What one moment will always stay with you from this?

[Ostryga]

Mine was realising panic shopping was everywhere, and that I needed to buy an entire food shop for Dd and I before lockdown.

I cried when I found a shop with chicken and milk.

The fear I felt of the virus at that time, and also not being able to make sure we had food is something I hope to never repeat.

My OH kept going into his office near Moorgate in London a couple of times a week. He was sending me pictures and videos of the city of London absolutely deserted.

Cancelling our wedding. Before the lockdown DH and I had a serious conversation where he was of the opinion we should cancel (we would have ended up being forced to cancel anyway as it was meant to be during lockdown 1), and I was in tears thinking how could he suggest such a thing. I then heard of a distant family friend who got married 2 weeks before and had people catch covid at her wedding. Knowing that I was responsible for elderly relatives was a huge burden so we then cancelled the wedding. As this was just a week before the lockdown, the venue and suppliers were difficult about it, which added more stress.

Some people just completely lost their minds back in spring 2020.

Not any of the clairvoyant virologists on this thread though

My two key moments were the pictures from the funeral of the 13 year old boy last April - his parents and siblings not able to attend due to isolating - and the smirking Dominic Cummings leaving the Rose Garden press conference, knowing he'd got away with it. The contrast in levels of privilege and entitlement.

I think this thread should be compulsory reading for those that are judging those who are struggling with return to normal life. We have all been through extreme experiences - in many cases life changing and traumatic. It is no wonder that so many are struggling with the impact of these experiences on their mental health.

The day in March 2020 when my DS moved out because he worked in a very public role and was afraid of bringing the virus home. I was very high risk (cancer treatment and other health issues). I sobbed for a week.

Two:

Walking down the corridor to ICU in level 3 PPE with tears rolling down my face. No one could see but I wanted to hide it from the junior colleagues I was trying to support. We were all terrified.

Speaking to a man’s wife on the phone to tell her he was just about holding his own but the next 24 hours were crucial. She wasn’t allowed to visit. He died.

The cruelty of it all.

I remember the kindness and people reaching out to help.

Notes through the door "i'm your neighbour call me if you need anything "

People helping doing shopping and dog walking. People banding together and being supportive. Donating to food banks.

Offering on line courses, music making, reading etc. I remember the generosity.

And the locked parks being on open 24hrs. The walks with family late into the evening in that good weather.

This was the good stuff. I'm not thinking about the flip side right now.

On MN I remember 2 things distinctly which have not aged wel

When discussing buying food, supermarkets, should you buy in extra, and this was in the crazy days just before actual lockdown. The poster who said

" why would I get food in? If I can't get to the supermarket. I'll get them to deliver....."

🤣 You couldn't get a delivery for love nor money.

On hand gel. Endless threads on here about how you didn't really need it. In true MN style it was deemed frivolous and unnecessary.

" just use soap and water duh "
"I'll be just taking a flask of water and flannels with me"

We are literally bathing in the stuff now😁

When my 3 Yr old DS told me he didn't want to go outside (into our enclosed garden) because of the germs outside

My daughter qualified as a doctor last year and I remember her saying on the phone that she had imagined she would be saving lives or improving the quality of peoples lives but she had seen over 200 patients that she had worked with die - a sobering thought. It included a 30-something guy who she knew by name and face as a runner from the uni running club - no underlying health issues - he even worked at the hospital. She had part of the examination process cancelled (which she was actually well prepared for and looking forward to), no graduation, her trip around half a dozen European countries had to be cancelled (lost money on that), no graduation ball and she went straight in to work... and she has an eating disorder. I know she finds peace in climbing and running (which she now has to limit) - she is perhaps the most amazing people I have ever known - she's been in full blossom since about the age of 5 but it's been a hard year and a half.

Saying bye to our favourite cafe. DH and I tried to have a child free brekkie there once a week. It was the last day open and v empty. Mar 2020 when things were still very unknown. As we stood up to leave, I just said aloud bye bye cafe. That was it for months. Of all things, that's the one I'll always remember.

