To be shocked at how dystopian going shopping feels now?

[GratefulLove]

Today I went shopping in my town centre for the first time since early March. I just could not process how different it all is now. Last time I was in town I remember picking up a box of paracetamol and some hand sanitiser in Boots "just in case" but aside from that it all felt normal albeit a little like the calm before the storm.

Today though. Hand sanitiser everywhere, one-way systems, floor markings. Obviously I knew all this existed from social media and the news but seeing my town, my familiar town so completely different has floored me in a way I didn't expect. Shops selling hand sanitiser and masks - I expected this in Boots and other pharmacies but I didn't expect Primark to have rows and rows of hand sanitiser by the tills. I didn't expect shopping to feel so clinical, it felt like a hospital visit.

I was in one shop and there were a group of young children playing and joking around with each other. They did not have masks on and seeing them playing around just looked so normal and then I looked around and saw all the adults with masks just looking expressionless and almost soulless. It just looked so frightening.

We are months into this pandemic and I still can't believe this is all real. It still feels like a film. I don't know, with the daily conferences now a thing of the past and headlines now involving more topics than just the coronavirus it kind of felt like things were slowly getting back to normal but this really cemented that they are nowhere near normal.

Also I just want to say how much I appreciate all retail workers.

[Chootchoot]

I find shopping utterly depressing now. Every shop has the Prefect giving a little lecture as you go in, all shops the Prefect says something different, you cant try anything on and you have to queue for far too long everywhere.

[AnotherEmma]

@Lexilooo

Oh god the benches, what is it with the removal of seating??

Do people writing risk assessments think the virus can be absorbed through your arse and two layers of fabric?

Surely people can sit on a bench without rubbing their faces on it. If they touch it with their hands then they can sanitize their hands before touching their face.

I was out with my disabled mother recently. Her doctors want her to reduce her reliance upon her wheel chair and try to walk further. She's trying really hard but when there is no where for her to rest for a minute or two it is very difficult. She had to sit on an outdoor step the other day due to the lack of benches, and there were lots of elderly and disabled people doing the same.

Exactly. This is why it gives me the rage. It's causing completely needless suffering.

[FoolsAssassin]

I went recently for first time since March and having read many threads on here was pleasantly surprised it was t anywhere as bad as zi thought.

[PhilSwagielka]

For what logical reason would the government want people to keep wearing masks after the pandemic has ended?

[PhilCornwall1]

@PhilSwagielka

For what logical reason would the government want people to keep wearing masks after the pandemic has ended?

Logical and government in the same sentence? 🤣

[PrettyLittleBrownEyedMe]

Well, I've explained twice why I think it will persist - you might think I'm wrong, and it's not about a government 'plan', but I have clearly said why above

[NewYearNewTwatName]

pfft I play apocalyptic dystopian games. now they can very be depressing.

Wearing a mask whilst shopping really doesn't cut it for a dystopian reality.
Yeah things have changed a bit. But I still chat too random people when out. There are lots of fairly cheery people about.

If anything people are more chatty, because we've got a lot in common, stood in a shop with a mask on in the middle of a global pandemic ect....

I don't know I just take it all in my stride but I know not everyone can.

Thing is if you go about about looking at the floor or the shelves in front of you only. You miss the eyes of others. If you are just looking at the mask on another person you will miss the eyes, and yeah you'll probably feel miserable.

Eye contact is always a way of getting someone's attention and starting a conversation or just a nod of regcognition.

These little interactions can make the world of difference if you are feeling low, or overwhelmed by our current situation.

[StormTreader]

[quote HeIenaDove]@StormTreader Dystopian is an overreaction? Really?

graziadaily.co.uk/life/in-the-news/sex-advice-coronavirus-risk/[/quote]
Yes, it is. This is a temporary culture shift, like when gay men had to start wearing condoms when AIDS first starting raging through communities.

I have seen a huge amount of dystopian films, and read a lot of dystopian literature. Mad Max is dystopian. A Handmaids Tale is dystopian. THX1138 is dystopian. Having to wear a mask and try and temporarily reduce fluid exchanges is not dystopian, its the result of unfortunate circumstances and wont be the central theme of a gritty dystopian film or show at any point because it just isn't that extreme.

