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 idiots buying lockdown puppies then giving them up after lockdown. My own dog inadvertently becoming a part lock down puppy from the age of 6 months not through choice due to the timing of the pandemic. As a result he's had to trained to allow strangers into the house and is still slightly iffy. Couldn't spend enough time with him from the age of 6 months due to having to home school 3 autistic children either.

The madness of having to keep my children at home from school but pubs still being open!

Yes I had to wee behind my car once because I was so desperate that was pathetic and quite degrading.

Feeling like a scruffbag while seeing that celebs had haircuts and were all glammed up because it was work.
NHS blue heart activists on Twitter admonishing the public for wanting to do completely normal things. One of them has had her book turned into an ITV drama but you can bet a penny to a pinch of shit what disabled ppl who couldnt wear masks were put through wont be featured in it And there was one who was always selling masks. The attitudes on the MN Covid board towards disabled ppl and ppl who couldnt wear masks stunk too.

When i see the NHS logo now i think of bullying and psychological abuse. Those activists caused that reaction

Hancock at the press conferences having the temerity to say "dont blow it now" and all the while Gina was blowing him.

the November lockdown that was supposed to enable Christmas which was how it was sold to us and then locking down at Christmas anyway and before anyone starts tier 4 was a lockdown in all but name. They called it that cos they didnt want to call it a lockdown.

So many bonkers memories from that period:

Glued to Piers Morgan on breakfast tv each morning, they discussed nothing but Covid for months on end. And Piers ripping shreds off any Tory MP guests, not allowing them a word in, especially Matt Hancock. It was live bullying but very riveting. Tory MPs ended up boycotting the show!

When we genuinely thought Boris was going to die from Covid. People were actually incredibly sympathetic, it must have been by far his height of popularity. They soon went off him again once he was out of the woods.

being shocked at Tom Hanks being the first famous person to get Covid and worrying he wouldn’t make it.

Virtual pub quiz on Thursday evenings with unexpected covid star Jay Flynn. Messaging the whole family to find out who was joining in online. His quizzes were pretty crap looking back but it was something to look forward too. Taking turns to make up our own quizzes too!

Claims that the lockdown had so vastly improved the environment in such a short time that dolphins were frolicking on the crystal clear waters of the Venice canals.

I have to admit I secretly enjoyed a bit of 8 o clock Thursday hand clapping (although it went on for too many weeks) It was the most I’ve ever spoken to my neighbours in over 10 years!

It was bonkers.

The clapping was painful. I never did it once and I come from a line of NHS workers but FML.

The cordoned off playgrounds, the being too scared to sit on a bench or thinking you were going get done for buying a bottle of wine at the supermarket because it wasn't 'essential' and not being able to go upstairs in the bloody supermarket because it didn't sell essential goods. Having blood tests and baby vaccinations in the car park.

I look back at it all and think, did we all collectively lose our minds?

No idea who the Marsh Family are at all.
The horrible road works. I worked for the police at the time and I was utterly exhausted, took me nearly 6 hours to get home one night (usually about an hour).

The loo roll scandal
Millions of people who'd never exercised in their lives all of a sudden deciding to walk and walk and walk and walk and WALK

Lockdown Puppies (sorry, that definitely ISN'T lighthearted)

OMG! Yes! Midnight-Tesco-delivery-slot-acquirer for a whole bunch of people was my role and entire social contribution during covid.

Oh and NHS workers making videos of themselves crying in their cars because they couldn't buy a bag of pasta or a lettuce at the supermarket. I cringed then and I cringe now.

Millions of people who'd never exercised in their lives all of a sudden deciding to walk and walk and walk and walk and WALK

@Noodge It was never busier where I live. It made it harder than ever to avoid people as everyone was out walking all day long.

Oh yes I remember that, it was like doing the Xmas booking slots every week 😂 crazy!

I appreciate that this made things difficult for many hospitality workers- but I was a big fan of the half price meals out!

They were empty for me too when I finished work and got there at 5:30pm. Well only junk food and grapefruit left, luckily I like grapefruit. I didn't cry over it!

I remember some council had to put out a video saying if you were on a path near a dangerous road and needed to pass a person, that people were NOT to step out onto the road and they were to instead pass the person even if they couldn't maintain the 2 meter distance.

Because the risk of getting knocked down by a car was greater....and that apparently needed to be explained because all common sense went out the window 😂

People signing off all of their email messages "stay safe"

The forwards with tips on how to entertain your children with things like '"build a den", "paint a lifesize model of yourself", "build Stonehenge out of toilet rolls".

