[Closed] Lockdown life changes, a year on...?

Not necessarily a big change in the scheme of things, but although I only work part-time, I was set up with a laptop to work from home last April. I have no intention of going back to the office to work as I find I am much more focused (no noisy and distracting co-workers) and can work when I like during the day.
As I am paid by the hour, as long as I get the work done each day, the place I work for gains as well.

I did some deep(ish) thinking about reliance on un-necessary and unsustainable technology, and removed my online presence as much as possible (including getting rid of my smartphone). Obviously my presence here makes me a bit of a hypocrite, but it's one of only two online social accounts I now have.

I also learned it's impossible to WFH if you have two small kids and no separate office...

I'm getting pretty slick on a bass guitar after playing almost every day for a year.

Waiting for our first child to arrive in the next few weeks so there's no going back to our version of normal anyway.

Don't miss pubs and drinking for the sake of it. Do miss live music.

I miss pubs and drinking beer with friends. I’ll be going back to it.

Currently sitting in my cottage in the Peak District, surrounded by pretty great views, which I wouldn't be living in if it weren't for the move to WFH that Covid brought for me and MrsIHN.

I can't lie, the global pandemic has worked out incredibly well for us.

I’ve picked up the guitar properly for the first time in a while and really enjoyed it. That said the creep back to normal has seen it wane a little.
The other big change was in my work.
After 20+ years as an engineer / production manager, I’ve changed and am now running a small bakery producing savoury biscuits. So far I’m loving it.

I was forced into making what was a nice enjoyable sideline in producing bespoke artwork for peoples walls into my full-time job* when the graphic design day job stopped dead (with no furlough for us excluded freelancers). I'd always said I wanted to do more of the former and less of the latter, but would I have pushed it like I have if I hadn't been forced too? I think we all know the answer to that.

I'm sat here at the moment drawing the City of Wells steam loco as the next in a series of illustrations for a local gin company to accompany this one of the Flying Scotsman

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51195160931_7f8fd88645_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51195160931_7f8fd88645_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2kZWzJt ]Lancashire Gin Family bottle[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/14162682@N00/ ]bin lid[/url], on Flickr

To put in context the effect this has had on me, I used to take beta-blockers due to my chronic anxiety. I haven't taken one for over a year now. So I've been considerably less anxious since the start of the first lockdown than I was before it.

I also rediscovered riding a bike with thin tyres on tarmac after a ten year absence and actually really enjoyed it

* Can I once again say a huge thank you to everyone from STW who's commissioned artwork. I've really enjoyed drawing all your favourite places

It made us realise that we didn't entertain regularly enough(even before lockdown) to justify a dining room, so that's currently being converted to a gym.

I've been doing a bit more local shopping - quality, food mike's and supporting local businesses.

We are keen to be visiting pubs and cafes again but weighing up risk/benefit with that. It's the dilemma whereby they are often busy with tourists but then they need the tourist income to survive.

One thing I need to get back to is that 100 days to Xmas thing on here. That made me get out every day but also had me exploring lots of local stuff I'd otherwise ignore.

It made me realise just how introverted I am.
A few other realisations:

Work:
Never really enjoyed working, and now, after working from home a few times I really hate going into work. I get there and just want to go home. Partly because I don't feel safe there with hundreds of people not wearing masks or keeping keeping their distance. But mostly because I'd rather be at home. We have plans to run an air bnb in the near future so we can be our own bosses and not have to work in teams of people.

Shopping:
Online is so much better. Less people everywhere so I'll be doing much more online from now on.

Happiness and mental health:
Better than its ever been due to spending more time at home and riding my bike more.
I do miss riding with friends. But also happy to ride on my own.

Holidays:
I don't miss them at all. Happy to go with the other half, but more than happy to do day trips instead.

Work made a massive change, so I took the opportunity to say no thanks, and am now very much poorer, but the happiest I have been for ages. Oh and I have picke dup the guitar that I hadn't touched since my 20s, so that is good too.

If I can make the finances work I am not sure I want to work for someone else again, certainly not long term. And communting hours every day - definitely not!

We’re moving from Kent to Scotland. On Thursday.

