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.

In the second lockdown we did dog walking every week and that combination of lockdown and snow and running around with the dogs and dc will stay with me.

Some funny conversations with dh, humour helped, I’ll forget the annoyances and stressy part though

A few media things that stood out - the nurse crying after a shift when there was no food left struck me, the 8% AZ phase really stressed me late one night, the frustration at people too ready to want all digital for dc (granted not as much irl), the thought of old people isolating in homes and the damage of that - although no easy solution for last

Driving back late from picking up my DD from uni in March and finding the service stations were all closed and seeing fleets of lorries and army trucks on the road. Being really uncertain about what the future would bring.

In fact DD didn't go back to university till September.

Seeing the shelves empty in the supermarket
Lots and lots of walks
The fear when I thought I got it
Clapping for the NHS in the early days
My gratitude at having the vaccination

Another nicer one

Driving and hearing first news on vaccine success on radio

The sun was shining in and I remember where I was and how my heart lifted hearing it - a few times on same drive I’d feel emotional at the bigness of it all and feel a bit teary not in a bad way but just look at all this going on feels strange

Also going to a supermarket after not having been in a shop for a year and crying.

Recieving the first letter to tell me to shield.

Aka: do not go outside, do not have face to face access with people, you can only open a window, do not put your bins out, do not touch anything, do not pass go, do not collect £200 or YOU WILL DIE!

I knew I was vulnerable and had health concerns and problems. Being confronted by a letter from your government essentially saying just sit down and do not move until (what turned out to be August 2020). The food box was... Interesting... Too (and the fact that it had to be sent out too was gutting). The fresh stuff, (potatoes, apples and occasionally carrots) were without fail on the turn and usually mouldy bags of soup.

How quiet the roads were..felt so surreal. Live in a usually busy town and used to seeing so many cars/traffic. To see the odd one go by..so odd!!!

The phone call from work saying we were closing (Nursery) then hearing as time went on about other nurseries having having close permanently and wondering if this would be the case for us.

Some of the posts on here! People being told they were selfish for going out for walks longer then a hour or twice a day..or going shopping more then once a week..or sitting on a bench! It did get so surreal. Luckily most seemed normal but the odd screaming one..made me feel would get judged for having alcohol in my basket then realising no one cared!

One way system..know they were put in place for a reason but it seemed silly to have people go down every aisle and end up spending more time in the shop then probably would.

@OliveTree75

My parents meeting my newborn daughter through a window. I cry everytime I think about it and wish I never let it happen.

This happened to me as well. My dad drove past me the first time I took her for a walk in the pram. He phoned me and we met up on a little farm track so that he could get out of the car and peep into the pram. He wouldn't hold her or touch her, or give me a hug. We were too nervous to stay more than a minute in case anyone saw.

My mum only saw her from the end of the drive while I stood on the doorstep.

Fucking awful.

God so many. I feel like I’m collecting them in a sort of mental photo album sometimes. I started keeping a diary for my DC back before the first lockdown so I wouldn’t forget, but I can’t forget any of it.

Sitting on my bed, home with covid symptoms, holding my baby with covid symptoms, on a work call where they were discussing the latest predictions of total deaths. We weren’t that ill but the weird dissonance between “this is so serious that we need to have this sort of meeting, but because it’s so serious you also need to carry on working through it if you possibly can while looking after your children”, it felt so surreal in the face of such awfulness.

The day the Pfizer results came out. Walking down to nursery pickup in the dark and the rain and my playlist threw up Here Comes The Sun and I just started crying.

Banned from a seeing my horse for the first month of lockdown 1. The yard went into lockdown and al liveries were banned from the yard. The effect on my mental health was awful

Unfortunately for me I only ever witnessed the ‘community spirit’ on the news or social media.

IRL the last 18 months have been a struggle. My mum’s nursing home went into lockdown early March and as she is so poorly I couldn’t make any contact - no phone calls, zoom, nothing.

DH and I are teachers. He went into school to supervise key worker children. Ours were taught by me all day as I taught live to timetable. We couldn’t have to run in school as there was no wraparound club so couldn’t get them there or collect them. All fine but the threads on here about lazy and incompetent teachers battered my mental health.

One good memory is Yr 13s last day this year. They had more time at home than in school for their A-levels (lockdowns, isolations, my school closed twice fully before Xmas) but they never complained and they night me theatre tickets as a leaving present telling me they couldn’t have got through their course without my support.

*ours were IGNORED by me.

I wish I could have taught them!

I still can’t fathom that people let the government dictate to them that they couldn’t see their families. I was pregnant during lockdown 1 and had a young baby during the other 2. Nothing was stopping me seeing my parents and in laws and letting them share in the joy that comes from a first grandchild and I am so glad I let my common sense rule over scaremongering threats that I would “kill” my perfectly healthy non vulnerable parents if I continued to see them. When my friend who had followed all the rules lost her mum in feb suddenly due to a tragic accident and her heart broke that they had spent Xmas and most of the last year apart I knew I had made the right decision for my family.

Also will never forget how quickly people were able to abandon critical thinking and take on “rules” that made absolutely no sense or difference to the covid situation.

