The Lockdown Years

[Ekhibee88]

In some ways I miss the early eerie quiet lockdown but in many ways I don't. Only good thing to come out of it was WFH.

[Alert Mongoose]

The sheer futility of the Woolwich Ferry doing 'doughnuts' on the Thames to support nurses/carers.

 

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

6 hours ago, Molotov said:

What were the restrictions at the outset? A single 20minute walk a day?  

Fresh air and exercise probably the best things to do for your health. Physical and mental. 

 

In fairness, Police Officers were in a position where they were damned if they do or damned if they didnt. There was genuine outcry, people foaming at the mouth, reporting their neighbours for going out 2 walks a day, this also wasnt just a small amount of people it was a massive cross section of society. Then there was the sections of society who felt that rules didnt apply to them. A lot of colleagues took the restrictions as literal non shifting guidance for different reasons/motivations, we were being briefed that this was going to be massively dangerous, were preparing for people dying at rates even higher than we saw, like old depictions of the plague, so for the first couple of months at least people were genuinely terrified, given we were being sent out to be spat on with the government not giving a shit about protective equipment for us , it was a massively worrying time. 
I had colleagues who had kids undergoing cancer treatment who moved out of the house to avoid the risk of bringing it home, like ive said we were seeing on the media and being briefed internally that this was going to be catastrophic. People were terrified about going to work and being sent to our deaths. I had mates who’s parents died and didnt take proper time off to get over their death for fear of not being their for their colleagues. I was terrified as well, my dad even before his cancer diagnosis was really unwell, i am a carer for him, being locked up for 14/10 days because some dickhead with or who claimed to have a positive covid diagnosis was spitting on you or was even just in proximity was so upsetting. This unfortunately happened to me and some people on several occasions. 
Yes some can on reflection think the polis were jobsworths and maybe some were, but besides the fact it was policing in entirely alien circumstances, it was also as a person genuinely frightening until we knew more about the virus etc. 

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Pros

• I managed to buy the last turbo-trainer Halfords had the day before lockdown was officially announced which got me onto Zwift which helped exercise-wise
• The roads being quiet as f**k for cycling
• Working from home all week was initially glorious. There wasn't much to do as the Tribunal Service were shut and most of my debt cases were fully aware they could patch their rent and council tax as recoveries were not effectively happening. 
• Because I couldn't drive far enough to tackle any new munros i was limited to local walks and hills which was actually really good, discovered quite a few nice ones
• Being absolutely fucking loaded because we weren't going out to send money on anything other than shopping. Obvs I then proceed to buy loads of shite I didn't need. It was like an unending christmas. Superb. 
• The meltdowns from Hearts and Thistle fans after Dundee's email-gate. Sensational stuff and highly enjoyable. 

Cons

• Not being able to see my folks for a while. Eventually just ignored that pish. 
• My old man developing cancer through lockdown. Only mum was permitted to see him in hospital. I had to drop some clothes off at Ninewells reception for him once, it was incredibly eerie, hazard tape and masks everywhere. Almost like a scene from a zombie movie. When he got home eventually he point blank refused any further treatment that involved a hospital stay. 
• My partner being ambulanced into ninewells after a series of brain-injury related mini-seizures. I wasn't allowed to go until it was time to collect her the day after. 
• Working from home all week became a bit tedious, I actually missed the office side of things. We're now working a 2/3 home/office split which is decent
• Endless enquiries from middle class folk now discovering the benefits system for the first time. "Is this all I get?! This can't be right11!!!"
• Being ripped off by Sykes Cottages trying to only give out a partial refund for lost holiday bookings. It took months for them to cough up. c***s. 
• Community Facebook pages rammed full of arseholes moaning that their street wasn't clapping loud enough at 8pm on a Thursday. 

Just a surreal as f**k period tbh

[Molotov]

2 hours ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

In fairness, Police Officers were in a position where they were damned if they do or damned if they didnt. 

Agree with all you said.
In fairness my post was never directly critical of the polis. Sorry if it came across that way. 

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

30 minutes ago, Molotov said:

Agree with all you said.
In fairness my post was never directly critical of the polis. Sorry if it came across that way. 

No no didnt take that way for a second, should have multi quoted a few folks, just trying to give people an insight into the reality of why certainly at first people were critical etc and a bit of a first hand take on it. 

[hk blues]

23 hours ago, ICTChris said:

Someone who might know this sort of thing told me that when the Scottish Government introduced the different Zones for local authorities they initially went to the police and asked them to plan for enforcing travel bans between local authority areas - ie having cops standing guard, pulling people over etc.  They were quickly told that you'd need to recruit several thousand officers to do this and that even if you could, should you?  You drive across a couple of council areas if you go all the way round the Edinburgh bypass.

We had this situation - there were guard points between each major area in the city and only folk with a pass were allowed to travel through the checkpoints.  Folk here just took it on the chin as they do most things.  

[ICTChris]

Just now, hk blues said:

We had this situation - there were guard points between each major area in the city and only folk with a pass were allowed to travel through the checkpoints.  Folk here just took it on the chin as they do most things.  

I think they might have had a different enforcement strategy in your neck of the woods - https://interaksyon.philstar.com/politics-issues/2020/04/02/165579/shoot-them-dead-duterte-says-wont-tolerate-lockdown-violators/

[hk blues]

1 minute ago, ICTChris said:

I think they might have had a different enforcement strategy in your neck of the woods - https://interaksyon.philstar.com/politics-issues/2020/04/02/165579/shoot-them-dead-duterte-says-wont-tolerate-lockdown-violators/

He was some boi!

His daughter's now the Vice President but he doesn't seem to have rubbed off on her. (there's a tap-in for somebody).

