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.

I never understood - why toilet paper, of all things? You can't eat it, and given everyone was at home you'd have more than enough time to give yourself a quick wash if you didn't have any loo roll available.

I always feel a bit surreal when I think back to then. I’m pretty sure I had covid at the beginning but at the time there were no tests available. I wasn’t sick sick with it, but enough that it knocked me off my feet for a day or so. We managed to do the garden, as everyone was home to help, DP worked in catering at a hospital so came home, stripped and straight in the shower. I did get pissed off with homeschooling..
if I’d wanted to be a teacher I would have.. although I stopped about a month before term was supposed to finish.
for me it was not working, the first 2 weeks were like as holiday. After that I struggled, was staying up til 3/4 am and then getting up 4 hours later to teach the kids.

It was a tragedy for humanity, so much harm caused, for so little gain.

It was the day my beloved science (I'm a physics graduate and teacher) was hijacked and re-branded "The Science", a motley crew of individuals, most of whom were failed computer modellers presented models of scenarios that are impossible to model (too many unknown variables) and completely ignoring previous observations (in old type science we learn by observation) and steered thick politicians to imagine they could control a respiratory virus.

The ensuing mess is responsible for the state we find ourselves in today - originally I put it down to stupidity and hubris, but as those people with actual scientific credentials who were involved seem present we should do it all again "harder and faster" I do question if it is just mans hubris or the evil that men do.

What I do know is that huge damage was done, it will of course heal, life will move on, there are already those born for whom this is a historical event they were not alive for, so the world will recover, in time.

The lockdowns did more harm than any virus ever did

I'm in Scotland and we seemed to be kept locked down harder and longer than the rest of the country.

I fell pregnant march 2020 and then discovered on 20th May 2020 i had lost the baby. Same day as party gate. I had to go to hospital alone and go through the procedure alone because Scotland had banned D&C they also never told me it could take weeks to pass baby as I didn't until June!

Pregnant again September 2020 and by this time I was allowed DH to the scan but he had to wait outside until I was called. All other appointments on my own. There was a woman needing a ecv? And she asked if her husband could come and was told no. She was distraught.

Masks still in use in hospital in 2022 as dh was in a coma but when I went to a&e in 2023 they were stopped.

However I work in event security and obviously all of those were cancelled so we worried about money but then they opened the temp hospitals and I worked in one from beginning April 2020 till my mat leave in May 2021.

I loved the first lockdown. Great weather and zero stress because you didn't have to do anything, - to do list on permanent hold. (Subsequent lockdowns less fun, obvi).

@PyongyangKipperbang ❤️❤️❤️

Because covid was rumoured to give you the shits. I bulk buy loo roll from Costco, but now I can't have less than 12 rolls at anyone time. Loo roll trama. Try telling your disabled 7 year to just wash his bum. He was still wiping his arse on the hand towels! 🤣🤢🤮

Like not being able to get his specific food ( super noodles) I remember standing in Tesco and saying "who in the name of God is buying all the stock?" Months into lockdown. A skinny lady in sports gear replied "it's a staple food" and I thought to myself, you don't look that good having supernoofles as a diet staple love.

I also never go below 20 packs of noodles now. There was zero, absolutely zero companion for disabled people. Getting supplies etc. Again some lovely offers of help from the community.

I live in Central Europe. We had a short hard lockdown and then things relaxed. Shops remained open. Bars and restaurants were allowed to open if they had a terrace, and then in slightly slower time, open indoors at 30% capacity. I had a lovely time. We had to keep the office open, so a few of us went in, and ordered a delivery for lunch, which we ate in the garden. We went to the pool after work and out for dinner afterwards. No food or loo roll shortages at all, just like normal life but at a slightly slower pace. Went on long walks or bike rides to stay fit. Very different from DH’s experience in London.

I was quite heavily pregnant with my first child. Remember being absolutely terrified that I was bringing a baby into what felt like some sort of dystopian nightmare. My mum was stuck abroad for months. My partner couldn't come in for some appointments, but was with me when I had my scheduled c section thankfully. It was also lovely having my partner wfh and therefore more 'around' than I was expecting him to be, and having a newborn baby meant I didn't really have time to dwell on what was happening. And I think the wfh revolution which was ushered in by Covid has resulted in quality of life improvements for a lot of people.

PTSD 4 years on.

it was the beginning of the very end for me.

The start of the demise of my 30 year career and horror that I cannot now verbalise because it causes me such pain.

I do not know how I/we survived those 2 years.

I had been brexit-prepping for about I dunno, a year maybe, my brexit stash kept us going for prob the first 6 months easily, we had the same scrambles as everyone else to get fresh produce ofc but I had no worries about loo roll/baking supplies/detergents and what not.

