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Original poster

Which specific moment from this will stay with you forever?

999 replies

RosieLemonade · 13/02/2021 15:18

Positive or negative.

OP posts:
HmmSureJan · 13/02/2021 20:11

@Goawayquickly

This should go in classics, it's a real social document.

I had a sudden realization that popping to my mums for a cup of coffee was illegal. This was quite far in but it hit me one day, visiting my mother for coffee is against the law, it took my breath away.

I agree.
Smudgefell · 13/02/2021 20:11

@ChocOrange1 I have a very similar memory, holding my 18 hour old daughter in hospital while watching Boris announce the lockdown! Sad What a roller coaster of emotions it was!

Tyranttoddler · 13/02/2021 20:14

I've already posted but I will again.

The Monday after lockdown I went to work and delivered food parcels to families from school. We finished early so we were sent home and I picked my daughter up from nursery. I didn't know then that she wouldn't go back til June as they closed. I cried at the car and the manager noticed and came to tell me she thought it would all be over within a few months. I thought she was right.

A happier moment. When the news about the first vaccine came out and my children discussed it in class and a child sobbed and said 'so my life might go back to normal one day'. I cried then too!

tuttifuckinfruity · 13/02/2021 20:14

Picking my kids up from nursery on the last day back in March. Parents and teachers looking terrified and confused and not knowing what to say. Kids having no concept of anything being wrong and just saying "bye" as usual.

The night when Boris announced the full lockdown. It just didn't seem real to me.

Boris nearly dying of covid. I'm no fan of Boris, but he is human and the thought of the country having no PM (useless as he is) just really shook me.

BikeRunSki · 13/02/2021 20:15

Music exams being cancelled the day after DS had taken his. Passing that exam gave his a huge boost, and something to focus on. and his wonderful teacher has carried on teaching via Zoom. I’d actually asked for an exam the following week, and was a bit annoyed to get the date we did.

12frogsincoats · 13/02/2021 20:16

@ThePlantsitter

Doing the Thursday clap (when it felt like a good idea, at the beginning) and my neighbour playing 'Over the Rainbow' on the oboe. Cried.
Cried from cringing so hard I assume?Shock
Judystilldreamsofhorses · 13/02/2021 20:17

I remember going to the hairdresser on the Saturday before lockdown in March. We spoke about how surreal everything was, and at the end as I was paying she hugged me and told me to stay well, and I said I hoped to see her soon. When I next saw her in July I wanted to hug her SO badly.

The following week, saying goodbye to my final year students, and gaily saying I would see them in a few weeks. I didn’t even get to see them at graduation, because it was cancelled! They clubbed together at the end of term and got me the most amazing gift, which a student who lives close by hand-delivered. I was so happy to see him at the door, and both of us stood and cried in the street.

SingToTheSky · 13/02/2021 20:17

Ohh I have thought of my positive memory. Before school started in September we had our one trip out of the year, I took my older two to London for the day as DD1 (13) had been wanting to go to Chinatown for ages. It wasn’t a perfect day - she had a panic attack on the train which really showed how her anxiety had increased since the beginning :( but we had a lovely day and it was soon forgotten. I hadn’t done anything like that with them for such a long time, we had bubble tea and the chocolate fish pastries she’d been raving about for months, spent ages in the Lego store etc for DS (11) to spend his birthday money, laughed a lot, and it really felt quite easy to forget all the horrible stuff that had been happening. It just seemed normal other than being quiet and I felt like I was finally fun mum instead of the horrible stressy mess I’d been for most of the year.

Lubballoo · 13/02/2021 20:18

The hot sunny day, mid summer and mid pandemic, when I discovered I had breast cancer.

Taytocrisps · 13/02/2021 20:19

Also, hearing about that nursing home in Italy where the carers fled and abandoned the residents. They had to call the army in. Has anyone heard anything more about this story?

PamDenick · 13/02/2021 20:20

Went to the theatre in early March last year. Approaching the theatre seeing a few Londoners wearing masks (seemed to be mainly of Asian background). Hearing that Broadway had closed…
Knew it was hugely significant then...

HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee · 13/02/2021 20:22

@Lubballoo, Christ you’ve had a rough year . Hope you’re ok (as ok as you can be obviously)

FVFrog · 13/02/2021 20:23

Managing to get my recently graduated son back down to be at home with us in Hampshire on the eve of the first lockdown from Newcastle where he would have been on his own in a flat with no garden for the duration. No idea what the lockdown would entail or how long it would be. I was so relieved to have him home and it turned out to be a real bonus having all 3 of my older teenage/young adult kids home together fairly recently after a divorce and it was a really important time for them to reconnect and find themselves and strengthen their relationship together and with me. My eldest son and I ended up volunteering together for a local Covid support organisation making up and delivering food boxes for people isolating. We would never have spent time together in this way without the lockdown.

bingowingsmcgee · 13/02/2021 20:24

Nothing. I've not watched the news once, nor listened to it. I knew it would just create pointless anxiety. Not known anyone have covid, so not had that experience to stay with me, enjoyed having my kids at home... Knew it was gonna take 18 months to piss off because I spoke to my friend who is a senior doctor when it first started. It was the best thing I could've done, because I've had realistic expectations all the way through. I'm not saying it's been pleasant; I've missed seeing friends, but it's not been a particularly memorable time. I don't think it will be something that sticks in my mind at all.

PlasticCupPolitics · 13/02/2021 20:26

The day Boris was due to announce the first lockdown I had a phone call from my line manager saying I wasn’t to come into work the next day and would be off for the foreseeable.

I had no idea that was coming as I work in the NHS so never assumed I’d be off. But I was pregnant with a heart condition so that was that. By the time I return from maternity I won’t have stepped foot in my office for 18 months.

I spent a long time in hospital on the antenatal ward, alone as no visitors allowed at the time. The midwives “allowed” (I realise I wasn’t a prisoner) to go downstairs & see my 3yr old briefly & I just burst into tears. The weirdest feeling.

DipSwimSwoosh · 13/02/2021 20:26

My son's zoom party. He was over the moon.
A course I found online for free where most other attendees were in Mexico.
Being interviewed via zoom for my new job.
Running into the sea with my sister when we met halfway for lunch.

MixedUpFiles · 13/02/2021 20:27

We were due to leave on a long trip to Orlando so had no food in the house. I was waiting for dd at a medical appt and saw the news that Disneyland in California had closed so knew our trip was about to be cancelled. As soon as her appointment ended we went into the supermarket next door and started buying groceries. We had another appointment in 30 minutes so we had to shop fast. The shelves were already emptying, but it was clear that not everyone in the store knew why and I wouldn’t explain it to dd because I didn’t want to say anything out loud and start a panic. She just ran behind me looking at me like I was crazy, especially since I was buying things I never buy since our choices were limited. I finally told her what was happening when we got to the car.

QueenPaw · 13/02/2021 20:28

Two moments I think
Lockdown being announced (on my birthday)
Receiving a government food box and it seeming so so surreal

PrincessNutNuts · 13/02/2021 20:31

The very first covid briefing where Chris Whitty said that 80% were expected to get it and 1% of them would sadly die and my brain immediately froze on the thought

Christ. That's half a million people.

Purplekitchen · 13/02/2021 20:31

When Rishi Sunak announced the furlough scheme and said "the government will pay your wages". That's when I realised it was serious.
Also Boris in ICU.
Having our 16 yo cat pts in April.
Good part was having our DC 22 and 25 back at home.

RosieProbert · 13/02/2021 20:32

I had to take my friend to hospital as she was seriously ill. I saw her in a cubicle in a&e whilst she was waiting for a bed. I never saw her again. She caught covid I hospital and died. She was 49.

And her funeral. There would have been hundreds there, a packed crem. I had to sit on my own on an empty pew and I sobbed and sobbed for her.

That will never leave me. Neither will the guilt of taking her to hospital in the first place.

Ffsnosexallowed · 13/02/2021 20:32

Back in March/April in a meeting with our clinical director, planning how we were going to set up a covid assessment unit and the reality of it all just hit me when we were arranging to build a ramp outside which would allow bodies to be transported to a holding area. Thankfully we've never needed it.

ihearttc · 13/02/2021 20:33

2 moments for me...a positive was seeing my class of Year 2 children back at school in September. They were so incredibly happy to be back.

The worst day was seeing my Y11 son absolutely break down at the start of this lockdown when Boris announced the exams were cancelled.

Maybemay123 · 13/02/2021 20:36

Delayed healthcare been waiting 19 months for surgery, dc had to wait 9 months longer than should have done for surgery - negative.
How my dc gave just got on with home schooling /life and have shown great resilience - positive.

Fizbosshoes · 13/02/2021 20:36

There are such heartbreaking stories here. Sad

Telling my kids that school was closing, and things were changing.
We both work in or associated with, non essential retail and said work might be scarce.
DS was crying, worried we were going to work and leave him on his own
Later he brought his birthday money down for us in case we needed it. It made my cry