COVID cringe memories (light hearted)

[Floogal]

Looking back at the pandemic, especially at its height in 2020, what made your toes curl?

1. "Imagine". Enough said.
2. The Marsh family.
3. On the local news, footage was shown of the Thursday clap (may or June). There was a parade of bhangra drummers and smarmy bratty kids doing the irritating floss dance. Was that point the 'applause' was seen as having had it's day.

I know some people may mention the dancing nurses, I only saw tiny clips on the news. Even that made me cringe.

The toilet roll obsession was ridiculous and the profiteering by small local shops who were selling it by the roll.

An elderly lady who ran into the middle of the road to avoid walking past me on the pavement and nearly got hit by a car.

Footsteps to follow round the supermarket.

Puppies, all the people who bought puppies with no thought to what would happen after furlough and WFH finished.

Covid grants, so many millions given out without proper audit, scrutiny and checks. So much money fell into a blackhole.

Covid grants, so many millions given out without proper audit, scrutiny and checks. So much money fell into a blackhole.

At least some of the Tories vile mates did well out of it, so that's nice.

"I'm a key worker" car bumper stickers ......

This classic video…

Oh yes. "Life has changed forever I'm afraid. Get used to staying (at) home quietly. This is the new normal".

There seem to be an awful lot more people ridiculing it all now than there were at the time. Those of us who voiced opposition at the time were distinctly outnumbered. Oh well. At least people have mainly come to their senses and realised what a massive experiment in social manipulation "staying safe" was

(And yes Covid is real. Yes I had my vaccines)

I include in the insanity the people who'd earnestly write "I've got Covid for the second/ third/ fourth time. I'm not very well at all! Thank GOD I've had my three vaccines. I'd probably be on a ventilator".

When people questioned this, they were told "Vaccines were never supposed to stop you getting it/stop you passing it on/stop the spread/mean that restrictions could be reduced." Er. Yes they were! That's exactly what we were told the vaccines were for. And if you raised this point, you were denounced as thick, even if you linked the very interview when we were told exactly this!

I decided very early on that I wasn't going to pay any attention at all to what anyone else was doing, and it's a decision that served me very well. I honestly didn't care if people were breaking the rules. Snitching on them was excessively petty and there was no way I was going to stoop that low.

I did my best to not take the piss with the rules, but god, most of them were stupid, especially because I live in Scotland and they were far stricter than England for entirely political reasons. For example, we weren't supposed to cross local authority boundaries, and there's one very close to my house, but it's in the middle of a field. I crossed it all the time when going for walks and never saw any other people when doing so.

I never downloaded any apps, and never used any of the bloody testing kits. What a ridiculous waste. I knew people who were testing themselves twice a day even when they hadn't left the house for ages.

Usually gave a fake phone number when asked by venues as well. My conscience is absolutely 100% clear on that one.

I also remember the number of discarded surgical masks everywhere. Made me bloody furious, especially because wearing them made no bloody difference to anything at all.

When I suggested that in fact we all ought to be boosting our immune systems (you know, the thing that will ACTUALLY make a difference to you living or dying if you catch it) and get out in the lovely sunshine (remember that lovely summer?) get fresh air, not sit in a dark room watching Netflix and storing up mental and physical health issues for the future, I was told I was 'selfish selfish
selfish'

Happy to admit that I ignored the 'one hour of exercise a day' (which wasn't a rule anyway) and went out for long walks in the sunshine. I attribute the fact I've never had covid to that and the vit D my oncologist told me to take.

Our local police force wrote a very sneery post about a poor guy who'd driven to a local park to walk his dog. Quelle horreur! 😱

A stupid vicar standing in the middle of the village green; not merely clapping, but banging saucepans together & waking lots of children & babies & frightening old folks.

The conspiracy theorists going into shops, or on buses and roaring and shouting they were going to sue everyone for being asked to wear a mask. And calling us all "sheeple"...WAKE UP!

The conspiracy theorists going round vaccine centres roaring and shouting we were all going to die within 2 years for taking the vaccine. 😂

That one last for ages.

Forgot ‘laughing stock’

Lasted

Im shuddering and cringing reading this thread.

An elderly lady who ran into the middle of the road to avoid walking past me on the pavement and nearly got hit by a car

A woman shrank into her garden hedge as I passed to keep 2m between us. Cheered me up no end that it was a holly hedge.

My Dad dying alone in hospital with Covid and not being allowed to see him in the funeral home as the coffin had to be sealed as he had covid!!!!!

I remember that. Someone on mumsnet said our death rate was the laughing stock of the world. Charming!

Was a Scotch egg a 'substantial meal - not just that that was debated but there were people PAID to debate it.

A local pub gave out a free papadom with a pint, good on them! 😄

Not being able to try on shoes. Took my dd to get school shoes once things started opening up and her feet are odd and you need to check they fit properly.

We got told off by a member of staff for daring to try a pair on and they were taken away with gloves and chucked in the decontamination bucket. I asked what on earth I should do instead. Apparently going home to try them on, come back and go to customer service for a refund and then take a different pair home to try was the solution. Keeping in mind I live a 20min drive from town. Would have to talk to several extra people etc. Nothing seemed at all logical. Trying shoes on with socks on so they don't even touch the skin vs going back and forth and talking to multiple people and having misfitting shoes in my house for several days.

Some batshit poster on here that thought walking through the forest might transfer covid to the soles of her shoes if someone had sneezed in the last day there. She was taking her shoes off and leaving them in her shed in case the covid transfered from her shoe to her carpet and then the cat which she clapped and caught covid. She was crazy

The use of the Hidden Disabilities sunflower lanyard to signify exemption from wearing a mask.

Caused many friends with various disabilities issues after masks weren't mandatory any more, because the original message had been diluted.

The abuse people with disabilities got - either because of not being able to wear a mask, or for not maintaining social distancing - a big problem for those of us who are blind or visually impaired. I lived in fear of getting too close to someone and being shouted at as I have awful spatial awareness and limited peripheral vision.

Doing a full clinical trial during a pandemic
Chucking the pandemic plan out of the window
Encouraging the vulnerable to come out before being vaccinated
Vaccination being voluntary
People not being horrified at granny going to Asda but insulting teenagers going to the pub
Schools being closed when china had the data it was harmless to kids
No mandatory shielding
The horror at thresholds of care....the posters were new the criteria barely changed from before.

The other option would be to have bought several pairs and taken back the ones we didn't want - not an affordable option for me - or buy shoes, try on in car park, take back into store.

Still bugs me.

The Baked Potato song.

I was just amazed at the Anglocentrism of it all. Like the rest of the world are that interested?!