Page 22 | COVID cringe memories (light hearted)

Floogal · 2023-08-14T12:52:57+00:00

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.

Cakeandcardio · 14/08/2023 20:15

The police speaking to those two women for having a coffee on a walk 😬

AvengedQuince · 14/08/2023 20:16

ShinyAppleDreamingOfTheSea · 14/08/2023 19:50

I kind of agree with this . There was s kind of sociableness of all our neighbours out on our doorsteps on a Thursday evening - waving to all and having a quick catch up . Then again none of my neighbours were into reporting others for their very 'loose' understanding of the bubble rules or the garden meet ups when we were only supposed to see others in the park .

What I found upsetting was the number of isolated elderly people - families not visiting - even though there was always provision in the rules for making care and welfare visits . Although I appreciate that this was complicated by worry of infecting people .

I'll admit, looking back I'm shocked that I was scared to hug my son, and the first time that he and his GF visited us for a BBQ in May 2020 we stuck them right at the top of the garden! (Although given they weren't actually meant to be in the garden perhaps it wasn't that bad, considering).

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My grandmother was so isolated as my aunt was afraid of infecting her (uncle was out working but very low risk job). She would have chosen to take the risk but wasn't given the choice. I was out at work and child in school so I was higher risk, I visited on the doorstep. Her fortnightly cleaner, necessary assistance, stopped coming so the house wasn't properly cleaned for months. She was alone at Christmas.

CornishGem1975 · 14/08/2023 20:16

TribeD · 14/08/2023 20:10

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.

Oh god. This.

Couldn't go to my hairdresser because we were Tier 3 and they had to shut, but she lived in Tier 2 so I just went there.

Also pubs and restaurants being closed at Tier 3 but bob over to the next Tier 2 town and you were golden. Because Covid didn't travel apparently.

inamarina · 14/08/2023 20:17

’You do know what exponential means, right?’
’Stay the fuck at home!’
’Went for a walk with my friend - socially distanced of course!’

I saw a post on Instagram couple of months ago, saying how during Covid we were so much more mindful, caring about our community, spending time with (immediate) family, baking, reading and going for walks - and that that’s how we’re supposed to live!
Most replies pointed out how naive it was and how many people struggled through Covid and the lockdowns - whether it was because they or someone they knew got sick, lost their livelihood or struggled with the isolation and loneliness.

PinkCherryBlossoms · 14/08/2023 20:17

AvengedQuince · 14/08/2023 20:16

My grandmother was so isolated as my aunt was afraid of infecting her (uncle was out working but very low risk job). She would have chosen to take the risk but wasn't given the choice. I was out at work and child in school so I was higher risk, I visited on the doorstep. Her fortnightly cleaner, necessary assistance, stopped coming so the house wasn't properly cleaned for months. She was alone at Christmas.

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For all the talk of don't kill granny, I think a lot of elderly people were more afraid of being alone. They certainly didn't all experience what was happening as protection.

CornishGem1975 · 14/08/2023 20:18

There were many old people who actively said they'd rather take the risk as they only had a few years of life left and didn't want to spend it in isolation!

PinkCherryBlossoms · 14/08/2023 20:18

CornishGem1975 · 14/08/2023 20:16

Oh god. This.

Couldn't go to my hairdresser because we were Tier 3 and they had to shut, but she lived in Tier 2 so I just went there.

Also pubs and restaurants being closed at Tier 3 but bob over to the next Tier 2 town and you were golden. Because Covid didn't travel apparently.

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Story of my summer and autumn 2020, that was! Because none of us live near county/local authority borders, evidently.

AvengedQuince · 14/08/2023 20:19

Mariposista · 14/08/2023 20:13

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.

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It was the same for my grandmother, she was afraid not to wear one at all in case she was abused for it.

lovescats3 · 14/08/2023 20:19

Peach green - sorry 🌷

MrsClatterbuck · 14/08/2023 20:19

The police I think it was a chief constable who said they would be checking baskets in supermarkets for non essentials including Easter Eggs. The next day after a phone call with Priti Patel would have given a fortune to be privy to that one retracted his words. Bet she gave him a right bollocking.
At least that is my recollection.

BaldButNotOut · 14/08/2023 20:20

Omg that Captain Tom stuff. People painted pictures of him going to heaven with a walking frame surrounded by rainbows.

Everyone banging on about "spirit of the blitz".

"STAY THE FUCK AT HOME" all over bloody farcebook.

That nurse sat in a car park telling everyone to stop shopping so that she could shop.

"Key worker".

But the very worst was that fucking poem about people staying [at] home and finding new ways of living. Ffs. Yeah like watching bloody Tiger King and drinking during the day.

MumGMT · 14/08/2023 20:20

Doris86 · 14/08/2023 20:07

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.

It really did go mad.
And then right up until restrictions were lifted there was people who claimed the world would never go back to normal, and listing out all of the things that would never be the same.

