Page 13 | To ask if anyone else feels like the covid era is a bad dream

23rMarch2020 · 2023-07-04T11:41:14+00:00

Whenever I think of 2020 or 2021 it just doesn’t feel real at all. The lockdowns for months on end, the clapping for the NHS, the track and trace system, entire school years being sent home because a single case was discovered, panic buying, people developing intricate methods of sanitising their shopping, public shaming of rule breakers, religious holidays being stopped at very short notice. It’s all so bizarre to think of that this was in our country so recently and, really, there’s nothing to stop any of it happening again. In so many ways it just feels like a different world, my DS who had his GCSE’s cancelled is about to go off to uni (if he gets the grades 🤞) and my then little year 7 DD is doing her own GCSE’s next year. I guess my Aibu is to ask if anyone else feels so totally disconnected from that era to the extent it’s all like a bad dream?

Colliewobbler23 · 04/07/2023 19:58

It feels weird. I witnessed people anti bac spraying their groceries while masked up and wearing rubber gloves.

I remember spraying DHs shoes by the door after a trip to the supermarket in lockdown!! Crazy crazy craziness.

Remember when older / vulnerable people couldn't get grocery delivery slots?? It seems SO weird that grocery delivery slots ever made the news or a national debate!

DS has a new lego game in Lockdown. Sometimes he plays it and the background music makes me feel sick. It reminds me of homeschooling and rainy lockdown days....

Ginger1982 · 04/07/2023 20:05

It feels like it was a bad film. My Gran died in a care home in May 2020 (not of Covid) but we obviously couldn't see her. Her funeral was limited (no funeral cars or wake afterwards) and I couldn't sit with my mum as we weren't the same 'household' at that point so she sat alone. I'm so angry looking back that I didn't just sit with her. What were the funeral directors going to do, physically pry us apart? Ridiculous.

TheWalrusdidbeseech · 04/07/2023 20:06

ThinkAboutItTomorrow · 04/07/2023 19:30

It's made me reconsider past events like the war. I'd always sort of thought that the world wars were the punctuation marks of the 20thC 'between the wars' 'post war' etc and that people living in that time must have felt like that but actually since Covid I wonder if they also felt a bit like this. In 1948 was life getting back to 'normal' for most people & wartime seemed a weird blip?
Obviously it was on another scale, thousands of husbands, sons and fathers away for years, death and destruction from bombings etc. but when it was over we're people fundamentally changed or did they just wake back up like we are?

good post!

This country is welcoming refugiees whose homes are been bombed right now.

When people talk about "normal", it's all relative isn't it.

TheWalrusdidbeseech · 04/07/2023 20:07

Remember when older / vulnerable people couldn't get grocery delivery slots?? It seems SO weird that grocery delivery slots ever made the news or a national debate!

What I wonder is if all the people who complained about not finding delivery slots then are still using online shopping now...

missmollygreen · 04/07/2023 20:08

Bad dream? Deaths aside, I bloody loved it

Applesinmyhouse · 04/07/2023 20:22

I never clapped for the NHS. I thought it was ridiculous. Like the hate hour or whatever it was called in 1984. I remember walking my dog and seeing a couple rushing past me, the man calling back to his wife; ‘hurry, we’ll be late for the clap!’
Fucking bizarre. I remember calling my mum and talking about how stupid a lockdown was. She was hysterical ( this is the woman who never got over the AIDS pandemic and has multiple aids tests a year) and screaming ‘we’re all going to die!’
I remember SIL calling DH and asking us if we had seen the tanks ‘going by’ as she’d read somewhere the army was locking down London and she’s never been able to grasp how big London is and thinks we did all our shopping in Oxford Circus (we lived in zone 6). DH mentioned to her that I was out walking the dog in the park and she text me to be careful and wear a mask. It was a bloody country park, and empty.
I hated lockdown, I felt trapped in our tiny one bed flat. I was constantly on edge that someone would report me for taking the dog out three times a day (to toilet!) and so I didn’t dare go out anywhere else. I did notice that the big house in the gated estate behind our flat had an entire attic conversion done and no rules followed there. I felt like a goldfish in a bowl with the builders peering in the bedroom window.
On the other hand it was nice to see so much of DH as he has always worked such long hours. I do miss our Saturday morning walks to the Turkish shop together to buy groceries.
I remember post lockdown, sitting in my nans average sized house not being able to get over the size of it, after being cooped up in the flat for so long. I gained a lot of weight in Lockdown, I’m still not back to my 2019 size.
lockdown definitely gave us the push to buy a house, even though it meant we’ve had to leave London. It’s still in the back of my mind that it could happen again, and at least I have space to walk around now AND a garden!

