That's something that always occurs to me when people talk about WWII.
Rationing, evacuation, bombs, blackouts etc whereas bad at the time, would be much more bearable if you know the end time and result. But there was no knowledge at the time, so you were doing it not knowing if it was going to be a futile effort or this was going to be happening for decades. I think that's one reason why we can look back with nostalgia.
I think people were misled at the beginning to think it would only be a couple of weeks. Dh's job told them to prepare to wfh for the next 18 months at least, and encouraged them to take desk chairs and things like that to be comfortable. I was told by a fairly reputable source that schools wouldn't be back until September at least.
But the way people were talking made it clear that they thought everything would be back to normal after Easter.
My first real thoughts about it was at the start of March, when ds had a temperature and a cough for 24 hours (normal for him) and I caught it and had the same (very unusual for me). I joked that either we'd got this new Chinese flu and it was rife, or it was just a normal cough and so it didn't matter. I thought I was being ridiculous to even consider the first. Actually I probably wasn't, especially as that weekend I remember commenting that the food tasted off, and no one else seemed to think so. That was before the change in taste was recorded.
But I have mixed feelings about thinking back. I find it hard to look back, but not because of covid.
At the time I was working hard to keep things going at work, and add in support people in the community. It was fun, a great adrenalin rush and great community feel. I was working three times my contracted hours to get things done, even though the firm had told me that they might not be able to pay my normal wages (until furlough came in, it looked like they wouldn't). And after September 2020, I was mostly working fairly alone trying to keep things going, supporting people in the community. I was pretty much on my own until September 2022.
I took some very difficult phone calls which I had no support nor training with people who were lonely, seriously ill. I sat on the phone with someone who was waiting for a message to say her mum had died from covid; her dad had died the day before from covid, and they were 200 miles away. That was the sort of call I was taking, which were emotionally draining. And they could happen any time because the phone from work was rerouted to my mobile. That particular one I took sitting in the woods in freezing cold in January. I didn't want to move in case I lost signal, and after 2 hours not just my feet were numb, half my legs were too.
And there was no one from work to support me because they were either furloughed or not around. There were only 6 members of staff anyway.
And that wasn't the hardest bit.
When everyone came back September 2022, two of the other staff joined forces to continuously undermine and bully me. I suspect mostly because they were jealous because people were saying how supportive I'd been. Eventually last year I had a breakdown and left the job I had loved. I can't even walk into my local town without having a panic attack because it brings it all back.
The two members of staff have rewritten the time and the work I did. I know one is trying to get the firm recognised for what "they" did over covid. I know I, despite being the only one that was continuing doing it after the first June, will not get mentioned. People that were not involved at all are being praised for "what they did".
Covid changed me. Not because of covid, but because of those two people. It gave them the opportunity to do this. It's like a black space in my mind.