To ask what the most COVID bonkers thing you did about

[Jay36]

First off this is not a COVID denier thread.

But I’m wondering what was the weird things you did at the start of the pandemic because you were worried about CV. I’ll go first;

Left my shoes outside the house as was worried about bringing the virus ‘in’ in case someone had coughed on the pavement !

Bleached the door handles daily.

Feel like I was a bit crazy now 😂😭

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER

Washing shopping. ‘Cooking’ the paper for 10 mins in the oven every day before reading it.

you're lucky it didn't catch fire !

So not too much but I did get really stressed about dh getting the train to work before the first lockdown. He started wfh a few days before lockdown 1.

I also stopped going to the supermarket a couple of weeks before lockdown and hardly went in a shop for months.

We did socially distance out walking and crossed the road to avoid people if possible.

I’m a nurse so was very aware of the risk to my patients.

The most bonkers thing I did was try to argue with the Mini Hitler Wannabes on here who were sobbing and shaking because a MN'etter decided to go buy a Twix.

I quickly realised it was shouting into a very insane void. So glad I found a sane group of ladies on here in April 2020.

I did some things once and never again. I went to Sainsbury's, put on my gloves and as advised used the shop app on my phone, except it didn't work with gloves on, so they were off by the first aisle.

I wore gloves at the petrol pump for a while, tbf that is not a bad idea and I still anti-bac as soon as I get back in the car.

I used to step out of the way of people, not that I wanted to but I wasn't sure of how they felt, so it would either be appreciated or they would just think I was nuts.

I was fairly pragmatic about it all, I never did anything to increase my risk but just did things within normal hygiene limits.

[quote MaybeHeIsMyCat]@Isntitironic1 no, they were actual texts [/quote]
How bizarre, maybe it was an area thing as I have 5 close relatives (ECV) who never received such texts, just the one saying stay home if I recall correctly. However saying that my mum who is ECV didn’t even receive a letter 🤨

Wouldn’t press the button to cross at the lights and wouldn’t let the kids press it either incase someone with covid had touched it. Took us pissing ages to cross the road on our daily walks

I don’t think those of us who didn’t do any of the things mentioned on this thread have “forgotten what it was like”. I just don’t think this thread is representative of the majority. I don’t know anyone in real life who went on like that, although the OTT reactions were all over MN at the time.

As I’ve said already, I get it. The government would not have achieved such widespread compliance without a (un)healthy dose of fear. But the majority of us quietly complied without the need to bleach shopping and bake newspapers. That was never a proportionate response to the risk.

I'm still kicking myself I didnt go out when everything was dead and the transport was stopped/skeleton service I really wanted to walk down to central london for the 28 days later feeling, but my son refused to come and I didnt want to leave him alone at home.

I remember in the days just before the 1st lockdown was announced just feeling this awful and constant sense of dread. I remember being home alone and just crying because everything felt so awful. I was convinced we would lose at least one family member by the end of the year through covid.

Then once lockdown happened, I remember telling my DP he wasn't allowed to go to the Post Office to return a phone case because it wasn't 'essential' and we'd already been for a walk that day. Also remember walking back from my allotment and a police car going by, worrying they'd stop me and ask why I was out 😆

I remember distinctly the horrible feeling of dread and sadness during the time when we were only able to leave the house once a day. We live in a flat with no garden and it was such lovely weather - always felt dreadful when we approached home again, knowing we were stuck inside until the following day.

There are two threads I'll never forget in terms of exemplifying the craziness.

Firstly the 'sitting on a park bench eating a bag of crisps makes you a murderer' thread from April 2020. That was a peach.

The second one was later, maybe September when the schools were back and one MNer made her 8 year old DD self isolate in her room with no physical contact with the rest of the family for 10 days, including over her birthday. But it was okay because she made her cupcakes and deposited them at the door. 😱

I know government strategy of ramping up personal fear to the nth degree was effective. But I have huge misgivings about the morality of it. People were (and in some cases still are) driven to the absolute edge by it all.

