Will life have changed indefinitely....

...even after the lockdown has ended? Has staying in become the new norm for many people.

If you think about it, there is really no need to go out any more.

Instead of travelling to work people have been encouraged to work from home.

Instead of shopping in supermarkets for food, trawling round shopping centres and outlets for necessary items, everything can now be delivered to your doorstep.

No need to pack a suitcase and hop on a plane, train, or drive the car, you can visit wherever you want in the world interactively

No one need ever enter a library or a book store again because now we can google any information we might need.

Facebook, Twitter, Zoom, facetime is now the meeting place for friends and family

Welcome to the future.

And for exercise, have you noticed how many people now have gym equipment in their own homes?
There are shopping channels dedicated to flogging various machinery contraptions that looks like something out of a medieval torture chamber, (or 50 shades) ready to be assembled in your own home or garage.

I dunno, syl

I took myself for a walk in the park yesterday and it wasn't packed but there were plenty of people about there, also up at the shops.

I think there is just an instinctive need within humans to interact which can't/shouldn't be dampened down

Not for me. I'm not a stay at home kind of guy...

The only change I've seen recently is smaller crowds and people wearing masks. I did the exact same thing last night that I did on a Wednesday a year ago. Went to the office, went to homes to perform appraisals. Rode my bike 20 miles with my group after work then had beers with them at a brewery...

gelico wrote:

I dunno, syl

I took myself for a walk in the park yesterday and it wasn't packed but there were plenty of people about there, also up at the shops.

I think there is just an instinctive need within humans to interact which can't/shouldn't be dampened down

I think you are right that for many people there is an instinctive need to interact physically.....I hope you are right anyway.

We go for regular walks, I have noticed since the last lockdown fewer people are walking, even though we live next to fields with rights of way and  a country park, compared to last year, not as many people are out.
One member of my family has hardly moved out of the house for months...he is young too, yet seems content to stay in playing on games.

Society now makes it possible to never go out if that's what suits....hopefully, come the better weather and the lockdown restrictions being lifted soon, everyone who has got into the habit of staying in all the time, will break it.

Well as from Monday, in England, many places that have been shut for months, like restaurants, cinemas, children's indoor play areas etc, can open up at long last.

I know  some people won't be going where there will be crowds indoors, and I can understand their reluctance, especially in the areas  of greater Manchester and NW England where the Indian strain is rising quite rapidly.
There was talk that certain places like Bolton and Blackburn may not open up....but the final word is they will....so see how that goes.

I am going for a proper restaurant meal on Monday, the first time I will eat a meal I haven't cooked for myself in well over a year....cant wait.

If anyone else has anything planned for the big re-opening....hope you enjoy it.

Have fun, yall damn sure deserve it.

gelico wrote:I think there is just an instinctive need within humans to interact which can't/shouldn't be dampened down

Good point. That's why I don't see why ideologies are built around individualism, and screw the other guys. Humans were made to be social.

I think people are itching to get back out. I do wonder about pubs, restaurants etc putting up their prices though.

Syl wrote:Well as from Monday, in England, many places that have been shut for months, like restaurants, cinemas, children's indoor play areas etc, can open up at long last.

I know  some people won't be going where there will be crowds indoors, and I can understand their reluctance, especially in the areas  of greater Manchester and NW England where the Indian strain is rising quite rapidly.
There was talk that certain places like Bolton and Blackburn may not open up....but the final word is they will....so see how that goes.

I am going for a proper restaurant meal on Monday, the first time I will eat a meal I haven't cooked for myself in well over a year....cant wait.

If anyone else has anything planned for the big re-opening....hope you enjoy it.

Did you never dine out to help out?

Ben Reilly wrote:

Syl wrote:Well as from Monday, in England, many places that have been shut for months, like restaurants, cinemas, children's indoor play areas etc, can open up at long last.

I know  some people won't be going where there will be crowds indoors, and I can understand their reluctance, especially in the areas  of greater Manchester and NW England where the Indian strain is rising quite rapidly.
There was talk that certain places like Bolton and Blackburn may not open up....but the final word is they will....so see how that goes.

I am going for a proper restaurant meal on Monday, the first time I will eat a meal I haven't cooked for myself in well over a year....cant wait.

If anyone else has anything planned for the big re-opening....hope you enjoy it.

Did you never dine out to help out?

We did, only for afternoon snacks in a few garden centres.
We haven't actually been in a restaurant since the start of the first lockdown.

