Aibu...how close to normal is life for you

[jeansandashirt]

Aibu to wonder how close to "normal" (as we know it) is your life right now?

About 60%.

Shops are no longer a queuing nightmare. But I'm only going when I need something rather than to waste time having a mooch around.

We have eaten out, but only where you can book and know it won't be busy.

Holidays and concerts/theatre trips/pantos all cancelled until next year.

Work (teacher) will commence normally in Sept, or as normally for the kids as it can be. We adults still have to follow the distancing rules that will change things.

I can't book routine dental checkups for the kids, nor can I get the scan I've been referred to and DH can't get his prosthetic leg adjusted now he's lost a shedload of weight so he's really starting to struggle with getting around. I had hoped that rates improving would have left these services starting to open up, but our local hospital has just been through a large site-based spike so no chance.

Given that it's the summer holidays, life is fairly normal here. We're doing less than we would normally do in the holidays (mostly because the activity camps that my DC would usually attend aren't running), but our holiday (in the UK) was what we'd planned anyway for this year.

What's different is that DH is still WFH and will be for the foreseeable, and in order to visit my family we had to rent a cottage for a week, rather than staying with them. I've been shopping as normal though, popping into town, etc recently and it's nice. I really hope it will continue through the winter. Face masks I can cope with, endless weeks of lockdown and home schooling I fucking hated!

Anybody who thinks this is anywhere near normal must have led sheltered lives before.

We need rid of masks and social distancing; people need to get back to work if they still have jobs; kids need to be back in school.

We need to be rid of the incessant tide of petty and badly thought out Government regulations.

Then we might be heading back to something like normal.

Apart from wearing a mask in shops, my life is just the same as it was pre and during lockdown.
I went out to work, went shopping, nothing changed.
I'm currently on holiday abroad.

Wife died 6 weeks ago, of ovarian cancer. My life has been turned on its head. Nothing normal here.

Its completely normal apart from the fact I have to wear masks in shop and be aware of my distance from strangers.

Like 75%
I can cope with the masks, were back to eating out three times a week but I darent book a holiday, can’t have a night out with the girls and the baby group isn’t restarting til September so swings and roundabouts I suppose!

We need rid of masks and social distancing; people need to get back to work if they still have jobs; kids need to be back in school.

I quite agree. But also for a lot of people this is happening, bar the masks. My elder DC is due to start school next month and it should all be as normal. Social distancing is pretty ignorable. People in town aren't really doing it, we met up with friends at a campsite this week and hugged as normal. Even the official advice from the woman checking us in only went as far as "don't share the wine glasses". I'm WFH and will be for the foreseeable but that works fine and saves me a lot of money.

@Noextremes2017

Anybody who thinks this is anywhere near normal must have led sheltered lives before.

We need rid of masks and social distancing; people need to get back to work if they still have jobs; kids need to be back in school.

We need to be rid of the incessant tide of petty and badly thought out Government regulations.

Then we might be heading back to something like normal.

Just because life isn't near normal for you doesn't mean it isn't virtually back to normality for many of us.

I'm in favour of the masks if it reduces flu and cold viruses being so virulent in the winter months.

Pretty normal, but also massively different at the same time. I don't work, so no change. DH job not affected, so no change. DS at preschool so no change. However, we are currently living in the UK, stuck here due to the country we usually live in banning international flights since the day we landed in the UK for a weeks visit (back in March) so we're basically living a duplicate life right now.

75% WFH and not in office - but apart from that and we have stopped going out for coffee 3 times a week, that's about it. Never was very materialistic so shopping was necessity not fun. Biggest change is lack of holidays - we used to get at least 2 a year, we got one in before lockdown but second has been cancelled and I don't know when we will bother going again. Luckily where we live we can get to some lovely places by day trip.

Not normal. Wfh, avoiding all shops and restaurants etc, and unable to see my family as they live too far away. Not vastly different to lockdown other than the fact I can go for walks in different locations!

