It feels enjoyment of life has become socially unacceptable

[inuet]

Firstly I am.not against the current nor previous restrictions. I am aware of the sacrifices and difficulties faced by frontline NHS workers. I am also aware of the sacrifices made by those who were killed in the 2 world wars. But it is beginning to feel as if there is a nationwide perhaps even worldwide competition to see who can out misery the other. The utter utter drivel posted here during the Spring restrictions about how everyone's neighbours were having parties and how someone buying a chocolate bar would lead to bodies bursting out of hospitals, the sick sick air of Hyacinth Bucket meets Margaret Thatcher sanctimoniousness that seems to be everywhere, the compulsory addition of "the fuck" to the imperative "stay at home", the way young and poorer people have been thrown under a bus socially and economically, the "close pubs open schools" mantra. I'm just sick to death of it, & genuinely cannot ever see how a quality of life, friends, bars, concerts, trips away will ever return. It feels like everyone has turned into a curtain twitching moralist, it is illegal not to have a frontline NHS NHS worker in your family and we should never ever ever utter any words of sadness for the old life because people died in the Second World War. I hate what life has become.

"Hopefully we can stay locked down til Jan/Feb" JFC. Just re-read that for a moment. Why not just lock yourself down forever?

When I see comments like that I honestly despair.

OP I'm sorry your thread has been derailed by the "what are you moaning about" brigade. This half-living existence shit. We are allowed to say it. Even if we just have to put up with it for the next short while.

I don’t mind people saying it’s hard. And depressing. It is. But there’s a difference between that feeling and being anti-lockdown.

With you, OP, it's shit & the hands-on-hips brigade make it even shitter.

We need to ring fence the care homes. I honestly dont care now if people think we are 'picking' on the old people. Its them that we are doing this for. Of course there are younger people dying (just like in real life) but looking at the stats it vastly attacks the older people.

In March there would be outrage if we tried to tell older people to shield. Now I think we should do it.

It's just, work from home and then bed, repeat. Cold now, dark at 3.30. Horrible life. Nowhere to go, no theatres, cinemas. Not allowed to have people round. This isn't a life. No virus can be worth this.

I worked with the NHS for years and years as a supplier. I wouldnt give them more money. The waste that went on is shocking, too many middle managers, meetings about very little, no urgency when making a decision and allowing cottage industries to grow in order for jobs to be justified and if it was about money and underfunding then why are Germany and France in the same position as us.

[quote Thewiseoneincognito]@RainbowParadise 🤭😊😇🌈☀️

I think you are massively underestimating the number of people who are complying and getting on with things as best they can out of respect of the the NHS and those vulnerable ones who live in fear that some defiant maskless prick might sneeze and hand them a death sentence.

After today’s furlough announcement it would appear the money is there. It will have to be there, just as it will have to be for every other nation on the planet grappling with this pandemic. Do you want to live in a country with a collapsed health system?[/quote]
FFS I'm not talking about the current lockdown. I agree with it. As long as there is a prospect of a vaccine in the near future, we need to take sensible measures to keep rates of the virus down.

But you really think continued lockdowns, into next year and beyond, are a realistic measure? You are massively deluded if you think people will continue as they are now potentially for years on end. There needs to be a discussion as to how we live with this (and not purely exist) if there is no vaccine. The question was put to Bozo in the press conference a minute ago, surprise surprise the answer was waffle and bluster.

Perhaps you should be questioning why the NHS is so very close to collapse. I'm glad I can say I have never voted for the shower of shit that is the Tory party.

@Thewiseoneincognito

It’s feels bleak, very bleak. It’s going to be a long hard winter. Christmas will feel hollow and empty too. Our lives have changed so much, but we must find joy in what we have now because this is our new normal. We’re not going back to the old world, not for an extremely long time, if at all ever. If people follow the rules and see the bigger picture we have a better chance of being able to live alongside COVID19.

There is no light at the end of the tunnel that’s for sure. If restrictions are lifted for Christmas you can guarantee we will spike again and end up in a spring lockdown like we did this year. Hopefully we can stay locked down until Jan/ Feb.

You seem to have a lot of insight into what exactly the future will hold. I want to focus on one comment you made; "We’re not going back to the old world, not for an extremely long time, if at all ever" Firstly the addition of "if at all ever" at the end seems designed to me to add an extra air of menace to an already depressing statement. The other thing that I notice is that at no point, despite seemingly having clairvoyant powers about how awful everything is going to be, do you make any effort to define which aspects of the "old world" will never return. Do you mean that the conditions currently in place in England will be in place indefinitely, for the rest of the lifetime of the posters here, and beyond? Do you mean that actually it will be worse than this, and that people will have the doors into their homes welded down as they were in China in spring, and that people will look back with fondness on November 2020 as a time of relative freedom and enjoyment as things will get and stay worse? Do you mean that people will never again be able to socialise with others? Are you aware that there are countries in the world where life is currently way more similar to pre-Covid life than to the existing restrictions in England? This is not, before anyone tries to see an opportunity for point scoring, in any way to say that England should have conditions like those in countries which have more successfully suppressed the virus at the moment. Not everyone is mobile and travel is not entirely free of restrictions, but the longer this goes on, will not some people choose to relocate temporarily to locations with better qualities of life, having taken a negative Covid test? You then say that you hope we can stay locked down until Jan/Feb, having just said that there is no light at the end of the tunnel. If there is no light at the end of the tunnel then surely nothing can change on 1 March?

