I feel lockdown has lost its novelty.

[fiveforty]

Gone are the Instagram tagging games, gone are the photos of people just finishing a 5k, gone are the messages of play ideas from panicked mums, and, thank god, gone are the screenshots of zoom calls.

Yes. Bored, depressed, nothing to look forward to and seriously concerned about how quickly people have become suspicious, distrustful, intolerant and even downright cruel to people who are struggling.

I'm just fed up to the back teeth of it and the not knowing how long it's going to go on like this, or what'll happen to the economy, or if there'll be a second wave, is driving me crazy.

'A pit of lethargy and depression' is spot on.

The novelty of keeping toddler dd away from dh who is wfh has definitely waned. ‘I’m on a call’ texts as she scrambled upstairs to see him. Everyone can go back now.

And not a moment too soon! I’m still absolutely fine with lockdown because it’s my default setting anyway - apart from work and the odd meal out/cinema trip with OH I don’t go anywhere anyway

Did lock down ever have any novelty?

@cranb0rne

My thoughts too

It certainly hasn’t had any novelty here. Just lots of worry and hoping for things to be better as soon as can be

I think that's only to be expected, the novelty of anything by definition wears off, humans adapt pretty quickly and most of us are now resigned to getting on with hopefully some changes not too far off

My big worry is that the hysterical who don't understand the purpose of lockdown will start their un-informed shrieking at the slightest inevitable increase in cases following the relaxing of restrictions and we end up back here again

Did you really never see any of the stuff OP mentioned with the zoom calls and the show off home schooling parents?

I didn’t read the op for some reason just the title, but I also happily side stepped all that IG SM stuff.

The baking, the crafting etc etc.

I have to admit I did do a lot of baking myself! Might do some tomorrow because it does waste time

I’m in the shielding group. And there’s no chance of moving to even the freedoms of lockdown rules before the end of June (fortunately DC are not in the June return group) and possibly not got an extended time beyond that

Fortunately my bad days are quite rare

But it’s tough

I’d live to have the shield ban on going out for exercise lifted, it would make the most enormous difference if I could go out and walk or run regularly (instead of breaking the rules once in a blue moon to go out at all). But I audience it’ll be a long time before that happens, especially if social distancing for everyone else is loosened. Because then it will be one hard/impossible for us to do it when no-one else is keeping well to one side

I’m fine with it until I leave the house and realise the future is queuing up to buy the most mundane items and the most exciting thing that can happen is eating something . I’ve tried to be positive and enjoy working from home and going walks with the dog but the thought of not being able to make plans or have anything proper to look forward to just makes every day so dreary .

Something for those RE P.E Joe lol

Couldn't agree more!

We as a family are so so so bored of 'going for a walk' and 'going for a run'. Nothing else to do :( Desperate for something fun to do at the weekend which doesn't involve walking around greenery (And I never thought I'd say that as I normally love going for a good walk with my husband and children!)

Welcome to "lockdown fatigue" prof Whitty told us all it would come, is there anything that man doesn't know 😂

It’s not an actual ban though is it iVampire? A friend of mine is shielding as she has cystic fibrosis. She goes for a 5k run every morning, and takes her baby DD out for a walk every afternoon. She manages her CF well by staying as fit as she possibly can (along with medication obviously) and has decided the risk to her mental and physical health would be far greater if she stayed at home.

I would be kicking myself if I was joe wickes. There's a workout idea for him

I did enjoy this comment OP thank you

There isn’t any ban on people advised to “shield” doing things like going for exercise outdoors or WoH, it’s advice. People are making difficult decisions.

We went to a garden center yesterday. We went in a three, me, DH and DD4 (6 yrs old). It was quite surreal. We didn't know what to expect and prepped DD that we might have to turn the car around and come home if it was mad busy or they weren't letting families in.

Well - it was fab. A lesson in common sense. The garden center staff were cheerful. One was on the door telling you if you wanted anything too big to carry then pay for it at the till and a member of staff would get it and put it in your boot, apart from that just enjoy as usual as stay as close as you can to the 2 m thing. There was a 5 min wait to get in and we shuffled round the whole place on a one way system but it was lovely. Everyone was cheerful. Everyone was so bloody happy to be out and yet not in a supermarket. There were quite a few family groups. Lots of you first, no you first from strangers and actually smiling at each other. DD spent most of the time on DHs shoulders to keep track of her. She was tired in the car on the way home actually and we'd only been there about 45 mins! The stimulation was almost too much!

Trouble is: it was so exciting i want more! We had dropped into a routine of doing the same kind of nothing everyday. But now I want to take DD to the cinema. I want to have my friend drop in and moan about her husband. I want to pick up my older DD who lives with her BF and go fora costa before wandering about the shops. I would LOVE to out with DH and have a quiet meal together. Sit in the car and watch the sunset over the hills. We live a boring life on the whole compared to some, but right now it seems like a wonderful life we had about a million years ago.

And yesterday's 2 hour trip out already feels like it was some weird dream.

Yes, I quite enjoyed lockdown to begin with. We normally have quite a hectic life with work and school and activities so it was nice to slow down a bit. Getting fed up now though!

On bbc breakfast this morning they were filming in Euston station showing how empty it was and talking about plans for trains to run ect. They showed a quick clip of the station taken from the same point at the same time back in Feb and people were packed together like sardines.

It.looked.soooooo.odd.

DH and i looked at each other and agreed that our gut reaction was that the crowd scene looked stranger and more alien than the deserted one. Isn't it amazing how quickly your head changes?

If I see crowds on the tv now I feel odd!
It is weird how quickly we have become used to it!

There isn’t any ban on people advised to “shield” doing things like going for exercise outdoors

This is absolutely right and it totally depends where you live and what your surrounding area is like. If you are in the shielded group and you live in a tall building that requires you go through multiple doors to get out or in a busy location with lots of people walking, running, cycling past your house all the time, then you are wise to stay indoors. But if you live out in the country and can easily avoid others when out for your daily exercise you don't have to stay in your home/garden.

I have a family member with blood cancer - the most vulnerable of the shielded group - but because she lives in a quiet, rural location her consultant has told her she can go for a daily walk with her DH and dog and she does so. Use good sense, talk to your medical professionals, but don't assume that shielding means 'cannot leave your home' if that advice doesn't make any sense to you, based on your home location.

There is no ban in the sense that shielding is advice, and there is no check on whether you are taking that advice,

But as the main thrust is that you should not go beyond your own property for any reason whatsoever (except medical appointments which have to be F2F) it’s pretty much a ban

Individual medical advice for people in the group is beginning to filter through. There are circs under which I could safely leave my home, and I have done so occasionally.

But that doesn’t and shouldn’t overturn the main message that if you are shielding you do not go out and you protect yourself even from your cohabitants

It’s guidance, not a ban. V v difficult for people shielding, but the decisions are with each individual (or their parents in the case of DC).