To look back on the things we did in lockdown and cringe?

[Applescruffle]

Isn't it all just really cringeworthy when we look back?

The clapping on our doorsteps, all that false commradarie and "we're all in this together" and the drawings of rainbows in people's windows?
Condemning our neighbours for buying Easter Eggs because they weren't "essential" and wondering whether we would get arrested for sitting on a park bench?

At the time I, and probably loads of us, thought we were doing the right things but doesn't it all just look so false and hollow now when we look back and see that number 10 were having parties and Dominic Cummings was running around the country testing his eyesight? My kids missed out on so much while this was going on, my mental and physical health has still not recovered from the effects of lockdown, and for what?

Know what I mean?

The clapping was beyond annoying. The banging of pots and pans was moronic. I can't imagine any toddler parent thought differently! So, so stupid.

I never did that, but I remember the days when people did! It seemed as mad then as it does now, if I'm honest.

But it was SO entertaining

I don't know anybody who was "scared", FFS, and many of my friends are NHS workers who also thought that the nation had lost its collective mind!

Not as many people as they said. People also died because of not being able to get treatment for other things, plus the mental suffering was awful. Never again.

I never engaged in the clapping, curtain-twitching or pearl-clutching, or anything beyond what the actual rules were. It was obvious at the time how cringe and bonkers some of it was.

I don't know it's not like hundreds of people were dieing every day. 🤔🙄 I never did the weekly clap after the first week. There was only us in our st and next door but one. Our st only has one side with about 10 house's.

On a more serious note, lockdown etc ruined my relationship with my best friend - I was more relaxed and she was militant. It was hard at the time to find common ground and I think that lead to resentments on each side

Oooh which one is it? ( this is a much more friendly angle…)

I was that person too.

no banging of pots, no clapping. Not even donated to Capt Tom.

i was very scared tho at times, I did wipe shopping for a while.

the nation, the world, lost its shit. Mumsnet lost everything tbh. I had to ban myself for quite some time. It was just awful.

the goings on at government and the dirty dealings and corruption are a shame on all of us. That all gives me the rage.

I agree with this. Maybe I'm just an uncritical insufferable optimist 'aren't people wonderful' type, but I found the small and large displays of community spirit and support moving and comforting and, looking back, I still think they were.
I used clap for the NHS to check that my neighbours who lived alone/had health issues etc were coming out to clap, and would have gone and knocked, lockdown be damned, if I'd not seen someone and been worried about them.

The arrogance and contempt for the voting public of the No. 10 parties were the nadir of it, IMO, not people following guidelines, looking out for each other, and trying our best.

I think the first lockdown was justified - the virus was so new and unknown and was deadly. I was completely against the second lockdown. I think it damaged children and I think they are still affected today. I think the collective madness shows how populations can be manipulated. Very scary.

Well who was doing all the clapping then?

The clapping on our doorsteps, all that false commradarie and "we're all in this together" and the drawings of rainbows in people's windows?
Condemning our neighbours for buying Easter Eggs because they weren't "essential" and wondering whether we would get arrested for sitting on a park bench?

I did none of that. My life didn't really change due to covid, wearing masks took a touch of getting use to but that was it really. Apart from watching Tiger King (because I think I watched everything on netflix lol) I didn't really do any of the 'covid lockdown' stuff... I found it all (clapping, banana bread, rainbows etc...) just as cringey at the time.

I didn't alter anything in way of buying shopping etc... either. I wanted easter eggs and they where in shops so bought them. Did anyone ever REALLY think for one second they couldn't?

I would say life post lock down has been harder than life during lockdown. I also (as a high risk person) made it all the way through the lockdowns without catching so much as a cold (nice break from rolling viruses) and THEN caught long covid the fucking week they ended it all though... schools went back and disease came straight through our front door.

My mum was alone in hospital for two months fighting Covid and ultimately died. I will never get over that she was alone.