Re WW2 comparisons
I had a 93 year old in my dental chair today- she was lovely. She was evacuated in 1939 and thinks 2020 is worse than the war was!

And of course its not fair on the elderly. It would be the same if this virus attacked just women, or just men.

We have become too extreme and we have 24 hour wall to wall news.

God help us when the next virus hits us.

It’s feels bleak, very bleak. It’s going to be a long hard winter. Christmas will feel hollow and empty too. Our lives have changed so much, but we must find joy in what we have now because this is our new normal. We’re not going back to the old world, not for an extremely long time, if at all ever.

😂😂😂

@picklemewalnuts

Enjoy life as much as you like. Just don't do it in groups.

We need to get better at finding joy in things that don't involve masses of other people or stuff in shops and cinemas. People used to enjoy life, with simpler pleasures.

comments like this are exactly what the OP is referring to. Proper boils my piss. Why is it so wrong to miss what we dont have right now? Why is that so hard to understand?

YANBU OP - the competitive sanctimony is sickening. I’m not a covid denier, I’m complying with all the rules, but that doesn’t mean I have to pretend to like it. And it’s not the bloody pub I miss - why do the covid police always trot that out? I miss seeing my family - I haven’t seen my sister, BIL and niece since January because they live in Ireland. I’m missing chunks of my niece’s development and she barely knows who I am. I miss my granny, whom I can’t visit because she’s in a care home. I miss happy family occasions - my brother was due to get married in august and we don’t know when the wedding will be able to go ahead.

I miss singing with my choir. I miss my daughter, who is an only child, being able to have friends in the house. I miss big pub lunches. I miss travelling abroad. I miss being able to visit a museum or gallery without having to book months in advance. I miss fun, and spontaneity, and life.

And yes, I know life was worse in the war, and I know we have to stop covid spreading to the vulnerable, and I know it won’t be for ever. But it is still shit, and saying so doesn’t make me selfish.

"It's just, work from home and then bed, repeat."

• don't forget, occasional trip to the supermarket.

I haven't found this.

Why does it matter? Do you need permission to enjoy things?

@inuet there is no menace in that statement, it’s a realistic opinion of the dire situation we face. Whilst the virus is in circulation we are going to find it extremely difficult to bring back theatres in their current form, we are going to struggle to bring back bars and clubs as we knew them. Education settings are going to be restricted once we realise collectively that children are carriers and spreaders and unless schools too are locked down the numbers will still be high.

Until there is a vaccine or a miracle, we either do as we have been doing going in and out of lockdowns,or we accept the vulnerable and many others will die or we double/ triple our hospital capacity. Or you could move to these Narnia countries you believe exist elsewhere.

The rich are still able lead fairly normal lives. The poor however, well that’s another story completely.

I agree with you OP. I really thought that mental health awareness was much better now than 50 years ago, when it was hardly discussed. How wrong I was! Stiff upper lip attitude seems stronger than ever. Contrary to what you hear on mumsnet, it’s ok to feel shit about how our lives have changed and how hard this is. Some have it harder than others, with prospect of potentially losing jobs, houses, etc Plans are on hold, health and mental health suffer. We will see the consequences of the pandemic for a long, long time after it is over. I am not anti lockdown, but it cannot be denied that the government did a dire job managing the pandemic so far. It’s ok to feel sad and angry. I am positive that it will get better. I actually think that vaccine will not be a gamechanger, but a rapid-result reliable tests will.

@3littlewords

I'm sick of hearing the word "selfish " too. Everyone and anyone is selfish according the world of Mumsnet 🙄

Yep. If someone does something another person doesn't approve of, whether it breaks the "rules" or not, it's "selfish".

It’s rubbish for all of us but sick of people throwing “no freedom” and “no quality of life” around because they can’t go to the pub or see their mum for a month
Seven months. Many people haven't seen their mum/dad/grandparent/other relative for seven months.

I actually think that vaccine will not be a gamechanger, but a rapid-result reliable tests will

I agree with this too. I've said a couple of times on here that I'd like a bit of the resourcing for the vaccine to be directed towards a reliable quick test that tells you if you have it (preferably right away).

Education settings are going to be restricted once we realise collectively that children are carriers and spreaders and unless schools too are locked down the numbers will still be high

Which is why the numbers are dropping in Ireland...

(for the avoidance of doubt, schools in Ireland are open)

Hopefully we can stay locked down until Jan/ Feb

Yeah that's what we are all hoping

@KitKatastrophe, I am aware of that as I also haven’t seen my parents since last Christmas.

Presumably you're not very close if you didnt seen her between December and March anyway.

Friend of mine visited her grandma every week in her care home. Wasnt able to see her for months and then her grandma died (not of covid, there were none in her care home) before my friend was able to see her again. You can't say the lockdown didnt impact that old lady's quality of life

Yes, if you think Covid is scary, read up on the Nipa virus!