Ben Reilly wrote:

Syl wrote:Well as from Monday, in England, many places that have been shut for months, like restaurants, cinemas, children's indoor play areas etc, can open up at long last.

I know  some people won't be going where there will be crowds indoors, and I can understand their reluctance, especially in the areas  of greater Manchester and NW England where the Indian strain is rising quite rapidly.
There was talk that certain places like Bolton and Blackburn may not open up....but the final word is they will....so see how that goes.

I am going for a proper restaurant meal on Monday, the first time I will eat a meal I haven't cooked for myself in well over a year....cant wait.

If anyone else has anything planned for the big re-opening....hope you enjoy it.

Did you never dine out to help out?

I personally kept an entire country afloat with my dining regiment..

I have to admit, I feel like I might have some creeping trauma from the pandemic that I don't want to look at squarely. I may have been putting on a brave face to the point that I fooled myself most of the time.

It was fucking scary, to be honest. At times it felt like the world was ending and it was nobody's fault. I worried a lot about the people I love. I was never that scared of getting the disease myself, but I worried, to myself, a lot about what would happen if someone in my family, or one of my close friends, got seriously ill.

When you become a husband and a stepfather after decades of singledom, that's a lot to deal with. When you immigrate to a new country, you have plenty to overcome and process right there. I suppose I've felt like I've had to take on an undue amount of stress, with the pandemic thrown on top of all the other things I've had to cope with.

Ben Reilly wrote:I have to admit, I feel like I might have some creeping trauma from the pandemic that I don't want to look at squarely. I may have been putting on a brave face to the point that I fooled myself most of the time.

It was fucking scary, to be honest. At times it felt like the world was ending and it was nobody's fault. I worried a lot about the people I love. I was never that scared of getting the disease myself, but I worried, to myself, a lot about what would happen if someone in my family, or one of my close friends, got seriously ill.

When you become a husband and a stepfather after decades of singledom, that's a lot to deal with. When you immigrate to a new country, you have plenty to overcome and process right there. I suppose I've felt like I've had to take on an undue amount of stress, with the pandemic thrown on top of all the other things I've had to cope with.

Not surprising really.
You did almost overnight what most people take years to do.....and in a strange country on top of trying to cope with something none of us had ever experienced before.

Well said Syl.

Tis true.x

Syl wrote:Tis true.x

It is. I don’t often give him enough credit. My bad.

Thanks everyone. Normally, I'm good -- I have a lot of help. It's just sometimes, like all of us, I feel a bit overwhelmed.

I'm in my situation that comes with its own issues, but there are so many people who've had people they love deeply die during the pandemic, and I certainly would never want to trade places with them.

Ben Reilly wrote:Thanks everyone. Normally, I'm good -- I have a lot of help. It's just sometimes, like all of us, I feel a bit overwhelmed.

I'm in my situation that comes with its own issues, but there are so many people who've had people they love deeply die during the pandemic, and I certainly would never want to trade places with them.

It's important to voice your worries or fears though, and just because some people have had it worse, it doesn't diminish your own.
Some of the most upbeat people i know have been quite badly affected over the last year....and they dont even know anyone who has been ill with covid, much less died of it.

Well said, again.

At the moment, many more people are dying from flu than from covid here in UK.


There is still a lot of heightened fear mongering going on here, but hopefully people will start regaining their common sense and putting things in perspective and relaxing.

As to the OP question, I think people will be a lot more cognizant of the dual threat of viruses: illness and spread.  Heretofore, colds and flues were simply thought of personally, as in I have the flu and I feel miserable!

Now, they will be a lot more aware of the potential of giving illness to others.  In a personal sense, we've been selfish.  That will end...but it will end in a way that revisits the selfishness: if we allow spread and a pandemic ensues, it could return to hurt us economically as well as constitutionally.

Original Quill wrote:As to the OP question, I think people will be a lot more cognizant of the dual threat of viruses: illness and spread.  Heretofore, colds and flues were simply thought of personally, as in I have the flu and I feel miserable!

Now, they will be a lot more aware of the potential of giving illness to others.  In a personal sense, we've been selfish.  That will end...but it will end in a way that revisits the selfishness: if we allow spread and a pandemic ensues, it could return to hurt us economically as well as constitutionally.

To be fair though, most people don’t know they have a cold or the flu before symptoms start, so they spread it unknowingly.

eddie wrote:

Original Quill wrote:As to the OP question, I think people will be a lot more cognizant of the dual threat of viruses: illness and spread.  Heretofore, colds and flues were simply thought of personally, as in I have the flu and I feel miserable!

