Aside from a former neighbour from around 48 and a half years ago sadly dying, and one friend being diagnosed but having happily recovered, I've been lucky in that the Covid-19 pandemic hasn't impacted on my life too much. Sure, there's been the inconvenience of having to wear a mask (though I've been told I should always wear one because I'm ugly) and not too many shops being open, but having lived the life of a freelancer for 15 years (which ended around 21 years ago), I'm quite used to spending large periods of time by myself. Social isolation is therefore no big deal for me, and in no way a hardship, but I'm not being smug about that fact as it must be a bit of a grind for others who are far more sociably-minded than I've ever been (or wanted to be).
So I was wondering - in what way has the current situation affected your life? Do you feel trapped, frightened, uncertain of what the future may hold, or have you just taken things in your stride, with a quiet confidence that things will eventually return to normal - or a close facsimile? If you feel like sharing how the pandemic has affected you, feel free to talk about it in the comments section.
We had COVID symptoms quite early on in the pandemic (loss of smell, headaches, high temp) for about 4 weeks (I lost my sense of smell for nearly 4 months). Sadly I know of 4 people that passed away with COVID though only 2 directly from it and both were under 55. Ive not liked working from home as much as I thought as I tend to work really long days and weekends as a better of course as there's no set office hours or colleagues to say "go home" but apart from that I've just been fed up not seeing friends, getting out, travelling etc. I'm sure things will get a lot better soon but I don't think things will return to the "normal" we had prior to this for years. My biggest issue with the pandemic is being baffled that some folk think it's a con. I have no problem with people thinking things have been over the top re constant lockdowns (though I disagree with that) or that Governments have made errors, but this conspiracy thats it's a con to inject us with tracking devices or to slowly kill older folk off is worthy of a Marvel/DC comic book.
ReplyDeleteThe conspiracy theories abounding seem very far-fetched to me and I haven't given them much credence, McS, but at the back of my mind (which is immense, so it's a fair distance) I find myself hoping that I'm right in dismissing them.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll eventually learn of more people I know passing away that I just haven't heard about yet, but that's another notion I hope I'm wrong about. I got my jab a couple or so weeks ago, and it felt like someone lightly tapping my arm with their pinky, didn't feel like an injection at all. I couldn't wait 15 minutes before leaving as I have certain responsibilities to see to, but I felt no ill-effects at all, either then or afterwards.
Let's hope it's all over soon, eh?
We got our first jab last week, I was ok
ReplyDeletebut my other half was really ill for 3 days with flu like symptoms, so she's not looking forward to the second jab. Although I totally dismiss the conspiracy theories that there is no pandemic, or if there is one its no worse that the flu etc I do have concerns that some things like the recent crime and police bill have been introduced with little consultation and with some businesses taking the opportunity to leave the high street and/or slash jobs under the guise of the pandemic . Have to say I haven't missed the pub or my trips to Forbidden Planet etc as much as I thought I would.
Hope your other (better) half suffers no ill-effects from her 2nd jab, McS. It's odd that people don't see the effect that embracing change will have on established businesses, isn't it? With the increasing use of email, the Royal Mail have had to increase the price of stamps to compensate for the fact that fewer people send letters nowadays. Also, people using online shopping was bound to affect the high street, but folks just don't seem to think about how their actions will impact on other aspects of their daily lives. Sometimes I wonder if so-called 'progress' is always a good thing. I haven't missed my trips to FP at all, now that I get most things via ebay. The daily post has become something to look forward to and I don't even have to leave the house.
ReplyDeleteI think most "progress" is great but the sad fact is that it has consequences. As a result of online we have lost (and continue to lose) high street stores, post offices, banks and jobs etc. It's the future and no doubt things will work out but I think this period will be unsettling until it sorts itself out. No doubt after this pandemic is over our towns and cities will look so different. Glasgow without the massive Debenhams store (maybe John Lewis and others as well) will be strange , then again we had that in the past when Lewise, C&A etc shut shop. Still I miss the old high streets we used to have, strangely there was more choice back then now all we have are loads a coffee shops, clothes shops etc that are the same in every town and city.
ReplyDeleteI know for a fact that my town's main local shopping centre was far better and had a wider choice in the late '60s and early '70s than it has now, McS. We had furniture stores, big department stores, tailors, shoe shops, supermarkets (in the plural), etc., but it's a whole different ball game today. Sad to see its decline.
