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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To find the early COVID era nostalgic?

549 replies

Acco · 15/10/2023 21:00

I’m mostly talking about the pre-lockdown and lockdown 1 era mostly but just 2020 in general to a lesser extent (but not 2021, I still hate it and it doesn’t seem that long ago). I haven’t thought about COVID for ages but I was taking about the toilet roll hysteria with my in laws tonight and then I saw a TikTok throwback to all the 2020 trends and sounds and it gave me a warm feeling inside. It’s an era I’d never want back but I remember the lovely sunny days in the garden in April and May 2020.
Anybody else feel this?

OP posts:
Turtletotem · 16/10/2023 01:48

AvengedQuince · 15/10/2023 22:30

Does she feel sad for the teens who experienced a very different lockdown?

She absolutely does.

Ramalangadingdong · 16/10/2023 02:07

This thread has made me sad. I lost a lot of weight during the first lockdown. I thought it was an opportunity to take advantage of the “stress free” days and eat well and exercise. I now realise that it was an attempt to control because I was feeling out of control and lonely. I am resilient. I give the impression of always being ok and coping so no one asked me if I was all right. They all thought the weight loss was brilliant. I was surrounded by people who were boasting about having family around them like an extended Xmas - for them lockdown was fun but I now realise that for me it triggered a relapse into an eating disorder. Like @EmmaEmerald I still feel the toll on my MH.

Op, I would be immensely grateful if you would please ask for this thread to be removed.

Jumpingthruhoops · 16/10/2023 02:09

KajsaKavat · 15/10/2023 21:03

Watching the entire nation going nuts over night and willingly locking themselves in their homes, following insane rules that made no sense and constantly being told how I must hate old people just because I questioned it? No thanks! Those were the shiftiest times I’ve had. Also I could carry on working and travelling , so I wasn’t restricted at all and the roads were empty, but I’d still rather have had sensible people around me and not fools who fell for the whole propaganda thing,

This! And I don't know what's crazier: that they fell for it then? Or they're still testing now!? 😫

IamRa · 16/10/2023 02:20

@EmmaEmerald

Suspensions are temporary. I think mine was three days.

though I think some posters were fully permanently banned but not sure.

I'm well aware suspensions are temporary, and banning is not, but the poster was claiming that such suspensions would "skew the perspective". For that to be the case, suspensions would need to be far longer than 3 days, occur to more than 55% of active Covid board users at the same time, and the suspended users would need to be of the same general mindset.

And that's before we get to banning.

(Speaking as a former university IT professional.)

IamRa · 16/10/2023 02:28

@EmmaEmerald

we were heavily censored on here before and it’s really important that these stories are heard

In what way exactly were you "heavily censored"? And I don't mean by having obvious, harmful misinformation deleted.

EmmaEmerald · 16/10/2023 02:31

IamRa
I can only guess what was meant

but quite a few of us didn't post after suspension because a ban was sure to follow - and so much vitriol came our way.

so there were more suicidal posters and more anti lockdown folk than some realised. Also, entire threads were simply removed, for saying things that are being said at the enquiry.

i am so grateful to posters who kept in touch, offering comfort and company.

SailAway685 · 16/10/2023 02:33

No.2 of my teens become mentally very unwell whilst the government partied. We’re still dealing with it now in a very underfunded part of the NHS.

EmmaEmerald · 16/10/2023 02:37

IamRa · 16/10/2023 02:28

@EmmaEmerald

we were heavily censored on here before and it’s really important that these stories are heard

In what way exactly were you "heavily censored"? And I don't mean by having obvious, harmful misinformation deleted.

Examples upthread

daring to mention nosocomial infection and ways to address it, inadequate barrier nursing as mentioned by pp, discussion of BCPs. I have yet to come across anyone who worked on a BCP based on the entire stoppage of business - not the point of a BCP.