But then restrictions were lifted and things went back to normal pretty much straight away 😅

Clafoutie · 14/08/2023 20:21

MissBiljanaElectronika · 14/08/2023 15:11

The police officers inspecting people's shopping baskets and getting customers to put things like Easter Eggs back on the shelves for not being essential

The way DH and I were stopped by police whilst on a bike ride, to echecs it was an essential journey

The way MN era told me I was selfish and irresponsible for going for a walk unless absolutely essential as I might fall and require medical assistance this endangering everyone around me

A lot of bonkers ness on MN

The worst was the NHS posters everywhere saying "Look them in the eye" (with picture of dying person, who was dying because you had made a journey that was not essential. Or maybe you had bought a non-essential Easter egg... and thus made people die

I agree there were a lot of ridiculous things, but I don’t think the one about potentially falling on a non essential walk was one of them. As unlikely as it might be, if you HAD fallen and required medical assistance, don’t you think that would have been pretty selfish? I’m sure I won’t convince you though.

AvengedQuince · 14/08/2023 20:22

PinkCherryBlossoms · 14/08/2023 20:17

For all the talk of don't kill granny, I think a lot of elderly people were more afraid of being alone. They certainly didn't all experience what was happening as protection.

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Yes, my aunt was much more worried than my grandmother was herself. I didn't know what to do as I was in contact with many people, as was my child. Aunt visiting and cleaning would have been the safest option but she wouldn't go inside for months.

Alwaystheplusone · 14/08/2023 20:23

The beatification of Captain Tom

Confusinglyconfused · 14/08/2023 20:23

Not so much cringe more a lingering bitterness as a single person who didn't have a COVID bubble. I came out of COVID having to rebuild my life from scratch.

A lot of the things mentioned on this thread passed me by. I didn't have zoom calls, managed to avoid the scrums in the supermarkets, bypassed the street clapping, don't know who the Marsh family are, or Joe Wicks.

GreenNoel94 · 14/08/2023 20:23

I met a friend in the woods one evening when you still weren’t meant to see anyone unless you lived with them. We were both juggling looking after babies, home schooling and working and were both about to loose our fucking minds so we met up. We saw another mum from the school who was very loud on Facebook you know the “stay home save lives” “buying stuff for your garden isn’t essential” type and we actually bent down and hid from her. Still makes me laugh/cringe this day.

lovescats3 · 14/08/2023 20:23

Ghosttofu99 - well said

BibiBlocksberg · 14/08/2023 20:24

Jamie Oliver’s Lockdown cookery episodes stick in my mind for some reason

Featuring every ingredient no bugger could get hold of at the time (tinned tomatoes, pasta, flour, eggs)

Taking the Dogs for a walk past the local airport & seeing all the planes just parked up

Running to turn the TV off every time the ghoulish looking & sounding Chris Whitty appeared

Leaving work with PC equipment clamped under my sweaty arm pits with the Facilities Managers words of ‘see you in two weeks’ ringing in my ears @ the start of it all

The dystopian feeling of looking around the office on return with evidence of pre pandemic life all around, especially everyone’s desk calendars frozen in time to March 2020

Work e-mail sign offs changing from ‘Kind regards’ to ‘’Keep Safe’

Discovering the joys of WFH with my beautiful kitties as my new ‘colleagues’ & seeing everyone else’s Pets make an appearance on Teams/Zoom calls

Thank goodness for those Felines without which my sanity would not have survived all that madness 😺

HeadCreature · 14/08/2023 20:24

Teachers in our LA were issued with travel passes so they could drive to school because so many of us were being stopped by the police - they were emailed to HTs and we were given strict instructions to print them on yellow paper.

We had no yellow paper in my school - we weren't ordering stuff as we weren't meant to be having deliveries.

I had to arrange a clandestine meeting with a Head from another school where he placed a ream of yellow paper on the wall of his school and I nipped out of the car and collected it.

At the time it seemed like a huge issue! Not sure why I didn't just print them on white paper

Also, being instructed we weren't to help pupils with zips/shoe laces etc.
Lasted about three minutes in reception class.

PinkCherryBlossoms · 14/08/2023 20:24

Clafoutie · 14/08/2023 20:21

I agree there were a lot of ridiculous things, but I don’t think the one about potentially falling on a non essential walk was one of them. As unlikely as it might be, if you HAD fallen and required medical assistance, don’t you think that would have been pretty selfish? I’m sure I won’t convince you though.

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What's a non essential walk as distinct from an essential one? That doesn't sound very easy to pin down to me.

Sodullincomparison · 14/08/2023 20:25

Bring phoned seven times in one day when I had Covid to check I was isolating.

I was so ill I could hardly speak and I told them each time that I was so Ill I couldn’t get out of bed let alone leave the house.

think my language got a little stronger with each phone call.

beachbitch · 14/08/2023 20:26

People sniffing with indignation at a group of children playing together if the numbers went over the magic number. Hilarious.

lovescats3 · 14/08/2023 20:26

Geneva 12 - yes true

Northernsouloldies · 14/08/2023 20:26

Dictator sturgeon and her daily dose of shit.
Clapping... Bollocks.
Captain Tom... Fucking nonsense. Much murkyness regarding funds.