People who would like lockdown indefinitely

[PooRaulsRagDace]

Some of the threads on here have me thinking of my mother. She’s no longer with us but l know that if she were still alive then this pandemic would have been a gift from god.

Put bluntly she had no life, she never wanted to leave the house, go to work, learn to drive, she had no friends, no hobbies, no interest in anything at all except daytime TV and having a drink.

She knew that she was judged for her lifestyle and she knew she was very much in the minority and deep down it bothered her.

She loved snowy weather - snow days meant you couldn’t leave the house! No one judged you for staying in all day, you were fully expected to stay at home.

The pandemic has allowed people like this to relax and be safe in the knowledge that no one is expected to leave the home. All the people in my circle continually calling for further lockdown are people who don’t or don’t like working, never go anywhere, never do anything and have few friends and no outside interests.

People with young children who are not sending them back to school at all - I suspect so they don’t have to bother getting dressed to take them. It’s the same type of people!

No one that I know who is working, who has hobbies, friends, interests are calling for further lockdowns - only people with no lives anyway.

Anyone else notice this?

@PooRaulsRagDace

I can look through my Facebook feed and all the people who don’t want lockdown to end, who don’t want the schools to open are the people who don’t work, don’t like working, don’t leave their house anyway, don’t go anywhere, take their children anywhere etc.

It’s really annoyed me today the number of threads saying we won’t be ‘back to normal’ anytime soon or ‘we’ll be locked down again in the autumn’.

Well buckle up people, it finally looks like there is light at the end of the tunnel so be thankful for that.

I don't think anyone needs to buckle up. Whatever happens next, it isn't going to be fast or immediate. There will be bumps along the way.

Seriously bugger off. You have absolutely no idea !

People with young children who are not sending them back to school at all - I suspect so they don’t have to bother getting dressed to take them. It’s the same type of people!

I hope you never have to be in the situation of these parents who aren't sending their children back to school. I've watched my child fight for their life on numerous occassions in the few short years of their lives. Do you honestly think that I wouldn't be completely overjoyed to send my children to school ? Right now I couldn't care about anything else opening or never opening again, I wouldn't even care if i had to stay in the house for the rest of my life if my children were able to go to school and have a normal childhood like the rest of the 'healthy' children.

My dad was a bit like this. Not a drinker or anything , but always looking for the negative.
He would have followed the rules to the letter.
I've a few friends who have secretly enjoyed all this I'm sure , we all know a few like it.
I don't do much in normal times myself. My party / pubs days are long behind me and lack of money stops me having a much more exciting life. I like a pub meal or the cinema but it's not every weekend. Once every few months if that , in pre covid days. Not keen on holidays.
Not everyone are out doing things all the time.
Your mum sounded a bit extreme in her reluctance to go out , but did she have depression or maybe agoraphobia? My late mil had agoraphobia and she had trouble going anywhere , even in a car. She had what others would call a 'sad' life and many mental health problems. Staying at home during this pandemic wouldn't have made much difference to her. I'm more if a home body than my friends who have struggled with this more than I have.

How are you judging “longer than it needs to be?” when you’re referring to the lockdown?

But that's not what the OP is saying, unless I'm reading it wrongly, she's not saying that vunerable people don't have jobs or that anxious people don't have hobbies, that would be nonsense

As I understand it she's saying that their is a group of people who don't have jobs, hobbies, friends etc and are quite happy for us to stay locked down indefinitely as it normalises their lifestyle.

Have I got that right?

No, I don't think you have.

I don't disagree that there are probably some people who would be quite happy with endless lockdowns because it normalises their empty lives. Sad, but they probably do exist.

However, there are other people who want lockdown extended because they are vulnerable, because they are anxious, because they are risk averse or all three. Many of those people will have lives and friends and jobs and interests, they just don't think it's safe to open up yet.

The OP isn't just saying that the first group exists.She is strongly implying that nobody with any kind of life would call for an extension to lockdown. I think that's pretty ignorant and narrow-minded, personally, as it disregards the many valid reasons why people might think lockdown needs to go on for longer.

I've had enough of lockdown fwiw. I would love to get back to some sort of semblance of normality, but I understand why many people are concerned about things opening up too quickly.