Pretty much there, I worked all the way through as am a nurse so have seen colleagues. Shops open, kids back to school obviously things are different and the socialising is harder due to planning/booking etc taking a bit more time for things but I’m quite a home bird so was happy enough at home on days off. Saved loads of money not shopping/lunch/dinners out. Everyone Will be different though

@joystir59

Wife died 6 weeks ago, of ovarian cancer. My life has been turned on its head. Nothing normal here.

@joystir59. That must be even harder than it normally would be. My condolences to you.

50%... children at nursery and seeing friends at the park, seeing parents at theirs and our homes
But husband only just going back to work this week after being made redundant in January, I have been wfh and doing some supply teaching, all of which is new and we aren’t seeing friends in their homes yet or swimming/no holiday this year. Still doing click and collect and avoiding shops.
This probably will be our new normal

Agree with the poster who said about 60%.

On the plus side - kids back to school. I've always worked from home so no change there. No queuing to get into shops.

But on the negative - masks. Life will never be "normal" when you're not allowed to go into enclosed spaces without your face covered. My GP still has big GO AWAY notices plastered all over the building and you have to be triaged over the phone before they let you in. None of the kids activities will restart soon, not until the middle/end September. We've missed two holidays this year and DH's work have started a programme of voluntary redundancies. No museums or anything open round here and when they do - masks. Can't get a dental or orthodontics appointment.

Long way to go for "normal".

Not close at all. I’m fed up with it atm it feels very Groundhog Day. Sometimes I’m more positive than others but I’m struggling without getting out, bit of time to myself & tbh I want to mooch in the shops & have a drink in a pub with my pals, go to the cinema without worrying. I won’t though as if we get caught up in track & trace & have to quarantine it will be difficult to work for us both. I’m hopeful for better times next year 👍

It's getting closer to normal I think. DH is still working from home though, and will be for at least the rest of this year. I'm also not allowed to go and stay with family because they're all in Wales.

Not anywhere close to normal.

Two dental appointments have been cancelled with no sign of rebooking.

Had to have a phone consultation with GP who said in normal times they would have examined me but instead they will try treatment first.

Masks everywhere.

SD expected.

Our holiday has been cancelled.

Every company you try and phone has a message saying due to working conditions there are less people to answer phones.

Signs saying keep your distance.

No spontaneous trips for a meal in the pub.

Having to work from home all the time.

Mostly now, still awkward because my parents are being cautious but have persuaded them to eat out next week. We have not been that careful though due to catching mild Covid in March (main symptom was loss of taste and smell), a bit blasé. We have been going out since mid May and I traveled even in April (I didn't break the rules but used them to my advantage you could say)

Biggest change is been made redundant, my time is spent looking for jobs.

It's not. OH has a tumour on his bile duct, we don't know if it's cancerous or not and lock-down has made everything ten times harder.

DH now out of work since March. I've been back to work (staff nurse acute ward) since April after having a baby at the end of Jan. We get shopping delivered once a week and I take the boys out a 40 minute walk once a day/to the park. I go a walk with my best friend once a week and that is the extent of my social life. We can't afford to do anything else as all we have coming in is a 2 day a week nurses wage for a family of 4.

It's not normal. Uni have absolutely minimal face-to-face work next term at least and no lectures in person for the next year... placements cancelled indefinitely and replaced with a completely different curriculum to one I signed up for. Kids schooling arrangements completely changed - totally different setup in terms of start/end times and wrap-around care. DH working from home until at least the other side of Christmas and not returning until the schools are un-fucked-up (has been agreed with his boss already). No activities for the kids are running yet - so no Cubs, swimming, dancing - all those things they hook their day to day life onto are gone and the kids are still floundering.

I can't wear a mask for reasons I'm not prepared to go into - so I'm basically not going out because the shaming and harassment has got ridiculous and my mental health has collapsed at least partially as a result of it all. Everything is just much more of a hassle to achieve - DD2 had an insect bite on her arm that was looking infected. Normally it would be a quick call to the GP and the nurse would have looked at it... it took two days of being triaged, being sent to the pharmacy, being sent back to the GP by pissed off pharmacists - waiting for a full day for video calls - then having to go through it all again when her entire bloody upper arm had got affected before we got some treatment... it's things like that where everything's just been made much harder that saps you over time.