ReplyDeleteI always paid in cash when I bought stuff in shops but due to the pandemic I've switched to mostly paying with my Halifax debit card which is a lot simpler I must admit. Both my parents are long since deceased so I'm glad I haven't needed to worry about them during this time.
ReplyDeleteI still prefer cash, CJ, 'cos it feels good to hear it rustling in my pocket. Of course that's only on a good day at the begging - usually it's just coins jingling. What age would your parents have been had they still been alive today?
ReplyDeleteMy father would be 93 (he died in 1999, aged 71) and my mother would be 88 (she died in 2009, aged 77).
ReplyDeleteI haven't completely given up using cash - in fact I spent £26 in cash just last week and I've got £55 in my wallet.
That £55 will just go to waste in your wallet, CJ. You should send it to me and I'll put it to good use.
ReplyDeleteDeffo made a big impact. I used to like going to the bookstore which had a café. Would look at comics and even books while having a drink . Sometimes I would even buy something ! Can’t see friends . No comic book conventions . Can’t eat out. On the other hand all I do now is ride my bike and go for the odd run so my cardio is better.
ReplyDeleteThe covid denialists will keep us from achieving herd immunity making this endemic.
Luckily, I've got my own personal library to choose from when I want something to read, and I'm still buying books via mail order, PS. In fact, I just added a few recently and have ordered and paid for ones due out around April. When I'm out, I can get a cuppa from Greggs (a bakery) and sit outside somewhere to drink it. I quite enjoy the silence and seclusion.
ReplyDeleteCOVID has impacted my wife and I,slowly and surely over the last year and finally catching up with me last week. More on that in a moment. We both have enough interests to keep ourselves entertained during the couple of lockdowns that we went through and are both introverts so the social distancing didn't bother us either, but as she works in the fitness industry and my job is allied to tourism and travel so the impact of the pandemic on those areas did hit us.
ReplyDeleteNow that the gyms are open again she has found her classes increasing again, but with travel and random border closures affecting my work another in a succession of downsizing moves on the part of the company that I work for has seen me lose the job I've had for three decades last week. So now I'm unemployed. But, thankfully none of our family caught the virus itself and we don't know anyone that has died from it. So there is that.
It could be worse for me, Kid. I am fine here in the north of Spain as are my wife and two grown-up daughters.
ReplyDeleteThe pandemic impacted terribly on my professional life a year ago. I lost 70% of my income as an English teacher/owner of a private school. Managed to get by on Skype classes during the lockdown. In the summer, things were slow but more and more people returned to in-person classes. I have less students than a year ago but am able to employ three part-time teachers. Unfortunately, one has been off-sick with a Covid-inspired depression for the last month. Two of my business classes came back though and my six siblings and all their loved ones in England and Scotland are all well so that's something.
I don't know one person who has had it, and I don't know anyone who knows anyone who has had it. I do know people who lost their jobs because of the draconian lockdowns, and people whose investments tanked because of the panic. In my experience, the hysterical over-reaction has done far more harm than the virus itself.
ReplyDeleteThings I worry about:
The President of the US is literally incompetent-25%
We will never have a free and fair election again, because the Democrats are legalizing voter fraud-25%
People losing their jobs and being unable to support themselves because the Democrats have used covid as a pretext to wreck the economy-25%
Losing constitutional rights because the Democrats have used the pandemic as an excuse to turn the country into a gulag-25%
A virus that produces the same symptoms as the common flu (when it produces symptoms at all), and that has a 99% recovery rate for people under 70, and a 94% recovery rate for people over 70 who have weak immune systems- 0%
Dreadful news about your job, PC. Something you've been doing for 30 years suddenly disappearing is going to leave a big hole in your life, so I hope you find another, hopefully similar, job to replace it before too long. Glad to hear that neither of you or any of your family has caught the virus, so like you say, that's a plus.
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Hope the job front gets even better for you before too long, JP. Nice to hear that your family are all Covid-free. Apparently New Zealand is Covid-free, so Gandalf must have cast a spell of protection over the country. If only he'd do it for the rest of the world, eh?
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TC, it's interesting to read your take on things, but does the flu cause people to have difficulty breathing in the way that Covid-19 can? There's a hell of a lot of Americans (as well as other nationalities of course, but I'm looking at it from your perspective as an American) died of Covid that wouldn't have died had it not existed, so that's basically an increased number of deaths than normal. Surely that's something to be concerned about? Am I reading you right about voter fraud? Are you saying that Trump was robbed?
