What do you want back and what do you not?

[PuzzledObserver]

Want back:

Coffee shops
Live theatre
Concerts
Seeing friends/family without having to count them or pay attention to where we are and remember the current rules.
Holidays

Happier without:

Traffic jams and mass pollution
Crowded airports
The after-conversation when a meeting is over that I would rather not be involved in
People invading my personal space

I want to see my family and friends, to go on holiday, to watch a play or a concert or a football game or a poetry slam.
I want work to go back to normal - I’m a film and TV producer and the restrictions on set are ridiculously hard.
I want my DC to get their lives back.
I want my mum to get her life back.

I’m not looking forward to my DH getting up at the crack of dawn again and waking us all up

I don’t want to keep anything from this year. It has been truly awful.

I just want for all of the waste from single use PPE to stop. Why people must wear the disposable masks (unless necessary due to their job) is beyond me.

Not much I want to keep to be honest. I suppose better general hygiene from people is a bonus, but I've always carried sanitiser even pre-covid.

@Oliversmumsarmy

I don’t want to keep anything from this year. It has been truly awful.

Same. It's been thoroughly depressing and dehumanising.

Even crowded buses and long queues at airport check-in seem attractive now, though I accept there may be an element of rose tinted glasses there!

I must be strange in that being in crowded spaces seems to energise me. You can keep peace and quiet. I like noise and people.

@Oliversmumsarmy

I must be strange in that being in crowded spaces seems to energise me. You can keep peace and quiet. I like noise and people.

I actually generally love peace and quiet. I can happily spend days in my flat alone...so long as I know that I'll have a chance to get out and see people at some point. All this Zoom 'interaction' seems depressing to me, especially when there is this pretence that it's as good as the real thing. It is not. Not near.

I want to keep:

• The balance I’ve found with my family since lockdown
• No rushing
• No FOMO
• Kids parties
• Nature’s playground, playing with DC in streams, climbing trees, building dens

What I miss

• Occasional nights out with DH at a restaurant or bar
• International travel
• Theatres
• Occasional breakfasts at a lovely cafe
• swimming

That should read no kids parties!!! Can’t stand them x

Want back:

Seeing friends and family without guilt, distance and counting numbers
Casual meet ups
Hugs
Having a cough or feeling a bit rundown and knowing it is just that
Live Theatre
Play cafes and soft play and activities for small children
Doing things without sanitiser and a face mask
Fun!
Parties and other celebrations

Can do without

Rush Hour
Being in the office 5 days a week
Rushing generally
Crowds
Packed public transport
The need to keep up appearances and be in work if you are sick

I'd like everything back, thanks. Any time now would be great.

Seeing family (they're abroad)
Hugging my friends
Restaurants and cafes and theatre and live music

Don't miss DH being gone 14 hours a day with commute and long hours
Won't miss mask wearing

To travel to meet a friend I made during lock down and for him to visit me. He lives in the US.

That’s I want right now. That and a job.

Don’t want back large weddings, I think the smaller ones are more about the marriage and vows rather than the big day. Much better imo.

I want back seeing family, hugs and spontaneity.
Won't miss work being upside down and travelling to London most weeks. Even when we can travel again I believe teams is the new normal.

Want back: being able to see my mother and mother in law, who are both having cancer treatment, without worrying I will infect them. Going swimming, shopping, having a coffee. The kids doing activities they have missed.

Happy to keep: online parents' evenings (I'm a teacher and it works so well for 90% of the kids) Not feeling pressure to go out etc.

We have both been working pretty much as normal as not able to wfh

Only thing I really want back is to be able to visit my family (am overseas). Followed by kids activities and the swimming pools. Everything else, I'm personally fine with, but would like back to normal because I can see others are struggling.

The best thing about COVID has, without doubt, been the cancellation of Halloween. The second best thing has been people actually thinking about hygiene a bit. The third best thing has been limiting the gatherings at the school gate.

I'd love to go back to this time 12 months ago singing Christmas songs on the karaoke dancing the night away laughing and acting daft with my best friend.
Theres absolutely nothing about 2020 that I want to repeat

@3littlewords

I'd love to go back to this time 12 months ago singing Christmas songs on the karaoke dancing the night away laughing and acting daft with my best friend. Theres absolutely nothing about 2020 that I want to repeat

Same.

This time last year I was going on leisurely, spontaneous trips to my swimming pool several times a week, was packing for a work trip to Spain, preparing for a lively Christmas and looking forward to lots of travelling and socialising the following year...or so I thought.

I'd happily cancel out this entire year. If I had to mention one good thing, I guess I could say it's making me appreciate things I'd taken for granted all my life.

Holidays, theatre, concerts, the ability to see loved ones without it being against guidance/unlawful, High Street shopping, pubs & restaurants, crowds at sporting events

Being in the office 5 days a week. I'd like it to be the exception, not the rule.

I'm Scotland tier 3 so not as restricted as some.

I want the cinema and a Hogmanay street party with fireworks.
I want my DD back in FE college as she is really struggling being at home and studying online.

I don't want office working, home based is fantastic.
I don't want people coming within 2 metres of me.
I'm autistic and I love the way they have turned background music off in the shops and swimming pool, I don't want that back.

I'll add I want normal funerals back. I lost a good friend at the beginning of lockdown. Only one of his kids was allowed in for 15 minutes to say goodbye and his funeral was severely restricted. I would have loved to have been there to pay my respects, support his family and have a good wake afterwards to properly celebrate him.

Want back: coffee shops and restaurants, seeing family and friends, dc being able to go out and see friends. Not worrying about health too much. Will love to see the back of masks.

Keep: zoom work meetings and parents evening, love them now I realised they don't mind if we don't use the camera. Ordering online. Staying in more. Not going to town window shopping, we used to do this a lot but I realised I don't miss it. Getting a takeout coffee and sitting in the park. I must say I enjoyed some of the humour 2020 has brought out in people.

I don't WFH but I hope people who want to can continue, it's so much better for the environment to reduce traffic.

Things I want to stay after this year:

1. DH working from home more (he's able to see the kids so much more and is saving a small fortune in fuel).
2. The slightly slower pace of life without constant pressure to go to kids parties every weekend, 'pop in' somewhere etc every 5 minutes.

Things I don't want to stay from this year:

1. The sheer unpredictability of life currently. I'm a big 'planner' but I can't plan or arrange anything in advance at the moment as rules could change at any minute, could be made to self-isolate etc. 2)Facemasks.
2. Not having to follow covid rules constantly at work (I'm a nurse so there's a lot), and so many things are currently so much harder due to having to do them in a 'covid safe' way.
3. Not being free to see friends and family.
4. Cafes and restaurants being closed.
5. Shops, theatres, cinemas, etc all being closed.
6. Home learning!!

I want it all back except the heavy traffic, and to go on WFH.

But I would gladly sit in all the shit traffic and return to the office 5 days a week, no question, if it meant an end to all this.

@Gingerkittykat' I love the way they have turned background music off in the shops and swimming pool, I don't want that back'

I second no music swimming pools so relaxing and much better!! Did not notice shops but second that too. Hope it will extend into next month, I find Christmas sensory overload exhausting.