Oh and BTW I have my kids up and dressed before 7am every morning, would you believe I even feed them at 7.30am and we start homeschooling at 9am on the dot every morning as well.

It’s not necessarily ‘lazy’ to say that some have aspects of lockdown life have been welcome for you - no more hectic commute, for instance.

I really annoys me that people who follow the rules to protect others are judged as having something wrong with them. What a world.

@PooRaulsRagDace

Some of the threads on here have me thinking of my mother. She’s no longer with us but l know that if she were still alive then this pandemic would have been a gift from god.

Put bluntly she had no life, she never wanted to leave the house, go to work, learn to drive, she had no friends, no hobbies, no interest in anything at all except daytime TV and having a drink.

She knew that she was judged for her lifestyle and she knew she was very much in the minority and deep down it bothered her.

She loved snowy weather - snow days meant you couldn’t leave the house! No one judged you for staying in all day, you were fully expected to stay at home.

The pandemic has allowed people like this to relax and be safe in the knowledge that no one is expected to leave the home. All the people in my circle continually calling for further lockdown are people who don’t or don’t like working, never go anywhere, never do anything and have few friends and no outside interests.

People with young children who are not sending them back to school at all - I suspect so they don’t have to bother getting dressed to take them. It’s the same type of people!

No one that I know who is working, who has hobbies, friends, interests are calling for further lockdowns - only people with no lives anyway.

Anyone else notice this?

Yep ! You are so right , people who didn’t live life to the full previously have nothing to miss in lockdown

I'm enjoying this third lockdown. Does that mean that I don't have a life? We are fortunate to live in a spacious house with a big garden and woods nearby. My husband usually works away during the week and is now here all the time.. My three chidren are enjoying working from home and it's nice to enjoy more family time. I appreciate not having to chip ice off the car every morning and set off for the school run in the dark. I'm staying in contact with friends, but am happy to appreciate the time with my family now. Does this make me a sad, no life person who should be pitied?

So what if some people do prefer a quiet life, what's it to you. You are making sweepy judgements about other people, you sound horrible

I’ve seen umpteen threads today and over the past few weeks (since the start of the vaccination program) that jump on any bit of good news, desperate to stamp out any possibility that the we may be able to start loosening restrictions soon.

The people I know like this say it because it means they may have to go back to work, take the kids to school, have to start actually participating in something of a life rather than being given ‘permission’ to simply stay in their home day in day out.

I see it all over Facebook and on here. I find it baffling.

There’s an element of truth in what you say OP.

When I say I’ve enjoyed lockdown what I really mean I think is that I’ve much preferred working from home. It’s really improved my quality of life.

I’ve also enjoyed the slower pace of life, the rebound of wildlife and the reduction of carbon footprint.

I do have friends and do like going for meals out, trips away etc. My time for going to bars and clubs has definitely passed. But if going going back to ‘normal’ means going back to 5, or even 4 days in the office then yes, secretly I would be hoping for a never ending lockdown.

Sound to me like the OP's Mother had mental health issues.
I hope the OP can get some help for her attitude.

My mother didn't have a drinking problem but she was not mobile, people judged her, I didn't. It was more than enough having shitty kids and adults openly judging my Mum.

I am glad schools are opening. I am still at risk but hope I can get a vaccine soon.

I feel incredibly sad about the whole Covid thing, I feel incredibly sad for the families who have just had sorry a horrible time.

So although it is good that there is a way out, I actually just feel grief and real sadness.

You'll get a fair amount of outraged replies on here OP but you're right. There's a difference between enjoying certain aspects of lockdown and vehemently calling for it to be extended no matter what the circumstances. Vaccine or no vaccine, deaths or no deaths.
I have a fair few acquaintances whose spend days on video games and nothing els.. lockdown is their dream.

I have an anxiety disorder. Lockdown has been wonderful from a stay at home perspective as all pressures that used to make my anxious were removed.

I am very very concerned about how ill cope now I'm completely out of practice of pretending I'm okay.

I don't want lockdown to go on forever by the way, I want everyone else to be happy, I'm just stating that it's not that I 'like' staying at home or that I'm lazy.

Also have to add that I have somewhat of a personal stake in this - a lot of people who vote for never ending lockdown have the privilege of staying in nice houses, furloughed/secure jobs, surrounded by family.
For the impact on other people alone I would find it galling to suggest that further lockdown was something to be celebrated...