Lying in the bath in early May last year—when cases were high in my town—watching ambulance after ambulance streak past on the road below, blue lights flashing, but silent.

Opening my 3rd floor bedroom window in the middle of the night in May last year and just wondering what would happen if I fell out of if. I didn't actually want to do it, just to clarify. I was just feeling really lonely after not seeing anyone and WFH. I live alone and have no family nearby. I put a post on Facebook asking people to post jokes and generally happy things to help make me feel better. Even though it was about 1.30am, plenty of people did, and it really did cheer me up. I felt a bit less alone after that. And I haven't wondered about falling out of my window since!

The battle for delivery slots is one I’ll never forget, either.

I was lucky in that I could get click and collect slots most weeks (I had worked out what time the slots “went live” so I was able to get in early). Was a life saver for me as I didn’t want to go into Asda a couple of weeks away from giving birth with a 1 year old in tow (partner was working all the hours at this point).

I remember the fear surrounding getting formula and nappies in. There was one point where I was genuinely terrified I wouldn’t have these essential items. I also remember going around a few shops trying to get some cleaning products and literally everything but a few bottles of bleach was gone. No soap, no sanitizer, no regular kitchen/bathroom cleaner, nothing.

My friends in retail jobs telling me about going into work and seeing the bare shelves everywhere. The desperate wait for deliveries only for the stock to sell out within half an hour of being put on the shelf.

I also remember very clearly being signed off work due to being in my third trimester. No furlough at this point. Just SSP. We obviously had not budgeted for that much of an income fall in the weeks leading up to me giving birth. Then the weeks of hoping for furlough to apply. The relief when it was confirmed it would. Shortly followed by annoyance as I was missing wages and had to spend months chasing this up while having a newborn at this point. I couldn’t afford to let several hundred pounds “go”.

Honestly, the more I think about last year, the more awful memories it brings back. I was very lucky (so far) not to have lost anyone to Covid, but fuck it was hard.

It was so hard on my poor mum and dad, too. My sibling who has severe autism’s world was turned upside down. No adult centre to go to 5 days a week. At home 24/7. My mum didn’t get a break for so many months. Then all the rules about not leaving your house and her wondering how on earth she was going to cope with his routine which needs to be followed exactly. Luckily, she was able to get a letter from the GP in case she was stopped.

I remember a thread quite similarly on here with a mum asking if she could go to the beach twice a day with her child who had autism. So many posters were so cruel.

I used to wait up until midnight (not easy for me when pregnant) to book delivery Tesco slots when they were released for my dad who lives the other side of the country.

I’d forgotten about that.

Honestly right now watching the closing ceremony of the Olympics. Its the sort of the thing I can imagine telling my grandkids about in thirty years time

I've got a few moments that I think have really stuck in my mind:
-Shopping as lockdown was due to be announced and people on the brink of physically fighting over remaining items. I remember just leaving the trolley and walking back to the car and thinking "I'll fix this somehow"- managed to get all delivered to me for us, my parents and 2 x elderly neighbours, which we have basically done repeatedly ever since.

-Visiting a school mum friend living in a two bed flat with her husband, two children and sister who all had Covid. Had to deliver groceries to her through a glass door with a partition to her building and collect a prescription. She's not slept in days and is never seen any other adult standing looks so dreadfully ill.
-Being forwarded a watsapp voice note of the barely recognisable voice of a family friend from inside hospital who had come off a ventilator a few days prior. The contents of that message haunt me to this day, was so chilling.

-The fakery of our child's SENCO calling to find out if we were okay when they'd made it clear they couldn't give a sh** about our child months before, denying provision and then having the cheek to try and blame it on Covid. We had of course we had established our own home school arrangements by then anyway I was just breathless at the faux concern that clearly served as some useless box ticking excercise .

-Christmas day was the lowest I think I've felt for many reasons- but having to keep a smile on throughout.