[scottsdad]

12 hours ago, Benjamin_Nevis said:

Being ripped off by Sykes Cottages trying to only give out a partial refund for lost holiday bookings. It took months for them to cough up. c***s. 

I booked a holiday with Sykes for July 2020. Booked it in October 2019, and cancelled it in April 2022. They gave me a partial refund at the time then a few weeks later gave us the remainder. 

[KD1711]

17 hours ago, philpy said:

The limiting outdoor exercise thing was a lot of bollocks that probably near enough no c**t adhered to.  Sitting in the house/garden was cracking me up, so regular 5 mile walks took place. Got a new camera and got really into wildlife photography. Now most weekends I'm up early, hangover free and away out with the camera. Was only furloughed for a month which was long enough.  Was busy as f**k when I went back, as every c**t was doing decking or putting up new fences. Lowest point was having to "celebrate" my dad's 70th through a video call.

I remember going a workout with one of my mates at the beggining, and there was someone calling us out on the running track for not being from the same household.

I had a pretty good time in the first lockdown, I had sold my business for decent money in January 2020 which was a shop so I couldn't have timed it any better, finished off my uni degree (got a 1st) and got into running so I ended up losing about 5st and ran a marathon and plenty of half marathons.

Managed to get to Ibiza and Crete in 2020 which was brilliant with how quiet and cheap it was, just chilling in the sun all day. Went to Alton Towers and Blackpool Pleasure Beach a few times too and the lack of queues were great.

When everything started to shut back down again I hit a proper lull for a few months where I'd just be eating shite and scrolling endlessly on social media, rotating between Instagram, snapchat and twitter, and playing Warzone all day.

Moved to Newcastle in January 21 for a new job starting in the September, got my masters from Newcastle Uni and moved in with the Mrs so it got a lot better again. Got back into decent nick and managed to get away on couple of holidays, go to Wembley and the Czech game during the Euros.

Weird time looking back and just feel like it is 2 years totally wasted.

[Ron Aldo]

It was utterly miserable and anyone who says otherwise is at it. 

The novelty of working from home well and truly wore off after the first couple of weeks.

Initially there felt like a strange sense of togetherness but the ridiculous tier system soon put paid to that with whole areas of the country (mainly Lanarkshire) being treated as though they were disease ridden cesspits. 

Restrictions would be lifted and there appeared to be a glimmer of hope only for a new "variant" to appear. 

The only positive thing to come from it is my barber brought in a booking system which is still in place and means I no longer need to queue for a haircut. 

[Widge]

I didn't like not seeing the sun until 4.30pm most days living in an Edinburgh tenement and having to work.

On the flip side, realised I didn't want to live in the city centre anymore and bought a house with a garden, so swings and roundabouts.

[Alert Mongoose]

20 minutes ago, Widge said:

I didn't like not seeing the sun until 4.30pm most days living in an Edinburgh tenement and having to work.

On the flip side, realised I didn't want to live in the city centre anymore and bought a house with a garden, so swings and roundabouts.

Do you go out into the garden and use them?

[10menwent2mow]

Taking about half an hour to get ready to go to the pub because you had to put on about 20 layers for sitting outside was particularly interesting. 

[Melanius Mullarkey]

4 minutes ago, 10menwent2mow said:

Taking about half an hour to get ready to go to the pub because you had to put on about 20 layers for sitting outside was particularly interesting. 

On the upside, Dundee city centre looked like the streets of Paris during the summer with its jakey pavement cafe culture.

[peasy23]

As far as work went it made very little. difference to me as I still had to go to work all the way through it. Lots of ludicrous rules at work around social distancing and the like. Only plus that came of it was that our shift times were all swapped around so that there were no overlaps and only one set of workers were in the building at a time, and we also got away with working 1 hour less per shift for nearly 18 months.

Pretty sad existence for a while with work and f**k all else to do, but looking back having some sort of routine probably helped to keep my mental health in a better place than it might have been. Golf course was shut for a month or so and once that reopened that was great for getting out in the fresh air. Missed the football even though we were having a pretty shite season when it was stopped.

[Gaz]

Spending about ten hours a day planning and delivering lessons that I, the pupils, and the school, knew fine well wouldn’t be attended by anyone.

Mental health going through the shitter. Putting on five stone.

My in-laws, who had previously spent a grand total of 23 minutes in each other’s company over the past 40 years (including when they conceived their three kids) visiting about four different supermarkets every day.

[Gaz]

I think it’s easy to look back and laugh at the ridiculousness of some of it. I certainly do.

However I think folk forget at the initial outset just how genuinely horrific the scenes from places like Italy were. Live video of overflowing hospitals, mass graves being dug, military vehicles driving around the cities ordering people to get home.

My middle daughter has a history of breathing problems and underlying conditions related to her lungs and I was absolutely terrified she might catch it.

[Karpaty Lviv]

On 06/02/2023 at 22:29, welshbairn said:

I quite enjoyed mastering all the Covid rules in different countries to find ways of sneaking around them to go on holiday between hardcore lockdowns. And not having to bother looking presentable going out to the shops thanks to face masks. And getting out of some family visits.

Me and three mates got a weekend in Berlin less than a week before they went full lockdown. We needed negative tests but from private companies and not NHS. We chanced it and upon arrival, German border force just glared at it like “WTF is this?” and just threw it back and waved us through. About 5 hours later I was sat at a bar drinking a pint and smoking a snout whilst back home that would have got you various degrees of charges. It was very surreal. 

infact I’m sure you were a great help for that trip, so thanks for that!

Edited February 8, 2023 by Karpaty Lviv