It’s something we’d considered some time but lockdown cemented a few things for us.....We liked things much quieter and slower paced, and we loved just spending time together as a family. We were happy(er?) just doing our own thing. Local bike rides, cooking together, chipping around the garden. Nothing ‘special’ as such, but quality time together.

I don’t know exactly what effect lockdown has had on our final decision but the way we lived through most of it probably reinforced and accelerated the process if nothing else.

As a family we did a lot of walking and exploring new areas, all meals together, playing board games and walking the kids to school because I am here every morning. My wife - although previously made cakes for people's Birthdays etc - extended her skills into a whole range of home cooked delicacies, from Chinese Spring rolls to biscuits to cinnamon buns, and we made use of the apple tree in season to make apple pies and such. Its been good to interact with the kids more despite my 12.5 starting to have pre-teenage spats.

For me personally its not so so good. At first - as a travelling salesman - I loved the fact I no longer had to get up in the morning and catch early trains / sit on the motorways to peoples offices, instead sat at home , coffee on tap. Yet now its become a relentless 10hrs a day in a chair in front of my laptop, professional interaction with people - which socially is not my strong point - is missed. 1hr car journeys I've had to places had made me realise I crave that personal space where I can't be pinged on Teams. I'm 28.5 yrs in my company and would have loved to have made 30 but the above - together with some career coaching - has made me realise there are better places to be.

We agreed the sale of our house just prior to lockdown, with an ambition to self-build in Scotland. We tried to find somewhere on the west coast to rent, but with everything locked-down the 'nearest' place we could find was in Moray, 2 hours away. In July we got across to the Isle of Mull to agree with a local builder to buy a plot and build us a house as we were too far away to do it ourselves. Planning permission was supposed to take 6 weeks and ended up dragging out to 3 months for no particular reason. House was due to be watertight by Christmas, but the windows took 18 weeks, not 6. We were due to move in April but it wasn't ready. Last month our builder had a heart attack (he's OK) but luckily his dad came out of retirement to supervise. Exterior now finished and hopefully completed in 5 weeks. It's going to such a relief to get out of this cold, damp, rodent-infested $hit hole...

I've barely been out on my bike this year due to snow and rubbish weather - running up the local mountains with my dog has been one of the few pleasures of lockdown - but even then it's getting a bit 'samey'

I've stopped enjoying most of the things I used to and I'm not sure the fire will ever come back. I've lost friends too through not being able to see them and probably won't get them back either.

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That looks brilliant.

One thing I need to get back to is that 100 days to Xmas thing on here. That made me get out every day but also had me exploring lots of local stuff I’d otherwise ignore.

This is exactly what has changed for me. We had just finished the first challenge and I was pretty determined to keep it going into the new year. Next thing you know, we’re all in full lockdown and the weather was too good not to be out and I kind off just fell into the routine of exercising every day.
As a result, I’m much fitter and happier but the biggest thing for me is that my kids have followed my example and also now exercise almost every day and feel the benefits. Something I’m hoping sticks with them for life.

My better half has just decided to retire and we both thought, serendipitously, about upping sticks to Sheffield*. Big changes coming up.

*yet another ST thread emptying my pockets!

Conversely to many of you, I've realised that I don't live in London just because the work is here and can't wait to go back in to the City on atleast a semi-regular basis.

We had a baby early in the pandemic.

Disappointing to have seen so few family and friends, but having been working from home throughout I have been able to spend every day of the baby's first year and my wife's maternity leave with them both. Such a privilege and it is unlikely that I would have such a strong bond with the baby if it had not have been for the virus.

Obviously there has been a lot of negative stuff for an awful lot of people globally and I would rather that the virus hadn't happened, but this last year or so has been very special for us as a family.

We've crunched the numbers and I shall retire at the end of 2022 at a respectable 60. The stress of dealing with people who were not going to observe social distancing or hygiene protocols while at work has caused my equilibrium to go wrong.

Being home and cooking/cycling was a revelation a year ago. Herself may be about to be promoted which will help with the short-term finances and also with her retirement income when she decides she has had enough.

