How were the lockdowns for you?

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looking back

I work in care. We had no help or support from the government and I worked all hours- it was hell.

Ok. We just continued as best we could. Dh continued going to work. I worked from home for a few weeks then went into the office. Ds's just got on with it. They did their school work, played x box with their friends. We didn't lose anyone, nothing was a major hassle. We coped best we could. It was ok.

Summer was OK. Miserable after that.

I still remember the conga lines in May.

Far more people loved it than would care to admit. Although most on MN will happily reminisce on that golden age of lockdown.

Had to teach from home...
Soul destroying. However as I card for a vulnerable relative, I went out every day to the shops or to their house, so I didn't feel locked down as it were. Some of the decisions in Wales weee perplexing to say the least, but looking back, it was ok for me. My husband went to work every day. So not normality but not awful: bar the reaching online! I hope I don't have to do that again!

It was grim, the parks were packed, work was stressful, DCs were unhappy. The thing which encapsulates lockdown for me is the pressure of the supermarket shop having to buy everything for the family to eat for 7 seven days in one go, the queues, the restricted items. Trying to do it all before starting work at 8:30.

Horrendous. Single parent and childminder. Didn't speak to another adult for months. The government proved they didn't know what we did by changing the rules for us every five minutes. Wasn't entitled to government help. Could just make a living but that was by having different key worker children in my house - but I couldn't see one friend.

DD was the first group to sit GCSEs after it all, which was so hard. DS missed the end of primary and has severe anxiety and social issues now.

However, I did enjoy the slower pace of life and I think that has changed me. I do enjoy a slow morning, a peaceful dog walk, sitting in the garden; instead of constantly arranging big days out etc.

Horrendous. My daughter developed anxiety and depression, self harmed. Zero help or support so we are wiping out our savings for her therapy.

My MIL was abandoned by health services for 2.5 years and has become very ill with dementia, arthritis and her copd is awful. She couldn't access the technology to have online appointments and the people she was supposed to speak to by phone didn't call back when she didn't answer.

I lost my business, my husband has anxiety and is depressed and our marriage is struggling with the after affects.

Obviously there were drawbacks. But I was on furlough throughout my first pregnancy and it gave me time to just relax and prepare for baby. My todler woke me up at 4am this morning and I lay there exhausted, pregnant and ready to throw up and in the knowledge I have a day of work ahead of me, and I thought....ah man I could go for some furlough again!

Takes a special kind of person to talk about "golden times" and "would happily go back" to something you were doing because literally millions of people were dying.
JFC.

What @MysteriesOfTheOrganism said. Every single word.

I now work predominantly from home and it has transformed my life. I've never been more productive at work and am winning awards and so forth.

I will never forget the peace and silence, and that gorgeous spring weather we had in lockdown 1. Out walking I could clearly hear voices on the other side of the valley. It was like going back in time.

Pros and cons.

Pros; furloughed, my family really came together and we had fun, simpler life, couldn't spend so saved a few thousand.

Cons; anxiety about where it would lead and elderly relatives dying (one did).

Fine. I just knuckled down WFH and running. First time I'd had time to watch TV programmes in a decade. No rushing to do the school run. One DC happily did schoolwork, one didn't.

Miserable. Hated working from home and lost tonnes of weight due to never-ending anxiety attacks. Won't comply with it again.

Working in a stressful job from home with two kids there who now regard school as optional...it was hideous. The effects remain now. Eldest child has huge gaps in learning......won't perform nearly as well in GCSEs and should have done. A disaster.

Mostly positive for me. Moved my business online, gained new clients and still offer an online service as an option now which has increased my income. I had the time to do a couple of projects I had wanted to do for years. We have a fairly big garden so spent a lot of time there. We also own a very small piece of woodland but rarely went in as we let our neighbour's children play there.

Loved the extra time with DH and although both of us are "clinically vulnerable" we just got on with things. Stayed in touch with adult DC and their partners via Zoom with regular online drinks and suppers.

I'm aware we were lucky, and I know a lot of people who found it a lot harder.

Magical.

DH and I weren't furloughed, so had no money worries. We both worked from home pre covid, do had no adjustments to make or get used to. We don't have kids, so didn't have to homeschool. After work we would go for a long walk, or a bike ride along empty roads, or sit in the garden. Weekends were spent doing more of the same, and playing boardgames and watching films. It was dreamy.