Agree. The first two weeks was maybe justifiable. After that, no. Although I was pleased in many ways because my husband could wfh which was brilliant for our family at the time. We were doing IVF, with a toddler, and wouldn't have been able to be so flexible with last minute appointments etc

I can't believe people still think this.

Even the people who pushed lockdowns at the time are now silent when asked whether they were a good idea - they don't have the courage to say they were wrong.

But they were wrong. Killing people as a way of avoiding death is so utterly stupid I don't know how anyone can't see that.

I think most people did the best they could at the time with the information and experiences they had.

I don't see much difference between the berating of someone who bought chocolate when they shopped for milk vs the berating of someone now who didn't buy chocolate at the time and did what they thought was best. Both seem rooted in a smugness (not a dig at you, OP!). fwiw I followed some 'rules', bent a few others.

For almost everyone it was a time like none they had ever experienced and came with a lot of pressure and fear. If they did what the government told them, they did it because they geneuinely thought it for the best and/or because in the absence of any other leader, they wanted to believe their government. They were worried for themsleves, their familes and the country.

What I AM angry about is the lawless, immoralistic attitude of a government that says one thing and that does totally different behind closed doors and doesn't even manage to cover it up properly so that we are left with an entire nation who, in a similar circumstance again, would be releuctant to follow any government advice at all - I think we will all just assume they are lying bastards and do what we want.

Moreover, I genuinely do not know how anyone in charge does not feel like a worthless shit for keeping people apart from their dying loved ones whilst they quaffed champagne, fingered the staff in a closet and had umpteen effing parties.

I am so angry about that I can still barely type without a million typos. And if Sunak thinks I will ever fucking forget he was right at the heart of it, in the 2nd most powerful role in government, he can fucking jog on. He can try and distance himself all he likes, as if he's brand new and out the box - but he was there and we all bloody know it. (rant over 😂)

I think back and cringe 😬
I did the clapping a few times 🫣as I worked for the NHS.
I also remember letting the kids play football on the street with neighbours kids in the early days of lockdown and all us parents being paranoid about them getting too close to each other. WTF was I thinking?

As time went on, I realised what a total farce it was when I could be moved round different wards in the hospital daily…. yet family members couldn’t even come and hold the hands of their dying relatives. It was horrendous!

I also went out numerous times a day to run, take the kids on their bikes and walk the dogs.

I remember the police getting called to a little old lady down the road as her son had driven over from Wales as she had early onset dementia and had confused her medication. Someone had seen his car outside her house and grassed him up. We still don’t know which neighbour it was (I have an idea)

Bonkers… and it must never happen again!

My kids got keyworker places as school and I had to prove I was working every day they went in. Not all, but some teachers should be truly embarrassed over their behaviour!

Exactly. Speak for yourself but I didn't do any of those things.

And I would take the children to the empty beaches and woods near us and we would play for hours, because logic dictated that we weren't at any risk and we weren't putting anyone at any risk

I remember DH and I pretending we didnt know each other because it was one person per household in the shop. We would discretely whisper to each other as we passed each other in the aisles. THAT was batshit.

To me, the biggest impact was the realisation of how entitled and selfish people really are. The clapping sort of helped me soothe that to try and think of the tireless contribution of the medical workers rather than the shitty general public.

Just because Dominic Cummings et al were not doing the right thing doesn't mean we were doing the wrong thing.

What we did was the correct response to what we knew at that time. It saved lives.

I didn't do any of that. Although I didn't begrudge people clapping or kids drawing rainbows. The rest of it was cringy bullshit though if you said it at the time you were a selfish pleb.

Made my partner and me cringe at the time. We never did any of that.

In the plus side, I got a fully remote job in lockdown and love it. I get to travel and see people if I want to, I hardly ever go into HQ - which is a good thing - they all still love me, they would be sick of me if I was in all the time. Does wonders for my self esteem getting hugs and love from everyone.

all the pre booking too, it absolutely solved and fixed my mild agoraphobia.

there were pluses in all the insanity for me, and I know I’m lucky that I lost nobody etc.