How bloody weird is the world right now???

[ssd]

I'm watching something on telly pre feckin virus.

I just reminds me of normality, of normal times.

This all feels like a bad dream that goes on and on and on....

Feckin hate it.

Yes! Genuinely got out the car at the supermarket today and saw my reflection in the window with my mask on and had a sudden jolt of shock that this is where we are.

I’ve found recently that things can feel relatively normal, eg I’ve been to the cinema twice, the gym, lots of pubs and cafes.

What I’m scared of is a second full lockdown as I became extremely lonely and very sad, as I live alone

I’ve also been clothes shopping a lot Apart from masks, one way systems and no changing rooms, it’s really ok.

I was lucky as I got what I’m pretty sure was “it” in mid March so I’ve had no health anxiety personally. I would’ve found all this more stressful otherwise

I quite like it.

We went ten-pin bowling the other day and there was a lane on either side of us empty for social distancing, so we weren't sharing bowling balls or virtually bumping into other people as you go up and down to bowl, like you used to. And they cleaning the bowling balls and the tabley-bit before we started and it made me wonder why that wasn't normal before.

There's just more personal space and I like that.

This may sound strange but I miss things like not being able to see a GP in person unless invited to do so, not being able to have a routine dental check up, not being able to go in with my pets at the vets - don't know how outdoors consults are going to go when dark evenings and cold wet weather arrives

Live music, nightclubs still closed, not feeling relaxed in restaurants and cafes, worry about the future.

It seems all joy and optimism has been taken away and replaced with gloom and pessimism.

There is a huge mental health crisis like never before on its way, in fact I'd say it's starting and will get worse over autumn and winter, especially when many more jobs and livelihoods are lost.

I hope you don't mind a slight veer off topic but @Bluewavescrashing mentioned earlier in the thread that they were under a weighted blanket. I'm not sleeping well at the minute. I know it's at least partially due to all the crazy stuff going on in the world. I keep seeing ads for weighted blankets and I'm wondering if they are worth the money?
Trump is scary and I think I won't sleep well until after that election, even though I'm not in the US. I also hate the masks. I wear one in shops but I worry that they are just window dressing to make us feel like we have some control when we actually don't.

Where in the world are you living @Swimbikerunmummy? It all sounds so normal.

During lockdown I drove to the supermarket in the next town over to me on the way on the empty dual carriageway there was a sign in lights that said control the virus stay inside (or similar like a motorway sign type thing).

I suddenly had this thought of this is it. This is the end of fucking days and in years this sign will be here like in a bloody zombie film with some of the bulbs gone and a random person just walking down the dual carriage way 28 days later style.

I hate it, I hate the effect it’s had on my children I fear for their future more than mine and I hope to god things go back to normal but I just can’t see it ending.

@WhistlersandJugglers I've got one and I love it!

The good thing to come from this virus is restaurants, gyms, ect are cleaner and people are more hygienic despite that yes I hate it

WhistlersandJugglers
We bought DD a weighted blanket a couple of years ago as she has never been a good sleeper and really struggled when she went off to university.
She loves it. Her sleep is much better however she has become quite reliant on it and cant sleep without it now!!

The virus will pass and this whole sorry episode will be forgotten, in the same way that Spanish flu did.
Cant come a day too soon though.

My job has totally changed and I hate it. Before I did a lot of interaction with customer, fave painting, balloon modelling, stuff like that.

Now I feel like a bouncer, forcing people to wear a mask, counting them in and out, sanitising everything after each customer and I absolutely hate it.

At the start of lockdown seeing pretty fabric masks, designs making them a fashion accessory seemed a bit wrong. Of course now I've bought a pretty one! Normalising masks like a bag or a scarf choice.

Seeing a repeat of an evening sport event from last year on tv. People dressed up, crowded together, singing, drinking a few pints seems so decadent. Extraordinary

Please, please let it be a mild, dry, short winter.

@WhistlersandJugglers

I hope you don't mind a slight veer off topic but *@Bluewavescrashing* mentioned earlier in the thread that they were under a weighted blanket. I'm not sleeping well at the minute. I know it's at least partially due to all the crazy stuff going on in the world. I keep seeing ads for weighted blankets and I'm wondering if they are worth the money? Trump is scary and I think I won't sleep well until after that election, even though I'm not in the US. I also hate the masks. I wear one in shops but I worry that they are just window dressing to make us feel like we have some control when we actually don't.

Trump is scary? And what, Biden is less scary? Biden wants to defund the police, abolish the death penalty, close private prisons, have no mandatory minimum sentences, end cash bail and have shorter jail time for cocaine offences. But Trump is scary. I'm no fan of Trump but all Biden has done for nearly 50 years is enrich himself and his family.