What we have is a very fast culture shock, which is unsettling and bizarre to us, and being taken completely in stride by mask-wearing small children because they havent built their mental map of what "normal life" looks like yet, the same way we all now use seatbelts and dont smoke in pubs.

[TracyBeakerSoYeah]

@PhilCornwall1
Wearing a face mask during sex doesn't cut the mustard I'm afraid.
Surely it has to be a gimp suit & then lashings of anti-bac gel for safe sex during Covid times? 😂

[Aridane]

You beat me to it , .@StormTreader, on AIDS

[PhilCornwall1]

[quote TracyBeakerSoYeah]**@PhilCornwall1
Wearing a face mask during sex doesn't cut the mustard I'm afraid.
Surely it has to be a gimp suit & then lashings of anti-bac gel for safe sex during Covid times? 😂[/quote]
Now you're talking!! 🤣

[slashlover]

For what logical reason would the government want people to keep wearing masks after the pandemic has ended?

Especially when they've invested a fortune in facial recognition software.

[CorianderLord]

On the plus side I've usually had tonsilitis and a few colds by this time of year and I haven't been ill once (bar suspected COVID for 3 days in Feb).

Probably because everyone's washing their hands and using sanitizer and nobody's sneezing on me on the tube

[wrexham]

I think all retail workers wished that customers had the same appreciation as the OP, or at least some manners. I was one 30 years ago and people did not behave in the same entitled way as many do know.

It feels different but for me less strange as I am two minutes walk away from my town centre so have visited almost every day, going on my daily walk.

[HeIenaDove]

Have you seen 1990 @StormTreader

What feels dystopian about this is the fact that people lower down the socio economic scale have been told they are disposable for years.
disabled people died after having benefits cut......this is in the thousands.
Grenfell
Windrush.

Then all of a sudden............along comes Covid19 and suddenly lives matter. Because EVERYONE is affected not just the poor or disabled people or BAME or single parents on UC (do we really think this face mask edict would have come in if it was just poorer groups affected) The Yorkshire Job Centre was on Channel 4 last night. People on UC still being othered and patronised. Great timing Channel 4

So you will forgive me if i sometimes do start to wonder if there is a whiff of poorer people being told to wear old socks on their faces to protect their "betters"

All in this together my arse!!!

[VerbenaGirl]

The retail sector have spent years developing shopping from a functional activity to something pleasurable and a leisure activity in its own right and it is sad that it feels as though Covid has wiped this out and shopping is functional and a bit depressing again.

[mineofuselessinformation]

Personally, I think it was worst at the beginning - very 'Handmaid's Tale', as I put it.
Hardly anyone in the shop, one-way systems in place, waiting to be called to a toll even though it was quiet - and most eerily, complete silence.
It's not quite as bad now, although the arses who have no idea about social distancing still annoy me.

[Quaagars]

As an aside I'm currently actually grateful for my mask right now as I'm sporting the biggest feck off cold sore under there and nobody wants to see that lol

[Snaptheirfingers]

I was asked yesterday if I'd been shopping (ie had I actually been in a shop since March)? Well yes I have of course I have I've a family to feed, plus as a key worker I've worked all the way through , it was difficult initially with queueing, shortages and one way systems. Now though it is the new normal. I think those that are struggling are the ones who haven't eased back into our Covid world. Some haven't been able for life-saving reasons, but some just haven't taken those gradual steps.

[MacduffsMuff]

I went yesterday for the first time since March as I've been shielding. Different, yes, but I didn't find it upsetting or 'dystopian'. It's just the way it is for now.

[randomer]

@VerbenaGirl, how weird and yes you are right , it was a functional activity.

[PercyKirke]

I prefer it. Waitrose has never been so civilized!

[randomer]

Hoorah! begone Covid, Waitrose is emptier. Result.

[likeafishneedsabike]

@BoxhillBertha

Not at all. It's calm, less rushed, less busy and I'm not at all bothered by masks.

^this! I love this clean new world. What a pity that it took a global pandemic to raise standards of basic hygiene and organisation.

[Furries]

@Komacho

Shops selling hand sanitizer is dystopian?

Maybe calm down a bit.

Blimey p, there’s always one - and you have the honour of the first reply. Seriously, the OP was just expressing how weird it is that the way our shop visits are supposedly the new normal, but it still doesn’t feel normal. Nothing wrong with OP expressing the fact that current day to day life is a bit surreal.