Do you think things will ever return to our 'old normal'

[isitamapletree]

Just that really. I know a lot depends on whether we find a vaccine and/or effective treatment but I wonder if some things will just never return to how they were before Coronavirus. At the moment it is hard to imagine life as it was before and I can't see it ever being exactly the same again.

9/11 for example changed the way we live in many ways but we have largely adapted and most people see it as normal now. Things like going through airport security, not carrying more than 100ml in hand luggage, being checked before entering large venues, being suspicious of abandoned bags are all a normal part of life now.

What do you imagine changing permanently in the long term due to Coronavirus?

I don't think it will be what we considered 'normal' again. The world economy and relations will not recover for a very long time and this will have a long term effect on everything including pensions, investments, property prices, unemployment, travel, taxes, the health system, consumerism, credit ratings.

I hope we don't return to normal. This slowdown is causing a significant carbon emissions drop, and this drop needs to continue.

If we find a vaccine - yes things will go back to the old normal. If we don't find a vaccine then you can kiss the old normal goodbye, in that case we will need to formulate a new normal.

I expect there will be an improvement in infectious disease preparedness. I also expect a slight improvement in hygiene practices and an acceleration of the trend for flexiworking.

Otherwise I doubt there will be any massive changes. Even throughout this we’ve lead a life that is fairly close to our version of normal. The kids havent been to school/nursery but they’ll go back. DH works from home a lot. I was at home a lot as well but will have to return to the office in August. Otherwise little has changed bar not sitting in cafes (although we did right up until they were closed and now we are sitting in outdoor areas in cafes again). We still went on holiday (long haul). We’re still seeing family. We’re still getting our usual stuff done. We go to the shops, we go to the playground, it’s like a version of normal where we are living in an extended public holiday.

@TiddyTid - I'm with you. I've loved being able to stay home in my little bubble with no expectations to go anywhere or do anything. I've also loved seeing so many people out walking and less cars on the road. I know we need to get back to normal for the economy but I really do hope some things change permanently - life was just becoming ridiculously fast paced and user unfriendly!

Also - no more hugs hopefully I'm not a particularly huggy person, and think they should be confined to people you love, not all and sundry!

I for one am very happy to see the back of handshakes.

So many sweaty, slimy, moist handshakes over the years.

WHY do we all squeeze onto public transport at the same time to do many jobs that could be done from home? Lets mix it up a bit!

I think there will be a big drop in the use of public transport. It will lead to an increase in car journeys that new cycle lanes will do very little to discourage.

It will be terrible in terms of climate change and congestion, unless they really encourage home working where possible to continue indefinitely.

So many sweaty, slimy, moist handshakes over the years.

I've always found handshakes rank. Who knows what they were doing 5 minutes before with those hands 🤮.

I do think things will get back to how they were, at the moment I'm not living, more existing. Can't wait to get back to pubs and restaurants.

So many sweaty, slimy, moist handshakes over the years.

Could it be time for the bow/curtesy to make a comeback?

I definitely hope things go back to normal. I liked life before all this.

I'm not a tactile person at all so no more hugging and shaking hands sounds great to me though!

Could it be time for the bow/curtesy to make a comeback?

How about a simple hello or nice to meet you.

Oh, get fucking real! Such dramatics about hugging and kissing and touching. Sex never dies! Or lust or human physical attraction and need to be social. And you have to touch to have sex. People will be back on Tindr (they never stopped, actually, just read the affair partner thread and all the threads on here from people finding out their partners and spouses who haven't let a virus stop them from shagging, that's a history as long as humanity) and hooking up and trying to get busy having relationships and children and this is a blip on the map. It's almost incredulous how OTT some people are over this! Give over thinking we're any different than thousands of years of our own history, which is dotted with diseases far more hideous than this, that didn't stop it all.

@user1497207191 totally agree with your post, I feel the same.

As much as I don’t want to accept it, life has changed & a new normal is inevitable.

Mumsnet will heavily sway towards fear and doom. I don't know why I keep coming back here, I really need to find another forum because the opinions on here never reflect people I meet in real life and the scaremongering and pessimism can really harm mental health.

Working from home will be much more common. Tinder have announced their workers will work form home permanently if they want to.
Fewer in the rush hour.
The problem is jobs. There will be more jobs in delivery and security, watching people follow rules. But with less travel and more online shopping a lot of jobs will go. Not sure if anything will replace them.

Honestly I see business travel decreasing a lot, but only because business's realise there is money to be saved.

With regards holidays/ private travel, I honestly think that within a year or so they will be back to 2019 levels. People have short memories

@onedayinthefuture are you on the dementors thread? We're keeping each other sane throughout this, no doom mongering is allowed there.

@Waxonwaxoff0 I will take a look, cheers.

I think people live their lives in a variety of ways, some peoples 'normal' was not so far from how we are all living now. If they weren't particularly sociable or already shielding etc. So there really is no firm normal to get back to.

Having said that I am fully confident life will get back to a point where our actions are out of choice not fear, workers/companies will choose home working, people will choose not to travel on the tube so much because they have discovered they don't have to and big companies will hopefully encourage much less international travel.

I really hope a big consequence of all this is that our society in general actively steps away from our reliance on importing everything and we try to re build our economy in a more local and sustainable way.

But I believe the fear will go, a vaccine or a treatment will be found or a method of reducing the virus's effectiveness so it becomes no more dangerous than a bad cold and therefore a 'normal' level of personal freedom will return.

@onedayinthefuture Definitely do 👍

Couldn't the high street benefit (in time)? I value local shops that I can walk to, that are not crammed with people now. I haven't been to a supermarket once during lockdown, just walkable local shops. Who wants to go to shopping mall now? I'd love to see this as an opportunity for local high streets. IF landlords are reasonable and price to enable the smaller guys to take residence.

Yes and I can’t wait

I am not that confident and what has been ‘normal’ since 2000 is not historically normal. We don’t know what will be the new normal, but at a guess
High unemployment for the next few years
Higher taxes on everyone
Far less disposable income for most people, which leads to
Far fewer restaurants, pubs.
End of clubbing and festivals for the foreseeable future
End of cheap flights/holidays
End of expensive weddings with all the week long stag/hen trips and expensive honeymoons
No spare income for spa treatments, nails, expensive hair treatments, etc
Many businesses will go bust, sadly

Hope I am wrong but the U.K. in the 1980s was very different to post COVID life.

I think it is too early to say ATM really .Things like Air Travel being curtailed ,and people being urged to work from home are good things surely from an enviromental POV. Some Business trips could be done online ,and airlines will pick up as time goes by and more people feel confident about travelling again .Im sure after WW2 people were worried about rebuilding the Country but it is better in many ways now .Change is inevitable really anyway.