@VelvetChairGirl

I'm still kicking myself I didnt go out when everything was dead and the transport was stopped/skeleton service I really wanted to walk down to central london for the 28 days later feeling, but my son refused to come and I didnt want to leave him alone at home.

London was never dead Seriously I continued to visit family in London And there was a nice buzz actually More relaxed

What I learned was that there are many many odd mumsnetters

Because neighbours, friends, colleagues, even acquaintances - all seemed like they followed ish the guidelines but certainly didn’t get hung up about others being more “ish” than them

You seem to be completely lacking in empathy @notamilf and your comments really don't paint you in a good light .

I refrained from our local takeaway in case we caught it from a pizza box 😂 even though I was 8 months pregnant & the cravings were driving me mad !!

On a sadder note , I deprived my fil of seeing his grandson for weeks & kept cuddles to a bare minimum . in the end he caught covid anyway& passed away when ds was 5months old . But I still feel guilty there are no pictures of them when he was a newborn

Why didn’t you send them in to school if your dh was a key worker?

Toanewstart22 The children's school would only take the children if we were both key workers and even then it was only the shifts when we were both working. They required shift timetables as proof.

London was never dead
Seriously
I continued to visit family in London
And there was a nice buzz actually
More relaxed

It looked pretty dead from my window overlooking the A40, there was nothing going in or out.

A friend of mine was scared to take her kids the park in case there was covid on the grass. In fact she didn't go over the door for about 9 weeks.

Does anyone have any friends who went from one variety of paranoia to another? I have one who got into the COVID fear well before it went mainstream--reading all the reports from Wuhan and buying extreme masks, only leaving the house for a walk at nighttime. Now she will not wear a mask, gets the vaccine and is heavily into conspiracy theories.

I had to go into Central London several times for medical reasons. First went in around the end of June. It was so so quiet around Kings x.

I have very fond memories of lockdown 1,I guess weather related. I was travelling into work every day on the tube and it was lovely. I drove in too and actually the A40 into London was pretty busy, mostly as they decided to block off two of the lanes

I think the most bonkers I got was getting cross with people on narrow paths or pavements for not giving me enough space... not because I was worried they'd give me Covid, but because I thought they weren't being courteous. I always gave people loads of space (I still do when out running) in case they were anxious. So even though I wasn't anxious, I felt cross because they didn't know that and should have been more considerate! Yeah... bit bonkers.

[quote OnceuponaRainbow18]@ShirleyPhallus

I agree, but looking back is it pretty mental how we could only leave the house once a day to exercise and keep 2m away from others .[/quote]

It's also worth remembering that there were other European countries (definitely Spain, possibly Italy) where people weren't even allowed out for a daily walk.

I can remember one day when DH decided to stay in, wondering whether I could go for his walk as well (ie go out twice as he wasn't using his walk) but I was terrified of breaking the one walk rule in case we actually lost this and were made to literally stay at home apart from essential work and shopping as we were seeing in other places .

I still wipe our shopping. Pre lockdown I always made sure I washed my hands after I put food delivery away. On occasion some packages/tins had stuff spilt on them so I wiped them down. Delivery driver at start of lockdown also advised us to wipe down shopping as "You have no idea whose touching it."

As a family we still do a lot of the same things re preventing infection but to less of an extreme. The major difference I think is that we have more information and we are not doing it all in fear. It's part of our routine. We have learned to live with Covid not cower from it like we did at the beginning.
I also have MS so am allowed to be careful. Also have a food business so slightly neurotic about cross contamination.

I washed my hands a bit more often and that was it. Never caught it either whereas just about everybody else I know has. Very odd

@VelvetChairGirl

*London was never dead Seriously I continued to visit family in London And there was a nice buzz actually More relaxed*

It looked pretty dead from my window overlooking the A40, there was nothing going in or out.

Yes that was people travelling in!

But… gasp… people live there too! Clapham almost had a holiday vibe to it