things you realised in lockdown that you're surprised you never noticed before??

[NoviceNewMN]

Working from home made me realise how low level subtly grindingly misogynistic alot of the men I work with are and how I am undermined every day without ever noticing when I was there - because it comes under the guise of cheerful chat that is blink and you miss it stuff. When you are out of it, life becomes lighter and happier.

I also never noticed exactly how much ££££ I spend on travel.

[WaterAndRichTea]

How much more money things cost online

[CanIPleaseHaveOne]

@NorthernDramaLlama

How much time I spent trying to please my now Ex! And people in general. I now have time and head space to prioritise me and my DC :-) We can have toasties for tea if we want. And I'm not running around pandering to people as they found out how to solve their own problems during Lockdown when I wasn't able to appear like a genie and magic away their problems. Some of my family and friends have become much more 'solution focussed' as I was only able to offer advice by phone, they were forced to do the jobs themselves rather than stand back and watch me. And my dad, I've rediscovered he is an absolute star! I was a key worker and my parents picked up the DC from school once every week. While my mum looked after the kids, my dad quietly weeded my garden, relaid the membrane in the back garden, watered my plants and generally made my outside space a much more pleasant space to be. Mum was fab too and took away a load of washing every time she visited :-) Basically, I realised my parents love me more than I deserve!

My God what a beautiful post!
Thank you.

[PyongyangKipperbang]

That a social life doesnt neccesarily need to involve the pub. Due to working in the business for years, my social life was in the business too. Now I will go for a quiz or poker (loves my poker!) but just to go and see people? No. I dont miss it. The same people getting the same drunk talking the same shite and it costing me the same per glass for wine as I can pay for a whole bottle to drink at home whilst doing an online quiz (THANK YOU JAY!!) or reading or listening to the radio (loves Oooh Gary Davies too!)

The odd meet up is great but every week or every weekend.....I really dont miss it and I didnt realise/notice before that it was possible to have a happy social life without it!

[eekbumbler]

That pressing several buttons to be able to cross roads on the way to school was particularly minging.

Put your finger here, just where several school kids and a few old ladies have done so in the last 10 minutes.

[Porridgealert]

I like cleaning the trolley handle. It makes me feel icky now not to clean my hands before entering the supermarket. But I know I'll revert to old habits in time. 🙄 😒

[RedRiverShore]

How much I would hate wfh, I had only done the odd day before at home

[Sweetener12]

How much I spend on travel.
To fall down the rabbit hole of working overtime is so damn easy but limiting your screen time is difficult (I used to do work-related stuff, then switch to my freelance jobs and would spend next several hours doing Smartshow 3d videos and then it's 1 am).
Working out while at home is possible but going to the gym is uch easier to me.
Agree about bread, too.

[Yarnandneedles]

That DH and I will be ok together when we retire.

[ChateauMargaux]

What it really means to live next to a border when that border is closed with concrete road blocks and patrolled by helicopters.

[SpeakingFranglais]

I realised how much I hated everyone else WFH. I’ve done it quite happily for over 15 years and now every fucker is WFH it doesn’t feel a treat anymore, there’s people around at lunchtime, and I long to go into the office and be away from people.

Or maybe I’m just antisocial. 🤷‍♀️

[SpacemanDad]

@StopGo

I really don't like other people. I'm happy on my own.

This.
I have severe asthma and was on the shielding list. Got a call from my GP advising me to stay indoors and avoid contact with people outside my household. So, business as usual for me then!

[beigebrownblue]

I rediscovered a friendship which has now become part of my support network.

We talk every day.

The value of being organised. My A4 notebook has become my best friend.

How proud and grateful I am to live in an all female household.

Gradually being proud of myself and DD having home schooled and got through G.C.S.E year with ten months home schooling in a very small space and an even smaller income.

How much I love John Grisham novels.

Having represented myself in my legal stuff in divorce finance settelement remotely - how i am capable of much more than I thought.

How grateful I am to live in a place which is not crowded and with good air.

How I won't stand to be messed about by companies I deal with.

[Plumtree391]

How I really appreciate the privacy of where I live.

I've grown to like the television and Netflix more than I used to.

[TheWayTheLightFalls]

How much I was spending "popping in" to Sainsbury's etc. It seems very obvious but it took lockdown for me to get it.

