Evidence of the pandemic?

[LaceWingMother]

Just idly wondering whether it's clear from any aspect of my life that the covid era ever happened.

Fortunately, no one I knew died or became seriously unwell from it, DH and I don't work from home because of it, DC now going through secondary school as normal, I didn't make any large purchases linked to it (one friend built a home office and a feckless neighbour bought a now-neglected dog). Apart from a few face masks stuffed in a drawer and forgotten about, I don't think there's any evidence of it in the house.

Does the impact of the pandemic appear in your life now?

I'm sorry to hear that. Just because it didn't affect some one they act like it didn't happen.

My husband has long COVID. He is weaker physically, breathless when walking, sometimes has pain in his limbs that severely limit him and make him (understandably) grumpy. His condition significantly limits our activities together and when he is at his worst, I have to take care of him, the house and the animals.

My son's graduation ceremony was two years after he graduated so his graduation photo is also two years late. I missed three funerals because of Covid.

I know of people who died WITH COVID but not anyone who died OF COVID.
A couple of colleagues contracted COVID and we're brought very low, suffering effects for many months afterwards.
WFH was great and for me, it went on for nearly 3-years and was a genuinely terrific way to finish my career and head into retirement.
Lost my Dmum and although it was a restricted/socially distanced funeral service, there were still something like 60-people there to say goodbye. Unfortunately I was not allowed to say goodbye personally before she died and my last direct contact was through a plastic screen at her care home.

I have one friend and one relative who ended up on ventilators in hospital with it and nearly died. I am forever grateful to the NHS that they didn't. Another friend who was super active, now suffers very badly with long covid and had to give up work. She will never work again now.

I am one of the lucky ones who has never had it, even though I live in the city and use public transport regularly. Had all my jabs, and was grateful for them. It's made me hyper aware of people who cough and sneeze without covering their mouths when out and about. I was actually healthier when we all had to wear masks and I didn't catch anything.

Since life went back to 'normal' I get the usual colds going around everywhere. I still test just incase when I get one, as I don't want to spread anything to others or older family.

I finally left a toxic teaching career and am now working in a completely different career and so much happier.

I can now cook as I had the proper time to learn.

DH now permanently hybrid and so much happier.

Slower pace of life has remained. Our whole household prefers being at home with less pointless consumerism.

Some relationships are still more distant. The enforced isolation broke down some friendships beyond repair.

Much smaller weddings have become a feature in our community.

We now prefer being at home and are creative with how to entertain ourselves rather than always go out for (more expensive) entertainment.

My dad died very suddenly in the middle of it all. Not Covid related but extremely traumatic. Only just coming to terms with it all.

My job is a wfh job.

I was an essential worker, food production, having to work, at the same time having to shield mother who lives with me, the total fear of bringing covid into the house as her carer , yet still having to work

I lost two dear friends , I have one friend with long covid and numerous friends who lost parents , and didn't even get to have a funeral - morgue to grave only, no church service

My dear friend took his own life because lock down came on top of 8 weeks enforced isolation due to his cancer treatment ( which was successful ) . That weighs so heavy on me........

DH being self employed got not a penny, the tax allowances he was allowed were taken back the year after

I had a complete breakdown, only still getting my life back, some ongoing issues

Grandson - his results from his exams - total tripe - he's now suffering moving forward

@LaceWingMother Im really really glad you lived in a bubble and you have only a few masks to show, there are many millions of us who can tell a different story

I don't know if lock downs were right or wrong, but we will be suffering the repercussions for years

I have an underlying chronic health condition and became quite anxious about going out after lockdown ended. I managed to avoid catching covid until last year and now have long covid. I’m incredibly grateful for the NHS treatment I’ve had and disability benefits as I’d be bankrupt if I lived in certain other places!

I’m one of the lucky ones as I know someone who had a stroke with covid and needed months of specialist care before they died. Another friend was on a ventilator for several weeks before they died.

Cousin with long covid.
Two grandparents that died in hospital.
Two funerals without physical contact
One garden office.
A sister-in-law
A lost job.

We were lucky. It didn’t affect us health wise, nor anyone we know. It did change the way my formerly office based job is done.

My mum died in the first few days of the first lockdown (not from covid). It meant we couldn’t have a funeral, which was a huge blessing.

Exercise bike!

I still can’t breathe properly.