The endless Zoom social invitations (quiz nights, murder mystery nights, children's birthday parties, chats, even a double date with dessert(!!!!)) from the extroverts and or childfree, and the guilt at generally being too wiped out by (another) day of being banged up with the littles despite of course massively enjoying family time.

The closed playgrounds.

Queuing round the block on stickers to get into a supermarket only to be told to hurry up and get out by announcement on entry. Linger not in the candles aisle!

Definitely Tiger King. I came around to the insanity just in time to pull myself away from the final episode - way too late!!

Freaking out massively when my littlest had a temperature and forcing a test up his tiny nose (not Covid).

Telling my children they could see their grandparents "as soon as Boris lets us"

Feeling guilty that I was too tired to join in the pot banging and wondering how everyone else was doing it.

Being inspired by Captain Tom.

All of the handwashing and hand gel.

Stockpiling ibuprofen & paracetamol (still using it up).

Tut tutting over the photos of the BLM protests (and waiting for the case numbers to rise subsequently, they didn't).

I thank goodness every day that it's all over. And by it I don't mean Covid, I mean all of the above!

And many vulnerable people couldn't get slots as you couldn't get through on the phone to say you were vulnerable.

Brings back memories reading this. The world really did go mad didn’t it?

All those people judging people who sent their children to school , claiming they weren’t a proper key worker.

Being told on here that I'm thick and DH is an idiot because he bought me chocolate when he went to the shop for his non essential milk.

A neighbour telling me we were missed during the clapping. Er that was because we avoided it!

Being shouted at for going the wrong way when I went to pay for lunch in a garden centre cafe. There was no one waiting to pay so I went straight up to the counter. I should have walked past everyone eating, out of the restaurant, past the queue and back in apparently.

Being told by a certain poster on MN that I should use the money I was saving working from home to move out of my hovel so I could have a home office.

😂😂

My dog would have loved that challenge.

Meeting up with my family in an Oxford Waitrose car park to exchange Christmas presents.

Parents could travel because their county was in a different tier to ours, so we "broke" the rules by driving to Oxford Waitrose which was ten minutes away from our house, DH had a hospital appointment at the JR so we took the paperwork with us to prove we could travel outside of the county.

Doing my in-laws shopping for them because they were terrified to go out and being given 2 separate lists. MIL acting like she was in rationing and asking for butter, plain flour and eggs (she does not bake) and FIL wanting red wine, pate and a selection of cheeses. I'll let you guess who is more fun at parties.....

When my clinic reopened and we returned from ward redeployment, and were trying our best to get some sort of service restarted while being faced with anti-vac/anti lockdown/conspiracy theorist patients refusing to comply with the trust policy guidelines and/or trying to goad me into engaging in debates with them about it. The majority were not like that but it was completely draining being harangued as though I personally made or agreed with all these regulations I was being forced to work under and the smugness of some folk who'd watched a few too many youtube videos was unreaI. I've now left the NHS (no need to clap).

When my clinic reopened and we returned from ward redeployment, and were trying our best to get some sort of service restarted while being faced with anti-vac/anti lockdown/conspiracy theorist patients refusing to comply with the trust policy guidelines and/or trying to goad me into engaging in debates with them about it. The majority were not like that but it was completely draining being harangued as though I personally made or agreed with all these regulations I was being forced to work under

That must've been very hard.

Capt Tom duvet covers and mini skirts:

www.redbubble.com/shop/captain+tom+moore+duvet-covers

Agree. My poor 90 year old gran who had a heart condition and found breathing hard enough when walking about as it was. She had an exemption fair and square, but we still got ‘could you just…why not try…?’ I once snapped and said NO, examption means exemption - leave her (and me) in peace.

This has just reminded me of my similar experience. I had my cat PTS just before lockdown. For whatever reason, never fully explained, it was months before I could collect her ashes. I only got her back when I phoned the vets when lockdown eased and asked if I could have her ashes back now. I wonder if she'd still be there if I hadn't phoned!

Also, my DF was one of the first to be offered the vaccine due to a heart condition. This was during the Jan-Mar 2021 lockdown. My parents live about an hour's drive from us. He couldn't get an appointment in his hometown so I suggested he come to our local vaccination centre, so that he had a reason to travel and could come for a socially distanced walk to Costa with us afterwards. A neighbour did comment about my parents being here and I was worried about getting in trouble! Ridiculous times!

Imagine. The Marsh family. Did I miss something?

At our workplace having to spray the (hard plastic) seats in the staff room - really a massive draughty hall with all the windows open. Fed up of the arse of my good trousers getting soaked with some antibacterial spray.

Still at Tesco I see people wiping down trolleys and very occasionally wearing a mask.

99% of it was madness.