Clarich007 · 04/07/2023 20:23

Thank you Twiglets1.
It seems surreal now. She was definately showing her ignorance.
It certainly brought out the worst in some people..

OwlHop · 04/07/2023 20:26

Interesting, sobering thread to read. It was a traumatic time. So many different reactions. Denial, dismissal, denigration are coping mechanisms, anger and grief are still unprocessed for many…all understandable.
My family and I still use basic & easy mitigations: we wear ffp3 when shopping, traveling, going to theatres etc, we eat outside or get takeout, rather than eat inside restaurants. We avoid poorly ventilated crowded places if possible.
The more we find out about the long term effects of SARS-CoV-2, the more sure we are that we want to continue to take steps to avoid it, even 3 years on. We have friends who are now disabled because of Covid infections and we have friends who have died. Covid is not over even if people wish it was.

feellikeanalien · 04/07/2023 20:35

TheWalrusdidbeseech · 04/07/2023 17:33

Also I think that trust in authority has been irreparably damaged.

"authority" is just us. They are just normal people, doing the job they have at the time, not better or worst than any of us.

At least there are some specialists with specialist knowledge, but they don't belong to a different species.

I wasn't saying they are a different species. As an example, the behaviour of some of the police. I know there are other reasons for loss of confidence in the police force but the behaviour of some of them during Covid was lacking in any logic or common sense.

When I used the term "authority" I was talking about those in positions of responsibility who acted in a way that resulted in people losing confidence that they could trust them to act in the best interest of the public.

Delatron · 04/07/2023 21:27

OwlHop · 04/07/2023 20:26

Interesting, sobering thread to read. It was a traumatic time. So many different reactions. Denial, dismissal, denigration are coping mechanisms, anger and grief are still unprocessed for many…all understandable.
My family and I still use basic & easy mitigations: we wear ffp3 when shopping, traveling, going to theatres etc, we eat outside or get takeout, rather than eat inside restaurants. We avoid poorly ventilated crowded places if possible.
The more we find out about the long term effects of SARS-CoV-2, the more sure we are that we want to continue to take steps to avoid it, even 3 years on. We have friends who are now disabled because of Covid infections and we have friends who have died. Covid is not over even if people wish it was.

How sad. For many reasons..

MichaelAndEagle · 04/07/2023 21:29

I'm convinced it is why I can't work from home now.
I can't concentrate I feel sad and unsettled. I think its because it just reminds me of covid.

AliTheMinx · 04/07/2023 21:32

I took DS to the Science Museum on Friday and there was a section on Covid in the Health section and it was so odd to think that was such recent history, yet in some ways the idea of going back to constant testing, isolation and mask-wearing now seems almost unthinkable. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remember it was real.

OwlHop · 04/07/2023 21:57

@delatron for us it’s not sad to pop on a mask in a shop or on a plane, it’s normal, easy, and honestly, not getting sick is great. Don’t miss picking up whatever everyone else is going down with at all. Before Covid I used to often get sick after flying or going to work on the tube with people coughing in my face.

It is truly sad for those bereaved and those who are suffering constant ill-health or disability as a result of getting Covid over and over so we are mindful of that and have adapted our lives, it works for us.

SunnyEgg · 04/07/2023 22:08

OwlHop · 04/07/2023 20:26

Interesting, sobering thread to read. It was a traumatic time. So many different reactions. Denial, dismissal, denigration are coping mechanisms, anger and grief are still unprocessed for many…all understandable.
My family and I still use basic & easy mitigations: we wear ffp3 when shopping, traveling, going to theatres etc, we eat outside or get takeout, rather than eat inside restaurants. We avoid poorly ventilated crowded places if possible.
The more we find out about the long term effects of SARS-CoV-2, the more sure we are that we want to continue to take steps to avoid it, even 3 years on. We have friends who are now disabled because of Covid infections and we have friends who have died. Covid is not over even if people wish it was.

Although all restrictions are over which is what counts here.

People know Covid is still circulating, but it’s not the issue for others as it you feel it is.

OwlHop · 04/07/2023 22:16

@sunnyegg yes, restrictions are over, Covid is still circulating. For us, “living with Covid” means understanding that it is still around and doing a few things to avoid getting sick and getting on with our lives in what’s become a new normal. But lots of people seem to think it’s gone away forever and it hasn’t. It’s not 2019.