However, this was peppered with continual, desperate thoughts, of 'What the fuck are the government doing. They can't do this to people. All of those livelihoods destroyed, so many people pushed into social isolation or financial crisis. How is everyone OK with this? Have people lots their minds - why are they clapping for carers like a bunch of brainwashed performing seals? Why are people wearing masks in their own cars!? Why are people jumping into hedges to get away from me when we're OUTSIDE? And am I really hearing the public sentiment correctly - that joggers, cyclists and hikers are selfish idiots putting others at risk, while morbidly obese people are "doing their bit for the NHS" by sitting on the sofa, watching TV and eating banana bread?'

3 kids under 7.
two adults working full time, from home.
my work in particular went crazy in what needed to be done. Furlough not an option for either of us (not available). Basically I worked and felt guilty about my kids and then spent time with my kids and felt guilty about my work.

I still get shaky looking back and thinking about it. And then feel guilty because I wasn’t front line, didn’t have anyone die on me.

Honestly it was awful.

Yes but we now know that 'literally millions of people were dying' WITH Covid and not of it.

I learned how lovely our neighbours are. We became a real team, the able ones looking out for the older or disabled ones across about 20 homes. Nobody had to struggle to get food or medicine, and elderly people living alone knew someone would always drop something off as an excuse for a doorstep chat.

Although there was a lot of uncertainty, I did enjoy the first lockdown.

As a family our days were much more relaxed. We spent quality time together. Dc seemed to enjoy the garden a lot more. We appreciated the smaller things. An example is dp went shopping and called me when he was in the car to say he managed to get a bag of pasta. Dc were dancing around the room as it meant I could make their favorite dinner!

Me and dp were both furloughed. We managed to sort odd jobs around the house. We had a good routine going which involved a walk every day and a family movie every night before bed.

We were in our own little bubble and we loved it.

I was pregnant during the first lockdown and on mat leave during the second. It was awful. The NHS care was disgusting. I felt like society only cared about people with covid and forgot that other things existed. Should never have happened.

I really enjoyed the forced shift from routine and normality. I have fond memories of growing tomatoes in the glorious sun and, it’s hard to describe, but the sense of something big, the weight of it.

BUT I didn’t lose anyone I loved, my job wasn’t at risk, I have a large garden and DD was a toddler so no need to worry about education.

Just because I had a good experience doesn’t mean that I don’t understand it was the worst of times for many.

First one was fine, sunny and a bit of a novelty still for all of us, difficult days but we managed.

Second one schools were still open so as I'm a teacher I barely noticed it.

Third one was appalling in too many ways to get into...I can't talk about it irl without getting a lump in my throat.

I'm single and extremely independent/love my own company so I was shocked by how difficult I found the isolation in the end.

I was working as a caseworker for an MP, so I was getting a pretty good view of how the restrictions were affecting people on the ground.

I remember vulnerable people being promised Red Cross food parcels that never materialised and local charities stepping up to plug the gap.
Really chaotic scenes of people trying to return home from India and Pakistan after lockdown was imposed there.
Lots of neighbour disputes as everyone trapped at home cheek by jowel.
Lots of very basic and urgent housing repairs not done "because of covid"

I kept a diary all the way through, because someone I knew was collecting COVID diaries for an academic project.
When Dominic Cummings gave his evidence to the enquiry, It was fascinating to cross reference his account of the decisions making with my notes of the effect on ordinary people.

For me personally, it was tough but doable.

I used to get everyone breakfast, send the kids upstairs to play while I worked till lunchtime. Then lunch, an hour each of school work and a bit of "outside time". That took us through to evening and another day ticked off.
The kids had this insanely complex months long imaginative game set in "toy land"

I had gall stone pain that couldn't be treated...but it seemed like something to put up with for the greater good.

I remember feeling proud to be coping. And sometimes a bit spun out at the contrast between the dystopian stuff I was dealing with on the phone and the extreme domesticity of my own life.

The toughest part for me was special occasions like birthdays, Easter and Halloween because the kids would expect something special to happen and our options were so limited. There was one particular birthday where I'd bought a pre prepared scavenger hunt which I thought would be a "treat". Noone enjoyed it. There were tears. I felt awful.

My SEN kid did so much better with home learning that we took the decision not to send him back. Now I'm a home educator and I work retail to fit around his needs. So it's completely changed my life in the long term.