I stopped saying this because people got so angry but my father specialised in infectious disease. Many of his colleagues were horrified at the lack of medical care - telling people not to call a doctor till their lips turned blue?! This is not the action of a government trying to save lives.

off to bed now. Sure the thread will be gone in the morning. So hugs to those in need of them. This thread might have helped me - my breakdown wasn't just about caring for mum, there might well be residual problems from lockdown.

Catsmere · 16/10/2023 02:38

Only in mild amusement at one of my driving lessons becoming a trek to find dunny paper at a shop my instructor knew had some. I was living in semi-isolation at the time anyway, so the (Australian) lockdown barely affected me apart from shortages.

VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia · 16/10/2023 02:50

teenagetantrums · 16/10/2023 01:39

To be honest although me and DP worked all through the lockdowns, l did kind of like them. No need to go and see family and freiends that live far away.. Just work and go home. I sometimes feel a bit guilty that the pandemic had no real effect on my life. I could still see my friends that l worked with and as we were together all day we also had no problems seeing each other outside work in each other's homes.
I did feel sorry for the residents if the care home where l worked, who where confined to their rooms with no visitors. And to be to honest l was l jealous of everyone on furlough sitting in the sun whilevl went to work

No need to go and see family and freiends that live far away.

You don't need to see them anyway. You just don't go. "No" is a complete sentence.

VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia · 16/10/2023 02:56

IamRa · 16/10/2023 02:20

@EmmaEmerald

Suspensions are temporary. I think mine was three days.

though I think some posters were fully permanently banned but not sure.

I'm well aware suspensions are temporary, and banning is not, but the poster was claiming that such suspensions would "skew the perspective". For that to be the case, suspensions would need to be far longer than 3 days, occur to more than 55% of active Covid board users at the same time, and the suspended users would need to be of the same general mindset.

And that's before we get to banning.

(Speaking as a former university IT professional.)

I'd like to introduce you to the concept of self-censorship. Examples include: you get a suspension and don't repeat what earned you the suspension in case you get banned; and you see others talking about being suspended and decide not fo say the things that got them suspended.

It only takes a small number of suspensions to influence all the posters on a board.

EmmaEmerald · 16/10/2023 03:00

oh the other thing that made me think WTAF - quite of us were accused of being anti vax when we'd had the vax!

it was the mandates we opposed and of course now lots of care and NHS staff have left their jobs over it. Some US states are doing apologies, payments etc to try to get staff back on board?

people saying "I insist my carer has the vaccine" - don't moan when you get caught in the carer shortage then.

kittie01 · 16/10/2023 03:22

Go fuck your self I never wished anyone dead unlike you

IamRa · 16/10/2023 03:47

@VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia

It only takes a small number of suspensions to influence all the posters on a board.

This hasn't been my experience at all, and I certainly didn't see it reflected on this board.

EarringsandLipstick · 16/10/2023 04:38

EmmaEmerald · 16/10/2023 01:18

Oh and you are seriously backpedaling

you started a thread about nostalgia and sunshine, like reminiscing about is lovely holiday. Of course people are furious and telling you things that frankly you need to hear.

Exactly.

Your fake wide-eyed 'that's not what I meant' act is fooling nobody OP.

Warum · 16/10/2023 04:42

Absolutely not.

Getupat8amnow · 16/10/2023 04:51

Please delete this thread.

DrivingAgain · 16/10/2023 04:54

Unithorn · 15/10/2023 21:32

By 'sitting in their gardens' do you mean working from home?

No. Our Trust didn’t have things set up for telephone or video patient assessments. Ridiculous bureaucracy and governance issues. So for about six weeks they did nothing. I remember one clinician telling me later that it was ‘bliss’.

AskNotForWhomTheBellCurves · 16/10/2023 05:09

JayAlfredPrufrock · 15/10/2023 21:46

Can no one enjoy anything because other people are having a shit time?

Israel/Gaza.

Trust no one is out partying tonight.

It's not that we can't enjoy anything while there's suffering going on in the world, obviously, but if in three years' time someone were to post on here that they felt nostalgic for the Israel-Hamas war because it had benefited them and their family somehow, I think people would consider that to be in very poor taste, right?

