To miss the first lockdown?

[TidyOchreReader]

I know it was a tough time for many but I genuinely loved that first lockdown. I think about it all the time. There was something strangely blissful about slowing down, having fewer obligations and just focusing on connecting with people - even though we couldn’t physically see them. And when you did see someone, the gratitude was immense. AIBU to feel nostalgic for that time?

Thank you.

That does encapsulate it nicely. Because it wasn’t just people feeling differently about the same thing, it’s people having gone through completely different things.

And I’m not even one of those who had it worse - neither was I some one who lost loved ones in tragic circumstances or entirely alone and vulnerable. Or stuck in a flat with young children.

I just find it massively triggering, I think, when someone says this.

It was a time when the inequalities in society were really exacerbated and unnecessary widened.

But all means we can look at what some people benefited from in lockdown and try to extend that to everyone without having the awful inequalities - perhaps we should make it more normal for everyone to be afforded some time off work, to be less pressured to be “busy” etc. And unlike in lockdown, try to increase everyone’s access to outdoor space (I’m thinking those who enjoyed it often spent more time outdoors than previously). But there seems to be no appetite for that.

I also loved it OP but I do understand how others would feel differently.

Im thankful I didn’t stick strictly to the ‘rules’ and did see elderly family regularly as they have now recently died.

plus long walks all over the place. We had a nice garden which, again, I get that a lot of people didn’t.

However despite understanding how a lot of people suffered I don’t think Covid can be blamed for everything … your 5 year old might have been crap at maths anyway … your teen may have struggled socially anyway …

@InAFewYearsTime no as I said it’s about 50/50 - but I still think it’s one of those things given the amount negatively affected you should maybe keep in your head - a bit like posting ‘I enjoyed my affair with a married man ‘

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing yes I think it’s one of those things we can learn from without posting and triggering all those who had a very shit time of it- given there were so many .

Maybe your anger should be directed at the pencil pushers/policy makers at the top then rather than the frontline staff who did what they could to get through?

As an example my father in law I think quite liked it at81 - the daily bulletins gave him something to focus on and discuss, his life changed little and he had a big house and lovely big garden . I think he quite liked that we were all reduced to living his quite small quiet life and that we now phoned every day.

There were things I liked about lock down. I had a little baby and I liked that we weren’t obligated to have relatives hold him all the time. He got his first flu at the start of lockdown because of his sick cousin and his Aunt hiding her kid was sick and exposing my baby and later saying “he’s going to get sick later anyway”. I was so so angry. He was only weeks old!

I didn’t like not being able to buy him clothes due to supply chain issues.

My State locked down completely. Overseas visitors had to quarantine for two weeks and people weren’t allowed to even travel in from other States.

Because of this our lockdown wasn’t as long as a lot of other places. We had zero community transmission so we were allowed to go out to pubs and restaurants. We weren’t allowed to travel overseas for no reason. Or travel around our own State.

People didn’t like being forced to stay home so they would go out to ovals and public parks and just play! Apparently crime went down and the Police occupied their time by driving around parks and ovals to ensure people were social distancing.

What I didn’t appreciate was being forced to vaccinate. I’ve developed a severe illness which I attribute to the vaccine where my body randomly attacks itself. It’s not an autoimmune disease. It’s not a histamine response. My body decides it’s randomly allergic and reacts accordingly.

Difficult to find direct evidence of AI generated misinformation etc because it wasn't identifying itself as such.

But if you (ironically) ask Google about the subject, the AI bit at the top is quite illuminating.

Are you talking about the likes of the fake news that did the rounds on social media?

https://www.weforum.org/stories/2021/02/covid-19-increased-use-of-ai-here-s-why-its-here-to-stay/

Quite a few articles that come up in Google searches have been retracted for some reason. I suspect because it would disturb people to know that social policy was being shaped in part by AI.

Er yes that’s how a debate works?

One person makes their case, another challenges it.

Peoples “experiences and feelings” are just that and mine are as valid or invalid as the OPs. The OP doesn’t have primacy around her views.

It was the most stressful time of my now 21 years in retail.

