Is anyone else leading a nearly ' normal' life.

[Christmaspud20]

For me. Except the local theme park being closed again and things like soft play for the kids,
Nothing else is different for us.
Thankfully this time dh isn't furloughed or anything, so he's working 6 days.
We don't mooch round the shops in general. I rarely go to town as I find it stressful at the best of times.
I generally wait till I have a few things to go for and just do 1 morning and list the shops in order to get it done fast.
We don't go for meals or drinking. The last time was December for his works drinks
I shop 1 big one a week and maybe 2 small top ups, but often just 1 We just don't have the fridge space to just do the once.
I do use wilko etc for toiletries so still do that and it's walking distance
Kids are at school and pre school as normal.
My bubble is my DF who's a single parent to my dsis who is under 18, she comes round most days after college when dad's at work.
I Drive to school runs etc, so obviously traffic is near enough the same as that's the time everyone is so understandable.
I know I'm very lucky and dh could be furloughed at any point of there's not enough work for his place to keep them all on atm.
But for me the only different thing is the social interaction with others at groups etc. But I'm happy in a group chat online and be done with it.

Loads of others I know in my normal social circle is the same. Only my DM is saying how different it all is as she's furloughed.

I guess so. We're both still working, kids still going to school. Dance lessons have stopped and we can't do the same sort of things at the weekends now but that's about it really. The biggest thing is not being able to have family visit/ visit them.

Very different to last time when just OH was working, I was furloughed and the kids were off school.

Pretty normal! We are in Gran Canaria at the moment as we escaped just before lockdown. I will still see friends on a one to one basis with my children. I will still see my parents because they live up the road from me and they provide childcare 3 times a week, so if they're doing that, why wouldn't we go round for dinner. This lockdown makes no sense 🤷🏼‍♀️ so many rules that can be ignored and interpreted differently and with schools open, they really are ridiculous!

Pretty much until lockdown 2 kicked in 😕

Hardly anything has changed for me except I'm not out at the weekends dancing. WI is virtual but otherwise the same. Still working.

No. Office closed since March, wfh and fed up.
No theatres, no horse racing ,we go racing a lot in winter.
No national trust days out
No going for lunch
No museums to visit
Five holidays cancelled
Not permitted by law to have visitors to the house
Horrific, I'm depressed and ground down.

I'm in tier one in Scotland and so I can still go to the cinema and out for meals which is nice.

But that's it that's the same. We are both working from home which is fine as we are together and work in the same industry so can bounce ideas off each other but difficult to do our jobs as we really need to be on site.

However I had to postpone my wedding twice. I live 6 hours away from family and used to visit once a month or so and haven't been able to do that. So many nights out canceled. My friends kids birthday parties cancelled.

My amazing once in a lifetime Thailand trip cancelled. My weekend breaks with the girls - cancelled.

All my volunteering and clubs cancelled. I'm so bored. I just want to go to my friends house for board games and drinks! (Oh and get married).

More or less normal for us too

Nowhere near normal here. DP was diagnosed with cancer during the first lockdown and juggling his hospital visits along with two foster babies has been really tricky, even finding a childcare bubble is a nightmare. I have no support network as we are not supposed to have people in our homes again and there are times when I really need a friend.

Pretty much as normal here other than not doing anything at weekend like visiting friends and family or going out of the area for walks etc. Both still working in the workplace, child at school. Doing my voluntary work - although one part of this is via Zoom. And my second job has reduced hours during lockdown.

Its not normal but also not that weird. Am wfh p/usually work in a healthcare setting, Just me and dp at home so we arent seeing anyone else really, hes doing a mix of wfh and being in work, I miss my family and feel pretty isolated but it's not awful, I'm an introvert with health conditions so it's not the first time I've spent long periods of time stuck in the house.

Normal? Not at all. Not seeing anyone. Quite miserable really. Ds2 not football training. Ds1 not boxing. I think your bubble status makes a huge difference. Haven't left house for much more than shopping. God thus is shit.

