Covid - about 5 years ago. Does it seem like 5 years?

[cakeorwine]

So it was all happening about 5 years ago. The signs were about to come through from Italy.

It doesn't seem like 5 years ago. But maybe for some people, it does.

It seems a bit more recent - 5 years seems like a long time.

But then again, so much has happened since then.

I cannot believe it was five years ago. I was undergoing some gynae investigations in the early part of 2020 which ended up in a cancer diagnosis in May right in the middle of the first lockdown. I had to have the news given to me on my own as DH wasn't allowed to come into the hospital. It was a really shit time but fortunately my surgery went ahead really quickly and I was in hospital less than 2 weeks later.

Blimey! I started a new job on 1st March (in Belgium) - my boss was not allowed to come to the office as he was in NL and (even at that point) there was already a company travel ban in place. No hand-shaking allowed. 2 weeks later, I had just picked up the token to access the VPN to allow home -working, and went home early to try it out. I didn't go back at all for 2 years! Nor did I meet any of the rest of my team in person until 2022 as they were all in other countries. Dd turned 16 in early March - she went for lunch with friends but her planned Escape Room outing etc was cancelled. She found the lock down a lot harder than we did. But I don't think we had much later on - school restarted in September and mostly ran as normal after that as far as i can remember - maybe some shorter breaks. We went on holiday twice in 2020 - Northern France in July and NL in late August. Both to holiday parks where accommodation was fumigated between users and most things were done outside. We used to have a takeaway twice a week with the aim of keeping the local businesses running.

I feel the same

It’s gone so quickly! But it’s been brought smartly home to me now, since Gdd2 was born shortly before it all kicked off with a vengeance - and she’ll be 5 tomorrow.

There was so much about it that was just so bizarre. Going out for a run with a friend when you could meet one person for exercise (but still have to socially distance) and we would run on opposite edges of the pavement 😆 And more sober, sitting in a massive circle with my in-laws and DC telling the children not to go near their grandparents...

And yes, back to the playgrounds... I remember on the day they were no longer illegal, jumping over the fence of one (with the children, it wasn't just for shits and giggles 🤣) that was still padlocked, but feeling really guilty about it and being scared in case anyone saw 😬

I went on holiday to the US in 2023 - a trip that had been scheduled to take place in 2020. There was a real sense of satisfaction that I was able to get on a plane and travel wherever I wanted again. I found that hard during lockdown, not knowing if we could ever leave the UK again with the whole world out there suddenly inaccessible.