Despite the fact that everyone's now busy pretending the lockdowns never happened, that COVID is like a distant nightmare retreating into the rearview mirror, I think the repercussions are not even beginning to be fully felt.
I feel less safe on the streets. Trains after about 7pm are rapidly becoming a no-go zone. Verbal harrassment from male strangers has noticeably escalated; that tension was not so evident to me before the lockdowns. I shop online because I no longer want to use changing rooms in high street stores. The high street is struggling enough already but many outlets don't seem to realize how badly they are alienating their target markets.
It was easy to get into the habit of lockdown, although it became more injurious to many people's mental health the longer it went on. No leaving your home more than once a day, or for any other purpose than to shop. No trains, planes, pubs, shopping, swimming, gyming, socializing. An environment in which a trip to the garden centre was our children's brand new yardstick for joy.
It was an easy habit to get into and a far harder one to break once it was over. I had to kick myself hard up the backside to do things that came naturally to me before, or that I'd do without question.
High street shops and the higher education sector are dying on their feet. Ditto the hospitality industry. Compulsory education can't recruit enough teachers. The private sector has seen the closest thing to a general strike since 1926. Okay, COVID isn't the only contributing factor to these issues. But it hasn't helped.
I witnessed some disgraceful treatment of others, and know who in my village are the people to be avoided at all costs.
The ramifications are still continuing. It's as though we can measure the state of society to the time before and after the 'flood'. Pessimistic though it is, I think it will take at least a generation to recover.