to think life is more 'normal' than 'lockdown' now?

[fodderbeet]

Am I right to think that for a lot of people life is now more normal than not for most? Almost everything is open, pools, gyms, shops, restaurants etc. Sport has resumed at a local level, clubs and committees are meeting again, holidays are happening, life is happening again.

Admittedly in the scale of things our lives changed far less than most due to location & occupation and always having a preference for on-line shopping over trips to the supermarket, but I was surprised to hear from a friend that they're still very much in 'lockdown mode' and how restrictive their lives still are.

Am I being unreasonable to think that for most life is more normal now?

Nowhere near and we may never get back. I remain hopeful but not expectant about a vaccine.

Things from the olden days:

• chatting to the stranger sitting next to me on a bus
• confident school will be open
• going to theatre, sitting 6 inches from the stranger in the next seat
• chatting with colleagues in the office (we have a room rota, single occupancy)
• using the vending machine
• taking kids to clubs
• going in any direction I like in a museum
• hopping in a taxi
• using a loo in a department store (shut!)
• squeezing on any train I fancy
• visiting a relative in a care home
• ringing for a dentist appointment and getting one
• trying on clothes in a shop, browsing, touching

Everything is spread out, booked, directed, distanced and different. I support continued measures so not grumbling, but old normal it is not!!

If your life is back to normal then you're not paying attention.

Depends on your circumstances.

I’m in the Shielding category. I have taken a few risks in that I now go out for essential shop visits, I’ve bought a coffee and sat outside to eat but eating in, cinema etc is off limits.

I also have elderly parents who were advised to Shield and who are reliant on me quite a bit. They’ve been back at work since 1st August (yes some 70+ people still work) and due to a mix up with a COVID positive case at the hospital they work at that they should never been exposed to in their clinical setting, they’ve now been put into 14 days isolation and as I’ve been in close contact with the pair of them so have I. So we are back in full lockdown.

Even if I wasn’t Shielding or Self Isolating, none of my hobbies have restarted, everyone in my social circle is being cautious re socialising, I don’t know if I will be going back to work face to face in September or not yet with the likelihood being that I will be working from home until 2021 or made redundant, I used to go to music gigs, plays, social dancing etc...all cancelled and most events postponed for a further YEAR, we can’t travel abroad to see our family...there’s some we may never see again.

My life is still far more like lockdown and it looks like it will be for quite some time. Nowhere near normal.

I've lost my job so can't afford to do what was normal anymore...go out, have a weekend away, go shopping so, for me anyway, life is far from "normal".

YANBU but people like to moan and whinge about the “soulless” masks and “dystopian” feeling 🙄 They just love a bit of drama.

It's more the having zero income and that not being likely to change for the foreseeable future.

It's nowhere near normal imo, even though I have been on holiday (UK), ds (4) is at preschool and we've been to pubs and restaurants it's not been a normal experience. Social distancing, mask wearing and hand sanitising make everyday activities very much not normal. I also still mainly stick to garden visits with friends and family to reduce the risk to us all. I rarely take my dc into the shops or go in with my dh it seems very unnecessary now.

Slightly more normal now that things are open. But still lots of restrictions. You have to book ahead for almost everything which I find really annoying. And of course the uncertainty about schools opening is still hanging over us.

Its starting to feel much more normal for me now, and for Dh and teen Dd.

For me, it's school holidays and I'm still doing bits of work for returning. I don't feel like there is uncertainty about returning / I think it's clear we are going back, with full classes and full time, to near normal, in three weeks time. I work in an infant school so they'll be no social distancing and no masks, etc. Bubbles will be year groups with restricted interaction between classes where possible. But I work across the whole school do that won't change for me.

For Dh he is working PT from the office and two days from home as they can only have 50% staff in at a time. However lots of people are having their annual leave at present so he's in the office most days now as there's room.

18y Dd is out and about a fair bit meeting friends and spending a lot of time with her boyfriend. We aren't insisting in social distancing with her boyfriend anymore - it's been 5 months, they can't really be kept apart that length of time and it being within 2m of one another. The number of friends they meet up with is lower than it would be but they can now go out, go to the pub, and as the weathers been good they'd have been meeting outdoors anyway. Results day tomorrow may be strange and there's uncertainty about how university will be - but as that's all new to us anyway it's hard to know. They've kind of got over the missed and changed plans now as it all seems ages ago.

