Life will never be the same, will it?

[Hiidee]

I’m having a wobble...

Life is so different now, and I just don’t see how it’s ever, ever going to be the same again.

I’m genuinely so frightened for what our futures will look like and I can’t help but feel our freedoms will no longer exist.

I feel we are heading to living in a society where we will have “us & them” in relation to vaccinated and unvaccinated.

Unvaccinated won’t be able to eat / drink at certain places, use supermarkets with everyone else, or use public transport.

I am fully vaccinated so it’s not my personal freedoms I worry about, but I don’t want to live in a world that could look like this.

I see restrictions always being a part of our lives now. It’s just utterly miserable.

When I look back at life pre pandemic it just feels like it was a dream.
I mean what did we really have to worry about?
No restrictions/ rules. Just life and living.

Should we just accept that our lives as we knew it are gone?

What a nasty post Maltesers

Sorry @tunnocksreturns2019

Well there's no hope with that. Not if we won't limit (polluting) flights even during a pandemic.

Commercial flights produce a surprisingly small amount of the pollution. As does waste produced by individuals. This is a distraction. It is a small number of multi-national companies who produce most of the plastic, waste, fossil fuels and pollution. Unless this is dealt with by proper co-operation by Governments across the world the results - within current children's lifetimes - will be absolutely catastrophic. Collapsing ecosystems, extreme weather, mass extinctions, mass human migration on a scale never seen before given that 8 of the world's ten largest cities will be underwater, famine and (due to increased competition for a decreasing amount of resources) almost inevitably, war.

Any Government who cared at all for its people would be focused on energy, food and water security above all else in the absence of genuine international action to prevent this, which is not forthcoming and is unlikely to be until it is too late.

Why do you think unvaccinated people can't eat out, shop or use public transport?

People will be longing to go back to the little virus situation.

In fact there'll most likely be more pandemics as well as more ecosystems get destroyed and more (probably more serious) viruses transfer into human populations.

Life’s certainly not going to be the same as before Covid, not for a long time anyway. I don’t think this will be permanent, if anything we are in a transition stage between the two realms. We have a lot of readjustment to do, I say this a lot but we must accept what has happened. There is no point living in denial- this is our reality and short of a miracle, our lives before 2020 are memories.

I live in the hope that things get easier as the months and years pass and breakthroughs happen in medicine where we have an effective cure. The world is going to become very polarised, the disparity between rich and poor nations will become greater as the third world will end up falling far behind developed countries, we are very fortunate in some ways.

We will overcome this but it’s not going to be a quick fix and it’s certainly not going to be without its disappointments and uncertainty along the way.

Find the good in the bad because the world is still turning even though we may feel it’s stopped.

@Couchbettato

Things just seem bleak in the moment. That's normal and a reasonable judgement. But life will go back to normal.

But how will it be normal if we have a vaccine hierarchy.

It just all feels like the Hunger games, like we’re going to have districts where we stick the unvaccinated and treat them like a disease.

I don’t want to be part of a society that accepts that.

@Tealightsandd

What a nasty post Maltesers

Sorry @tunnocksreturns2019

It’s fine my point was not in fact a ‘woe is me’ post but more a suggestion that there’s no point judging who is ‘lucky’ or otherwise re covid but that trying to make the best of things as they are right now might just be an idea. I hope all those fortunate enough to have had ‘normal’ lives pre covid get them back, of course (especially those of you who are kind and caring )

Collapsing ecosystems, extreme weather, mass extinctions, mass human migration on a scale never seen before given that 8 of the world's ten largest cities will be underwater, famine and (due to increased competition for a decreasing amount of resources) almost inevitably, war

And tech billionaires establish colonies for the selected few on Mars to escape it all.

Now then, your holiday you were worrying about, was it 😃

@HalzTangz

Why do you think unvaccinated people can't eat out, shop or use public transport?

@HalzTangz

Well they can right now. But this whole vaccination being mandatory for carers... that just feels like the start. How long before it’s mandatory for everyone.

@HeddaGarbled

Collapsing ecosystems, extreme weather, mass extinctions, mass human migration on a scale never seen before given that 8 of the world's ten largest cities will be underwater, famine and (due to increased competition for a decreasing amount of resources) almost inevitably, war

And tech billionaires establish colonies for the selected few on Mars to escape it all.

Now then, your holiday you were worrying about, was it 😃

Lol! Indeed.

Really @Malteser71?! Having a go at Tunnocks for mentioning what they've been though is appalling. So who exactly is it about if its not about individuals?
The greater good...

