It's been a year (58/365)

[white_hart]

It's a year today since I last went to the cinema. The last time I travelled by train will be a year ago sometime in the nebulous space between Sunday and Monday, because it was on the 29th, and it turns out that the last time I had a meal in a restaurant, which I thought was early March, was actually on the 21st of February, so that's already more than a year ago. It's strange, looking back. I know I was already worrying about COVID by then, but I had absolutely no idea (how could I have done?) just how quickly things would escalate from there.

At this stage, I feel quite ambivalent about the prospect of lockdown easing. I'm very much looking forward to being able to swim as a three again, and it would be nice to be able to go for walks somewhere different. And I really want to see my parents again. But I don't want to go to shops, or the hairdressers, and even though working from home has its downsides I don't miss the commute. And it no longer feels like "going back to normal". This is normal now, and while it would definitely be improved by occasionally going to different places and having a wider choice of takeaway options*, I've got used to it, and I'm quite worried that I've actually forgotten how to exist in spaces with lots of people in them and that it's going to be hard to relearn that.


*if we want delivery, and who wouldn't, it's curry, Chinese, kebabs or Dominos, because none of the Oxford restaurants will deliver outside the ring road. I am very jealous of friends who can get sushi and Wagamama and pub lunches delivered.

Comments

[hilarita]

The last time I travelled by train was a year ago today, it turns out. I was coming back from Jodrell Bank (again).

I was then on strike for most of the next two weeks, and I spent long enough back at work on the 13th to ask my boss if I could work from home. He said, "See you next April." Which is starting to look a bit optimistic now, especially as I may not be able to be vaccinated.

There are definitely some things that are going to be hard - being around lots of people indoors is going to be weird and freaky for a bit. The only times I've been indoors with someone who's not in my bubble have been when I've had to go to the opticians, and when we've had to have tradesfolk indoors (forced by poor planning by our landlords, not by our choice at all.)

[white_hart]

Yes, the strike rolled straight into the pandemic. I was meant to send our the post-strike remember to fill in the payroll form email on the 16th, was too busy with contingency planning that day and then felt I simply couldn't given what else was going on.

I did do a few days in the office in early autumn and saw a few people when I was there, not not nearly as many as I normally would. And I haven't been back in since the beginning of November which is four months already.

[mountainkiss]

Do you have to go to shops or hairdressers? Serious q.

[white_hart]

It's not that I have to go to them (I don't, and won't), it's that those seem to be the things other people are saying they're looking forward to.

[mountainkiss]

Ah gotcha. I am not particularly looking forward to shopping because I do mine online. I am desperately looking forward to having my hair done. I think it's about number two on the list after seeing the widget.

[white_hart]

I have just buzzed mine again and am delighted that I may never have to go to a hairdresser again.

[mountainkiss]

And there are other things I do feel that way about, but sadly my hair is way beyond my competence.

[mrs_redboots]

I am certainly looking forward to getting my hair cut! When our hairdressers were last open, they were very good about safety procedures, and, in fact, both times I had my hair cut I was the only one there.

I last ate in a restaurant on 13 March 2020; we knew lockdown was coming and my sister and her - friend? - had gone for a dirty weekend to Portugal; they had been going to go to Italy, but that couldn't happen. We were providing respite care for my mother, and took her out to lunch at Devil's Dyke, which was packed out as everybody knew it would be the last time for awhile. My mother is convinced I caught Covid there - she may be right, but then why didn't she get it? At 92, as she then was, she was a heck of a lot more vulnerable than I am!

It is, however, over a year since I last picked up my grandsons from school - or went on a Tube train. Or any other kind of train, for that matter. I haven't stopped going on buses, though - couldn't, as after I was ill I simply couldn't even get down to Tesco (about 250 metres away) without getting the bus back!

[white_hart]

I'm very glad I bought clippers last March - short hair needs a lot of cutting, and there hasn't been any point since last March that I would have felt comfortable going into a hairdressers. (Someone should have set up doing outdoor haircuts, I'd have been OK with that!)

[maia]

I feel quite ambivalent about the prospect of lockdown easing

I'm so glad I'm not the only one feeling that way.

[white_hart]

No, I think a lot of people are.

[lokifan]

I'm desperate to get back to life - I was nearly crying at the thought of Pride and a wedding in September this week. But yeah, at the same time, lockdown easing gives me mixed feelings.

8th March was my last Thing and I've already been finding anniversaries hard - especially my birthday on 21st February, because it was the last time I saw so many people - so I don't know how I'm going to handle that.

[white_hart]

Yeah, it's very strange. I found it really hard on Friday realising that it was more than a year since I'd been to a restaurant, and I missed normal life so much, but at other times I feel far too comfortable living like this. Transition back isn't going to be easy.

(My anniversary of the last time I saw many of my friends was the 29th of February, so in some ways that was easier because there wasn't an actual day to remember this-time-last-year.)

[qatsi]

Yeah, I did say, only half in jest, to my manager on a Teams call a couple of months ago that I would have to remember how to behave around people again. For me it definitely feels like the sweet spot would be mostly WFH but with the option to go and do things at the weekends.

[white_hart]

I would like to still have some working from home, I think, but not all the time. Mostly I would like to be able to plan occasional fun things like holidays and meals out and not just be stuck with the same routines.

[crinolinerobot]

Yeah, I think my normal has changed too. I've no plans to go back to working in the office. The world's finally functioning in a way more comfortable for introverts.


(Lockdown's made me appreciate that I *am* an introvert, just one who's learned to function in an extroverts' world.)

It's a tad pricier than a takeaway takeaway, and it's Fridays only and you have to preorder, but dishpatch.co.uk does restaurant deliveries, and has some really nice menus.

[white_hart]

That does look nice, and I will definitely consider trying if we want a special-occasion meal!

[norfolkian]

I'm with you on the having to relearn how to exist with lots of people. To be honest, aside from my OCD, even the general thought of going back to an open plan office with all the politics and noise is not very appealing. I'm hoping I won't have to do that full time again and that things will be more flexible in future.

[white_hart]

I had to go in to the office yesterday to scan some documents from a file there and it made me feel quite nostalgic for it. Though I suspect that most people will retain at least some element of remote working in future.