To miss lockdown

[globula]

Just that really.

This is my personal view and experience and I cannot comment on the suffering the COVID situation brought to many people however for me it was great (of course the reason for lockdown wasn't great, JUST THE EXPERIENCE of it).

I have a 0hrs contract with NHS but working on a non COVID ward so was able to pick up full time hrs last year resulting in more income (normally only able to do 2 shifts per week due to lack of childcare) and didn't feel unsafe or uncomfortable if anything it was easier with less patients, no visitors and limited visits from other agencies). DH was off on furlough staying at home, doing diy, garden and helping to homeschool.
I loved having DCs here to homeschool- actually think they learned way more at home than they do at school on regular basis- and overall we had more time to spend as a family and enjoy each other's company as there was no external stress and pressure.

We don't have family around and don't go out very often anyway so I wasn't bothered by places being shut.
I loved the empty streets, buses, trains and supermarkets (maybe I just don't like ppl I don't know).

So overall for me it was brilliant. I realise that I sound extremely selfish and wouldn't say it to anyone in RL however my intention isn't to diminish anyone's hardship just needed to share how I feel.

I am a teacher

Hang on a minute. Aren’t you a biologist who works in an A&E? 🤔

I have also worked in several other countries, and am also aware that what was "lockdown" for us, is normal life in many other cultures, and is actually closer to traditional life than modern life is

What countries have you worked in where people don’t go to school and can only leave the house for an hour a day, once a day for exercise? Where you are unable to see extended family? Where people can’t go out and do their jobs?

What countries have you worked in where people don’t go to school and can only leave the house for an hour a day, once a day for exercise? Where you are unable to see extended family? Where people can’t go out and do their jobs?

Yeah this sounds like horseshit alright

I enjoyed certain parts of it. Dh and I continued to work throughout, my head insisted on having school fully staffed throughout.
Dh had a month off work (not paid, that was stressful) because there were no suppliers open but once things started working for him again he was able to go back, I put ds into school and the 3 of us were back into a routine again. Although it was a much more relaxed one. All home early, able to take advantage of the nice weather and enjoy the garden.
The teens though really missed out. Last year of school, GCSE’s, prom, friends, everything. They’re making up for it now but it was crap on many levels for them.
It was a slower pace of life, for a while I missed things and then I just got used to it. I’ve definitely committed to less as we’ve been able to socialise again

@54321nought

The tips and charity shops were all shut so no idea where people got rid of everything during their lockdown clearouts.

They were stacked up on the balcony, where I enjoyed regularly counting the number of bags I had accumulated!

I couldn’t put up with emptying the loft just to put it somewhere else. It has to come down that ladder and leave the house.

@ComtesseDeSpair

*In other words, women are far safer when men are shut indoors.

Unless you’re one of the women and children shut indoors with them. Domestic violence rates rose considerably during the lockdowns. Add to that that many women had to both work full time jobs and take on the bulk of the responsibilities for home schooling, and the picture isn’t really very rosy.*

This. Luckily I'm not a victim of DV but my blood ran cold at the thought of very vulnerable families - mostly the women and children in them - being literally locked indoors with a violent partner. Just the thought of what some people have had to endure puts me on edge. I realise I am speaking from a privileged position when I say I had days where I struggled WFH and looking after my toddler. It was tough. But nothing akin to the fresh hell that lockdown posed for some.

I didn't really enjoy not being able to see anyone else until support bubbles were permitted, no.

As I work in the arts sector, I was furloughed for almost a year, with brief returns to work between lockdowns.
I gained time with my family and made some lovely memories of being close and doing things at home together. My house and garden were tended and I cooked a lot of lovely family meals.

I lost my sense of purpose, having nothing concrete to do with my life made me depressed.
My volunteering roles were cut, so I couldn't do that to keep myself occupied.
I was anxious whether my job would be there at the end of it all, I missed people and interacting with the public.
So, some positives, but many more negatives. The phrase 'we're in the same storm, but different vessels' is so true. Furlough got me through financially, but at the expense of my mental health as I didn't choose to be unable to work, but I fully understand that others were totally overwhelmed by the amount of work they had to do in difficult circumstances.

I loved it too. Really miss not staying in all the time when a I'm not working.

@NannyAndJohn

I miss when people were cautious. Socially responsible. Now cases are still sky high and rising, but no one gives a shit any more. Very sad.

