An Imaginary Lockdown From Past Years

I remember in the late '70s early '80s ? the children were small, there was a fear of an imminent nuclear attack and we had warning adverts on TV and I believe a booklet with guidance. It was an horrendous prospect which my then husband took very seriously frightening the children and myself to death with ''preparations'.

I hear from one friend who lives in a small city flat and both her teenage children are back home (from uni and gap year etc) She is just about surviving thanks to their allotment. DH has found somewhere to escape to I believe..... He goes for long walks.
Back then I think we would have murdered each other. We had the dog to take for walks. She would have been exhausted.

I feel most for my DD who is in a new (to her) house, in a rural area, with no neighbours and 2 small DC. and a DH who works long hours. I think she is amazing. I must tell her.

Travelsafar, there was a smallpox scare in Birmingham in the late 1950s/early 60s. I believe the virus escaped from a lab at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. I was vaccinated then somewhere in the City Centre ?Public Health Department as I wasn't done as a baby. I remember it made me quite feverish for a few days.

I agree Pittcity, on balance, and if you are lucky enough not to have underlying health issues, I would have hated to have lived through a lockdown at any other time of my life.

At the outset of the lockdown when we were all advised one hour's outside exercise only, saw many teenagers congregating in our local park, I remember saying to my husband, they shouldn't be doing that but imagine if we were trying to get our children, particularly the older one to toe the line and not meet up with friends in gatherings, we'd have had no chance of enforcing that. Equally, I can remember being a teenager and wanting to go out all the time. I feel sorry for the parents having to deal with all manner of added pressures right now.

Nightmares indeed Terri

Just one TV and phone (expensive calls) and no supermarket deliveries. Paying with cash or cheque.

We've not got it so bad really, especially if we're retired.

I think we all cope with different things that come along at different stages of our lives. It is only afterwards, especially as we get older, that we stop and reflect. I am amazed how we humans lurch from crisis to crisis and just move on.

I vaguely remember a Smallpox outbreak or was it Typhoid ? late 50's or early 60's . I have an picture in my head of queueing at the local GP surgery with my family and having an innoculation done, a small scratch on my upper arm. Anyone else shed light on this hazy memory?