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not Looking forward to the lockdown easing

(171 Posts)
Gingster Sat 09-May-20 19:17:27

Is anyone else dreading the lifting of lockdown. To be honest I have loved the quiet, peaceful few weeks . I hate the thought of crowded shops, roads, parks and beaches. No pressure to rush about , just doing what we like when we like. Am I alone with these thoughts.

Coolgran65 Sat 09-May-20 19:22:07

You’re definitely not alone. Apart from missing the dgc I’m quite content. All chores up to date and nothing screaming for my attention. Tbh I can’t think where the time has gone.

GabriellaG54 Sat 09-May-20 19:22:59

Yes. I agree. The thought of crowds (and there will be crowds) I find off-putting.

SuzannahM Sat 09-May-20 20:12:05

Me too - I hate crowds at the best of times.

I will be staying in regardless of lockdown being lifted for a few weeks extra just to avoid the hoards who are desperate to get out. I'll venture out when things have settled down a bit.

I'm not afraid of going out, just seem to have lost my appetite for some of the things I used to and they just don't seem important any more.

SalsaQueen Sat 09-May-20 20:15:55

I'm not looking forward to it. I worry that things will quickly go back to how they were before all this - pollution, traffic, crowds, and the rushing about.

BBbevan Sat 09-May-20 20:19:21

No, you are not alone .DH and I are enjoying this strange time.

Grammaretto Sat 09-May-20 20:41:44

You are definitely not alone.
I am very happy. It's like Sunday or being on holiday every day. The weather has been great so far and I have enough to be getting on with to last years.
The garden, the birdsong , the wildlife has been wonderful and the days go past so quickly.

I am missing the family of course. Seeing them on zoom tonight. For them it has not been quite so wonderful. Too much work and home schooling. The kids are missing their pals.

I dread when the traffic, flights, crowds, pubs start up again.
Apparently in NZ as soon as the populace were allowed out there were queues for the fast food places and everyone was back in their cars.
.

Txquiltz Sat 09-May-20 20:48:29

Miss my family, but see them often on FaceTime. Otherwise, I have come to rather enjoy my time during the lockdown. Crowds are not my favorite thing in the first place, so I don't miss them at all. I do much less impulse spending and enjoy what I have. Projects are more organized...another boon. I hate the fact so many have suffered with this disease.

MayBee70 Sat 09-May-20 21:34:01

I like knowing that my family are safely working from home. So, as long as I don't get a phone call to say one of them is ill I actually feel quite chilled. When lockdown ends I know I can [and will] still self isolate but I'll start worrying about my family again.

Teacheranne Sun 10-May-20 00:15:09

Well, I cannot wait for my life to resume again! I am fed up of being on my own and staying in my house. I don't think this is a natural way of life, cut off from everyone and being isolated. I miss popping out to meet friends for a coffee, my numerous WI activities, seeing my family, shopping as often as I want, going out for meals, changing my library books and many more things.

I've filled my days reading, crafting, pottering in the garden, going on Zoom and catching up on films I had recorded but it's not a natural way of life for me.

I can't imagine living this kind of life by choice, I enjoy being busy, rushing around, seeing people with just a few odd moments of quiet and peace.

GabriellaG54 Sun 10-May-20 00:27:59

I was talking to a guy in M&S customer services solutions yesterday (Saturday) afternoon, who rang me about a return.
After business was settled we chatted about lockdown and he (in his 20s, single) said that he won't be doing many of the things he used to do before the virus crisis

Chewbacca Sun 10-May-20 00:42:50

I am looking forward to the lockdown easing. I'm looking forward to seeing family and friends again and being able hug those that I love. I'm looking forward to being able to go to the cinema, theatre, art galleries, museums and NT houses and gardens. I'm looking forward to seeing my colleagues again and going for walks in areas that aren't right on my doorstep. I'm looking forward to being able to book a holiday and have that chap come to the house and fit the roller blind over the dodgy stairwell. And I'm really looking forward to the big family get together picnics that we have in the summer. And it's only that looking forward that's getting me through the present lockdown that I'm following assiduously, but finding tougher and tougher each day.

GabriellaG54 Sun 10-May-20 00:43:23

? sent too soon.
He added that he found other interests and read more, needed less and liked the quiet time that lockdown imposed.
He became more inquisitive and enjoyed looking things up and pursuing interests he'd forgotten he once had, that we would all change and adapt, even minimally.
I spoke about a certain fish, shaped like dice, a shoal of which got 'locked' in an underwater cave with no exit, probably by a rock fall or similar.
Anyway, the fish eventually became blind as there was no light whatsoever and their eggs eventually spawned without eyes as there was no need for them. This happened over a long period of time.
He immediately knew I was talking about box fish. Wow!
We too will adapt to a 'brave new world'. Hopefully one we will appreciate more for the simple pleasures we were denied during lockdown.

GabriellaG54 Sun 10-May-20 00:45:56

Coffee seems to have replaced tea as the drink of choice when meeting friends.