• Working 8 hour shifts with barely any break when the panic buying started
• Given lots of abuse as we was then out of stock
• When we had to put the screens up round the tills, stickers on the floor and have one in one out, customers treating us like we had personally made the rules
• Customers being nasty over NHS staff getting discounts (I’m not saying they didn’t deserve it, but that was nothing to do with us)

@Berlinlover - I understand completely what you’re saying. It was wrong that preference was given to treating Covid patients over all others. The reality is it wasn’t oncologists or radiologists or GP’s or gastroenterologists in the critical care wards or ER’s. It was wrong that people are still dying because their medical care was sidelined during Covid without a valid reason. It actually made me angry seeing all the NHS nurses dancing on tik tok because in Australia we knew that patients (without Covid) were being sidelined.

In my country I was aware that my State government actually had a protocol for triaging Covid patients and it was actually scary. Without going too far into the protocol - if the ER’s got overwhelmed not everyone was going to be treated - meaning they were going to let certain people die. It never came to that and medical services (including cancer services) weren’t interrupted. I even had two surgeries during this time.

What about the members of the silent generation (and before) who spoke fondly of their experiences of World War 2? Maybe someone should have reminded them about all those people who were dying while they rubbed Bisto on their legs, knitted fair isle cardigans and went to dances. Oh, hold on a minute - I think they probably knew. They somehow managed to cling on to small pleasures while the world fell apart. They spoke of community and camaraderie and pulling together. They certainly didn’t want another war or for more people to suffer. And their memories were just as valid as anyone else’s. Maybe it’s too soon for some people to accept that lockdown wasn’t awful for everyone. Maybe it’s still too raw. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be discussed. Anyone who is adversely affected by such a discussion might be better not taking part, instead of invalidating other people’s experiences and making them out to be either naive fools or uncaring psychopaths. Plenty of people have managed to come on here and say lockdown was terrible for them without resorting to criticising others.

This is simply a me me fuck the rest of you sentiment Tone deaf & insensitive
The lockdown was to manage a pandemic and protect public

Some of you seem to have had a jolly time. Your needs met by retail workers and delivery apps ,whilst remaining on full pay at home. Outgoings significantly reduced. No travel,no work related expenses,no nursery fees. Apparently having a great ole time and now fondly reminiscing about lockdown.

tone deaf and insensitive

A certain percentage lost loved ones or a business - a percentage didnt but still had a very difficult time, a percentage didnt particularly enjoy it but just got on with it, and a certain percentage enjoyed their life during lockdown. It's a very varied thing. OP can look back and miss her life during that specific period. It's not that she wants other people to suffer.

Not a doctor, but I imagine an "important medical procedure" takes quite a lot longer to perform than making a Tik Tok video.

It was mismanagement/admin failures at the hospital. When OH finally started chemotherapy, the nurses couldn't understand why there had been such a delay and said they'd been giving chemotherapy to cancer patients throughout the lockdown.

@taxguru blimey that is so bad I’m so sorry - I did know that certain procedures were totally cancelled but thinking about it I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be chemo -

it’s about reading the room
but when you START a thread, you are literally creating the room. Audience comes in when they wish.

If people find it triggering, then they don't go in?

It's ridiculous to complain it's insensitive and everybody should have a horrible memory. A forum is literally designed so you can gather and chat with similar people.

Coming to say you had awful memories? Absolutely fine. You know you will be surrounded by posters who didn't.

Coming to say you shouldn't start a thread? Not acceptable or reasonable.
It's just moaning for the sake of moaning.

Some people used it to beat and kill children
Arthur was killed in.lockdown.
They took advantage of the fact he wasn't in school.
There were a couple of other children too.

you are missing the point.

You can't challenge what someone experienced or felt. You don't get to disagree and say "no, you didn't have a good time, your memories are not correct".

You can present your feelings, but it would be like me telling posters that they are making things up, it wasn't as bad as they pretended, and they are being dramatic for no reason. You CANNOT tell people how they felt or what their experience was. It has nothing to do with you.

Yes there are some very sick horrible people in this world who jump on an 'opportunity' to do terrible things.

I'm 50/50 on it, I did enjoy the fact that non-essential stuff stopped; I didn't have to try and find polite excuses to get out of stuff that meant nothing to me.

However, I have always exercised outside and liked my own space. The first lockdown meant outside spaces were very busy, and there was always someone at home, and I got little or no time to myself, and I found it stifling, especially since I was still working in a job which also revolved around people. So strangely, whilst some felt isolated, it had the polar opposite effect on me.

They moved the oncology dept to a different hospital but didn't tell the patients and it seems "some" patients were forgotten about. Typical NHS admin incompetence. Nothing to do with Govt directives as there was never a directive to stop chemotherapy - it was the oncology management/admins who were probably too busy WFH making bread to do their jobs properly!