[Whatwouldscullydo]

How misery loves company

How some people really do have nothing better to do than police other people.

How common it seemed to be for people to make up their own lock down rules and get angry when people didn't follow them.

That people cant do anything nice for anyone without making sure the world knows about it.

How much of a dickhead my ex was and how uninterested in the kids he was. That when being tired from work was off the table he still couldn't be arsed to be a part of the family.

How much easier life is is you don't have ti make excuses fir people or walk in egg shells or fake being ok.

[NorthernDramaLlama]

Thank you both @Furries and @CanIPleaseHaveOne x

[HumousWhereTheHeartIs]

That I need far fewer 'things' than I thought. That my kids much prefer me being at home, sadly, since this won't last.

[ememem84]

@NorthernDramaLlama

How much time I spent trying to please my now Ex! And people in general. I now have time and head space to prioritise me and my DC :-) We can have toasties for tea if we want. And I'm not running around pandering to people as they found out how to solve their own problems during Lockdown when I wasn't able to appear like a genie and magic away their problems. Some of my family and friends have become much more 'solution focussed' as I was only able to offer advice by phone, they were forced to do the jobs themselves rather than stand back and watch me. And my dad, I've rediscovered he is an absolute star! I was a key worker and my parents picked up the DC from school once every week. While my mum looked after the kids, my dad quietly weeded my garden, relaid the membrane in the back garden, watered my plants and generally made my outside space a much more pleasant space to be. Mum was fab too and took away a load of washing every time she visited :-) Basically, I realised my parents love me more than I deserve!

This is lovely.

[GoldenOmber]

How much I would miss commuting. I already knew I wouldn’t enjoy WFH much, but I hadn’t appreciated how helpful it was to have a time buffer between work and home where I was either walking or sitting on a train reading a book.

[SunshineCake]

That no one really suffered if I didn't food shop three times a week, replacing stuff by lunch time that had run out the previous day or that morning.

That I don't need to go out as much as I thought.

I have made other changes that have been great but I'm going through new stuff now that I'm finding very hard.

[profpoopsnagle]

There are 3 sorts of Pom Bears. One that has both hands up, one with both hands down and the third is one hand up, one hand down.

[IceCreamAndCandyfloss]

How selfish some people are, the trait may have always been there but lockdown magnified it. I’ve reevaluated friendships with those who thought the rules didn’t apply to them.
It reinforced that I love being home, made time for more hobbies and a love of new tv shows.

[SoloISland]

I am permanently in isolation/lockdown so I expected no change. And was most pleasantly surprised at how there was suddenly so much awareness and practical help and support for those of us who are old, disabled etc. We were all identified as needing support and some of that has continued. Life thus became much much easier. for many things.

[Wole]

@profpoopsnagle

There are 3 sorts of Pom Bears. One that has both hands up, one with both hands down and the third is one hand up, one hand down.

Ooh I'll have a look next time

[Hardbackwriter]

Everyone else seems to have had a better lockdown than me! I discovered:

That although I'd always felt lucky to have a job where I could work from home when I wanted, being compelled to do it full-time turns out to make me miserable
That life felt incredibly flat and dull doing the same thing every weekend, no matter how many home activities we tried to find
Ditto with entertaining a toddler - so much harder work with no possibility of going to new places or for days out, and so lonely not being able to have adult company when doing it. We fed the same ducks so often that I think even the ducks were sick of it.
That I really do love a big family Christmas and that spending it just the three of us wasn't some lovely treat, it just felt like another day

It wasn't really a surprise that both working full-time with no childcare and an under 2 was absolutely awful, I would have always expected it to be. I suppose it was a surprise that we were expected to do it and that the government didn't even really mention it, let alone have policy - there seemed to be a widespread assumption that everyone was either a keyworker and so got childcare or was furloughed.

I think I mostly came to appreciate the life we had before even more, and I couldn't be happier that things feel more normal now. I've been to the pub twice this week and I still feel so excited to be able to every time! And every time I have coffee with my mum a little part of me thinks 'well, it's nice that this is no longer illegal' and then thinks what a mad thought that would once have been. I have just discovered that my work will still be fully WFH when I go back from mat leave in December, though, which I'm pretty sad about, I'd hoped the promised hybrid would be in place by then. I can't muster much enthusiasm for going back to sitting at our dining table every day.