gov care homes like ours to the wolves on this. There was so much pressure on us to take untested or known positive patients from hospital to ease pressure on the NHS, whilst the same people seized our PPE shipments and redirected them to the NHS. We were left with nothing to protect ourselves or our residents. I can't tell you what it's like to watch someone die from covid. To have my manager approach us on shift to tell us we lost a colleague. Losing loved ones, watching friends lose theirs.
I contracted it from work pre vaccine days, and nearly 2 years later my lungs are permanently damaged and my smell and taste have never been the same.
There are not the words.
This time two years ago I'd have never thought I'd ever leave healthcare, but I left this year.

@goaskmum Thank you

3 weeks disruption then back to normal.Oh what a fool was I?