Are you looking forward to the 19th..? Can you slip back in to “normal” life.

[loobyshoes]

As above….

How do you feel? Can just go back to Pre Covid life?

Not till I'm allowed back in the office a bit more (hopefully coming) and definitely not till ds has broken up from school so I don't have to live in constant fear of the text of doom!

Yep. Easily. But, it's not slipping back into normal life, is it? It's just yet another re-adjustment.

Not looking forward to it at all. Idiots on here and from the football this week show that plenty won't be taking it cautiously and will ruin it for everyone

No, because I live in backward Scotland, where Queen Nicola has been saying restrictions until Christmas. Including masks.

As a clinically vulnerable family, no - I'm dreading it. What little freedom we had gained, whilst others were wearing masks and keeping us as safe as possible, is now being eroded. We, and all other clinically vulnerable people, will be at greater risk as a result of everyone else's joy at being "free" from wearing their masks. No-one will care.

My kids class has to isolate for 10 days from yesterday, so nope! Year 1, never had any fun things at school and now even the shit covid substitute fun is off too!

Can't wait and already have several plans.

Nope!

Still have to wear a mask at work. We have a holiday booked in August and we have to book the activities two weeks in advance.

I’ve tried to book a concert but fully booked. I knew this was to be expected, the main thing for us as a family is school. We hope they resemble something more normal come September.

Ive stopped wearing masks in shops though. We have a local precinct near us and not one person had a mask on yesterday so I didn’t feel like a rebel or anything like that.

Given hospitalisations are now increasing exponentially I expect the 'freedoms' will be short lived.

I will be avoiding other people until we are passed the peak.

No change for me, will still need to wear a mask and WFH and start restricting life again

I'm pleased for all those that can get back to work and those that have missed out, but I'm not looking forward to going into shops/cafes/restaurants with increased numbers (which I appreciate they need) but with some people not wearing masks and numbers massively increasing. DH has the attitude we have to move on, but even he's saying if we go out for a meal, it'll be outside and one that is still using the app. I've been in cafes, but I think I'll see my friends in our gardens (luckily I know they really won't mind).

Haven't had guidance from employer yet re masks, but I think most of us will continue as we have a public facing role.

it wont' be "normal". We can still be legally isolated at home for a simple cough or suspected incubation or suspected exposure to covid, and someone on R4 was saying we should treat flu the same. the restriction lift may only be temporary. DC school is continuing with bubbles. Can't easily travel. Foreign holiday quarantine routlette continues. Hand sanitiser & masks requested everywhere. Sustained pressure for next round of jabs. My employer pushing hard for hybrid working to continue. Press briefings, counts of the cases & deaths, hysteria to continue. I can't believe people calling next week 'normal' -- do you totally forget what was normal in 2019?

I am so excited to go to gigs again that I won't actually be able to sleep the night before my first one.

@TheVampiresWife

I am so excited to go to gigs again that I won't actually be able to sleep the night before my first one.

Me too! Can't wait Otherwise my life is already back to normal, I've worked in my workplace throughout the pandemic and apart from gigs & festivals, my social life is mostly get togethers in friends houses/gardens, so I've been doing this for a while now.

I don't feel particularly restricted now, because I didn't go to clubs, gigs, festivals etc. before covid times either. Masks don't bother me at all - most people complaining about masks are just wearing the wrong type of mask for them (a bit like wearing a pair of shoes two sizes too big or small, obviously it would be uncomfortable). Will be avoiding crowded indoor spaces for a while though when infection rates are this high, I'm now double jabbed (as of last week) but don't fancy having covid just now.

I started a new job during lockdown and it's fully WFH so nothing will change there.

No going back to normal. It's bot because Bojo says everything is fine that it actually is. It's not fine. It's not ok. It won't go back to the normal that we know for a long time so no.

This is a long way from over and we are a long way from everything being normal. Particularly for the clinically vulnerable or those who want/need to travel internationally.