@tunnocksreturns2019 it wasn't a woe post at all, just showing how vastly different people have had lockdown.
We need an emoji for your teacakes on here!

@MichelleScarn

Really *@Malteser71*?! Having a go at Tunnocks for mentioning what they've been though is appalling. So who exactly is it about if its not about individuals? The greater good...

@tunnocksreturns2019 it wasn't a woe post at all, just showing how vastly different people have had lockdown.
We need an emoji for your teacakes on here!

Bless you. It’s okay. I’m hiding the thread now

The world changes on a regular basis. It changed after WW2. It changed when women entered the workplace. It changed when the computer became widely used. It changed when the internet was invented, and again when we all got mobile phones. Life now is nothing like it was 20 years ago. Covid is just another change. You can’t stop time from moving on and you can’t keep things the same.

@PolkadotSloth So we’re basically all just fucked then, and our kids 🤷🏻‍♀️

@Tobermorie

The world changes on a regular basis. It changed after WW2. It changed when women entered the workplace. It changed when the computer became widely used. It changed when the internet was invented, and again when we all got mobile phones. Life now is nothing like it was 20 years ago. Covid is just another change. You can’t stop time from moving on and you can’t keep things the same.

THIS! It’s just evolutionary “progress” with some things better like medical advancement and general health awareness, and others things less desirable like ecological concerns with our ever shorter by design manufactured products cycle of disposable cheap monetary instant gratification culture but costly environmental consequences. Overall quality of living is better (for the first world) over time. Covid is the natural big reset where we reconsider what is of value and what is unnecessary. Human interaction and relationships have been commoditised because Covid has placed a physical barrier. Post pandemic will be a better more positive place. From bad comes good. Look forward not back and up not down!

@Jennyfromtheculdesac

But to answer your actual question, I hope you’re right. I quite like table service in the pub and not having to queue at the bar.

See, I also quite like the table service. But my parents hate technology and are now avoiding most social situations as the idea of using a QR code to see a menu brings them out in a cold sweat. And my small local bars are struggling with the space to SD with the extra staff to complete table service.

We don't live in a country that wants to restrict freedom unnecessarily, even for those who aren't vaccinated. However, If we find ourselves struggling to live with this virus long-term (we can't keep locking down/they'll be less Covid beds as beds need releasing for other health issues), those that aren't vaccinated will have to prove negative result. One place our government will never stop us entering are supermarkets and pharmacies as they're essential basic needs.

I think some people seem to be waiting for an instruction to start living their life again as normal rather than just doing it. Restrictions are fairly minimal. I really don’t notice them most of the time. I don’t think my life, on a day to day basis, seems that different to previous years.

@PolkadotSloth

If you're feeling like that about Covid, you should be waaaaayyy more worried about climate change. The impact of that on your children will be ten times worse than this at least, if global economies are not completely overhauled in the next 15 years.

Agree

I didnt read @tunnocksreturns2019 as passive aggressive at all.

Like many people her life has been turned upside down through no fault of her own.

@Jennyfromtheculdesac

But to answer your actual question, I hope you’re right. I quite like table service in the pub and not having to queue at the bar.

It may be nice for you but not so much for the pubs. This is not a viable business model for the vast majority of them.

This pandemic has shed brutal, timely light on how fucked we all are.

Human beings have fucked this planet up - beyond repair.

Things will never go back to normal - that might not be a bad thing. Lifeline perhaps.

@bumbleymummy

I think some people seem to be waiting for an instruction to start living their life again as normal rather than just doing it. Restrictions are fairly minimal. I really don’t notice them most of the time. I don’t think my life, on a day to day basis, seems that different to previous years.

You really don't notice that you can't be spontaneous, ever. Everything has to be booked in advance. You don't notice that you have to wear a face mask and sanitise every time you go indoors. You don't notice that you can't attend sporting events, concerts, meals over a certain number. You don't notice that you can't go into your children's school to attend plays or sports days. You don't notice that you can't leave this country. You don't notice how hard it is to visit your doctor. I am sure there are many more things than just the things I have noticed this week

No, I don’t notice a lot of them stopping me living my life. As I said, there are still restrictions but it’s not like we can’t work around them. Some things will take longer to return to normal but in the meantime we can get on with doing the things that we can instead of sitting waiting for everything to ‘go back to the way it was’.

Last year was crap and we missed out on far too much. I’m not going to sit around this year.