We have had a family holiday abroad, dd had an extra week away / she's supposed to be away again next week in France but we shall see. We are going out to meet friends and have meals out. Yeah, we wear masks now but that's not really causing us an inconvenience tbh. We are getting to visit my parents and stay over this weekend. We will see my sister and nephew at the same time.

I forced myself to go and do more stuff. I'm clinically vulnerable so being careful when out and about, but after the first time of venturing out it's got easier and easier. If I'm going to be moving in close quarters, with no SD, no masks and in crowded poorly ventilated rooms in three weeks then I need to feel confident going about normal life beforehand.

Things really do feel like they are getting more normal.

Well it's better than it was in lockdown. No queues at supermarket, restaurants open, gyms open and hairdressers.
But it's not spontaneous..everything has to be booked. I miss theatre and live music.

My DH is a chimney sweep so has to go into people's houses to work. We are in a witch area so there is a high risk that at any moment he could get a call from the tracing people and have to cancel all his bookings for 14 days. He's self employed so we constantly have that loss of income hanging over us. As it is bookings are only about 70% as people are still wary.
Both our hobbies are on hold as the events are all cancelled and training is curtailed.
None of the fun events we go to are happening.
We daren't go to restaurants to take advantage of the Rishi deals because of the risk of losing 2 weeks work.
DH is still waiting for a medical appointment that was cancelled in March to be rescheduled.
The day centre that disabled MIL goes to twice a week has no restart date yet so FIL never gets a break and MIL is deteriorating.
My 93yo dad is having his balance clinic sessions over the phone.
My mum still hasn't had her GP appointment to get them to refer her to memory clinic for a dementia diagnosis.
Still way off normal here.

Surely you can only speak of your own experience? It might more more 'normal' for you but it's not for many, many others.

I've been for dinner once since March when we used to go out quite frequently - despite signs and one way systems, there was zero social distancing and the service was terrible (despite having been great pre-lockdown) so that really put me off.

I went for drinks and will certainly not be doing that again any time soon either. Security guards with masks below their noses. No SD being followed. Crowding in the loos. People seemed much rowdier than usual. Just not worth it.

My sports class has reopened for a hugely reduced number of people that have to book for the month. I missed a spot so I can't go to a class I went to 3x a week before to try and shift the lockdown weight I've gained.

My holiday was cancelled, and we can't rebook the same place without quarantining on return.

My mum has been shielding and despite shielding ending, her doctor has told her she shouldn't go out where possible, so she's basically still shielding without the support. I haven't hugged her since the beginning of March. Usually I see her and give her a hug multiple times a week.

Face coverings when you're inside. I'm absolutely all for wearing one but they are uncomfortable if you aren't used to it, particularly in the heat. I find wearing a balaclava bad enough in sub-freezing temperatures let alone when it's 20+ degrees.

I'm still working from home - I normally work in the city centre to can often meet people after work or go shopping quickly at lunch. My spending is much reduced which is great, but I need new trainers desperately and the idea of going shopping at the moment actually feels like a big thing when it didn't before.

Friends have lost their jobs. I'm thankfully back up to 100% salary but was reduced to 80% despite working more hours than normal. I'm still feeling the squeeze from that, but not even close to the stress that some of my friends are trying to manage at the moment in respect of getting themselves back on their feet.

There's barely any of my pre-lockdown life that's back to what it used to be. I suspect it's going to be a while before life starts to feel even remotely like it did before. This is my new normal.

Nope, absolutely not! And if people think this is normal life, then their normal life must be really bloody tedious! We can’t go to concerts, theatre, clubs, to watch live sports

I think people differ in what they like to do in their spare time. I'm absolutely fine with seeing friends and don't go to many events, I'm seeing two for dinner/socially distanced drinks in the garden and it's ace. Summer holiday feeling in sunshine. I don't think my life is tedious, but I do just work (in a interesting but demanding job), see friends, go out for dinner (and have done this quite a bit) and act as a taxi for the teens. Am not missing international conferences at this time point.

If you've lost your job/work drastically different, or you go to a football match lots, then it will feel very different.

