Things that will have changed for ever?

[ivykaty44]

Online shopping, before was at 7% do you think people will adjust to more click and collect and online shopping?

Telephone dr appointment, I’ve found it much easier to get my father a telephone appointment and have had probably 6/7 in the last 3 weeks. Much eAsier to do at home and quicker. Will this evolve to more telephone appointments rather than face to face?

What other things gave you noticed which might not change back or evolve to be different?

[Tarararara]

Less business travel (using Zoom more frequently) - I think this will be partly due to having had it demonstrated that remote Zoom meetings do actually get the job done, partly due to the necessity of cost-saving in the resultant recession, and partly due to a new 'wokeness' about the environmental damage of unnecessary travel.

More online supermarket deliveries - lots of 70+ people have had deliveries for the first time in the pandemic so this is a new demographic who may continue.

Glad the online/telephone GP consultations have been mentioned - what a gamechanger this could be if it continued, and extended to hospital appointments.

[justanotherneighinparadise]

My partner’s job will still be location based but he did a lot of European and international travel. I wonder how that will be impacted? Personally I’m
a SAHM with a very small job that again I have to commute to and my kids need taking to school so nothing will change there.

I have been able to find click and collect slots and they are convenient but I really miss idle shopping and grabbing bits and jobs from various shops so I suspect I won’t continue with C&C once we’re all free to shop normally again.

[GreasyFryUp]

Our GP moved to the online booking system a while ago now. Even if you go in you use the iPad to request an appointment. It's great and I've seen or talked to my GP every time rather than settle for the first available.

I'd like the option to work from home more but miss going into the office. I work in a creative environment. It's not the same on your own. If people go work from home more what's going to happen to all the empty office buildings as businesses downscale their needs.

[OhClover]

I really hope we don’t keep doing things from a distance. I am so bloody sick of the Skype interviews on the news, sick of Skype meetings etc - you can’t beat being face to face.

I agree the freedom to enter foreign countries as a visitor will be restricted for a while either by quarantine or special paperwork.

[Almahart]

No shaking hands. I think that will take a long time to come back. I think a section of the population who might already have intended to cut down on impulse buys/fast fashion etc will do so. Basically some of those people on Mumsnet S&B who say they will go a year without shopping and never manage it. I'll be one of them.

I also think some people will homeschool. I look at what my kids have been sent home with and how much filler there is in the school day and can see the appeal, although for various reasons we won't do it.

[justanotherneighinparadise]

Oh I’ve also heard it said that wearing masks every day outside of s pandemic may become the norm. Particularly on public transport. That would definitely be a new normal for western countries.

[Bagelsandbrie]

I think people will walk more generally, rather than sit on crowded public transport.

[MaudBaileysGreenTurban]

I think WFH will be the biggest thing. My office is on a huge site in central London and it costs an absolute fortune to run and maintain. They have been talking about moving us to smaller premises for years but it's never happened as they couldn't work out to how to manage all of us still coming in every day - I think now it definitely will! The outlay of equipping every member of staff with a networked laptop etc is miniscule compared to central London rent and rates. It won't be possible to be at home every single day but I will be aiming for 2-3 days a week.

I've also saved a ridiculous amount of money by not commuting in every day. Win win.

[PicsInRed]

Can we putting "kissing hello" to people we've only just met - or barely - know on the list?
Yuck. I don't even know you.

[cologne4711]

GPs won't go back to face to face appointments. They didn't like them anyway, and were moving as many people as they could to phone calls and the e-consult thing. The problem will be that you can't even get telephone appointments in some areas.

I hope that office based employers will get more sensible about home working and remote working generally - and also allow people to stagger their hours so there isn't a rush-hour as such, just core hours that you have to be available. However, I mentioned this on another thread but I've seen at least one job advertisement for a job in London which said "initially remote working and then full time in the office". so it doesn't look good.

[Barbararara]

I’m hoping that foreign travel for business meetings will drop significantly. Dh has had to do a fair few of these over the years getting up at 4am to get a flight to Brussels, catch a train and scrape into a meeting at 10am which might last two hours. A whole day wasted, a ridiculous environmental toll. It was never possible before to just do these things by zoom, or teams, but I think that will be the new normal.

[justanotherneighinparadise]

It would be nice if couriers continued to just wave at us from the bottom of the driveway instead of having one of those devices thrust in my hands to scrawl a doodle on.

[marblesgoing]

People will appreciate what we have way more.
Not saying we don't but in a more in your face way I suppose.

I live in a beautiful area in a beautiful house we have worked so hard over the years to renovate but never really appreciated it for what it is.

Weekends will be way more special now and I think people will have a new normal.

We've had to suddenly drop out any expenses that weren't really needed and lowered the months outgoings by £500 in about ten minutes which was shocking at how much we waste.

On top of not buying coffee and luxuries when out we've probably saved around £800 in a month so I know we will definitely be more careful and frugal from now on.

The main thing it's taught us though is how quickly something out of our control can change our life in a heartbeat and it's bloody scary