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?

Yes, this really upset me. There were people hugging at football matches while I wasn't allowed to go to my son's sports day.
The inconsistencies really pissed me off and werre so damn obviously about money.

I agree. We thought it was utterly cringeworthy, but then we got shamed by our neighbours for not joining in. I'll never forget the post on the neighbourhood Whatsapp group saying 'Hope to see EVERYONE out this week clapping for our NHS as we noticed that some people aren't joining in'. We went and stood outside once and clapped to the empty street then never did it again!

I still feel traumatised when I think back four years to what we were all expected to do, queuing up to go in the supermarket once a week, gagging ourselves with a manky bit of cloth every time we went outside. I didn't hug my dad for 18 months while Matt fucking Hancock was banging his secretary, Dominic Cummings was driving around on a whim 'to test his eyesight' and the rest of the cabinet were holding wine and cheese parties. Never again!!

Yes this too. All the nonsense about an old man walking round his garden.

My mum clapped each week.

It was a genuine display of support, gratitude and affection. There were many like her who clapped for the same reasons.

To read comments judging her harshly for this is insulting.

Me neither. Very odd watching everyone succumb. The Diana mourning period was similar.

I don't think anyone now would agree that was a necessary action, but I still don't agree with the people who feel the need to sneer all over threads that they wouldn't haven't dreamed of anything so ridiculous as "following the rules" or "being scared".

Absolutely this.

Anyone who looks back at covid and can't understand why things went the way they did, smugly proclaiming that they "knew" it was all nonsense etc is kidding themselves.

It's a fact, particularly in the early few months of 2020 that nobody knew what the fuck was going on or what the best way to deal with things was. People were scared and coping the best they could and if it made them feel a bit better to have a clap on their doorsteps every thursday then all power to them.

Well, my neighbour's family and partner were grateful that we showed our respect and gratitude for the service they gave. Several of their colleagues died from covid during the pandemic. It wasn't an imaginary illness.

I definitely didn’t put up pictures of rainbows or clap on the doorstep, although one of our then neighbours told us how terrible we were for not joining in. It actually pushed us into moving house and we now live without a neighbour in sight. We realised in lockdown just how mad and cunty people could be.

We went out for as many walks as we liked and went to the supermarket for anything we wanted, including chocolate! Obviously we kept to rules of masks and social distancing, to be honest after seeing how horrible people were at that time, reporting each other for sitting on a bench etc, I was glad to be 6 feet from them at all times. 😂

I remember a MNer posting just before the first national lockdown was announced 'I wish they'd just lock us down now'. I was still in denial at that point that our government would ever do that and couldn't believe anyone could be so keen to be shut in their own home by government decree!

To be honest, I posted about the midwife on here. I had so many people telling me I was being reckless having her visit my home regularly, that I wasn’t putting my baby first, I was putting them in danger.

Absolute madness all round.

Huh? You think clapping and rainbows made a difference?

I quoted what you said so I'm quite obviously responding to that...

"We did the right things. The death toll would have been higher if we hadn't both from covid, and from the swamping of the NHS by covid"

Are you alright?

Yes. The inconsistencies were notable. People being told off for leaving their homes, while others were lauded for working in supermarkets/picking up prescriptions/distributing food etc. I mean thank goodness they did do those things as there was so much madness that at lot of things fell to volunteers.

This.

I'm in Wales and the restriction lingered longer as well. The welsh inquiry was told there was no reason to close of supermarket isles or impose alcohols selling bans which seemed obvious to us at the time.

I was initially worried - kept asthmatic non exam year child home few days before school closure but TBF school was till day before being closed doing whole school assemblies still which seemed daft.

It took a lot of opportunities away from the our kids and to see older family members - clapping and rainbows seemed pointless at time and we didn't do. I do wish we'd ignore some rule sooner though.

All my friends/family in the NHS found it embarrassing and ridiculous.

I followed the rules precisely. I've mixed feelings about it all tbh. Not about Dominic Cummings; I wholeheartedly agree with you about him and Boris and the incompetence and corruption that came under his leadership.

It's easy to look back and mock the medical precautions and all of the ridiculousness around lockdown though. Hindsight is a wonderful thing now we know more about Covid. Its virulence was unknown at the start. And a lot of the deaths took place in hospital so the general population didn't get an accurate picture of what was happening in those very pressured wards.

Everyone knew that we were locking down specifically to stop the NHS from being over run and I was happy to do it for that reason. But it was relatively straightforward for me to change to wfh and not everyone was that fortunate.

Also, it's easy to say now that it was madness not to attend group gatherings, if it involved just you and your family. But if everyone carried on as normal maybe infection rates would have increased? Who knows? I am not sure that we have clear answers even now do we?

Anyway, what I worry about more is that it's virtually inevitable that another pandemic is on its way, and now that people have seen how poorly our institutions serve us, with the exception of those on the front line of the NHS, and the general populace no longer trust the government, what will happen next time? Will people conform or not? And what if it is a more dangerous virus this time which is transmitted more easily than Covid? It's worrying but there is nothing we can do about it until it happens. Except maybe lose weight and try and eat a little more healthily. And of course vote these shysters out in the meantime!

Same

Absolute load of shit it was

People went on Facebook where you live to call out those who didn’t clap?! That really is madness!

we joined in the clapping- it was a novelty for the kids who were 3 and 6 at the time. I remember by about week 4 feeling quite awkward about it though. The whole time was absolutely insanity when you look back.

Well weren't you all morally and intellectually superior?!
No, just had the brains to see what was bullshit and what was necessary.
How did clapping or banging on a pan help anyone?
How did walking alone in a countryside kill anyone?
When things were easing a little, why was it safer for 6 lads to drink pints of beer outside of the pub but a couple couldn't have a beer and a glass of wine with their meal?

Yep, I was told it would all be my fault if I caught covid and my baby was stillborn.

I actually de registered for a long while after that.

Crazy people for telling me off for having a midwife visit to monitor my quite high risk pregnancy. My baby would have been in danger without her.

You said I had no evidence. I have ample evidence. I am asking you what evidence you think I don't have. You clearly can't answer.

I followed the official rules. Just not the stupid made up ones like only going out for an hour, putting the post into quarantine and disinfecting the groceries. I educated myself on how CoViD was transmitted which was known early on. I had been worried because I’m asthmatic but the stats on showed this wasn’t a huge risk factor. I think in general a lot of people have no idea how to risk assess.