I think TC lives on another planet. Biden is incompetent? The Democrats stole the election? The US is a gulag?
ReplyDeleteI do feel concerned about shops closing due to online shopping but that might be exaggerated - my local Tesco is always extremely busy even in the early mornings.
Partisan party political comments apart in an average year flu kills around 650k people a year worldwide (that's flu related as well as the flu itself). To date COVID has killed 2.7million and riding again ( directly and with COVID as a significant factor) and that's with most countries in lockdown. The additional issue with COVID is that it puts millions in hospital that do recover but require treatment that's the bigger issue that's backing up treatments of other illnesses like cancer. Wear a ruddy mask it's simple. I'm sure COVID deniers like Nashville politician and many others who caught the disease and died were less sure of their rhetoric right up until their ventilator was sadly shut off. Voter fraud issues are of course serious issues but the US one was reviewed by independent auditors and found totally safe, even many Republicans accepted it was fair when it was actually fact checked. Has the COVID outbreak been mismanaged is perhaps a better question folk should be asking instead of linking it to a worldwide hoax or overreaction..
ReplyDeletePhilip, I meant to add to my last reply that I was sorry to read that you lost job. Lets hope your back in employment soon and in your chosen career path. Take care
ReplyDeleteI've had a bit of 'brain fog' for the last couple of days, but I suspect TC may be indulging in a bit of irony with his list of worries and not actually saying that he himself subscribes to these notions. Either way, I'm sure he'll let us know. Anyway, CJ, my nearest Sainsbury's closed in January and the main shopping centre is now a joke with loads of empty units, some of which have never been occupied since they were first built years ago. Could your local Tesco's be busy because there aren't many other options?
ReplyDeleteI suppose it was difficult to 'manage' the Covid outbreak, McS, because nobody really knew what to do at the start. I think that, regardless of whatever party was in power in the UK, the same mistakes would've been made, because the reaction was sort of 'on the hoof', which is why there've been so many seemingly contradictory responses to it by government. Let's hope the end is in sight, eh? Of Covid I mean, not civilisation as we know it.
I totally agree that governments have had a really difficult time in dealing with a response to COVID but there have been mistakes made that need addressed, not to hang anyone out to dry, but to learn from for future generations (as this will happen again at some point) . There has certainly been money wasted (and I mean multi millions of £'s ) on PPE in the UK that’s not been fit for purpose with contracts allegedly going to companies run under the” old pals” act and this needs needs to be looked into. But I think the 4 UK Nations have in general all done a good job in difficult circumstances. Countries like Brazil, USA and a few other in Asia and the Middle East will need to decide for themselves just how well (or badly) they looked after their own people with denying or playing down the pandemic (at the start at least). It looks like things are getting better, then again reports of a third wave are depressing - lets all build a time machine and go back to 1970!
ReplyDeleteSign me up for that time machine, McS. And I want my name first on the list. (Y'know, I find myself fervently wishing that such a thing were possible.)
ReplyDeleteWe've had friends in the Steampunk community who have died, and my wife got her second shot which did a number on her, but she is feeling better now. We have a friend who is a nurse, and anyone who thinks covid is a lie should talk to people in the health care field. My wife and i are both retired, and it has been rough not being able to see friends and family. Not being able to go to plays, travel, comic cons...we lost a whole year, and dammit we dont have that many left! Im hoping to get my shot so we can see our grandson before he moves away. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the repercussions from Covid are real enough, LM. As well as the death toll, businesses have been devastated and may never recover, meaning that many jobs have gone forever. And some people's mental health has been made worse because of their social isolation. Hopefully, the future will be brighter.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, we've managed to avoid any family deaths from it. My brother had it in the fall and for him, it was like a sinus infection, but he did have no taste or smell for about a week. My 85 year old mother in law had it during the holidays, but managed to make it without many issues (low grade fever for about two days). There have been several deaths in my community, all of them elderly people in early to mid 80's. I had several co-workers to get it as well, but most did well. What's so scary about it is that you just don't know how it will affect you when you get it. Some didn't even know they had it and others died or nearly died and are still having issues months later.
ReplyDeleteIt's a frightening situation, G, that's for sure. Glad to hear your family haven't been too seriously affected by it, and I hope that continues 'til medical science one day manages to eradicate it - or at least finds a way to control it. Thanks for taking the time to comment, and that goes for everyone on this page too.
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