My life has been pretty normal for the past few weeks with the exception of wearing masks in shops. I won’t be doing anything differently after Monday apart from avoiding unmasked people, and probably avoiding cafes and restaurants until after the case rate decreases.

The thing I miss the most is travelling abroad, and that’s largely off the cards for a while regardless of “freedom day” - combination of risk of getting stuck/quarantined and the places I want to go not wanting Brits yet anyway.

I'm looking forward to theatre/concerts - first one due to be on 24th July, fingers crossed.

I'm looking forward to spontaneity even more. For example, the other day DC2 wanted to go for a swim, but it took all morning and trying 4 different pools to find one with a slot at any point that day. One told us that the slots sell out a week in advance. I want to visit the new RHS garden but again it sells out a couple of weeks in advance, and I'm not bothered enough to want to spend ££££ go in the driving rain, which is a risk as you're booking too far to know the likely weather. We're going on holiday to Scotland soon, and I've started booking activities and meals out. We'll have a lovely time I'm sure, but they'll be no waking up and seeing where the day takes you.

I have no concerns about wearing a mask on public transport or indoor gatherings. I wear one all day at work, and while I don't exactly relish it I can tolerate them fine.

@PineappleMojito

It’s not going to be anywhere near normal. I wish it was, but it won’t be. Covid, vaccines and restrictions have sown so much division. It’ll take a long time to get back to anything resembling normal and I suspect a lot of places will still insist on masks. And the Covid Pass is coming - we won’t be back to normal any time soon.

100% this

Life is not going back to normal. Places will still insist on a mask and can refuse entry. Travel restrictions are still there and the infections will keep rising. Only thing new will be the division between those that think they can choose to do what they want and those that want us all to continue to wear masks etc. There's going to be riots if we get a heatwave, IMO.

@lljkk

it wont' be "normal". We can still be legally isolated at home for a simple cough or suspected incubation or suspected exposure to covid, and someone on R4 was saying we should treat flu the same. the restriction lift may only be temporary. DC school is continuing with bubbles. Can't easily travel. Foreign holiday quarantine routlette continues. Hand sanitiser & masks requested everywhere. Sustained pressure for next round of jabs. My employer pushing hard for hybrid working to continue. Press briefings, counts of the cases & deaths, hysteria to continue. I can't believe people calling next week 'normal' -- do you totally forget what was normal in 2019?

Agree with this. Many comments on here like 'my life is back to normal except I won't be going to restaurants, will only meet friends in gardens etc..' that's not a normal way to live. Maybe it's what you're comfortable with for now and that's fine. But don't call it normal.

I've been doing pretty much my normal activities since May - I have a toddler so life revolves around daily activities like music and dance class, the library, leisure centre, swimming, soft play, zoo, theatre shows, museums. We don't go to pubs or nightclubs much, so we haven't missed out on those, but we have a festival and some family dance events coming up. Obviously life isn't back to normal with masks and restricted numbers, but I've got used to pre-booking activities (we have activities booked up until September). We're in London so we'll continue using masks on tube and buses.

I've quite enjoyed the quieter public transport and leisure centre so to be honest I was a bit disappointed to get an email saying that class/swimming capacity will increase. Obviously they need the higher revenue and for me it's not out of fear of catching Covid but just enjoying more space in general.

Not really. I'm too scared of my child having to isolate again (ok law changes but no idea whether her nursery or the school she starts in Sep will scrap isolation) - especially in the period between 19 Jul and 16 Aug.

She has been offered precious little transition events and has just 1 opportunity to meet her teacher, so I'm scared of her missing that.

I have already decided not to visit pubs before 16 Aug.

There's going to be riots if we get a heatwave, IMO

Well it appears we are indeed getting a heatwave next week, so we’ll see how that goes!

Agree with @lljkk and @Faffinator that this isn’t any kind of normal I remember, especially where children and young people are concerned. Always slightly perplexed that some people’s ‘normal’ seems to consist of mask-wearing, everything conducted via Zoom and only ever socialising in gardens. Until we have freedom to travel restored, 2019 level spontaneity and no risk of self-isolation life won’t be fully normal for me.