The last Saturday before lockdown

[Joan0fSarc]

What were you doing?

I had a lovely afternoon in town with DH looking at guitars in music shops, buying some wine and bits for dinner. Really mundane stuff by usual standards but I'd give anything to do that now. We came home on a crowded bus - I had no idea it'd be the last time I'd use public transport for months!

[Thirtyrock39]

The weekend of 14/15 was very different - we went swimming (only ones there) to the pub and people were still joking about shaking hands etc and numbers of deaths had just reached 100. I still didn't think schools would close etc... from the Monday it was seven days of huge changes and huge news- very overwhelming And probably one of the scariest weeks I've ever known to be honest

[Kenworthington]

I will never forget the last sat before lockdown. I was going to pop over to my elderly mums house to see her then she text me early to say not to bother and that she was fine. The next day was Mother’s Day so I was like cool I’ll just go over then and take her flowers or whatever. But for some reason I decided to go anyway, stopped en route at the shop for some treats and a paper for her. Let myself in, couldn’t find her and found her on the floor of the bathroom, clearly in a bad way. Incoherent, grey, pouring with sweat. I couldn’t physically move her despite her being absolutely tiny so had to call an ambulance. Paramedics arrived and moved her, they thought she was about to go into cardiac arrest. Anyway so most of my day was spent in hospital with my possibly dying mother, but still not knowing what was wrong. Later that night I had a phone call to say they discovered she’d actually had a massive and very serious heart attack and didn’t expect her to survive the night. Anyway survive she did, remarkably. But she’s not the same, it massively escalated her then mild vascular dementia, and I had to move her, via two differnt hospitals, into a nursing home.

[Kenworthington]

The sat before that though I was at an amazing spa hotel in Devon with one of my best mates fortwo nights. What a difference a week makes!

[Ipadipod]

I was working and it would normally have been very busy but it was eerily quiet.

[Pinksmyfavoritecolour]

12-15th March we was having early Mother’s Day meet up in Dorset with my parents, beach walks, coffee in cafes, meals in pubs, so glad we did, because we live in Kent and my parents live in Devon. It was obvious lockdown was coming by then so We knew to fill every minute. Can’t wait til we can see them again once safe to do so.

[ClashCityRocker]

I went round several butchers to get some meat in.
Maccyds was still open for takeaways, so had a maccyds breakfast.
Town was dead - a lot of shops had already shut up shop and people were trying to sort of socially distance.

[ragged]

NO specific memory except already worried that DC would miss years of education & how in world was I going to set up any kind of home office.

[ragged]

Wasn't mothering sunday the day before, 23 March? It felt like a strange distraction is what I recall.

[crusheddaffodils]

14th: I (by mutual agreement) cancelled plans to see a pregnant friend in London because of the pandemic and stayed at home. I did see Stereophonics in London the previous weekend (6th) though! I took hand sanitiser and washed hands at every opportunity, but a 2m distance wasn't on my radar at that point!

[noraclavicle]

Stayed indoors. The Saturday before that Saturday we were supposed to go and see King Creosote live. Stayed home. Started to get sick around the 17th with a slow burner so while we were sorry to miss it I’m glad we were sensible..

[noraclavicle]

Kenworthington - so sorry about your mum but good that you decided to go anyway and found her in time!

[Joan0fSarc]

@Thirtyrock39 that was one of the strangest and most frightening weeks of my life. The uncertainty was awful. I know that things are still uncertain now, but back then the impending stark difference in our way of life, the empty supermarket shelves and panic buying and watching the death rates rise around the world was all so unsettling. It was new then, now we're all sort of used to it, as horrible as it is.

I'm so, so sorry to all of you who have suffered losses recently. I cannot imagine what you must be going through, isolated from friends and family and unable to comfort others or be comforted yourselves. My heart goes out to you

[Realitea]

We went out for a big family meal in the centre of a big city. I didn't want to go as I didn't think it was safe but IL's were adamant we were going and were going to have a good time. At first they said 'we wont shake hands or hug' then on leaving, they all hugged. i was a bit confused!
They were talking about us all getting together at Easter and I remember thinking 'that's not going to happen'. I knew lock down wouldn't be long after.

[totallyyesno]

For me that was in February. I took dd into town for ice cream and clothes shopping.

[eurochick]

We did a local nature trail followed by a trip to the garden centre to buy compost and seeds after being horrified by the empty fruit and veg shelves in the supermarket. Then the next day (mothers' day) we went to our local national trust wood which was unusually busy as most attractions had closed by that point.

[AgentCooper]

The weekend immediately before definitely felt like things were already getting crazy. I was round at my mum’s with DS on the Sunday for Mother’s Day and I remember thinking is this ok? And worrying that we were going to lockdown soon and I had no idea what to do about childcare for DS, who normally goes to my parents when I’m working.

But the weekend before that, DH, DS and I were coming home from a lovely few days in Edinburgh, spending loads of time in the National Museum and the Museum of Childhood, going to Mary’s Milk Bar for ice cream. We had a brilliant Saturday morning at the Secret Herb Garden and I was already thinking about when we could come back. When we got back to Glasgow I went into Morrison’s and took photos of the empty loo roll and soap shelves, thinking how fucking stupid it was and wondering why it hadn’t been like that in Edinburgh. But then we weren’t going into supermarkets in Edinburgh, we weren’t buying loo roll and soap. I’m just so glad we had that wee time away, and that I enjoyed it at the time.

[Livpool]

Saw my DM for an early Mother's Day - it seems like a lifetime ago

[namechangenumber2]

I can't remember! Probably nothing overly exciting.

[HotTamales]

We attended a wedding on the 14th March. The B&G's honeymoon got cancelled on the morning of the wedding.

[mrsbyers]

Nothing , I got ill 4th March so by the time lockdown came I’d not left the home since then

[SylviasMotherSaid]

Took loo roll and goodies to my aunt and uncle and talked about how strange all of this was even then . Can’t believe I was at a football game on 12 March and by the next week everything was going strange . Remember seeing a tweet from the Pointless presenter on 19 March saying this would probably be the last ‘normal ‘ day we had for some time it’s always stuck with me .

[HairyToity]

We were already on a self imposed lockdown. When Ireland went into lockdown so did we (even though we are in Wales).

[Lumene]

In quarantine, for me of the household really sick with relevant symptoms.

[Lumene]

For me = one member of

[Muddlingalongalone]

I'd already been wfh due to a suspected case in our office for over a week before school broke up.
It was dd1's birthday on 21st March - party obviously cancelled but her dad drove down for the day & she had a trip to the park, presents, cake, dominos dinner.
22nd was mothers day & my mum's 65th. Theatre was cancelled of course but they drove to see us for the day. I can't remember what we did which seems so weird now....
Hopefully the kids will get to see their dad again soon & we will see my parents.
I was super naive and had no idea lockdown would last this long, although I said after May half term for school being back.