DH was put on furlough, I already worked from home, that worked out well. BUT. We had 2 children at Uni who we had to work out how to get home, one we whisked home (closer) the other one we spirited home in a midnight flit about 4 weeks in. The youngest was in 6th form so we suddenly had a houseful for months.

I do feel we were very very stupid, on reflection. If there ever were a sniff of 'lockdown' again the govt can f right off. Just, no.

Newie I am so sorry.

My post placed alongside yours is smug. I apologise.

Aww doggy no! Not at all.
You needed your kids home safe, that’s totally understandable x

Most nurses will probably describe the same as I have described.

I was ripped to shreds on here and called pathetic amongst other things for posting about really enjoying my one day off in about 16 days (50-60 hour weeks during lockdown) as it was sunny and warm and I’d sat out in my garden enjoying the sun and birdsong.

I wasn’t considering those trapped at home and being smug about going out to work according to about 80% of the posters on that thread. It was unbelievable the torrent of abuse.

I think about it a lot. My DC2 is almost 2 now, the same age as DC1 was at the start of lockdown. I feel so sad for all the lovely experiences that I'm giving DC2 now, that DC1 missed out on - even a trip to the playground. I still hold anger that playgrounds were closed (because they never were in most countries). But I worked hard to return our lives to normal as soon as possible, exploring the city for hours in lockdown, enrolling DC1 into a nursery once they opened them to non-keyworkers and taking her to socially distanced classes in the summer. I wasn't even working, but I knew she needed that interaction. Whenever I read reports on the news about children's speech/behaviour/educational issues that have happened since lockdown I feel vindicated - she is thriving at school and has no real memory of the pandemic.

My DH worked in a shop. It was the worst time. He hasn't really recovered.

Noone goes into a minimum wage retail job to find themselves at the front line of a pandemic.

Exposed to everyone
Queue bouncer
Manhandling people out who threatened staff
Arguments with people who wouldn't mask
Arguments with people who blamed the staff for those who wouldn't wear masks
Deliberate coughing jn his face
Anger at him for lack of certain items
Entire families coming for a day out in the shop

His faith in humanity was completely lost and he remains traumatised by it.

Fucking awful.

I worked in a supermarket, part time on the checkouts.

I remember when the vulnerable staff were then to stay in / stay at home, a colleague turned up for his shift and two of us looked at him and we both said he should be at home, he hadn't realised this so we sent him off to find a manager and yes sure enough he popped back within 10 mins to say he was to go home.

I remember before the restrictions of buying items watching an elderly couple stagger out of the shop, he was pushing the trolly filled with toilet paper and she was carrying in her hands / arms so much of it she was staggering.
I remember thinking this needs to be stopped, and lo and behold a couple of days later it was.

The shop had about 300 staff, 200 roughly were furloughed, about 100 of us worked - we were given the choice.
I happened to meet one of the union reps on my day off whilst I was dog walking and she updated me on what was about to happen, and yes about 2 hours later I received a phone call from a manager saying that I could choose to be furloughed or I could work - I chose to work.
I was informed I would receive an extra £1 an hour.

I was also asked if I would like to work at a different branch and they would pay all the travel expenses and the additional travel time. I didn't accept that offer.

The store did lose x amount of staff to the other location, but the store received 6 staff from a different branch as the people were more local to us and the company didn't want them travelling 20 miles to work if they could travel 4 miles instead.
Those 6 staff stayed with the store after Covid, and several of my colleagues that went to the branch i didn't go to chose to stay there.

Some colleagues chose / were asked to work overnight instead ( to get the produce onto the shelves instead of during the day )

I remember the coffee shop being closed first, and all the staff were moved downstairs mainly to the food hall.

I remember the lines and footprint stickers on the floors of the stops, having to queue x amount apart.
I remember staff having to try and enforce the 3 meters apart queues :(

I remember counting the number of customers in the store !!!
I remember colleagues outside the store having to monitor the queue and allowing customers in one at a time or 2 if it was 2 people shopping together.
I remember the trolly handles and the basket handles were sanitised after every use !

I remember the store closing the upstairs departments, and cordoning off the majority of the ground floor.
and then bringing downstairs a few essential items.

I remember face masks !!!
initially these face visor things were acceptable on the shop floor, and nothing was required on a checkout due to all these screens that had suddenly appeared.

I remember the restrictions being brought in, i.e. 2 tins soup ( or whatever )
I remember the excuses by some customers, and the rudeness of some customers.
and the restrictions on hand sanitisor !!!

But as a very small team we bonded, as it happened there was the 3 of us on the same days during daytime and between us we would allocate breaks / who was on tills / which tills to open.

I remember the staggering of the staff returning after being furloughed.

I remember the staff meeting late August / early Sept ? where it was announced the company hadn't done well and there was going to be 40 redundancies, hopefully voluntary ones.

I remember I was one of the 44 that went at the end of October.

