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.

I have never felt greater despair than I did that night. The sheer indignity of it all.

The three nights in a row when I was ill with COVID and was frightened to go to sleep because I could barely breathe.

@Dogmalysis

Honestly. The night I had 6 deaths on my ICU alone. The mortuary porters were so backed up that the dead lay in their body bags in between the living and we couldnt pull the curtains around because it restricted the view of all the patients the single trained ICU nurse in the bay was supervising.

That...... that is difficult to ever forget! Hugs and handholding to all who have gone through this. You are real heroes. And to all of us who have lost a dear one.

When I read on here that using butter in your coffee instead of milk was acceptable because going to a shop to buy milk was going to kill someone. I’ll never forget the sheer madness from some of the threads on here.

Yes, though I think that particular example was misinterpreted.

I can 100% vouch for the thread that said a person sitting on a bench eating a packet of crisps during lockdown 1 was a murderous bastard though. It was insane on here.

I learnt I need to shield my dc from the news better or be more open. Because ds1 panicked and assumed I was going to die when I was admitted for reduced movement (I was 32 weeks pregnant then). I didn't want to worry him about the pregnancy just told him I was going to for a check up at the hospital to check baby.

When I was admitted for steroids, ds1 overhead it and started to panic I was going to die. I had diabetes and went to hospital where lots of people were dying from covid after all.

His six year old mind just went to panic mode.

Don't listen to news in front of young children. It was strange he also picked up people with diabetes being more vulnerable to covid. I really under estimated him and what having the news on in the background could do.

Not to mention having to reassure him using WhatsApp video. I have never been more grateful for technology, than I was then.

Hearing that a friend was hospitalized with COVID early in the pandemic. He died leaving a wife and two teens. Awful.

Sorry for everyone’s losses and difficult experiences

My friend sending me a Whatsapp photo early on in the lockdown of armed military in armoured vans outside her apartment window.

We had one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe (no daily walks allowed, police at supermarket doors) and she was stuck in a 2-bed apartment with toddler twins and soldiers with guns on the street outside her door.

I live in the mountains so was far away from the 'action', but that was the moment it really hit me how serious this was going to be.

The sheer pulsating panic of our local supermarket just before the first lockdown, with the police patrolling the aisles to make sure nothing kicked off.

@rottd

crazy MNs posters who would run into their garden if neighbours went into theirs, who claimed bread & milk weren't essentials & who would post things like "I went to the park today & I couldn't believe how busy it is, we are in a lockdown people"! And the general stupidity & lack of critical thinking amongst the population was a real shock to me.

I agree.

It's the extremes of behaviour that caused close to civil unrest (virtually in case of MN!).

People thinking they have the right to tell someone what constitutes essential shopping. Going as far as thinking if you've gone out for bread and milk (essential) putting cake and chocolate in your basket was akin to a hangable offence.

I was working as a keyworker and I do think being out and about meant having less of a fear of being out and about. I was extremely cautious and careful (but already had it when we went into lockdown 🤦🏼‍♀️).

I was also shopping for my parents who were both shielding and having chemo at the time.

I'm still amazed that 1 1/2 years on there's people quarantining shopping and post for 3 days.

And yes to "we went out. I can't believe other people had the audacity to do the same - it meant lots of people were out"

Crying on the kitchen floor after a hard day trying to wfh with a 3yo and 1yo at the height of first lockdown. The numerous times I've cried since and thinking about how much social aspects of things my kids have missed out on in the past 2 years. Thinking everyday that if I die tomorrow I would have spent the last 2 years of my life so mundanely. I was so angry China didn't shut its borders and stop the virus spreading, esp as they cut off internal flights from and to wuhan

Being told that sleepsuits for my baby were not an essential purchase by a random person in the supermarket. This was when most places had suspended online ordering and delivery during the first weeks of the first lockdown.
Being turned away from a shop as I had my baby son with me. Told I should be shopping alone- but difficult when my husband was deployed so there was no one to be at home with him.
Managing to get some formula for my friend’s baby, calling her and she was in tears when I told her as she only had enough for 2 more days otherwise.

The memory that sticks with me is when the announcement that schools were closing came out it was initially quite vague about the status of 'vulnerable' children. My DC's special school initially said they were staying open for all children and I remember reading the guidance myself and thinking "I think you've got that wrong". My DH and I sat there agonising over what to do as my DC had only just started and was loving it and I couldn't believe we might have to pull him out. When school got back in touch saying they'd had further advice and they would be closing except for key worker children and those who really couldn't be at home I cried and cried.

Then when they reopened in June I cried again and my DH & I sat around the dinner table begging to hear all about the day as DC was the only one of the 3 of us who got to be anywhere but home!

The day that we went in to lockdown in March last year, before it was actually officially announced but it was all over the news etc so we expected it. I stood in the kitchen and burst in to tears because I just felt so helpless and frightened of the unknown.

Seeing pictures of elderly people trying to do their shopping but being faced with bare shelves. Heartbreaking, and to think lots of elderly people probably had nobody to help them or check on them.