That said, I do kind of understand what the OP means. There was no 'enjoying the slower pace of life' or 'appreciating the little things' for me - although I was lucky not to have to work and nobody I know died, I hated pretty much every minute of the first lockdown and have been left with lasting mental health issues from it, including psychosis at one point. My overwhelming feeling at the time was pure rage, at the smug twats with their twee 'my little family' posts, the 'your grandparents fought a war, you're just being asked to sit on the couch and watch Netflix' memes, the self-proclaimed introverts with their faux-naive 'but I just don't understaaaaand why other people find isolation so hard, can't they just learn to be happy in their own company?' The next strongest was anxiety - worrying about my parents, losing my job, whether we'd ever go fully back to normal.

But every so often when I'm stressed, I get an involuntary flashback to standing in the kitchen on a blazing sunny day with all the doors and windows open, with a mug of freshly made coffee and the sounds of insects buzzing, the neighbours having barbecues and pressure washing their yards while their kids played outside, and no obligations whatsoever for the foreseeable future. And just for a split second it all feels so overwhelmingly calm and peaceful, and I have a strong feeling of almost like grief that I can't go back to that time, even though I remember the reality and it was nothing like that at all. Hindsight plays strange tricks on us sometimes, I think.

DrivingAgain · 16/10/2023 05:26

Nat6999 · 15/10/2023 21:39

Yes, ds, my mum & I were all staying together, it was nice to have quality time together, ds went from Y11 to having left school in the space of 24 hours. Ds was in charge of any shopping that needed physically fetching from the shops, I was in charge of online shopping, we planned meals together, always sat down to listen to Boris on the 5.00pm bulletin together. I can just remember the silence the first night we were in lockdown. It was lovely not having to think what to wear, it didn't matter if you had pjs on all day. I never wore makeup for at least 9 months.

‘It was lovely not having to think what to wear’

Is getting dressed a challenge for you? What an odd thing to cherish from a pandemic.

sh0rtbread · 16/10/2023 05:28

No.
I had just moved over 200 miles away from my hometown so wasn’t allowed to see my Dad or siblings. I had to cancel my wedding and got married with just 5 people in attendance. Quite a few people died in my hometown during that time & also one of my colleagues.

AvengedQuince · 16/10/2023 05:56

Correct me if wrong but I thought there were only a few thousand cases in lockdown 1 so I’m surprised so many people were affected by it so early. Cases peaked in early 2021 and that’s when I remember it mostly affecting people I knew which is significantly AFTER the period I’m talking about.

There were no tests available, doesn't mean people were not unwell.

DrivingAgain · 16/10/2023 05:58

JayAlfredPrufrock · 15/10/2023 21:04

Yep. Loved that first lockdown. I spent the whole time sitting in my garden. Friends would walk past and chat through the hedge. My DD was home from Uni. Happy days.

Did your child not mind? Missing out on the university experience? My friends whose kids were at university at the time said that their student children really missed out. On both socialising and an equivalent educational experience. I think they were a neglected group.

DrivingAgain · 16/10/2023 06:11

I guess it was heaven for those on MN who hate opening the door, view socialising as a trauma and prefer dogs to humans. There are a lot of these folk around!

DrivingAgain · 16/10/2023 06:13

lifeturnsonadime · 15/10/2023 21:48

For our unique family circumstances it was a leveller.

We had had our hard times before and had a child with severe mental health difficulties who we were already educating at home.

I think covid and the lock down/ national home educating experience has made it much easier for him to reengage with others because it has meant his experience wasn't unique.

It was a torrid time for many but I think, like peoples experiences of war time, there are things that it is OK to be sentimental about.

I remember seeing an urban fox walk down the road in broad daylight. That is not something I'll ever see again.

‘I remember seeing an urban fox walk down the road in broad daylight. That is not something I'll ever see again.’

Come to London! It’s a daily occurrence where we live. But this started pre-pandemic.