How were the lockdowns for you?

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looking back

Why do we even have a covid section on Mumsnet now? We don't have a common cold section do we?

I was suddenly working very long hours but I didn’t mind that. I also got into good habits with eating and exercise. My sleep improved, much to my surprise, although the insomnia came back eventually.

However, my teenagers were desperately unhappy and I was unable to see my elderly mother for many months. And I lost some faith in humanity which I don’t think I’ll regain.

I'm in NZ and I loved the lockdowns. I live alone but managed to fill my days. It was fabulous not to be expected to go anywhere, or do anything, and I quite enjoyed having grocery shopping being the highlight of my week! If it ever happened again I would be equally as happy. We did have fabulous autumn weather however, which helped.

We only had a few weeks of it in Western Australia, so I enjoyed it. We were very relieved not to be in Melbourne, they had a bloody awful time of it. Our borders were shut for a long time which was difficult for many people but worth it as we had a very easy ride compared to most people.

Not much different from my regular life.

DH and I already wfh so that didn’t change. Dd was old enough that she was able to do school largely independently and we were lucky to have her in a school that did great online provisioning.

the only real complication was with the supply chain. For medical reasons I need many particular products that are difficult to find in the best of circumstances. I had to ration things like safe toothpaste and shampoo because the small manufacturers that make the niche products couldn’t get them made. Feeding ASD dd was also tricky. Substituting brands is a huge issue for super-tasters with sensory and food issues.

Overall nice family bonding time.

I was retired so OK, I didn't have the stress of work or DC to sort out

Nightmare trying to support frail elderly parents and ILs both an hour away in opposite directions. My parents were convinced I would be arrested going to help them and MIL got too terrified to even go in her garden. Dad was in and out of hospital and mum, who has alzheimers, couldn't understand the changing restrictions and why she couldn't visit. Dad nearly died because he couldn't get a face to face GP appointment and had a serious misdiagnosis as a result. His balance clinic physio sessions were over the phone, hardly ideal for someone with severe hearing loss so didn't help his frequent falls at all. At one stage I had to tell my mum that dad was very ill (pneumonia and uti on top of heart failure) and it was 50/50 that he would survive but as he wasn't definitely dying she couldn't visit. That time they were separated for 5 weeks.

228,277 deaths directly from Covid-19 in the UK (gov.uk data). It needs to be processed, individually and collectively, for as long as it fucking takes.

The whole home schooling thing was really hard. Trying to teach 3 kids in 3 different year groups, one who has SEN was so difficult. My then DH was working from home so even though he was right there he couldn't/wouldn't help.

Apart from that though, lockdown was pretty lush! We had bbqs for lunch, a nice walk, kids played in the pool and there was no pressure. Take away home schooling and it was fab!

I hated it. It messed with my head. I live alone and worked from.hime. although I spoke to my partner and friends several times a day, the isolation was nearly.my undoing. I stuck to the rules ,unlike some, but the legacy of Covid has really impacted on my life. I have had it because I have ultra careful but I am.a shadow of my former self. Dark dark days.

Meant to say have not had it.

Absolutely horrendous. Not a thing I would ever want to repeat.

Furloughed in the first then made redundant while home schooling a teen so a bit of a mix.

Onboarded into a new job in the second which was a challenge.

By the third we'd got used to it. Ds' school ran a full time schedule on Teams, I was wfh most of the time anyway and it was just business as usual. I'm a single mum so used to being alone a lot of the time.

And I'd just started chemo for breast cancer so I had more important things to worry about. Lockdown 3 actually helped me.

It wasn't the most enjoyable two years of my life 😊

First one was awful as was in process of splitting from ex and we were imprisoned in the same house for weeks. Luckily I was classed as a key worker and able to escape to work. Ex made our DS’ life a misery if he was a few minutes late from a walk etc. By the second we had moved out and it was more relaxed but I had an imposed change of role , all the training was online and no colleagues to bounce off so I still feel I don’t properly know the job. DS took on a night job in a supermarket and I got used to being followed by the police when I dropped him off at 2am . Would not like a repeat .

