Covid Lockdown - 5 years today

I got admitted to James Cook with kidney stones just a few weeks into Covid and it was bloody scary. Basically couldn't leave a side ward for six people until my surgery. Couldn't fault the nursing staff but sometimes it felt like the blind leading the blind because this thing was so unknown. I didn't envy them one bit that's for sure.
 
I remember doing a live stream performance for someone too, they had a few local artists playing. That was pretty cool.
 
At the start it was scary but had its positives, staying at home playing with our 3 year old, spending a lot of time together as a family. Trying to WFH with a toddler in the house was tricky. I also remember lining up all our paracetamol in the house on one shelf in preparation for the inevitable, when it was still not fully known how dangerous it was.

Then we had to say goodbye to our unborn baby at 15 weeks. Quickly became the most awful time of our lives.

The second (winter) lockdown was truly grim and I’d had more than enough.

If it happened again there are certain rules I wouldn’t follow, that always seemed mental at the time, but I’d follow most. My kids couldn’t play with the neighbours’ kids in the street but we could sit in a pub with strangers as long as you wore a mask when you went for a ****? It was nuts.
 
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Strange days indeed. I was living with my parents at the time and working on a Health and Safety critical job at a college in Kent with 2 other guys from Teesside meaning I had to drive down there every week. We were initially staying in a pub hotel but they shut down and we ended up living in student accommodation. The 3 of us drank and ate aplenty and I undid most of the good work done up until February when I was the slimmest I'd been for decades. The roads down there were madly quiet, making journey time of 4 hours... unthinkable now. The weather was so good for weeks and it made Lockdown 1 bearable, along with the novelty value. Queuing in shops and following a one way system.

My daughter was due to do her GCSEs and had them assessed on mock results and also had her prom cancelled. It really was hard on the kids.

I remember the way things opened up slowly and gatherings starting up again, only to be taken away again. Eat Out to Help Out...that was nuts in hindsight, Rishi. The impromptu but distanced front garden parties for VE day. My 50th birthday being a week of small parties to keep to the rule of 6. Christmas and the constant changes to the rules right up the day. The last lockdown after Christmas was brutal and awful, little did we know they were partying in Downing Street. The joy of the vaccinations and life becoming normal again...then having a heart attack in October 21 and spending most of the next month without visitors allowed in hospital in Norwich waiting for my bypass operation. Wild times.

Started reading that article about other pandemics coming and decided not to. I'd rather not think about it!
 
I used to get very worried when i drove to my mums to make her dinner and tea and make sure she got to bed ok each day, The roads were really quiet and i was always afraid i would get pulled over by the police.
Who would have thought others were having a party. !!
 
It was such a strange time, almost difficult to really put it into words. I’d got married in February, not long back from my honeymoon and almost definitely had COVID and WFH before it was made mandatory. To come from such a huge high to lockdown, don’t think it fully sank in at the time.

I remember having all these high hopes and goals to achieve while having the ‘time’ that lockdown gave, I’ll be honest if I knew where I’d be with those goals now at the time I’d be very disappointed, but I bet that’s the same for the majority of people.

Me and my wife joke to ourselves sometimes ‘wouldn’t mind another cheeky lockdown’, as a couple who enjoy our own company, obviously not all the negative stuff that came with it, but the quiet peacefulness that came with it, if you know what I mean.

The second lockdown was brutal though. Also would never ever want to experience football with crowd noise again.
 
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Norman_Conquest said:
Five years ago today, we were told to batten down the hatches to keep each other safe.

At times, it feels like a lifetime ago; at others, just yesterday.

What are your lockdown memories? And if faced with the same situation again, would you follow the rules?

Mainy adhered strictly to the first lockdown, driven by fear and uncertainty, but scandals like Partygate eroded trust in our leadership and I'm not so sure people would be as willing to comply today.

One of my lasting memories will be sitting on the drive celebrating the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Everyone in our grove did the same and although we adhered to social distancing, he seemed like we were socialising with others.
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From a purely selfish point of view i have great memories of it. A much simpler way of life, no commuting, kids at home. The weather was incredible too. It helps that i'm not particularly sociable.
Must've been a nightmare for those who lived on their own, or had no outside space.
 
I’m a bit of an introvert at times so avoiding people was great for me. Any people planning to visit (in-laws) were shooed away as it was illegal to visit me.
I was on furlough too, so my memories are of hot tubbing and getting Brewdog delivered. Queuing for food, hot tub filters became hard to find as did a lot of things.

Mrs smoggs worked on the Covid wards and became ill, that was a horrible experience.

But being locked in a house full of things I like with beers and one hour walks with my young dog are the type of days I’ll never get back. Most my hobbies are home based.
 