Work has changed a lot, I love my job normally but this last year I’ve gone to work just as much as usual but had very little work to do. It’s the dream isn’t it? A job where you don’t actually have to work, but the reality is that it’s boring and tedious. I try not to complain though as I realise I’m a lot better off than a lot of people and hopefully next year things will get better.

We’ve made friends with a few of our neighbours which has been nice.

I miss some of the people I’ve not seen for over a year, a lot of them live 400 miles away so it’s not been easy to get to see them.

I’m more unfit than ever because I spent the last 9 months building a new camper van and not riding my bike. This would’ve happened anyway, just started it 3 months earlier due to lockdown.

Overall not much has changed for us tbh, I’m enjoying being able to get out and about again. I went out for breakfast yesterday, inside a local cafe - it was great.

Last year I was supposed to spend all my free time kitesurfing and riding my bike, it didn’t happen but I’m making up for that this year 🙂

Works decided we can all mostly work from home.

We moved house 20 miles away to somewhere with a bigger garden.

Also had a baby.

Have done less cycling!

Not a lot has changed for us really, except that I haven't been to visit any of the customers I'm dealing with. This makes it more chaotic for me because previously I'd be on an assignment for a week, then not do much - this gave me great focus on the task. However now that I'm not at customers I can deal with lots of stuff at the same time which I find really hard and I'm showing strong signs of ADHD which is harming my work.

1hr car journeys I’ve had to places had made me realise I crave that personal space where I can’t be pinged on Teams.

I've realised how important the travelling was for me, Not because I get pinged all the time otherwise - I don't - but because I'd spend anywhere between two and 18 hours doing nothing at all except being in a particular place and waiting a lot, which means reading, listening to music and/or drinking coffee. I also really miss hotels as they are such quiet peaceful spaces and I can entertain myself however I want.

Re riding - last year I did get tons of riding in - it was great 🙂

I’ve lost my fitness, gained a lot of weight and sometimes need to take a nap during the day. All from catching Covid twice. Not been a great year at all and has left me feeling old, very down and unmotivated at the grand old age of 44.

Working from home has been good since I moved to the bedroom. We live in a small house though so can’t really keep the kids at bay. Hoping to do a combination of home and office if allowed. Would love to move somewhere slightly bigger, mainly for the kids, but it’s not on the cards.

The pandemic has seen the company I work for grow at a great rate. A fantastic thing to see since I’ve been a part of it since there were about fifteen people working there. Lucky to have supportive management and lots of opportunities.

Lockdown was 7day weeks 16hr days, living a seperate life from my wife, daughter, dogs who were shielding and full on stress.... Tales of illness, death, grieving & family heartbreak and unpset.....

And I just run a village shop....

Now I'm living the slow life again.....

Got a new job after the old one evaporated in a Covid restructure. Ironically pre-pandemic there were times where I felt work wasn't challenging enough. Maybe a case of be careful what you wish for but really enjoying it. Landing it three weeks before redundancy was getting a bit too close for comfort.

A year on: I'm tired.

I lost a load of weight, gained a load of fitness and thoroughly enjoyed the first lockdown. I worked the whole way through on reduced hours with an early start so afternoons were my own which allowed the change of weight and fitness. I even got a week in the sun in between lockdowns.

I'm not looking forward to normality, whatever that entails, mainly because it means I'll be back on the 9-5 grind in a job I tolerate rather than enjoy while most of the office staff will continue to shirk from home.

I’ve lost my fitness, gained a lot of weight and sometimes need to take a nap during the day. All from catching Covid twice. Not been a great year at all and has left me feeling old, very down and unmotivated at the grand old age of 44.

I can relate. I'm 14 months into long covid. I'm still on reduced hours at work, and became so sedentary due to fatigue that I ended up getting a bad hip (yoga and stretching are helping with that). I wake up stiff as a board and feel distinctly elderly at 41. Haven't ridden my bike since.

I've also lost two family members.

At least work have been supportive, and I hope to back to full hours soon. I'm sad that I didn't really get to enjoy the nice quiet lockdown that so many others seem to have done, but cannot WAIT to be able to get back to 'normal'. I even miss my old commute (8 miles a day on the bike, mostly traffic free. Seems a distant goal at the moment, but I'll get there).

