Almost 4 years ago, Lockdown started (23 March 2020)

[SparrowSally]

Can't believe it's almost 4 years ago. I feel so uncomfortable looking back at that time, we really had no idea what was to come.

Four years ago today since I last worked FT in the office. I was advised to wfh a couple of days before everyone else was too, because I have asthma.

It was surreal at the time, and is no less so looking back really!

I can't believe it was that long ago. So much has happened and such unexpected things.

It was awful. The lockdowns went on far, far too long, as well. I try not to think about that time too much, I am not a depressive or pessimistic person but it surely was a trying time, made worse by the lockdown fanatics who objected to the idea of things going back to normal again.

Mum and I were talking about it the other day.
I didn't see ds2 for so months from Dec 2019 till June 2020. I don't drive and my now best friend who was my boss at the time drove me to see ds2.

I remember going to Sainsbury's and the fresh food aisles were completely empty, and the tinned and packet aisles almost empty. Freezers too. It was scary.

I have a timely dose of Covid to celebrate the anniversary 😷

It does all seem very surreal looking back at it

I know, I'm in Australia and ours started 29th March. It feels like a lifetime ago.

In most ways my life went on as normal - still working etc. School run was a breeze! But it really impacted lots of people in my area. Crossing the border to get to work took hours with all the 'checks'.

All the mad arguments on here with people making up rules. It was crazy. I think we all lost the plot for a while.

Our local Facebook pages were helpful with people asking for help with shopping etc, and then there were other posts of trying to shame people for going out for a walk more than once!

Oh yes the toilet paper shortage! Who would have thought having fully stocked loo roll would be something to brag about 😅

Our supermarket shelves were pretty bare too. I remember thinking at the time that people must just have bought up anything available even if they didn't like it. Must have been so much wasted.

Once Easter rolled around there was still plenty of chocolate though - that would be my first choice to survive a pandemic rather than frozen broccoli.

Tomorrow is 20th.

Wasn't that the day the lockdown was announced to start Monday 23rd?

That's my memory of it because I work in a school and I remember being told it would shut from Monday.

Reader - note - i worked in school the whole way through other than when I caught the damn thing 🙄
Sometimes I've always regretted not having a wfh job 🫣😂

I was already at home as Chris Whitty had said that pregnant women were vunerable and to WFH. I was trying to wfh whilst looking after a 2 year old whilst trying to hide this from my manager (who very begrudgingly let me work from home for the final two weeks before my mat leave) who would have made me take the time off unpaid which couldn’t afford to!

A photo came up on my Facebook memories a few weeks ago of ds3 doing a climbing thing 4 years before. I remember that day. Me and some of the other parents were talking about this new virus. I think there had been a couple of cases in the UK at that point. We were wondering if it would affect us but came to the conclusion that it probably wouldn't!

I remember it so clearly, it was announced on my birthday. Time has absolutely flown by.

I confidently told my colleague that I’d see her in June cos it would all be over by then….

I think the 20th marks the last day the pubs were allowed to open for a number of months. Pubs everywhere were rammed that night! It was my birthday. I didn't go to the pub.

I know more people with it right now than I did back then!

It was lovely for me (wfh lone parent) and clearly going to take a while to get back to normal. I never ever go out and have no family nearby so it wasn't a problem keeping my head down.
No school runs, no IBS, had time to watch TV for the first time in years. Running every day for miles without worrying about cars. Used to see the neigbours as they finally decided to start using their legs.

Lockdown was announced and started on 23rd. Before that Johnson was faffing about, telling us to not go to the pub etc, but not actually locking us down,?

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_lockdown_in_the_United_Kingdom

Gosh, I had a 4 and a 7 year old then. When I collected my 4 year old from nursery, his teachers all said they'd see him in a couple of weeks. He never went back. His nursery decided to stay shut until the September, and he went off to school. It was so surreal.

that day made such a difference to our lives. Before then, DH worked full time in the City leaving the house before we woke and returning when the kids were asleep. He often travelled as well. Four years on, hems WFH three days a week and rarely travels. He's so much more present in our lives, so for us, it wasn't all bad in the long run

Blimey. Doesn't seem like 4 years.

I was remembering this last week seeing my DH's 3 packs a loo roll hoard. My mum was on her own and spoke about playing it so cool when checking out the loo roll aisle, seeing a pack but not wanting to jump on it. Just casually siding up to it and then feeling like she'd won. Odd times. My DH and I were completely caught off guard. So much of the news is scare mongering and we just didn't realise that it was really happening until we were sent home a week before the first lock down because he'd been in a meeting and 3 of the 5 of them were home with terrible fevers. And we just went home and kind of sat and stared for a few weeks.

My office shut down about a week and a half before lockdown. I'd just taken my kids out for haircuts as I had a feeling we were about to lose that opportunity for a while.

I forgot until reminded recently that all the nonsense with toilet paper etc was happening a few weeks before lockdown.

We'd just got back from Costa Adeje in Tenerife where the hotel had Covid cases and went into lockdown. Little did we know that would be our last holiday for quite some time.
I tested positive for Covid antibodies three months later without ever being ill. Still wonder if I picked it up in Tenerife at that time.

It's scary to think that in 4 years so much has changed I some ways but in other ways it hasn't.

I remember going to b&q and everyone doing the same because it was the last time it was going to be open and everyone thing well I'm now going to be able to do that DIY project. And getting a Costa for the last time in months.