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Original poster

People saying ‘we’ve had a year of this’ - what did you do last summer?

596 replies

Bubbinsmakesthree · 02/02/2021 22:09

I keep seeing people saying things like “my child hasn’t played with anyone else in a year” or “I’ve not seen any friends in a year”. I know some people have been shielding or live in areas that have had tougher restrictions for longer...but if not, what were you doing last summer?

I think I’ve been fairly cautious but we still managed holidays/trips away in the UK, lots of (socially distanced) meet ups with friends and family and my children saw lots of their friends. We’ve been to museums, meals out, swimming etc. Other than children not social distancing with each other I don’t we broke any rules. It certainly wasn’t a normal summer but in comparison with the current (really miserable) lockdown things were pretty decent.

Lots of people I know were regularly in bars, making cinema trips, foreign holidays and taking the children soft play (i drew the line well before it got to soft play myself!)

Are people forgetting what actually happened or did some people remain in voluntary lockdown all year?

OP posts:
FreezerBird · 03/02/2021 00:02

what were you doing last summer?

Going to my mother's funeral.

Very occasionally seeing family if they were in the area, outside, distanced.

Shielding DD.

Silenceisgolden20 · 03/02/2021 00:18

Why do people start the threads?
It becomes a competition.

bombaychef · 03/02/2021 00:30

You clearly are not in the North West. We've not had the normal stuff you describe for ten +months. All summer I was amazed that the south had freedom and we had none

bombaychef · 03/02/2021 00:35

I'd love to know op,where you live. Some areas had little more than rule of 6 so tbh have no idea what it's like 10mths on.

IdblowJonSnow · 03/02/2021 00:54

We had 2 or 3 months where we saw people outside, had a uk airbnb, just our immediate family. Had a fes meals out etc. It was nice compared to lockdown but far from 'normal.

Inextremis · 03/02/2021 01:05

Apart from DH, I've seen 3 other people in the last year. We go a whole half a mile once a week or so to cook and eat Sunday lunch with our bubblemate, who lives alone. We also spent 5 days over Christmas at his place - me doing the Christmas cooking for the three of us. We went for a drive to a local (deserted) beach on my birthday in June, and we went to a nearby island in August, to get a leg of lamb for a special occasion (which is when we saw the other two people - it was allowed at the time). That's it. On the upside, none of us have had the coronavirus!

NeverDropYourMoonCup · 03/02/2021 01:07

Gradually worked my way up to being able to manage 4 hours' work twice a week. Seeing as a trip to the toilet resulted in my needing a 45 minute rest in the hope my heart would stop pounding fit to burst all the way from late March until July, and my only trips out were to the GP and the hospital to check whether my lungs were going to ever work properly again, I thought that was rather good progress. Oh, and learning to hold a pen - and a conversation - again, as I was so weak, it caused me pain to do the former and the latter left me gasping for breath after a couple of words.

I'm glad others had a nice summer, though.

Babyboomtastic · 03/02/2021 01:51

We did some things last summer but we're very cautious about where we went because we use grandparent childcare and places were busy during the school holidays so we had to take extra care. So we went on-screen but everywhere involved an analysis of risk before hand and it wasn't really relaxed as we always had to be 'a lert'

Changemaname1 · 03/02/2021 01:51

Went to work
Sat in a pub with Perspex dividers
Didn’t go on holiday

🤷🏻‍♀️

SuperCaliFragalistic · 03/02/2021 05:10

I've had five trips away within the UK. Two camping weekends with friends which were very fun and enjoyable for all. One very wet campervan trip just me and the DC (not so great). The other 2 were excellent short breaks in the Forest of Dean (with family in separate cabins so socially distanced) and Cornwall (me and DC for a week). My children had a few socially distanced play dates in parks and gardens. I would normally see my family more and the DC would usually have more sleepovers and such like but all said and done it's not been too awful. I'm lucky that my work has not changed at all and I have a decent sized garden.

User7458 · 03/02/2021 06:28

We went away 3 times in our caravan and managed to visit DF in Cornwall, ate out a lot outdoors, visited more NT places than we ever have before so not too bad really, expecting much the same this year, we are both early 60s.

Iaintaffraidofcoldtoast · 03/02/2021 06:35

@Silenceisgolden20

Why do people start the threads? It becomes a competition.
I do t think it is. It just shows the disparity of what people were allowed to do in different areas.

I’m in Cheshire. We was allowed to eat out all summer. ‘Eat out help out’. I definitely didn’t go in to anyone’s home but I spent the summer outside enjoying it and going to the restaurants I was allowed to.

I think the government tried its best to stop the collapse of the economy in areas they could.

IncyWincySpiderOnRepeat · 03/02/2021 06:43

I was heavily pregnant during the Summer and followed the advice for women in the third trimester to remain extremely cautious and maintain strict social distancing, so didn’t really leave the house. We have now been in lockdown again pretty much since the baby was born, so for me it will have been a year by the middle of March.

MimosaFields · 03/02/2021 06:52

I have seen my parents once since last February as they live abroad. Normally I would fly down every six weeks so this has been a very odd year. Both of them have been hospitalised this year and they are very ill, physical and neurological issues. For that alone, it has been a horrendous year.