My son was one so it was nice to spend time with him. My partner was a school teacher and would have to do zoom classes so I would fit my meetings around her. Tried to keep my team entertained by monthly quizzes and drinks over teams on a Friday afternoon etc. I remember visiting my parents in their garden which I accessed via the garage. Tried to keep in touch with friends who lived alone etc.

I am pleased our son was only one. Yes he missed out on some baby classes etc but I’m sure it was much harder for people with had older kids or people just starting adventures like first year at uni or travelling etc.

Since Covid I have found out I have a heart issue which two doctors suggest was caused by vaccine. I blame supporting Boro lol.

UTB.
 
I'll be honest - I worked from home all the time anyway and was part of the government services that still needed to function so...I worked from home. The things that changed were a lack of being able to go to the pictures, pubs, restaurants, football, holidays both domestic and abroad.

I think as I have gotten older I am becoming more of an introvert as opposed to the slightly extroverted person I was up to around 40'ish and it didn't bother me terribly. We were lucky, having a good sized house & garden and when the sun shone it wasn't bad at all. I do however echo the sentiment that for people on their own, in smaller accommodation and without any outside facilities it must have been nightmarish.

I would hope that we never have to experience it again, and to be honest I'm unsure the population would be as willing to go back into lockdown despite the risks. I could be wrong but so many sceptics / conspiracy nuts have convinced people it was not such a big deal and that vaccinations are more lethal than Covid itself.
 
I had just started a new franchise business, in an area 150 miles from my family. I lived on my own, they only people I knew were the staff that I had just employed. I was really worried about how I could support my employees and how I could get the business going safely. Lockdown was horrible for me, I have some health issues which worsened in the lockdown. My adult children both caught covid and struggled to support themselves, I wish that I had been nearer to help.
The franchisor withdrew all support from me, as they furloughed the management, leaving me to try to find the best way forward. I reopened after lockdown, but never managed to build enough momentum before being locked down again.
When I got my first jab, the next day I got a letter telling me that due to my health issues I should have been isolated.

Eventually the business went bust, which enabled me to move back closer to my kids. The whole experience cost me over £100k, but when I look back at it I am relieved that we survived health wise. I feel so sorry for everyone that lost loved ones.

If there is another pandemic, I probably wont live through it again.
 
I’d just started my own business. It could have been disastrous. It wasn’t.
I was building glass boxes around essential workers work stations non stop.

My youngest was in halls at Leicester uni when she contracted Covid and self isolated.

She came out of isolation into the first hard lockdown. It was a Red Dwarf “everybody’s dead Dave” like experience.

I drove down an empty motorway network and brought her home. She was traumatized.
 
I loved it, no commuting, worked away prior to lock down, got sent home and have worked from home for 3 years after until changed job so could go back in to office a bit more. Now got good wfh / office balance.

Never had to visit or interact with the people I don’t really want to simple excuse to get out of it.

Spent time with kids n wife and kids had loads more free time.

Downside was mother died and had to invite people to funeral and tell others not allowed to come as had no space. Horrible thing to say to somebody wanting to pay respects.

On another note someone who my mam didn’t know pushed himself in to funeral to get some likes for his influencer social media career. Never spoke to him before or since…
 
I actually travelled during Covid which was quite an experience, with hardly any passengers on planes or in the airports not to mention the roads or beaches —although I was tired of having a cotton swab constantly stuck up in my nose. My favourite place to travel during Covid was Arizona although I thought Kuala Lumpur was probably the best experience where sanity prevailed. However, like some have suggested that time on the planet is best forgotten.
 
When social distancing rules allowed visitors, we invited a colleague of mine over, as she lived alone. While we were sitting in the garden, a drone appeared and hovered over us for some time.

The next day, my wife and I were in the garden again when the drone reappeared. When it showed up for a third time, I decided to report it to the police. They said they’d look into it, but we never received an official response.

Then, on my way to the supermarket, I spotted a policeman outside Teesville School (formerly Ravensworth School) launching a drone. Turns out, the buggers were spying on us to make sure we were following the rules!
 
COVID for me seemed to be the issue that gave liars, nutters and extremists on social media some kind of empowerment to act as they wish.
The growth in conspiracy theories and mock expertise seems to have grown exponentially since then. It felt like people wanted to believe they were being lied to by governments and scientists so they could justify acting contrary. Anything backed by science now seems like it is open to criticism and ridicule if not outright hostility.
I don't think the World has every recovered from that and with the Lying Orange Lunatic and his cronies ensconced in USA government we have little chance to for the forseeable future.

If there is a similar situation again I can see a lot worse response from people which could lead to more deaths and civil unrest.
 
My overriding memory is of the government trying to make a buck on the back of people health.

10's of thousands died because the government couldn't resist the gift.

Asredastheycome is still paying for the greed of the very rich.
 
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