I think cash will become a thing of the past. My dad gave us £30 three months ago and I finally managed to spend it last weekend. Then this week someone else gave us a £10 note as a part refund and all I could think was, ffs, when am I going to be able to use that?

I’m in a more vulnerable group and I was careful for months but recently I’ve started trying to venture out. Had a scare two weekends ago though, had to take a test which was negative but my lungs still feel weird. Not sure if anxiety plays a part in that though.

It’s funny, as I have some social issues and am a bit of an introvert loner so I thought I’d cope better than most with this - and I probably have - but going for a curry with my sister last weekend for the first time in six months made such a difference even to an antisocial curmudgeon like me.

I have been staying on a Scottish island for the past week and it has been such a relaxing break from living in the city. Yes you do still need to wear masks in shops etc but otherwise I have felt a bit more 'normal' being here.

It has been such a relief to spend so much time outdoors not worrying about masks and personal space. Dread going back to it

About 2 months before covid my dad said 'you know I feel the world is really topsy turvy right now, something just isnt right' and gave the example.of Trump and other things. He wasnt wrong.

Can anyone with a weighted blanket recommended the make they bought please? I’ve been interested in one for ages. I’m finally working again after 5 months (yay!) and would like to treat myself.

Re coronavirus, it’s nice some places are open and we’ve gone out once a week and it’s so good to see other people in restaurants, no masks and hearing the hustle and bustle of people talking! I’ve missed people watching 😄
I can’t see us getting back to normal anytime soon.

My biggest fear is for my very vulnerable dad. My anxiety has risen so much worrying about the ‘what ifs’and I imagine it’s the same for so many people-the weight of worrying.

I still can’t quite believe how things had changed in five months.

Definitely strange. I've been shielding. The tank of petrol is still in my car from March, I haven't been to a shop since then or a cash machine or seen my parents. Or colleagues!

@Oilyoilyoilgob

Can anyone with a weighted blanket recommended the make they bought please? I’ve been interested in one for ages. I’m finally working again after 5 months (yay!) and would like to treat myself.

Re coronavirus, it’s nice some places are open and we’ve gone out once a week and it’s so good to see other people in restaurants, no masks and hearing the hustle and bustle of people talking! I’ve missed people watching 😄
I can’t see us getting back to normal anytime soon.

My biggest fear is for my very vulnerable dad. My anxiety has risen so much worrying about the ‘what ifs’and I imagine it’s the same for so many people-the weight of worrying.

I still can’t quite believe how things had changed in five months.

Perhaps this might ease your fears about your vulnerable dad slightly.

I feel like @AnneLovesGilbert - most of the time it feels ok, just a bit low-level rubbish but I occasionally have moments, usually in places where everyone has masks on, and think 'hang on, WTF?'. If you had shown me a picture of my local high street with everyone wearing masks a year ago I'd have assumed it was a still from a disaster movie.

I have been wrong about every aspect of this. I thought my colleague who kept going on about how we'd all be working from home soon in February was being annoyingly hysterical and over-dramatic; I thought that people would never comply with a lockdown; when they did I thought it would only last a few weeks before there was serious unrest.

I thought Trump could never win; I thought Johnson would bomb out at some stage in the leadership campaign; I thought there was no real chance of a no-deal Brexit.

Stupid fucking me.

I was on a thread about whether or not to find out the sex of your unborn baby the other day and loads of people said you shouldn't because 'there are so few surprises in life'. Those people obviously have better instincts for predicting the future than me because I have done nothing but be surprised in 2020 and I would like to grab onto every little bit of certainty I can. I'd open my Christmas presents now if I could. I don't want any more surprises!

Like a PP, it's the masks I don't like. It's a psychological signal of fear. Worried for my kids mental state, seeing all these masks. And all the wipes and plastic masks make me for the environmental damage they're causing.

YANBU op, Life is ok for me but there is a constant anxiety in the background about the future that was never there before.

I look back at the lockdown and think WTAF - How did that happen to us? In this country? In the modern world?

Just reading anecdotal comments from people makes me wonder if we as a society are going to have a PTSD type illness in many years to come?

I am very grateful to be living somewhere that is COVID free, zero community transmission since April. Life is practically back to normal, we can do pretty much anything except travel as the border is closed. Most people are very happy with that as we see what is happening in other places and think it is a price worth paying for now. I do try to keep up with how things are going in the UK and Ireland as I have lots of friends and family there, and it looks like a total shit show! I am genuinely worried about what is going to happen between Covid and Brexit, I feel like we had a lucky escape.