I've gone from a decent job with a great work/life balance to unemployment and lots of uncertainty.

Used to work only 4 days out of 7 which gave me plenty of flexibility for getting stuff done away from the weekend bustle, had enough to keep me interested and due to the different duties I had amassed over the years I could easily switch shifts around (sometimes my boss would just let me write my own rota!) and get lots of 2-3 day trips in without using up holiday entitlements. It also paid stupidly well for what the job really was too. Now I'm staring at lots of unappealing jobs with long hours and low pay, inflexible working patterns and that don't get me enthusiastic about doing them.
I was planning to move to the countryside, which meant losing my cycle commute but I would gain from not being in the city that I don't like. That's been blocked by all the house prices and rents going stratospheric due to everyone now able to work from home and wanting a big garden with an office shed at the bottom.
I've also really suffered with my hobbies, especially the biking. I used to get out somewhere at least twice a week for a decent ride, add on my commuting and I was decently fit. Now I'm completely bored of the same routes that don't tax my fitness and despite having no work I'm lucky to get out twice a week.
It's not all doom and gloom though. My redundancy payment has allowed me to buy the classic Mini I've been hankering after for a long, long time and being able to care for my elderly parents throughout the pandemic has been stressful and emotional but ultimately quality time I wouldn't have otherwise had with them.

It's great to read about others having made positive life choices that are really working for them but for every one of you there's someone like me who has had it all fall apart. I have no future plans, no way of knowing where I'll end up and what I'll be doing. I'm genuinely a lost sheep right now so you'd think I want normality back but I didn't like the world as it was. The quiet shops, the empty roads, the politeness and social distancing really suited me as it felt like being in the countryside permanently. Sadly all of that has pretty much gone so I'm stuck in an urban hell I can't stand and am priced out of escaping it.

Maybe when we come out of the other side of all of this (we're most likely in the middle right now) things will change for the better but right now I'm equally astounded and disgusted at the way our society had immediately forgotten the lessons and benefits we all enjoyed in lockdown to just go back to full-on consumerism, rudeness and all of our destructive behaviours.

Having spent Lockdown 1 working ridiculous hours on 999 Blue Light Ambulances, and having had a near nervous breakdown with PTSD from some of the (horrendous) things we had to deal with, including not knowing if we were about to bring Covid home to our families (especially having lost 2 Uncles to it), I decided enough of the emergency response for me, decided to move into GP land instead as an ACP, started my Masters, learnt a ton of new medical stuff, work Mon-Fri 9-5 instead of shifts and generally a lot happier (now)...although this shite weather is seriously testing me.....

I’m slowly giving up meat and have an expensive new hobby in buying and fixing retro computers. Lockdown has utterly fed our wanderlust. We’re desperate to travel properly asap.

I still need more sleep even when I WFM ...

That looks brilliant.

It does look great, and I'd love to try it, but am I allowed to say it's a blueberry in the photo, and not a blackberry?

[i]It does look great, and I’d love to try it, but am I allowed to say it’s a blueberry in the photo, and not a blackberry?[/i]

It is probably a dyed cranberry.

I wasn't lucky enough to get Binners private work although I did sell two paintings from STW so I have become a licenced pedlar.

Pre pandemic: I was a professional musician living out my childhood dream.

Post pandemic: I just got home from a shift as a supermarket delivery driver. This was not my childhood dream.

No big moves or lifestyle changes, was already living the WFH life, like where I live on the outskirts of London and I do miss all the non-work stuff that gives us access to.

With young kids though we’d always had them in nursery full time so we could both do our jobs. Eldest was in reception (and doing after school club so we could both work our normal expected hours) when first lockdown hit. I scaled back as much as I could to look after the kids - wife is way more career minded and just back to where she should be after two maternity leaves. The extreme of flexiblity (doing what I could, when I could) has probably had the biggest impact.