I miss the empty roads and peaceful walks, the whole community spirit. Now the fucking tourists are back in droves and everything is overrun. Thankfully I've managed to secure a permanent WFH contract.

I do think lockdown was so beneficial for women as a whole.

Not for me as a single parent. I was forced out of work and isolated from all my support network.

@RuthW

I loved it too. Really miss not staying in all the time when a I'm not working.

you don't need a lockdown for that!

You have the choice, while the lockdown removed the choice for everybody.

I have also worked in several other countries, and am also aware that what was "lockdown" for us, is normal life in many other cultures, and is actually closer to traditional life than modern life is

Yep. I envy them in a way.

Our Western obsession with consumer culture, constant travel (and I say this as someone who went on multiple foreign holidays a year before Covid), and individualism is destroying both the planet and the very thing that holds the human race together - the family.

Our "old normal" was the problem.

It's hugely churlish to say but lockdown represented an overall gain for me.

More money / less frivolous spending - obviously this is with me to keep up or not but I see the visits to cafes and supermarkets creeping up.
Professionally it did wonders for me.
DH home more to help with DC.
DC (still under 4) is speaking and reading fluently in two languages thanks to parental input/time.
We have a garden, PT nanny, don't rely on public transport.

Well it’s brought out DDs closer through necessity.. and the empty roads were lovely. But on the whole the lockdown can fuck right off!

My dad died of Covid which was awful but aside from that I really enjoyed lockdown. Friends and family all live close by so I saw them regularly on walks. I am mums carer so saw her daily.

Wfh so income was good on that aspect.

Some of my friends suffered terribly with SEN children, loss of jobs and isolation.

is destroying both the planet and the very thing that holds the human race together - the family.

But seeing ones family (beyond nuclear) was forbidden during lockdowns.

In these cultures that we’re suddenly all waxing lyrical about, connection with extended family tends to be hugely important. Lockdown went against all that.

@NannyAndJohn

I have also worked in several other countries, and am also aware that what was "lockdown" for us, is normal life in many other cultures, and is actually closer to traditional life than modern life is

Yep. I envy them in a way.

Our Western obsession with consumer culture, constant travel (and I say this as someone who went on multiple foreign holidays a year before Covid), and individualism is destroying both the planet and the very thing that holds the human race together - the family.

Our "old normal" was the problem.

But all of the people who really liked lockdown, don’t want to socialise or travel, want to focus on their families, and don’t want to participate in consumer culture are still able to reshape their lives and make that happen for themselves. To me it just seems like a no-brainer. It isn’t impossible to reinvent your life. Plenty of people decide all the time that they want to move abroad or live off-grid or take up subsistence farming on a smallholding somewhere. You don’t need an international lockdown to force it.

I enjoyed parts of it. I started taking the dog for walks across the golf course while it was locked down. It’s a public access one but we can’t really walk across when the players are there without having to stop and let people play past us or having to keep the dog on the lead. I loved that walk, and the dog loved it, running up and down all the bunkers, through the trees and playing in the sand 😂

I find myself wishing for a short lock down sometimes so we can do that walk again for a week or so.

Exactly.

I was left solo parenting whilst working full time. The village it takes to raise a child was taken away from me, and frankly, that’s not healthy for me or my child.

We use solitary confinement as a punishment in prison, yet people are waxing lyrical about a time when single adults were banned from any human contact. If you don’t want to see people, that’s your choice - it still is now. No one is forcing to to spend time with people, but there are a lot of us who found being so isolated very very hard.

I was supposed to be replying to @TheKeatingFive. Not sure how that never worked!

individualism is destroying both the planet and the very thing that holds the human race together - the family.

for many of us, "family" was the first thing we missed out during the lockdown. Surely it's pretty obvious that many families are split across countries and continents?

Would also add, not feeling like "everyone" was out socialising, celebrating xmas with family etc was good. But that's a problem in my own head really.

Still maintain it was worse for mothers than others. Unless DV involved obviously

People who liked lockdown and saw it as a 'reset' if you like can go and live somewhere remote and never leave the house to see anyone if they want to? If it's made them think modern life is that bad.
Never travel again, never socialise, live the rest of their lives in blissful solitude?

I do think lockdown was so beneficial for women as a whole

As a woman, I had to work full time while homeschooling 2 primary aged DC and looking after a toddler. I also had to take a 20% pay cut to keep my job. It nearly broke me. Many women I know were in similar situations. It wasn’t all baking banana bread and drinking gin and tonic in the garden.