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I was speaking to friends at work about Covid lockdowns. What a wild time 😂. I remember people arguing with others because they weren't following Asda's one way sysyems 🫠
Yes, it's weird to realise that it's now part of history: that everyone has moved on and lives with covid as just another danger that's out there, the way we live with the 'flu.
I still remember the date of the weekend when lockdowns kicked in and we were informed, by WhatsApp, that starting Monday, nobody would have physical, face-to-face classes: an entire university of 23 000 students went virtual overnight.
That was 23 March 2020 - the day the world seemed to change irrevocably and forever, although it has now become just a little blip in history.
Thanks for your reminder, jj :thumb: What sticks out to you about the covid years ?
Scumbag shopkeepers very early on profiteering off the panic buying. Roll of toilet paper £10+. Hand gel £10+.
Scum. Complete and utter cunts.
The one by me was doing it. Then after he got raided by police for drugs and isn't there any more lololol.
Furlough becoming a word we all knew. Never used before and never used since.
NHS clapping on the doorstep.
Rainbows in people's windows at the front of the house.
Contactless deliveries and no cash payments. Which some places still haven't gone back to.
:( ok what's next?
Quote from: jimmy jazz on Oct 29, 2024, 12:06 AMContactless deliveries.
I started using contactless deliveries for groceries from a local supermarket during COVID, after I got fed up with the rules and shortages of items in the store. It was so convenient and time-saving that I'm still getting most of my groceries delivered that way almost 5 years later.
And these days, I always have enough toilet paper at home to keep me supplied for the next 12 months or so. :laughing:
Quote from: Lisnaholic on Oct 28, 2024, 11:02 PMYes, it's weird to realise that it's now part of history: that everyone has moved on and lives with covid as just another danger that's out there, the way we live with the 'flu.
I still remember the date of the weekend when lockdowns kicked in and we were informed, by WhatsApp, that starting Monday, nobody would have physical, face-to-face classes: an entire university of 23 000 students went virtual overnight.
That was 23 March 2020 - the day the world seemed to change irrevocably and forever, although it has now become just a little blip in history.
Thanks for your reminder, jj :thumb: What sticks out to you about the covid years ?
It is insane thinking back to it all!
I remember the date too because it fell on a family members birthday, I can remember my summer holiday to Florida was cancelled (which I still haven't been on 😭) and thinking that the lockdowns would be well and truly done for by August/September 2020 lol.
I remember being financially stable as I was lucky enough to working throughout with nothing to spend my money on. I done a ton of hillwalking and took up a few new hobbies with my new found extra cash.
It made me realise that working my 2nd job at the time wasn't worth the extra money because I had no time to spend it and my stress levels were through the roof.
It was a stressful, weird time but it made me realise what's important 😊
Going to do the shopping the first time and seeing the huge queues, then realising I had to in future go in at 8am to take advantage of the "special hours" for disabled, elderly and carers, and how I was shopping while the staff were still putting stuff on the shelves for the morning.
Learning new words like "social distancing", "coccooning" and "self-isolation".
Learning to cough into my elbow (how weird is that?)
Fist bumps instead of handshakes
Waiting ages for the doctors to finally come and vaccinate Karen at home, meanwhile getting alert after alert telling her which clinic she could attend, ringing them to explain she wasn't going anywhere, next day getting another alert etc.
Trying to calculate how much of a distance two metres was and trying to stay that much ahead of the person in front of me at the checkout.
People who wore masks who needn't have bothered, as they left their nose uncovered ::)
Idiots who refused to wear masks at all.
Scarcity of gloves and hand wash; trying to make my own (and failing)
Karen in pain with a toothache and me terrified to bring her to a dentist as she was a sure thing to get Covid
Karen being admitted to hospital (not with Covid) and my sitting at home, frantic, for four days, unable to even visit her.
Trump getting Covid and the resultant damage his "recovery" wrought, how he played it down
People putting candles in their windows for the HSE (Health workers)
Going around spraying everything each morning before the carers arrived
The fear before a vaccine of any sort was available
and lots more fun memories.
Thought we were all going to die, the 21st century equivalent of the Black Death. Now it's just shrug.
I definitely remember all the silly political remixes during COVID:
I also remember my now wife's sister living with us - and us all getting drunk on a near daily basis and playing board games and listening to music - and going on drunken runs down the street at night. Man, those were great times.