Pretty normal for me too. The main difference is I work from home now (which I love), and I dont spend any time with my mum who used to to see weekly (I miss her, but she is vulnerable so I am getting on with it).

I have friends that live far away and we are interacting more because of general willingness to do online stuff.

My DC is at school. I feel sorry for the things he has missed though, seeing family, the parties, soft play, play dates, etc. However he doesn't seem too bothered.

I appreciate that I am lucky. This would have been a far worse experience if my livelihood had suffered, or if I was clinically vulnerable, or a key worker. Sorry to anyone struggling at the minute.

Very far from normal I feel very sad for people who consider this normal in any way I am glad if it is ok for you but to me that is just existing

I think we’ve adjusted, definitely very outdoors type family now. Try to ignore what I can’t do and focus on what we can do.

Yes, fairly normal.

Me - still going to work. Basically stayed the same with a few adjustments.
Dh - wfh prior to covid. The only change is he’s not away visiting clients.
Dc2 - finished school, and looking for a job
Dc1 - came home for the duration, more by accident then design - main 2020 difference.

Very far from normal I feel very sad for people who consider this normal

Welcome to my sad little world 🤷🏻‍♀️

Very far from normal here ...

Work has changed completely ( for the worse) and is incredibly stressful. DH taken huge pay cut & constant threat of redundancy.

Children not able to do Dance Classes , Football training and matches which they love so much. Eldest Uni teaching is mostly online.

I miss : meeting my friends , the kids hanging out with their friends ,seeing my family, swimming , going out for drinks or meals , cinema , art galleries , travel. It’s all so depressing that even things I’d normally enjoy like reading a book hold little enjoyment any more...

Not remotely normal, but there's enough normality (school etc) to keep the children in the family ticking over, we're not bankrupt yet (although financially hit very very hard) and we still have a lovely house to live in, food to eat, nature to explore and people to "see" virtually. It's not all bad and I try very hard on a daily basis to practise gratitude for what we have....but it's not normal. God no.

Normal in some ways. Kids at school, youngest doesn't have to socially dostance so can play outside as usual etc. Both kids at football / dance / hockey etc

Dh wfh though. I'm a sahm. We'd usually have people round though especially dd's friends which we can't do and we can't see my mum as she lives in another country. So that's rubbish.

Pretty normal for us, I work for NHS so still going to work. Although 32 weeks pregnant so my role is slightly different.
OH is a stay at home dad to our toddler at the moment.
We don't have a huge social circle at all.
We don't go out to eat or drink usually.
We only ever see parents once a week.
Other than farms, soft plays being closed... Nothing has really changed for us in either lock down.
Feeling lucky for that.

Quite normal.here as school is open. I work in a school, so working as normal. Dh working as normal. Not seeing my parents as we would normally obviously, but other than that it feels quite normal.

A bit, but not all.

I am back working at home, I have worked throughout so no real difference. We don't go to the pub or out (no childcare, ds has asd) so no change there, and ds doesn't really like going out for food so we don't go out very often. MIL is local - we are her support bubble / care givers so still see her (it actually got better between Tier 2 restrictions and lockdown)

Things that are worse - I can't see my family, I had a brief visit in July but that has been it, some of ds's support groups have closed, dd1 isn't able to meet with her friends etc. I haven't been to a library since February, or church since March.

We don't do lots (ds) but especially over half term we didn't really do anything, and we often went to the autism screenings at the cinema.

So a mixed bag really - but it is more that those options are taken away that I find hardest to deal with.

completely normal for me. i’m disabled and mostly housebound. i shielded all summer so this is business as usual for me.

i mean, i’m borderline suicidally depressed but that’s normal too.

Not normal. Am still working but can only see DH and MIL. No cinema or lots of other things. Feels very restricted.

Friends! Do people not have friends any more ?

I normally see groups of friends/acquaintances a few times a week through one or more of: group run, dog walk, cycle, bootcamp class, book club, school governor meeting, meal at someone's house, pub, going to an event together.

I miss those terribly.