@feelingdizzy

Telling my teenagers that their Dad had died from Covid .

As a poster somewhere above said "I realised people were buying extra, so I bought extra". That is exactly the point I was trying to make. Did we run out of loo roll at any point? No, we didn't. Did we run out of food? No. There is no need to panic buy. Have a thought for the elderly, or disabled who cant travel miles to find toilet paper. I stand by my point, it's selfish.

@Tjsmjs

Being told that sleepsuits for my baby were not an essential purchase by a random person in the supermarket. This was when most places had suspended online ordering and delivery during the first weeks of the first lockdown. Being turned away from a shop as I had my baby son with me. Told I should be shopping alone- but difficult when my husband was deployed so there was no one to be at home with him. Managing to get some formula for my friend’s baby, calling her and she was in tears when I told her as she only had enough for 2 more days otherwise.

That's awful and such a scary time for new mums. It's unforgivable really.

People forget not many have the luxury of a partner being at home every day and taking the kids to the shops couldn't be avoided.

Coughing in a and early march 2020 before it had all kicked off and being amused at a few people side eyeing me. Joking to the triage nurse it wasn't covid (pneumonia and worsening asthma so in hindsight who knows) and her laughing and saying it hadn't even crossed her mind.

Video calling my mum dad and sister in tears when BJ announced the 1st lockdown as my nearly 2 year old wouldn't see them and them reassuring me it was "only for 3 weeks"

A and e not a and early

The silence in the skies. Seeing pictures of the canals in Venice, full of fish.

A ‘friend’ posting on fb about people going for walks that were longer than an hour and being too far from home (a direct dig at me, who was walking around 16 miles a day, as I was building up strength after hip replacement surgery), saying that those people had blood on their hands. I rarely came across another soul, as I live rurally.

Sanitising my hands before and after every gate and stile.

Appreciating my home and garden so very much.

Saying hello to people in the street and seeing the fear on their faces because I’d spoken.

The rubbish left in beauty spots.

@Arsebucket I wasn't in much longer with my 2nd section pre COVID.
One night on ward only. 4 days with other two but with third that was due to other issues.

Hearing about the abandoned care homes in Spain (Feb/March.) The authorities found no staff and some dead residents and some alive. I am welling up now thinking about that. The fear that drove staff to flee and those poor residents. That was the moment I knew it was serious.

People being surprised by the fact we were locking down and not having prepared themselves both practically and mentally weeks before and then panicking.

Going to school that last day and being grabbed by the normally most together parent who asked me how i was feeling. I told the truth and she said thank good you said that i thought i was going mad.

Reducing the unflappable Head to tears at the end of the day.

A WhatsApp conversation with DS's class parents and them talking about how long it would be. Then the genuine shock and being told i was being pessimistic and ridiculous when i said restrictions would be on and off for 12 - 18 months whilst they sorted a vaccine. They really made me feel like shit with that one.

Going for walks in the evening when it was deserted everywhere. I miss this.

Teaching my 5 year old to read and him having that light bulb moment i wouldn't normally have had.

Lockdown snow.

Desperately trying to buy the exact brand/ very limited foods ARFID child would eat and bring told I could only have two when I found them. Well that's wasn't going to last long.

Also, probably the biggest one for me was giving birth during the first lockdown.

• the anxiety I felt beforehand after having a traumatic birth with DD1 never mind Covid anxiety
• having to go in alone, wait for my partner to be allowed in, and then only having about an hour together before he had to leave again
• that first night in hospital alone. Healing from a section, anxiety and knowing I wouldn’t have the support of my partner the following day
• crying hysterically in the hospital because I couldn’t pee after the catheter was removed and I was terrified I’d be stuck in there for another 24 hours
• my baby’s blood results coming back and then potentially having to keep us in for light therapy
• when I was told her latest results showed a decline in bilirubin levels so we could actually go home that evening. I cried, the midwife cried and we hugged. Afterwards she obviously felt awkward she’d hugged me but she understood how much I was struggling in the hospital setting and she was just so relieved for me that I’d be able to go home
• that feeling of sheer relief stepping through the front door of my house knowing I was home
• spending months in the house with two under 2, it was suffocating at times
• developing PND for the second time
• the relief I felt when I found out if you had a baby under 1 you could have a support system with one other household. Life saver for me because otherwise I’d have been entirely alone with two small kids for the most of the day (partner was a key worker)

Looking back, it was really tough. I think I’ve suppressed a lot of memories though. And I do worry about what the vast periods of isolation have done to my kids. My youngest (lockdown baby) is quite cautious about new environments and I can’t help but feel that’s because we were indoors in the same house for so many months on end.

Watching the news of the lockdown was very surreal and scary. Never thought for one moment it would be over in a few weeks.

Food shortages and delivery slots, now I will always ensure we have good stocks in at home.

Watching people rally together at the start quickly turned into watching/hearing so many not bothering to follow the rules and only thinking of themselves. The selfishness of some will remain with me for a long time.