As for the summer, I went to restaurants twice when we had EOHO. Normally I'd see friends three times a week, go to the gym etc. I work in a pharma related industry and I was working 10 hours a day all year so even when we could go out a bit, I had no time.

So for all those reasons, I feel "we've had a year of this"

beenrumbled · 03/02/2021 06:54

I live in Manchester. We ate out once to celebrate A level, gcse results.

We have been under fairly tight restrictions here for nearly a year. There were a couple of weeks I think where you could go to a pub for a drink but that stopped quickly. We have not been able to meet indoors for ages and even outdoors in a garden was tricky as we are a family of 5.

We were still advised against travel here, even going out of your area.

Plus Dh was officially shielding for most of the time and although shielding paused Hmm we knew we had to be really careful.

So yes. We have had a year of it.

RosieLemonade · 03/02/2021 07:01

@KnobblyWand

Shielding, because if I get it I might die.

Glad you've had fun though Confused

Hate this attitude so salty and bitter.
cyclingtowardsbethlehem · 03/02/2021 07:04

We haven't seen family because they live a long way away- at the point we could have seen my mum in the summer my stepfather became CEV so they were shielding him- my family also live in a tourist hotspot, which because of the UK holiday frenzy, meant there was nowhere else available to stay, and we couldn't stay with them as usual.

We didn't socialise inside at all although we did go to lots of museums etc. But a lot of the stuff we would have usually done over the summer- festivals, events, BBQs etc, was cancelled. So it feels very restrictive. Likewise having to book everything, limited slots at the pool, lido etc.

Catflapper · 03/02/2021 07:04

@Fridget

The lockdown people on Leicester have stayed in for a year hasn’t been voluntary
We still had Eat Out To Help Out in August though
ouchmyfeet · 03/02/2021 07:08

I think I’ve been fairly cautious but we still managed holidays/trips away in the UK, lots of (socially distanced) meet ups with friends and family and my children saw lots of their friends. We’ve been to museums, meals out, swimming etc. Other than children not social distancing with each other I don’t we broke any rules.

This is not cautious

ElevenBells · 03/02/2021 07:15

My area only lifted restrictions for about 3 weeks. Also, no annual leave allowed over the summer due to working 12 hour days because of the exam CAG fiasco (HE sector). Once that was over it was end of September

Original poster
Bubbinsmakesthree · 03/02/2021 07:18

@Housing101

Kept ourselves to ourselves most of last summer. In London so knew the rate of infection was still substantial.

Met friends in v small groups a handful of times, always social distance and outside. Wasn't a lot of fun really. Nothing like what we'd usually be doing. No holidays, interesting day trips, parties, entertaining at home etc.

In London it really wasn’t bad at all over summer in terms of infection rates.

I guess this what I meant though about whether summer felt like a welcome respite or basically a continuation of more of the same.

Some people have really had nearly a year of the same restrictions whether that be through shielding or living in an area where tighter restrictions were imposed almost the whole year.

Some people were in areas with looser restrictions and remained very cautious.

I think for some people maybe it depends what your ‘normal’ looks like as to whether summer felt like a real respite or not. Other than the risk assessing and social distancing we were able to quite a bit of our ‘normal’ as picnics and National Trust family trips and kids playing in the garden while parents have a cup of tea is a lot of my normal. Our main holiday in 2020 was an Airbnb in the middle of nowhere - in 2019 our main holiday was also an Airbnb in the middle of nowhere.

OP posts:
ChristmasinJune · 03/02/2021 07:19

Well I had a lovely summer and didn't break any rules I don't think.

I had a little U.K. farm holiday, went on days out with ds, spent lots of time with my parents, had a few meals out and discovered a new favourite place to eat had one group night out (6 of us) garden parties (yes sd and rule of 6) and woodland walks to celebrate birthdays.

I even managed a tiny September tea party and bouncy castle for ds birthday a night in a hotel for my November birthday and a SD Santa visit.

It hasn't been the year I would have chosen and this winter has been very, very tough but I think it would always have been hard and being determined to be miserable wouldn't have helped anybody.

IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 03/02/2021 07:21

@TheyIsMyFamily

Good for you, I guess.

We didn't do any of that.

Because so many people did, the virus spread like wildfire throughout the summer, early autumn...

Us neither. Just because things were allowed doesn’t mean it’s a good choice. Just like Christmas mixing.
goatsgalore · 03/02/2021 07:22

@Mousehole10

Well you’ve just said it yourself, you broke a pretty big guideline. Social distancing was needed so those who actually followed them, no their kids haven’t played with others all year.
Rounders? A perfectly socially distanced game for kids to play?
Incyra · 03/02/2021 07:26

@RUOKHon

Cancelled my holiday in the south of France. Spent a miserable week in a caravan in Cornwall where the weather was shit, it was impossible to eat out in a restaurant without having booked three months in advance and most decent attractions for kids were closed.

Spent the rest of it at home, staring at the same fucking bald patch of grass (I know, at least I have a garden, etc).

Miserable week in a caravan in Cornwall? Sounds amazing to me!