That’s a nice attempt at ridiculing and belittling people who don’t think exactly the same as you OP.
It’s made you look a bit hard of thinking and utterly lacking in empathy, but hopefully it’s made you feel suitably superior. Do you enjoy tinkly laughs and head tilts too?

OP you (and some other posters) really don't sound as if you have an ounce of empathy. You don't have a clue what's going on in other people's minds or lives.

Who are you to judge that another person's life is 'empty?' Just being at home caring for that space can be very fulfilling for some.

@PooRaulsRagDace

I’ve seen umpteen threads today and over the past few weeks (since the start of the vaccination program) that jump on any bit of good news, desperate to stamp out any possibility that the we may be able to start loosening restrictions soon.

The people I know like this say it because it means they may have to go back to work, take the kids to school, have to start actually participating in something of a life rather than being given ‘permission’ to simply stay in their home day in day out.

I see it all over Facebook and on here. I find it baffling.

Maybe you should get yourself some new friends then OP if they are so boring !

I agree OP! My DFather included. He would be quite happy to spend the rest of his days sat in front of his TV watching sports, with the occasion visit of close family. He is coming from the very privileged position of being a baby boomer, house fully paid up, good investments and pension.

I definitely don’t agree with people saying those in furlough have had it easy or why would they want to be getting back to work when they get 80% of their salary. My husband has been furloughed since March in an industry and for a company that was thriving before the pandemic. He has got 80% of his salary up to £2500 which is substantially less than his actual take home wage. We are barely breaking even. It’s very hard to go day by day not knowing if the job you love will still be there tomorrow. And then to hear people screaming that it should never reopen, lock down until the unachievable zero covid, what about the mutants just round the corner to jump out at us, long covid we don’t “need it” his industry etc etc., It is very hard.

To be fair I can't wait for all this to be over and I still stay in my pyjamas til mid-afternoon most days Probably would get dressed if I knew I was going to be on the news though...

Anyway, I did think this about some acquaintances during 2020, but even the people I know who think the world owes them a living mostly seem to be fed up of lockdown now. I think the vast majority of people do want it to end, or have at least stopped bleating on about how we should all be making the most of the slower pace of life thank fuck.

Well my life didn't change that much for second lockdown, the job I do carried on, I'm in a support bubble with the person I spend the most time with anyway, for childcare reasons and because I'm a single parent. The hobby I do is actually allowed under the rules as it's providing essential care to animals. Child accesses education (either on site or online) independently.
I don't have much of a social life at any time due to shift patterns and don't have holidays due to the aforementioned animals (my choice) and don't really do much else because I don't have the time or the finances!
From that pov lockdown could pretty much continue indefinitely without me missing much at all.
But, and this is a big but, that doesn't mean for one second I want it to. I've found especially on here if you vocalise the above, there's a pile on about being selfish and "I'm all right, Jack" and I'm not.
Just because my life hasn't changed that much, it doesn't mean that when it's deemed safe to do so I'll object to lockdown being lifted, I've trusted the powers that be that it's been necessary to do what's been done so far, I'll trust when they say it's ok to start lifting restrictions.
Thing is, no one, the government, the scientists, random people on Mumsnet, no one, is in charge of this. A virus is, and it's doing what a virus does. It's dictating what the timeline is, and will continue to do so. We can mitigate the results of that, by social distancing, lockdown, vaccines, but that's it.
I have seen the devastating concequences of lockdown, but I also think that there'd have been devastating concequences if we'd done nothing too, how could there not have been? Personally, I think this was the lesser of two evils.
I do respect that other people can have a different opinion, without being a granny killer. I know a lot of people here don't though.
But it works both ways, you can be relatively unaffected by lockdown, yet not desperate to have it continue, the two aren't mutually exclusive.
I personally don't know of anyone who wants it to continue, I know of people that are cautious, worried we will end up going too fast and having to back up a step again because numbers rise, but no one who actively wants that to happen.
I do accept that there may be people who actively want it to continue, but I think they're probably a minority.

Some truth in that but many that are quite happy for lockdown also wfh and want it to continue , job does not impact on Covid , happy no commute etc . I can imagine the threads in a few months where they are all told to get back to the office and they don’t want to .