To find the early COVID era nostalgic?

[Acco]

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?

Like the people that worked in government we weren't bothered about the fines so that helped

The thing is, I accept that some people had an idyllic life if they disliked their jobs and being around other people. But as soon as you read the news, how could you not worry?

About people dying, about the effect of lockdowns on mental health, hospital appts being cancelled, children who were trapped in small flats without gardens, some being abused without external oversight? The potential impact on the economy of lockdown, several industries at risk, including the entertainment and travel industries, people trapped in countries far away from loved ones and not allowed to fly back to visit them etc?

Surely that would take the edge off your lockdown euphoria? It seems a bit thick not to see that the effect on lockdown would eventually be felt by most people.

When we were arranging my mums funeral during lockdown one, our small independent funeral director told me that they usually do between 25 and 40 funerals per month but during the first lockdown they were averaging 40 per week. This is a local, family run funeral directors, not a chain.

it was a covid funeral, no cars, limited numbers, no singing - we had the listen to a recording of Jerusalem, no funeral tea afterwards. It was not the send off I wanted for my dear mum. The funeral directors did their best at a terrible time.

I think there should be a small corner of hell reserved for people who made TikTok dance videos during the pandemic ;-)

😀

I was obsessed with watching these at the time & my workplace did the Jerusalema one (I wasn't involved).

Now I look back & think - what was wrong with me?

So you weren't worried about the law, being fined etc? I was terrified but I would also struggle with work if I got into trouble with the law. People in my block of flats were watching closely. The one friend who came to me to stop me jumping off the balcony was immediately questioned by a neighbour.

There was a lot of variation by area, from what I can tell @EmmaEmerald . People where I live didn't give a shit, and certainly wouldn't have been likely to flap their mouths, much less phone the police. At the other end of the spectrum, stories like yours are also quite common.

Yes exactly.

I think there's a correlation between the people living in a ridiculous pastoral fantasy world based on an endless COVID lockdown and the "my little family" people. The ones who describe themselves as "introverts" because it sounds cool but they're not actually introverts they have social anxiety and are misanthropes and are looking for any opportunity to opt out of normal social interaction unless it's with their "little families". They basically are the people who can't cope and want other people to not be able to cope as well.

For people like this COVID was a godsend: it allowed them to retreat into their misanthropic shells for months on end and not experience the feeling of not being very socially confident. And were so self-centred they thought this over-rode the fact that millions of people were dying, millions lost their jobs and were working in unsafe conditions and millions were cut off from their loved ones.

But they were being paid to go on walks with their children and do baking and watching hilarious clips on the internet so it's all fine.

My SIL and I were saying this. DC and I went on long walks every day with SIL and her pre-schooler and the weather was glorious. I didn’t bother with much homeschooling as DC was reception age. We spent less money on tat and nature thrived.

I didn't lose anyone close but hell no. I worked throughout (at home) so didn't get whole of summer in the garden. It was hideous, I didn't see my family or friends for weeks, I felt terrified. I put effort into looking after myself and tried to make the most of things but I missed my old life.

I think that curtain twitching depended where you lived, DS lives in a city centre flat and said that no one cared what anyone else did. If you lived in a village with WhatsApp and facebook groups it was probably very different.

I remember thinking at the time, oh it will all be over in 2-4 weeks until they ‘flatten the curve!’

we were fed lie after lie and the politicians all broke their own guidelines, fining people who did the same.

The people who enjoyed it, in my opinion live in big houses and were able to stay at home with their families playing frigging zoom quizzes with their other equally privileged friends. Whilst I went to work, paying taxes to allow you to do this.

my husband’s business regressed because he couldn’t work and didn’t get any payout. My children’s education suffered. My Mum was too scared to attend to GP with symptoms which is now incurable cancer, my previously mobile Grandmother was locked in a nursing home and lost the ability to walk as no one was encouraging her to get out and move.

fuck you with your ‘nostalgic feeling’ I’m angry that this happened and all the compliant went along with it, even vilifying friends and family who questioned it.