I started the following week at a different supermarket, and the Govt announced another mini lockdown ! and I believe more furloughs ? as i didn't meet several members of staff until a good few months later.

Much bigger supermarket and I remember asking / telling / insisting that the customer had to step aside so I could approve their alcohol / energy drinks / knives etc. on the self service checkouts - a very small space as there were screens either side of each self checkout.

I am pleased I chose to work, as I was only part time, so I had 4 days at home anyway. Working ' as normal ' brought stability.

It was such a strange, strange time. The news from around the world was increasingly bizarre - the severe lockdown in China and the awful repercussions if people broke the lockdowns there, the reports of Covid on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, that awful footage of the convoy of army trucks carrying bodies out of Bergamo.

We were on the verge of lockdown in ROI. Leo Varadkar (our Taoiseach) gave a speech on the 12th March and announced that the schools were closing. I remember we were all huddled around the big TV screen in the canteen at work, listening to his speech in disbelief.

St. Patrick's Day/Festival was cancelled.

Scouts was cancelled abruptly and DD never went back. By the time it started up again, she was too old to be a member.

I called over to my Dad one day, after work. I didn't go into his house, 'cos I was terrified of infecting him, so I used the back gate to enter his back garden. We sat on chairs and talked but the mood was very sombre. I genuinely didn't know if I'd ever see him again and I couldn't even give him a goodbye hug.

We went into full lockdown on the 24th March. It was so surreal, as pps have said. I ordered some Lego and jigsaws, so DD and I would have some stuff to entertain ourselves with (hard for an only child with no siblings). But I felt wracked with guilt that I was ordering these trivial items and risking the lives of the delivery drivers who were delivering these things.

The weather was lovely, which was some consolation. We'd go for long walks and we played a bit of tennis on the road. There were long queues for the supermarkets.

DD was due to sit state exams that June, but there was a lot of uncertainty about whether they would go ahead. I had to order art materials for her art project. In the end, the exams were cancelled and the pupils got predicted grades.

There was some website which recorded the number of cases and deaths around the world. It showed the statistics for each country. I was checking it compulsively every day. I can't even remember the name of the website now.

RTE (Irish radio station) did a roll call of the dead every Sunday night. It was like Ron listening to the death toll in the Deathly Hallows book. The newspapers did obituaries for some of those who had died, even though they weren't famous people.

MN went a bit nuts. On the one hand, someone had an AIBU wondering why nobody had come to her baby's christening party (the UK wasn't quite in lockdown at the time, but very close to it). On the other hand, a poster berated another poster for asking if it was ok to call to a friend's house (the friend was going through a tough time) and leave some chocolates on the friend's doorstep. She wasn't planning to go into the house btw - just leave the chocolates on the door step and walk away. But apparently that was selfish and people would die.

There were further lockdowns (the winter ones were particularly bleak), regulations about mask wearing, the introduction of vaccines which offered a glimmer of hope etc. etc. But I'll never forget the panic and confusion of those first few weeks.

Wow, four years already. Where I lived, we went into full lockdown, everybody could not leave their house or garden, even not for a walk. All shops closed down except for supermarkets and you were only allowed to travel to them 2 days per week, based on the number plate of your car. Luckily we already keep a healthy amount of food in house as we live quite remote on the island but people were waiting up to 4 hours in order to be let in the supermarket. Flights from and to the island almost shut down, only residents were able to return if they quarantained for 10 days at least in a hotel on their own costs. For us the main change was wfh instead of the office and son getting education via the laptop. Seen our lifestyle not much other changes that we could not cope with. Actually, it benefited our sons education as we had extra time to explain and practise wih him, not having to commute

To add, due to living on an island, we rely heavily on importing goods, so we did notice food becoming more scarce or at least not having lots of choice or alternatives. The containers were decreasing same as amount of flights and their ability to transport goods. Believe fragility on that aspect was worst for us

I'm not sure that I miss it, although the quiet streets were lovely, but I did enjoy it. I had the same routine for every day, and we had good weather here (NZ) so it was lovely. People out walking were all friendly, and there were no expectations on me. I live alone and was perfectly content. Even the supermarket queues were quite fun!

Yy. I couldn't do any of that ahead of our wedding. For weeks our rings and my dress were stuck in locked-down shops, which reopened with about a week to spare.

Can't believe it was so long ago. What a ghastly time it was. As someone who is classed as clinically vulnerable,I didn't go out for 3 months from 23rd March 2020. I can remember my panic at not being able to get a supermarket delivery for the first month and having to rely on my DD to bring me stuff once a week. As a previous poster said,I think there were too many lockdowns and they went on for too long. I am not a covid denier,but I am still sceptical about the benefit that they had. I think a hell of a lot of damage was done in terms of the economy, employment and the cost to people's health because the NHS turned into the National Covid Service.

I red this book, I think during the pandemic. I absolutely loved it, but it was haunting at the same time.