GabriellaG54 Sun 10-May-20 00:49:40

hmm I thought WI only met once a month with the occasional day out at Blenheim, Leeds Castle or similar, plus the annual AGM in town if chosen to go.

GabriellaG54 Sun 10-May-20 00:55:17

Pollution, crime, murder, muggings, drugs, queues, overcrowding, mayhem.
Not for me. I don't feel the need to be busy busy, cramming my life with activity from dawn to dusk like some...

maddyone Sun 10-May-20 01:05:20

I’m quite worried about what will be said tomorrow. I don’t think we’re ready to relax too much, otherwise there’ll be a spike in deaths. I don’t want the country to go backwards. I’m happy that most of my family are safely working from home, but very concerned about my daughter and her husband who are both doctors. There’s not a lot of peace of mind when with medics in the family.

BlueBelle Sun 10-May-20 05:15:28

I m longing for some lifting although I m realistic enough to know it will be done gently I can’t wait to get back to work, get back to just pottering in and around the shops and get away from this tedium and Boredom
I can’t wait for my poor teenage grandkids to be able to see their friends again, get back to work and school I fear for their mental health Yes you can get little ones into a routine of home schooling and having fun at home and in the garden but that isn’t easy when you ve got a 17/18/19 year old tethered at home (especially together !!) with little hope of working or travelling in the near future, for the Year 10/11/12 whose exams and school disruption can change their whole lives I fear for the many people who already have mental health problems, the depressed, the fearful I m afraid for the countries economy the recession that we are surely heading for I fear for the poor, the homeless, the refugees the people who need hospital treatment but have had to be sidelined or are too fearful to seek attention
I m afraid all the posts here that say ‘I m loving it’ are thinking only of themselves and their comfort in their own little bubbles

Sparkling Sun 10-May-20 06:08:41

I love the peace and quiet, I won't go back to how I was before.

Sparkling Sun 10-May-20 06:09:39

Maddyone?

Willow500 Sun 10-May-20 07:24:21

We were talking to a neighbour yesterday (socially distanced of course) about how quiet life is at the moment and how the world seems to be healing itself. It won't last of course and as soon as the restrictions are lifted most will forget and go back to their old habits. We won't be rushing out though. We don't see much of family who are 3 hours away and the other side of the world anyway and I can't see us being any less reluctant to go into crowded shops or out for a meal. The only thing we will do is travel the 60 miles to our holiday home to check things are ok which so far we haven't done for 2 months and where we will be able to walk along the cliff top but still stay away from everyone! Our life will certainly not go back to normal.

Hetty58 Sun 10-May-20 07:41:07

A lot of us are fortunate in that we have the choice to continue our own little lockdown.

I'm really worried for the people who will be forced into going back to work, using public transport - or face losing their jobs.

Their risk of getting ill is higher than before lockdown.

Urmstongran Sun 10-May-20 08:03:04

I think many of us have started to evaluate what is important and what we choose to spend our money on - or not going forward. Pensioners have a protected income so we are lucky. We can choose to go out and join in, or not as we don’t have to go out to work.

In that respect I’m glad the under 50’s are less vulnerable because they are the bulk of the people who need to go out to work and children need to go to school. Teens need to socialise and meet new people.

We’ve had our time doing all that. Now we have choices.

Grans who were factored in for childcare won’t be able to help out in the foreseeable. I think that why so many who were tired and busy are now enjoying some ‘me’ time!

What seemed important two months ago (buying stuff) seems so much less so now. We’ve realised we don’t need as much as we thought we did.

But this quarantine time will come to an end eventually and most people will ease back into what they did before.

Choices I suppose.

bikergran Sun 10-May-20 08:05:20

I think lockdown and the easing of lockdown has many different avenues for different people.

For me personally I have still been working as normal in a busy well know supermarket.

I have seen the ones come in for their bbqs/boxes and boxes of beer/burgers etc etc in their vest tops all bronzed and brown due to the fantiatic weather. Good for them, I hope they enjoyed.

Then I have had the older people who have scuttled in to buy essentials, worrying they may catch something because they have ventured out, full of anxiety (presuming they had no one to fetch supplies, maybe they just wanted to chat to someone I don't know.)

The new dads that have dashed in for last minute baby items.

Mums with the meal vouchers enabling then to help feed their flock. Buying chalks and craft stuff to amuse.

The nhs front line workers first thing in a morning grabbing a few items as they come off their long nightshifts.

Its been a very very strange world of late.

I for one am not a crowd person, I would love to have a wander round my favourite garden center, but I think I will let the crowds get sorted first.

A trip to the seaside I would imagine be one huge traffic jam.

We shall see.

12Michael Sun 10-May-20 08:06:41

It will not happen like that , maybe a new slogan but the same rules apply .
relaxing of rules will be slow ,and if there is a decline in the death rate.
Considering its a United Kingdom , they are letting Scotland , Northern Ireland and Wales create there own way.
Mick