It still startles me how much denial there is. Cognitive dissonance.

SunnyEgg · 04/07/2023 22:18

OwlHop · 04/07/2023 22:16

@sunnyegg yes, restrictions are over, Covid is still circulating. For us, “living with Covid” means understanding that it is still around and doing a few things to avoid getting sick and getting on with our lives in what’s become a new normal. But lots of people seem to think it’s gone away forever and it hasn’t. It’s not 2019.

It still startles me how much denial there is. Cognitive dissonance.

It’s really not denial even if you feel startled.

Of course Covid is circulating, that doesn’t bother me.

I’m fine with that. You do you

TheWalrusdidbeseech · 04/07/2023 22:25

So what if it hasn't gone away?
Pollution hasn't gone away either, we are more likely to die of cancer.
If Putin insists on blowing up nuclear plants, we will feel the effects sooner rather than later. Fukushima wasn't kept in the bubble people think it was.

Most people try to avoid getting sick the way they always do, but on balance, it's not worth putting our life on hold. We might not be able to travel in the future, so now is the time to do it.

StormShadow · 04/07/2023 22:30

People can and should do whatever they're comfortable with. It's not a good look to be startled because someone has different priorities or risk assessments to you, and nor is it sad if someone masks a lot when you don't.

OwlHop · 04/07/2023 22:31

@TheWalrusdidbeseech i think there is a false equivalence here - taking certain measures to not get a nasty virus where possible is not putting life on hold.

Whereas getting long Covid or being sick as soon as you touch down from holiday and missing work for a week puts one’s life on hold. Wearing a ffp3 on a plane/tube or sitting in the beer garden instead of inside a crowded pub full of coughing people isn’t putting life on hold. Survive, adapt, overcome and all that.

SoSoSoSo · 04/07/2023 22:35

Knowing that Covid is still around is exactly why I'm not wearing a mask or restricting where I go, well that and Scotland having mask restrictions for longer than England and still having higher Covid rates. There's not a chance in hell that I'm spending the rest of my life doing that. It's never going away and I'm fine without acknowledging that. It's just one more risk in a world full of them. I don't see why I should fixate on that particular one. No denial here.

brunettemic · 04/07/2023 22:37

Sort of. In my head things either happened pre or post covid, not during it. That said, there were some good parts of it for us (I mean specifically us as I’m very aware how hard it was for many people for many reasons). I was furloughed for 6 weeks or so and that family time we had is very special to me as we’ll never get that chance again. I also felt in some ways I reconnected with myself a bit.

Terryer · 04/07/2023 22:39

OwlHop · 04/07/2023 21:57

@delatron for us it’s not sad to pop on a mask in a shop or on a plane, it’s normal, easy, and honestly, not getting sick is great. Don’t miss picking up whatever everyone else is going down with at all. Before Covid I used to often get sick after flying or going to work on the tube with people coughing in my face.

It is truly sad for those bereaved and those who are suffering constant ill-health or disability as a result of getting Covid over and over so we are mindful of that and have adapted our lives, it works for us.

Gosh. I flew a lot pre covid and never got sick. Covid is totally over as far as I am concerned.

TheWalrusdidbeseech · 04/07/2023 22:40

StormShadow · 04/07/2023 22:30

People can and should do whatever they're comfortable with. It's not a good look to be startled because someone has different priorities or risk assessments to you, and nor is it sad if someone masks a lot when you don't.

It's not sad at all. I have to admit, when I see someone with a mask today, I translate it as them being full of germs and I stay well away!

If people want to wear masks, I have no issue with it. I am not doing it. I only made my kids wear masks when it was mandatory in planes and in public places overseas. They didn't need them in this country, so did not have any.

Masks are more to protect others than they are to protect yourself, that's the problem.

Moraxella · 04/07/2023 22:41

@Ginger1982 i know I took it as read I couldn’t go and see my dying mum, I wish I had broken the rules.

i used to work in itu and come home crying because everyone was dying. I remember being so scared for my baby because it was scary and there was no vaccine and we were hoping the PPE was ok

Terryer · 04/07/2023 22:42

TheWalrusdidbeseech · 04/07/2023 22:40

It's not sad at all. I have to admit, when I see someone with a mask today, I translate it as them being full of germs and I stay well away!

If people want to wear masks, I have no issue with it. I am not doing it. I only made my kids wear masks when it was mandatory in planes and in public places overseas. They didn't need them in this country, so did not have any.

Masks are more to protect others than they are to protect yourself, that's the problem.

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Yes I always assume they have covid!