Even my technophobe relatives learned how to talk to us through Teams

A friends mum was told her mum was being taken into hospital early in lockdown. She got to see her by video called as she passed. Was less than an hour after her arriving at hospital.

A fiends grandchild now has to be tubefed for the rest of his life. They got pneumonia as well as Covid and food was getting into their lungs.

Another friend dc had a terminal illness. I don’t want to say on here because it’s outing. But after they got covid they became bedridden.

As well as numerous marraige breakups and relationships.

I am now on my second go-around with Covid. The first one wasn't bad at all, but this one is horrid. I seem to be getting sicker and sicker. Thanks DH!

So sorry to hear that. Are you sure it's covid related though?

I worked through it. I’m a midwife. We had to go on as normal. My mental health suffered. My world became very small. It is still small.

Several of my work friends caught Covid. They passed it on to their Dads. Their Dads both died. One of my colleagues died. I was afraid that I would catch it and give it to my elderly father. I did catch it, and ended up in ITU. I now have very damaged lungs. My Dad is fine.

Professionally there were an extraordinary amount of preterm deaths. On a positive note many women opted for home births and loved them so much that in their subsequent births are at home.

Agree same as the posters who think it was great because they can all now WFH. Too bad when their companies realise they can pay peanuts offshore to others who can do same job for less.

I think about it every time I'm stuck in rush hour traffic thinking how depressing it is that we've all gone back to 'normal' in that sense. I remember the quiet roads, staggered start times at school, remote meetings that made life (for me) more pleasant. After lockdown there was an opportunity to radically change how we do things and I was optimistic for a while but it soon became clear that most people don't want change. So we're back on the merry-go-round.

Why on earth do you think it was a ridiculous concept?

Youngest DD and I made a memory box because it was a historical event.

We kept her "Squidward" sandals. We went every day on our walk to the fjord round the corner and played in the water and she would squelch all the way home. I have a couple of notebooks that I did Jays Quizzes in with dates and notes in. Photos, letters, facemasks etc. We still see some friends we made in lockdown, people from the village that we didnt know but got to know as we would see them every day in the same places on our walks. Also still part of an online quizzing community that started in March 2020 and is still going now (MB quizzes and Smartphonequizknights if anyone wants to know, yes shameless plug!)

But in terms of real effects. DD is not at all close to my parents, whereas my older kids are. She is HF Autistic, but was really close to them when she was little (6 when lockdown happened) but now treats them in the same way I would act to my parents friends when I was a kid iykwim. Knowing them but not loving them, not emotionally attached to them at all. Doesnt know her fathers family really and hates spending time with them, for the same reason.

Perhaps you wouldn’t have thought it so ridiculous if your 40yo teacher sibling ended up nearly dead in ICU. They threw everything at it that they could to keep him alive and only just managed it. Do you know how fucking scary being on ventilator is?

Lockdown wasn’t ridiculous at all. Loads of countries did it and it was a reasonable response. The virus was killing a lot of people and nobody was vaccinated at the start. The virus has weakened, most of us are vaccinated and/or have acquired some degree of protection. It’s very different now.

Responses like yours are disappointing. nobody “fell for” lockdown. It was government advice designed to prevent hospitals from complete overwhelm and to keep people alive. It wasn’t some kind of fucking trick.

People going on about lockdown being wrong......what the hell else was there?!

We didnt know what it was, we didnt know how to stop it, so there was only one thing we could do and that was keep away from each other. The lesson is in history, Eyam did exactly this during the plague.

Its easy to be smugly right with hindsight, but at the time, there was little else that could have been done.

I think it completely changed the course of my life! And I often think i
this. I was living somewhere temporarily and my BF of 6 months “moved-in” with me for that first lockdown where we expected it to be 3 weeks. He’s commitiment phobic (didn’t know that then) and without this in normal circumstances I don’t think we’d have moved in together and the relationship would have ended. We had a lovely time bubbling in a sort of honeymoon way, lots of sex and cooking and long country cycles. I was made redundant from my job. We’re now settled in the place I was only living temporarily as no need to live in London although now that means I’ve opted for local job rather than a “big” job. My DP works from home 3x days whereas previously he’d have been in office. This has been game changing in terms of support with now DC. Without Covid I’d have moved back to London, broken up and likely be in a different relationship. Different job/career and living elsewhere.