Pretty much normal

[Nochangeplease]

Life has pretty much resumed for me. Obviously there’s some changes in public spaces, some of which are positive. But I don’t feel my life is any different now to how it was in February.
I’ve travelled a bit lately (day trips) and I’ve noticed on other places people are still a lot more cautious and I was respectful of that. Like still giving people a wide berth on pavements and moving to the side ect. It hasn’t been like that in London for a long time.
How is it for everyone else?

Going to see a friend was the most normal it's been for me, kids are back to school today was well which was strange, i'm still WFH and not back to the office, can't wait to be back!

Still very different. SAHM and no toddler groups or organised activities. Kids are back at school but no clubs or church, no chats at the school gate. In a normal week I would see a hundred people and chat to dozens. Now it’s barely in double figures, just occasional play dates but no group activities. I miss my community.

I still can't do any theatre or go to my singing group (the things I love most) and there's no sign of either resuming any time soon, certainly not this year. So still a long way from normal for me and I'm really struggling almost to the point of depression.

We’re in London at the moment - I think it’s massively different. So so quiet everywhere. Trafalgar Square deserted, no one at Buckingham Palace, streets really quiet. I’d say quite a lot has changed but you aren’t noticing it.

Still different for me. We would usually have family and friends over almost every weekend but we've been in one of the areas that only had restrictions lifted yesterday so haven't been able to until now. It might sound silly but one of the things that is restricting me most is public toilets! I don't drive and have two dc, everywhere we go the toilets are still locked, between that and the crap weather we've been stuck in more than usual.

I'm missing the cinema and theatre. I'm not planning on doing what I'd normally do over Christmas, some of it won't be going ahead. I normally do themed stuff with my GC for Halloween and that's looking doubtful.

As said, playgroups and activities aren't resuming. My hospital appointments still aren't up and running and GPs/practice Nurses aren't back to normal. I think it will be next March at least for me.

I've worked throughout, still being very careful with hygiene and distancing and not totally comfortable others who don't do the same. I've been into town a few times, had coffee and eaten out (will only return to ones I felt where clean and better managed).Neither of us have the urge to visit a large city or have people in the house. Looking at going away for a weekend in autumn (our holiday in April cancelled). It'll probabably be a log cabin which we'll both quickly clean on arrival. Luckily DH and I are both of the same mindset and enjoy going out for walks/cycling so we're getting out.

I still don't feel it's normal at all.
Still working from home. Feeling very not myself.
None of the usual free events organised by the council and shopping centres for children are on that we'd normally go to a lot.
Very different

Well i cant go abroad yet and travel is a bit part of my life so no, life for me isnt back to normal.

I guess I didn’t do a lot of activities ect before. But Im going to restaurants, cafes, shops ect as normal. Been to theme parks, zoo and places like that I’d normally go in the summer and it all felt quite normal.
I’m in London, I expect the touristy places are quieter but I don’t really visit them. Southbank feels normal to me.
I’m meeting up with and seeing family and friends with their kids and going out together as I normally would. I was never really one for having people over my house so that hasn’t changed. My parents are in my bubble so we visit each other’s houses.
I can’t think of anything else that I’m not doing that I would have been before.
There’s not much social distancing where I live. We queue at the school but not a lot of people are distancing and still chat or walk along together. I still stop and chat to neighbours and people I know locally.
Masks and queues are the only noticeable differences to me.

Missing theatre here too. I was thinking today that when the vaccine is rolled out, people in the arts could be next after key workers, so they can start working and prepping shows. Absolute nightmare for people in those professions.

After key workers and over 50s, I mean

Not really at all. On an average day I would go to work, then ferry my DC to activities, then go for a drink with friends, go to they gym, or do a voluntary activity in the evenings or have a quiet night in..

Other than the quiet night in, I'm currently not doing any of that (can only meet up with 1 friend at a time indoors which is not the same as meeting with whole group, my gym is not open, my workplace is still shut as are all our normal evening activities).

My pre lockdown life was obviously pretty boring then 😂
My kids don’t do any activities so not missing anything like that. All the ‘days out’ type places are open. I suppose I miss cinema a bit but as it’s been summer haven’t really noticed.
Where is it a rule that you can only see one person indoors, not in England?
All the gyms round here seem to be open but it’s been far too long since I’ve visited one of those
I don’t go out in the evenings often (single parent) so maybe a few times a year but I must admit I went out a few weeks ago with a group of colleagues and it was a complete disaster. Obviously everything needs booking in advance now so with no booking nowhere would let us in.

You can only see people from one other household inside, in England. My friends all come from different households, hence I can only see one at a time.

I went to my local park with my DD and her BF over the BH weekend, it was lovely to be out and about. It was packed but its a huge park so we were able to SD, it has a massive lake, with boats. fishing areas etc, we walked around it which was lovely (and as its over 3 miles to walk around it, that helped with keeping fit too. Then we walked past the go ape area and got a drink near a fairground on the park. It had children playing and families enjoying the fresh air with their dogs etc

Sadly we couldn't visit the nature reserve as you have to book in advance to see the animals and also the courtyard maze as there are restrictions on admission, but I plan to go back, it felt like a normal day out in many ways. . I did at one point forget I was meant to SD, when I was queueing to get a drink I walked over to look at the menu, unfortunately I had a frog in my throat and coughed to clear it and did get a few raised eyebrows...I then walked back to my space.

Some things are getting back to normal for us. My daughter's swimming and sports activities are back on and she's back in school. Work is different and I'm working from home more and my husband is working from home about 50% of the time. Trips out are more of a ball ache, having to book etc but we have been for a weekend away and done some day trips.

What isn't normal for us is the constant colds my children get leading to testing. Our family have had 8 Covid tests between us for various symptoms and the tests and isolation are very annoying.

Pretty much normal for us now.

Not normal, teenager can't get back his independence with limited access to public transport and sleepovers /indoor social life, sport still very limited, can't see more than one friend indoors, and our elderly parents are suffering from lack of social life. Central London is weirdly empty with massive amounts of building work.

It is very busy in town here. Touristy town. Rammed at the weekend. No booking needed here even smallish places like the sushi restaurants are busy with people squeezed in. I think it is busier than normal now. Some places which were going to close have re-opened and local businesses are thriving.

However my life is not normal - schools back, swimming can be done but needs booked.

Still largely shielding. Unfortunately, everyone else around where I live has largely stopped following the rules. So I'm still stuck at home. I tried going to a restaurant last week, but although the waiting staff were all wearing masks, there was no other evidence of COVID precautions. Me and my guest were the only people who used the hand gel, no masks, no SD, no addresses were taken. I can only hope that after 8 days, I haven't caught it.

So, still far, far from normal for me.

I guess the virus is going to EXPLODE since so many lives are back to normal. Just like disease transmission EXPLODED when many were moaning about too much 'normal' back in ... May, June, July, August.

fwiw, I only have New Normal. I have very little Old Normal.

Very much back to normal for me. Office is full again with no more WFH, DH has worked right the way through regardless, childcare back to full hours, shops are busy, been out for a few meals to busy restaurants and I've been to lots of get togethers with friends. It's nice! The only thing that's not normal is having to wear face masks.

@Nochangeplease you're not the only one who had a boring pre-lockdown life! My son's back at school, I'm back at work, we didn't do after school clubs either. I've cancelled his swimming lessons as it was so convoluted it wasn't worth the money. We did days out in the holidays, the only thing we didn't do was go to the cinema, but our local one was shut. I'm in a bubble with my mum, so my boring life is more or less back to normal too!