It's going to depend on people's experiences. Some were horrific. Some were uncomfortable. But there were people who were lucky enough not to catch Covid, suffer bereavement, or be affected negatively by lockdown. I was one of those people. I remember some anxiety (especially about how to get food to elderly parents) but also the joy of not having to go into the office, lovely walks in the countryside, sitting out in the garden etc. There was also a sense of togetherness and people looking out for one another.

The worst bit about it was for me was the home schooling. Oh, and the endless clattering of pots and pans on the doorstep on a weekly basis. What a farce that was.

There were some positives I recall, such as quiet streets, better air quality, and the fortnightly organ recital I used to watch on alternate Thursdays.

I'm not nostalgic for 2020 though.

It did, but anecdotally I've heard of really varied experiences in different areas of the same city too.

I'm remote myself, but where I live most people were in the sort of jobs that still needed doing in person. And I always had the impression that's why not many fucks were given, especially later on (I realise OP is only talking about the first lockdown).

People weren't necessarily very receptive to the idea that it was ok for them to take risks when they were on supermarket tills, cleaning hospitals, delivering parcels and doing the sort of thing that was needed to keep the lights on, but that it became unacceptable for them to take risks for their own benefit once they were off the clock. This is what I was hearing from people I know in my community. So I think some of it might've related to class and occupation too.

Yeah. I really really enjoyed a "slower pace of life". Working 18 hour days from an inadquate laptop in my kitchen.

Logging on at 6am to hundreds of emails from the over night team.

Having to produce work in three weeks than would normally take us six months.

Trying to find an open space I wouldn't be seen sitting down (I live in a flat with no garden) so I could just get some quiet time and when I did find it (I broke in to a local golf course 🫣) just weeping with sheer exhaustion and loneliness.

Yeah. It was fucking great.

Yeah it was only a "slower pace of life" if you were supported by someone else and not working rushing around desperately trying to keep the lights on.

Fucking hideous, tactless phrase it can fuck off.

Those months were some of the worst of my life and definitely the worst of my career to date. Wearing full PPE daily in sweltering heat on ITU, the fear at the start when we were learning about how to treat patients with the virus, not getting to know anything about the patients until we started to get photos and letters from their families because they couldn’t visit. Having to call families to tell them that their loved ones were dying or had died.

So thinking back to that time gives me flashbacks that I have dealt with through therapy and medication. Definitely not something to ever be nostalgic about.

Luckily I had Mr Monkey (unluckily he lost all his work with no financial help - freelance consutant in events and hospitality).

It was more I worked for an organisation that was responsible for a lot of rapid non medical covid policy (no I did not work in number 10!) So we were overwhelmed with work. No destressing parties for us - just the odd online quiz.

Oh and @Acco it was equally hellish during the second wave. At least we had some treatments then and the vaccine programme was about to start. That kept me going.

I’m so sorry you had to go through this, and thank you, so very much, for being there. As a PP said, this thread should stand so that people who say they are nostalgic can read another perspective.

@Clafoutie thank you. In many ways I was fortunate as still got to go to work and interact with others. My work team honestly got me through that time and unsurprisingly we are still extremely close to this day despite all working at different places now. But I don’t think I will ever be able to think about to that time without a huge sense of sadness and loss.

I don't have experience of the city side if this but we live in a village and were shamed on a street WhatsApp group and had the police called on us because my Mum came into the house for 5 minutes to drop something off. Another reason I will never be nostalgic for lockdown.

I’m mostly talking about the record breaking sunshine and the TikTok trends and the weird feelings it brings back.

Some of us didn't get to enjoy the record breaking sunshine or the tik tok trends. We were working full time while trying to home schools/look after small children. It was hellish

I kind of understand what you mean @Acco. I would never wish for it to happen again and have great sympathy for those that suffered. But in my situation, I was pregnant with my first child and isolating with my DH in our apartment.

What I remember is all the time we spent together, getting ready for the baby and the lovely sunny walks we took together. I look back on it really fondly.

What I don’t focus on is how scared I was of getting Covid, being CEV and pregnant. I don’t think about how worried I was when I couldn’t get a food delivery or when all my ante natal appointment switched to remote.