I try not to remember the bad parts as much.
Quote from: jimmy jazz on Oct 29, 2024, 12:06 AMNHS clapping on the doorstep.
Rainbows in people's windows at the front of the house.
^ Yes, I remember seeing that on the news - and the NHS staff really deserved it because in the early days they were absolute heroes, risking their own health, or even lives for others.
Quote from: Trollheart on Nov 01, 2024, 04:21 AMThe fear before a vaccine of any sort was available
^ Yep I remember that too - and the doubt and discussions about "should you go out at all?" The first few times I went for a walk, all masked up, if I saw other people, I would immediately cross the street to avoid them, thus making a zig-zag progress down the road.
- Not going to the barber's for over a year, because no haircut is worth dying for!
Quote from: FETCHER. on Oct 29, 2024, 08:54 PMIt is insane thinking back to it all!
... I done a ton of hillwalking and took up a few new hobbies ...
It was a stressful, weird time but it made me realise what's important 😊
^ :love: Well done with the walking, FETCHER.
I walked for about an hour a day, all on the flat, all down streets that I got to know so well I barely noticed them.
-I also remember having some social meetings by Zoom app, and even mastering Discord.
-Also the sense of relief when the vaccines were rolled out, which to its credit, Mexico did very well. Rated by age, I got a vaccine relatively early on, while some family members had to wait quite a few more months for theirs. There was some anxiety about availability of vaccines, but when they arrived, for this city of almost 1 million people, temporary vaccine centres were set up all over town: schools, car parks, stadiums were all adapted for use, and it didn't take much more than an hour to get processed.
This is a long read and I haven't finished it yet but it fits in this thread so here it is...
How Bill Gates and partners used their clout to control the global Covid response — with little oversight (https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/14/global-covid-pandemic-response-bill-gates-partners-00053969)QuoteFour health organizations, working closely together, spent almost $10 billion on responding to Covid across the world. But they lacked the scrutiny of governments, and fell short of their own goals, a POLITICO and WELT investigation found.
I loved everything about Covid. A year prior(2019). I was already a bit depressed so I wasn't going out much anyways. Then 2020 happened and I loved the fact that everyone got to experience what I was experiencing being secluded and I also felt the pressure to have to socialize and go outside lifted.
When the world opened back up like late 2021 or 2022 and people kept yelling "We Outside", I grew sad again because I felt like I was expected to be outside with everyone else and my neighbors were kind of bullying me and looking at me like I was weird for still wanting to stay inside and masking.
As an introvert and homebody, I was having a ball during Covid. Reading all the books I wanted to read but didn't have the time for and doing all the hobbies I wanted. Playing all the games, watching all the movies and catching up with TV series I missed out on.
The only downside was being so super tired of constant zoom meetings. I even stopped showing up for certain ones even though all I had to do was log in and listen and not turn on my cam.
And that other downside of course: all those millions of people who died who need not have done.
Yes of course but I was speaking of my personal experience not the entire scope of it.
Quote from: DJChameleon on Nov 05, 2024, 05:11 AMYes of course but I was speaking of my personal experience not the entire scope of it.
Fair enough. It's just a little hard to see someone say "I loved Covid" when personally we went through so much, but yeah, I understand.
Here's a very on-topic clip, with the date top left and death count top right:
During COVID I had to look after my grandmother. I remember the long queues outside Morrisons. I remember coming back home wearing gloves and a mask. I remember sanitising all of the groceries with wet wipes. I remember the constant fear of contaminating everything and anything around me. My grandmother was extremely vulnerable and I could not have imagined anything happening to her because of a silly mistake on my behalf.
I'm baffled that she survived and here we are 3 years later and we hardly even talk about it.
Exactly how I felt with Karen. I knew if I got sick, she would either a) get sick and possibly, even probably b) die or if not c) would have to go into a care home. Either way, it was not going to be good. I think, in some ways, because she was already bed-bound for nearly 15 years at that stage, she didn't quite appreciate how dangerous it was. There was little change to her routine, or her day. The main change was for me, and really that only involved me having to get the shopping early in the morning. Other than that, things more or less went on as they had done, so although I was acutely conscious of the danger to her, I never got the real impression that she was. Terrifying time; I guess I'm glad it sort of passed her by in one way. She worried enough as it was, and with good reason.