We’re a year on, youngest is at the school nursery (so school hours) and starting reception in September, and I just go and do the school run in the afternoon, I block out my calendar. I’m seriously thinking about dropping to 25 hours a week rather than the faff (and cost) of after school childcare. Have had the request drafted for months, only put it off because I’ve been managing to get everything done and get paid my normal salary even with a chunk of my afternoon gone. Getting a bit fed up with catching up in the evenings though, I’d rather earn a bit less and get the time back.

So yeah, seem to be going from the assumption that I have to hand my kids off to someone else just to fit around my job, to wanting my job to fit around family life. Had the scary thought that they’ll both be teenagers in a decade and I’d rather spend the time with them now.

Oh, and hair. Been cutting it short and neat to look vaguely professional for as long as I’ve been working. Did a grade 2 all over back in April 2020 and just let it grow out since. Turns out I really like it and as I actually have decent hair in my 40s (as so many friends and colleagues are balding) sod it, I’m keeping it long.

Amazing the array of experiences. Excellent news to those above that have had a newborn and enjoyed being home, very happy for you.

Might be because I’m young-ish at 33, but I’ve never once cared about the health implications for myself, so it does feel a bit alien to relate to those that do. Not saying you’re not right to - my dad does - just a different experience.

I may as well give a more complete answer.

We also had a baby during lockdown, our 2nd. The experience of trying to raise our toddler and care for a newborn, all while not being allowed to see anyone nor go anywhere, was harrowing. Pre-birth, my wife and I were both WFH, while caring for the toddler in shifts. That was also a very tough experience, that we had to end early. We already had a loft extension scheduled (for April 2020), which would have given us a home office, but that fell through due to Covid. It's back on the cards now, but I'm not sure what the wife will do once her maternity leave ends, as we have no working space.

My company, always a little disorganised, looks like it is falling apart, with oblivious management who are apparently loving the "undisturbed" zoom life.

My cycling and fitness has basically stopped, and it looks like the (road) group riding scene where I am will take a long time to recover (if it ever does).

So no, no extended afternoon rides or special bonding for me. I had to stop using Strava, as I got too jealous.

It's getting easier now that we have some childcare options, but without that, it was basically impossible to leave the house by myself.

I do feel like the adversity has made me grow and mature in a way that I would not have done, so I suppose that's a benefit.

MrsRNP 95% better after needing hospital and long covid.

Not had a haircut in 18 months so I now look like a cross between Roger May / James May / Gandalf

After my fitness slipping quite a bit at the beginning of all the lockdowns, I’m riding my bike every day and have been since December. Fitness is good, as is getting out of the house.

However, my marriage has basically broken down as there has been a lot of lies and deception (her money and drink problems), so I’m now looking to move out. I’m actually feeling really optimistic about it though, as I’ve realised things haven’t been right for years and this is the boost I need to give up and move on. Just need to remain civil until we can divorce, assuming this is the way things end up.

Bout three years ago my MIL moved up so we could keep an eye on her. With hindsight and a pandemic this was probably the wrong thing to have done. At least we have been able to look out for her during the last year but she has dementia now and it's deteriorated a lot in the last year. She comes down for dinner about 3 times a week and evertime we have the same conversations. Where's the toilet, which door did I come in, did I bring a bag, where are the children etc. If it's a bad day we have to reassure her the previous owner of her house is not spying on her or stealing stuff. Yesterday we had a get together with parents, nice meal etc. Should have been great but I was so on edge all the time it was stressful and the exact opposite of what it should have been. I cracked a couple of times. She is going to her sons today for two weeks, only the second little break any of us have had since the first lockdown. We're getting away for the weekend but her house is a tip and needs a good clear out. One of her things she does is take one of the hundreds of toilet rolls in the house and break it up into small bundles of tissues, she has dozens of carrier bags full of these, because well, it's always handy to have some tissues for your pocket. There will also be newspaper cuttings, the used toilet rolls, cardboard boxes etc littering the place and something furry hidden at the back of the fridge. And the milk cartons full of rain water for the plants she used to water 30 years ago.

Me, my hairs now long, I lost my bike mojo and i sold my house and moved to Scotland...

Now trying to regain bike mojo

In fact just any mojo. Become very lazy and I'm not sure why!

I remember lockdown giving folks a slower pace and time to reflect

this doesnt reflect my experience, at all.