Got bored, so made a baby 😆 (joking! Partially...)

We loved it, but I admit we were very very lucky - both of us went from office working to wfh in secure jobs, so there were no financial concerns (in fact, we saved loads as no commute/ couldn't go out). No kids, so didn't have to worry about trying to work and look after them. Already married, so no stress about weddings being cancelled, etc. Lived in a house, with a garden and space for us to work separately, so weren't tripping over each other and could sit outside. Both healthy so weren't particularly worried about catching it and didn't lose anyone we knew. Also, both of us are introverted, so while we both enjoy socialising, we didn't feel like we were missing too much iyswim.

I definitely got pretty close to depression WFH 100% and then being in the house constantly. I wasn’t able to go to my dad’s funeral (international) which was pretty traumatic. I felt very disconnected from my home country as their experience and attitudes towards covid were so different too here. I also put on weight that I haven’t managed to shift.

However, in some ways I am nostalgic for lock down, the peace of it - when spring came around this year I had such feelings of nostalgia as that is of course the time of year when we first went into lockdown. We also got a puppy and getting to spend basically his first year with him was such a delight - I’m not sure how we ever would have raised such a brilliant dog if we’d been working full time!

It was all just weird. I look back and think it felt like 2 minutes ago. Then sometimes I look back and can't believe it all actually happened.

I liked being at home more. I still worked but from home and my role largely shut down so I did a few hours a day. I loved having the time with the DC. I liked the low expectations of what to do. That walks and doing stuff around the house and garden became the norm. The slow down at work made me realise I hated my job. So I switched jobs mid 2020. Still WFH now.

Home school was hell. Made me realise just how much my not yet diagnosed autistic DC were struggling. I have refused to do homework with the DC ever since! Not worth the stress.

The worst part about it was that my sibling died of cancer. The last few months I spent with them were clandestine sneaking to visit their home under the pretense of helping someone vulnerable. Although I usually was dropping off food and prescriptions. Then sitting talking to them through the hospice window at the end. The funeral was horrible and I got told off for moving the chairs so I could actually sit next to my own family. But then it was a blessing when there was a big fall out after they died and I could go NC with their in laws under the pretense of lock down.

Awful, I live on my own, have a disabled family member I would normally visit regularly, but obviously couldn't which was really upsetting.

Mentally, it still affects me, it seemed to do something to my confidence and self-esteem 😔

Worked full time, very regimented, on line call centre type, stressful talking to sick people on the phone. Poorly paid.
Children had to do schoolwork themselves.
Resented shopping by myself. All got fat and barely left the house.
Still fat

Rubbish. Really hard.
taken for granted at work.

in fact, not just taken for granted. Pressurised and treated very badly. All in the name of being a hard worker and joy having kids, despite some really major things going on in my family. And then getting told that if I was expecting bad news I shouldn’t be in. But also being told I was expected to be in not matter what because how were they going to cover me.

Trapped with ex for some of the first one - that was fun, not. Almost scuppered long planned house move to get away from ex.

Lockdown did me more harm than Covid, can't believe some people romanticise it. Can't believe the government actually did it.

I stopped obeying any lockdown rules about two weeks into lockdown 1after some ridiculous tape appeared on the local park benches which made me realise how stupid they were - you don't catch a respiratory virus sitting on a park bench in the open air! Jesus!

Lonely. But at least I was still going out to work. I don't think I'd have coped otherwise.

I loved them. I felt it gave me a glimpse into how I wish my life was. Really slow not too many commitments and lots of time with my kids going on walks and baking. They were a nice age then though, now it would probably revolve around minecraft a bit more.

I was acutely aware though that it sort of split society into those that did pretty well out of covid and those who it fucked over. I also actually didn't want my work to close. I work with very vulnerable children and didn't feel it was in their best interests to reduce everyone's timetables so drastically.

Also had a massive fall out with friends because I didn’t understand what they were going through during lockdown because it was so much harder for them because they had kids (I know it was hard. But I was also under immense pressure). It runs a little deeper than that because I always felt they never really listened to anything I had to say unless it offended them. So we no long we speak.