Hoping that we won't go back to the "old" normal?

[MakkaPakka84]

I have been chatting to people and by what they are saying it seems the good resolutions made in the last two years are already fading away.

Limiting the amount of unnecessary travel, to save the environment? Some of my colleagues are already planning hop-in hop-out vacations for the whole of next year (20 > air travel trips per year).

Healthy work-life balance, more WFH? The return to the office is already underway and everyone is eager to be back.

I know the past two years have been shit, but I was hoping the pandemic would be a catalyst for positive change in some way. Now even those feeble positives are fading away.

It’s obvious there was going to be a ‘rebound’ of pent up demand. I think we will still see the longer term shifts

What do you perceive as positive change?

Positive change only comes if you feel negative about how life was before. Many people love travel and being in an office environment, so for them going back to that will be hugely positive.

You yourself do not habe to travel and you can do your own bit for the environment.

My DH is planning to WFH more, he already did one day a week but he is think he will do so 4 days a week. It’s completely feasible for him to do 5 days a week if he wanted. His company has not reopened offices yet so who know what he will do. WFH is not an improvement for everyone, for some people there is no enough space, home is not a warm or safe space or they need the social element for their mental health.

There’s definitely bits of the last year I would like to keep. Hugging and shaking hands I’m not keen to resume (close family and friends excepted).
I have definitely spent less money and now don’t make unnecessary purchases.
Re travel I would like to again at some point but there’s no rush.
WFH never been an option but I like the buzz of working with others. I would be rubbish at WFH.

I think many offices will stay WFH as it'll be cheaper and I'm okay with that as it saves me childcare costs.

Holidays will gradually return to previous levels, I imagine they'll be an influx initially and then it'll slow down and carbon footprints will become a thing again.

No travel and work from home permanently? That sounds no better than the way things are now. Life’s shit at the moment and the thought of travel (we’ve booked to go to Florida next year) and the hope of going back to the office and actually seeing people face to face is what’s keeping me going

@Bluntness100

What do you perceive as positive change?

Positive change only comes if you feel negative about how life was before. Many people love travel and being in an office environment, so for them going back to that will be hugely positive.

You yourself do not habe to travel and you can do your own bit for the environment.

Exactly this.

Lack of travel and no social interaction at work are both huge negatives for me, not positive in anyway at all.

We are all different and the best world is one where we can all make our own choices.

If I want to work from home and not have holidays then I can still do that by getting a job that allows it.

Recently my ability to go to work and travel have been taken away if I want to or not, and that is rubbish.

I can't WFH in my job and I'm not going to limit my foreign travel. If anything I want to do more of it, I've lost a year of my life! So those are not "positive" changes for me.

WFH is not a positive for me, I don't know why you think it would be for everyone

@Bluntness100

What do you perceive as positive change?

Positive change only comes if you feel negative about how life was before. Many people love travel and being in an office environment, so for them going back to that will be hugely positive.

You yourself do not habe to travel and you can do your own bit for the environment.

👏👏👏

For my ds sake I hope he’s back in the office soon. He lives alone and wfh is not ideal for him, he’s a sociable guy.

We travel somewhere in Europe once a year, I don’t think that’s excessive. However 20+ trips is!!

Improved hygiene awareness is what I would like to be long term change. More hand washing, social distancing, if you have a cold or other virus consider wearing a mask etc

Two years?

@schroeder

Two years?

Exactly! Some people want it to go on forever. Fuck that.

I'm looking forward to going back into the office occasionally, but certainly not every day again. My colleagues all feel the same, and the company isn't planning to open the office fully until the autumn. I think we'll just go in for meetings.

It's understandable people want to travel after being at home for so long. It'll settle down once people get it out of their systems.

It not once a year holiday flights that are the main culprit for air travel emissions it's the frequent flyers, business travel, more of that will go to Zoom. On the flip side they fill first and business class seats, without their tickets economy will become more expensive. So perhaps it will reduce travel by affordability, making it the pursuit of the wealthy as it once was.

I actually feel very pessimistic about what this has all done for the environment. Travel will settle back down but there's certainly no sign it'll reduce - and I'm very worried about whether the damage to public transport will be permanent. It felt like public awareness about single use plastic was increasing and then we spent a year making an astonishing amount of landfill (for good reason - I'm not a Covid denier!) and I think it'll be hard to turn the tide back on that.

Do you not want to go back to the office op? Is that it?

As for vacations, it’s fine for you not to travel abroad, the issue arises when you want everyone else to stay home too.

Anyone who wants to stay in an effective lock down and live their lives like that needs to work towards doing that where possible, wanting everyone else to live your ideal life is where it isn’t ok.

@Hardbackwriter

I actually feel very pessimistic about what this has all done for the environment. Travel will settle back down but there's certainly no sign it'll reduce - and I'm very worried about whether the damage to public transport will be permanent. It felt like public awareness about single use plastic was increasing and then we spent a year making an astonishing amount of landfill (for good reason - I'm not a Covid denier!) and I think it'll be hard to turn the tide back on that.

I agree with this. My local area will look for any excuse to cut back on public transport, so I worry that the last year will mean some services will now go completely. As for the shocking amount of plastic waste, can I also add LFT tests to this. I have to use them twice weekly for work and the amount of waste is obscene.

You do what you want and if you don't want to go back to lots of things you did before then don't.

Equally others will want to get out and do things they did before.

It's the ones that want to force others to stay in/restrict life that they want to live due to one or two deaths on and on and on that are really annoying.

I have always had a mix of WFH and office. Quite frankly stuck in my home working all the time is draining and I can't wait to return to my pre covid life.

I haven't had holidays (yes flights), relaxing meals out, spontaneous days out to blot out the fact that I have had to spend about 90% of my time at home.

If you think your post covid life is more positive then do something to fix it but don't project that on to everyone else that may not think it has been a positive experience.

I would never advocate not travelling and 100% WFH. I was just talking about being more conscious when travelling (I do know people who use planes like buses) and keep more flexibility at work. That's all.

It's the ones that want to force others to stay in/restrict life that they want to live due to one or two deaths on and on and on that are really annoying

How can people ‘force others to stay in’ ?

The only thing I would like to continue is the wearing of masks on public transport. Fed up with being coughed over almost every time I get onto a bus or train especially in the winter.

I was just talking about being more conscious when travelling (I do know people who use planes like buses)

So what? It's an efficient and often cheaper to travel.

I'm not going to make my life harder by using expensive, burdensome and inefficient means to travel just to please some random people I don't even know. If a plane is the cheapest and fastest way to get to where I want to go, then I'll use it. Duh.