For me and the kids, we are back socializing, eating out, teens having the odd sleepover if parents away, stuff like that, we are not living like lockdown whatsoever.

It’s better. We go out to lunch often and Dh goes into work whenever he feels like it, sometimes empty workplace or a couple of people.

Oth I’ve had two of my dc home since March without break, so September is when it will feel normal to me.

It's more the having zero income and that not being likely to change for the foreseeable future

This is us. 4 adults who lost every bit of income because of this virus

We are getting back to some sort of normality although I am still stuck with what I do and Dp because he was in the shielding group is now I think permanently unemployed. Dd and Ds have picked up a couple of jobs as one industry has reopened but mainly we are all still on UC and can’t see a way off it.

I can't go to my singing group.
None of my theatre groups can begin rehearsing for anything.
No sign of theatres opening any time soon.

So no, pretty far from normal for me.

No, not at all.

This is my first summer as an adult without a foreign holiday. We have good friends in a European country who normally visit us at least once a year, but they can't because in their country the UK is on the 'Level 6' alert level - a scale on which 6 is the worst.

I live in London but can't do many of the things I enjoy about the city without booking days or weeks in advance. Even non-'London' things are not really accessible. For example, our local pool has re-opened but to book I would need to download a booking app separately for each member of the family onto a different phone, and in any case the first available slot for lane swimming is 6 days away.

I also have dc waiting for A-level results, on which the govt seems to be changing the rules hourly. Even if the grades are in line with expectations and dc gets to go to university, most of the teaching will be online.

I have younger dc who have not been at school for nearly 6 months and we have no idea whether they will actually be in school in Sept.

DH and I are still working from home and have been for nearly 6 months.

So, so far from normal, even without factoring in masks etc.

It's mostly back to normal for us.

Toddler is back at nursery 3 mornings a week on her usual hours. Toddler's and baby's swim lessons have been running again for a couple of weeks now. We are back visiting the farm weekly. One of the toddler's usual activities isn't running yet so we go to the zoo weekly instead. And then we have been going out weekly for food, and my exercise classes are running. The only other thing that hasn't resumed for us is our weekly trip to the library and the shops. And that's just because the library don't want people coming in for a casual mooch around and I'm asthmatic and do get out of breath wearing a mask so I don't fancy a mooch around the shops.

So generally speaking we all get out the house at least 5 days a week doing activities and are as busy as ever

Oh and I've been on maternity and return to work next week, my husband has worked throughout

Not remotely the same for me.

I’m mask exempt but because of bad experiences I’m scared to go out so I’m trapped indoors all the time.

Not even close to normal. Still WFH. Still can't go to the cinema properly. Still don't feel massively comfortable going to eat out. My favourite hobby has no come back in sight. I have to wear a mask everywhere. My DP cannot come into our first scan with me.

So please spare me the 'they love the drama' posts.

Life isn't close to normal

It doesn’t feel normal but things feel a million times better than lockdown when the only thing to do outside of the house was to go for yet another walk! I feel like there are options for things to do now eg. swimming at the gym, day out at a zoo, drive to a park that’s open (our local ones still closed). We meet up with friends regularly. I don’t mind masks as they allow me to do things I couldn’t do in lockdown so in a way they give me freedom and it won’t be forever (I hope!!).

Absolutely not normal by any standards. Dentists still not open here and I have a tooth fracture and another needing a crown that may fracture too if I don’t get seen so I can’t eat properly and haven’t done for 4 months.
My doctors are closed and only emergencies are dealt with.
My work is still closed. My kid has been off school for months and my life is closing in. Shops are weird, socialising, human interactions and the connectivity of life has changed. I wish I could think this ‘normal’.

Normally we would be in another country for August seeing relatives. Can't go this year, can't get the kids into what few holiday clubs there are, can't have more than one family over for a BBQ or to play. We are trying to organise things but everything feels like wading through deep water.

The whole of the summer has felt like a strange waking fever dream and the hot weather hasn't helped. Time is passing but I don't seem to be feeling it the way I did at the beginning of lockdown when everything felt urgent and real and scary. I really need school to start again to jump-start my life I think - I got all the uniform out the other day to give it a once-over and felt a bit of a flicker of normality returning.