My dad, 89, estranged but I phoned him, in tears because he didn't have anything to eat in the house. At all. This was a couple of weeks into lockdown and I was living with my daughter and family, forty miles away, because I'm 'vulnerable'. So, breaking my own lockdown to trawl Bradford and Halifax supermarkets (before everything closed at 8pm, Covid rules) for enough food that he would eat (autistic) and crossing the moors to bring him a food parcel. Seven months before that he'd told me he never wanted to speak to me again. He still feels that way, but he needs his shopping done and the caring I've been doing for the last five months. I'm ok for dog-work. But that was the moment. Racing around for food and driving back to Lancashire when I was supposed to be hiding indoors from the plague. Wondering if I'd be arrested for being out of area.

Later, a happier one - seeing all the families out together walking their dogs.

My DH driving me to my first day back at at school after lockdown to look after key worker children, sometime in April 2020. I was worried about being stopped by the police to see if our journey was essential so held my school ID badge in my hand the whole way there.

And being really excited to find bananas in our local shop!

I really liked the peace and quiet though with hardly any traffic.

I was at work when the school closure was announced. I'm ashamed to say I burst into tears at my desk. It all suddenly seemed so overwhelming.

I remember going to the supermarket when people were stockpiling and seeing an old lady just standing staring at the empty incontinence pad/sanpro aisle and feeling very angry and sad for her. I can still picture her vividly. Awful.

Having s final meeting at work on the Friday night before lockdown on the Monday not knowing when we would reopen again.
Not knowing when i would see my family again.
Finding out i was pregnant with my first 2 weeks later.
Having to go to scans on my own and having a bleed at 18 weeks where my DH couldn't come in with me. Thankfully baby was fine
Doing the shopping on my own as DH was vulnerable and was wfh. Supermarkets were so different.
Not being able to see my auntie before she passed away earlier this year from cancer

Sending love to those who have last loved ones

Hearing that the first vaccine was approved for use on the radio on my way to work (NHS) I cried most of the way to work with relief and hope.

I have flashbacks about giving birth during the first lockdown that I can’t really talk about let alone type.

But one thing that stays with me is the realisation that for many people, even on a forum aimed at parents, maternity care is a luxury that women don’t really deserve and they can barely contain their delight at pregnant and birthing women getting some sort of comeuppance, even if that means via a pandemic.

I have never been frightened of Covid.

The empty shelves and panic buying were very scary in the first couple of weeks, not helped by the coverage on TV showing people fighting over loo rolls. Eventually DH persuaded me that I should be the one who went to the supermarket and it was the best thing he did as it showed me there was plenty of food and we were not going to starve.

Rushing out of work after hearing there was an ambulance arriving for my covid positive grandmother. I'd kept away from her for months but knew in my heart I wouldn't see her again. Arrived and was pleasantly surprised to see her sitting up in the ambulance telling jokes to the paramedics. Told to her to behave herself and we'd see her soon. Her little fingers poking through the open window flap waving as they drove away. My aunt calling 10 days later during her 1 hour end of life visit so we could say goodbye, knowing she could live for another week but feeling grateful that she passed away 12 hours later so less time for her to be on her own. Unable to give her the full Irish wake she so deserved, she was such a character we were robbed of all the stories of her life from friends and neighbours.

The fact that we willingly complied with being told who we could and couldn’t have in our own homes actually makes my brain hurt. Never ever again will I let someone dictate who I can have in my house.
I will never spend a Christmas without my family again. I cried and cried when Christmas was cancelled where I live in Essex.

I work for a large NHS acute trust and as part of my role attend all Trust Board meetings. The memory of the March 2020 meeting will stay with me forever I think. It felt like standing at the edge of a precipice; plans were all in place but nobody had any real idea what we were actually facing (and at that point we hadn't had a single Covid case in the hospital).

We talked about the local authority's plans for additional mortuary capacity as well as an expanded service on site, the reorganisation of the entire hospital, the sorts of decisions that might need to be taken about who did and didn't get treatment, and support and communications plans for the first and subsequent staff deaths. Everyone had spent the previous few weeks feverishly planning, but speaking to the non-exec directors that day felt like the first time we had really had the opportunity and space to step back and speak to 'outsiders' about it all. The enormity of the challenge suddenly really hit home.

Our Chair stood up at the end and gave the most inspiring, but portentous speech and I just remember all the heads bowed. We didn't even have MS Teams set up at that point so our non-execs had all dialled in for the first time ever, and for one of them it was their last meeting after quite a few years service. I remember his voice cracking as he gave a farewell speech and telling us that we could get through this.

And actually we have got through it. It's been bloody hard at times, but fortunately never as bad (to date..) as anticipated at that March 20 meeting.

Missing my dads funeral because I had covid.

Hearing on the radio that 7 people had died in China. I said to my child at the time that it must be serious if they are reporting it worldwide, then the following day 15, then 30, then 100 etc etc. U started to worry then.

Seeing someone in mask in the very early days and thinking they were being a bit OTT.

Washing my shopping, long ques, empty shelves, not being able to buy soap or hand sanitizer anywhere.

The eerie silence outside (I live on a busy road), no traffic bar the odd ambulance siren was weird.

Walking to the hospital and seeing big white tents was like something out of a movie.

The announcements on the tv and all the family gathering to hear updates.

The helicopters, I remember thinking the government were checking to see if people were outside.

The boredom, lonliness and the anxiety of it all.

The posts and arguments on here.