-The PPE scandal early on

-Care homes stories

-The consistent rage I've felt towards the Tories even until today

I was proactively bulk purchasing (not known as panic buying yet!) grocery staples particularly long life items back in February 2020 wearing a makeshift hazmat suit complete with head gear, mask and gloves.

This was easy to do as it was back then a surprise to other shoppers who were unaware that a global medical war was about to hit us. I was at the time hoping this was unnecessary but just in case as with Brexit. I was more concerned that this pandemic may be used like Brexit as an excuse for supply chain issues similar to how recent and now frequent extreme weather of heat waves and flooding can be used as an supply excuse or surge yo-yo pricing etc.

The Italian news broke a few weeks later and then of course long after I filled my boots when no one was interested - all the supermarket shelves were surprisingly stripped off bathroom tissue of all things and not food and drink as you would expect if a pandemic emergency was to kick off. Why toilet paper and not food? Obviously you can survive with plumbing and hot running water but not food! If absolutely necessary you can wash as in Japanese style toilets etc. Having toilet issue is normal but unlike food survivable!

So bulking buying in supermarkets and subsequently seeing mass public panic buying bare shelves weeks later was the long lasting impression of this pandemic so far!

It was last week of May 2020. Scotland so DS didn't return to school until the Autumn term. Playgrounds were still chained up ( and continued to be until end of June 2020).

But garden centres had been opened and I had the week off so I thought I'd go out for a look. Tried three and every single one had a long queue of frail, elderly people queueing to go inside. It just seemed so wrong that the most vulnerable were allowed to be out and about whilst our DCs continued to languish alone with no face to face education or young DCs allowed to use play parks.

Feeling like my whole life is controled by powers outside of our control. Wondering if my life will ever be normal again...

This is making my emotions jump all over the place reading these - I am crying but also laughing reading these and it’s amazing to reflect on what a crazy time it’s been. We have just lost my FIL of cancer as he didn’t get the treat he would have done if covid hadn’t happened so it’s been a really hard 18 months and I totally relate to a lot of these experiences.

The small things:
Signs on the locked up playgrounds warning you away.
A large pub garden with the wooden tables, half sunken in near thigh high grass by June.
Walking along a secluded wooded path and seeing a load of chopped hair on the floor under a tree where someone must have gone for a clandestine outdoor haircut.

One thing is I’m really pleased to be moving in from huge amount of anti U.K. sentiment that circulated.

Look at how much we’ve been through it has not been easy

@Arsebucket

I used to wait up until midnight (not easy for me when pregnant) to book delivery Tesco slots when they were released for my dad who lives the other side of the country.

I’d forgotten about that.

I remember doing this! DD still had night feeds and I'd book mine and my mum's in the early hours of the morning because that's the only time you could get on reliably.

the scariest moment for me was when formula was sold out everywhere and my milk supply wasn't enough to keep DD well fed. She had terrible colic (which later turned out to be CMPA) and we had found one that didn't upset her too much. It was a blind panic moment not knowing what I would do as she was way too little to wean.

grocery staples particularly long life items back in February 2020 wearing a makeshift hazmat suit complete with head gear, mask and gloves

Is this a joke? Shopping in a hazmat suit?

@MRex

April 2020 - sitting in the hot garden playing with DS and hearing ambulance after ambulance rush by. It turned out later another hospital was full, so they were bringing patients over. My grandmother taught me to say "wish them well" when we heard an ambulance and DS learned it that day.

December 2020 - the announcement of lockdown the day before we were due to swap family Christmas presents, and the horror of realising I wouldn't see my family for months. Those presents sat in piles in the back room until March and made me cry many times just for missing my mum. Lucky only one was perishable and had to be replaced.

I also remember ambulances. We live on a B road that links to an a road that takes you to the two nearest proper hospitals and there are a lot of care homes at the end of our road, close to the town centre. The roads were so quiet at the beginning of the first lockdown, the sound of the sirens really travelled. There were a lot of ambulances in lockdown 1.