Now, they will be a lot more aware of the potential of giving illness to others.  In a personal sense, we've been selfish.  That will end...but it will end in a way that revisits the selfishness: if we allow spread and a pandemic ensues, it could return to hurt us economically as well as constitutionally.

To be fair though, most people don’t know they have a cold or the flu before symptoms start, so they spread it unknowingly.

I'm talking about the general way that a pandemic works. When they do know they are sick, hopefully they will be more vigilant.

As many viruses are passed on by hand, I think people will have naturally become more conscious of washing and sterilising their hands when they have been out in public places.

I know I have...and this is after catching the norovirus just before Covid appeared, I take more care now. I have steriliser in the car and in my bag, something I never bothered with before.

In two or three years time, covid will be a distant memory and life will resume as normal.

We were washing our hands fine before all this without devastating effects, I’m pretty sure it will return back to normal.

I definitely think the pandemic and the ways we had to change will have at least a somewhat-lasting effect on some people. I could see some people finding that they continue to socially distance, for one. I know it's going to feel really weird the first time I go shopping without putting on a mask.

Then again, I get used to things pretty quickly, so after a week I'll probably barely remember wearing masks.

I just hope that the whole pandemic doesn’t instil unnecessary fear into people. That would be a real and total waste.

eddie wrote:I just hope that the whole pandemic doesn’t instil unnecessary fear into people. That would be a real and total waste.

There are people that have a form of PTSD from this. I think they already had some anxiety, and this kicked into overdrive.

Maddog wrote:

eddie wrote:I just hope that the whole pandemic doesn’t instil unnecessary fear into people. That would be a real and total waste.

There are people that have a form of PTSD from this. I think they already had some anxiety, and this kicked into overdrive.

Someone told me once when I was a child, that most things you fear never actually come true.

I still hold this to be true. It’s never really failed me.

'Nothing to fear but fear itself'.....or something like that, can often be true.

My hair has changed indefinitely.

I took the opportunity during lockdown to let my hair colour go au naturel....I think I expected my usual dark to be mixed a bit with grey....nope, full white, (just like my mum was when she stopped colouring) I dont like it, but I do like the ease of not needing to cover up roots every month....so it's staying.

So...my life may not have changed indefinitely....but my hair colour has.

Syl wrote:My hair has changed indefinitely.

I took the opportunity during lockdown to let my hair colour go au naturel....I think I expected my usual dark to be mixed a bit with grey....nope, full white, (just like my mum was when she stopped colouring) I dont like it, but I do like the ease of not needing to cover up roots every month....so it's staying.

So...my life may not have changed indefinitely....but my hair colour has.

...still those vibrant eyes. That will never change.

Original Quill wrote:



...still those vibrant eyes.  That will never change.  

Lol...yep, my eyes are still the same colour,  

Good for you Syl, you look good. I've been white for some time, started going that way in my early twenties, it takes some getting used to but in the end its so much easier. I am one of three people on my mother's side who ended up white at a young age, the other two are men, they just looked distinguished, that side of the family have black hair as did I many years ago.

Thanks vintage, you are right, it does take some getting used to, and I'm not there yet, but I will persevere.

My mum went white quite young, OH, who used to have blue black hair is also white.
It seems the darker you are the whiter your hair goes when you get older.
You were very young though, early 20's. Young people pay fortunes to get their hair this colour, so you were lucky in a way.

Syl wrote:'Nothing to fear but fear itself'.....or something like that, can often be true.

It’s not often true, it’s always true.

Regarding your hair colour, I’m not a fan. I loved your dark hair on you, (I like black hair but I couldn’t carry that colour off at all), but good for you that you feel free to be you.

You’re still pretty hot.

I prefer the dark too Eddie, but it's only hair.

I know loads of women took advantage of the lockdown to embrace the grey...and now I am literally a Silver Surfer. :

Syl wrote:I prefer the dark too Eddie, but it's only hair.

I know loads of women  took advantage of the lockdown to embrace the grey...and now I am literally a Silver Surfer. :

Well, like I said, you’re still hot. I’d do ya.

eddie wrote:

Syl wrote:I prefer the dark too Eddie, but it's only hair.

I know loads of women  took advantage of the lockdown to embrace the grey...and now I am literally a Silver Surfer. :

Well, like I said, you’re still hot. I’d do ya.

In the next life we will be wed, so of course you will.

Syl wrote:

eddie wrote:

Syl wrote:I prefer the dark too Eddie, but it's only hair.

I know loads of women  took advantage of the lockdown to embrace the grey...and now I am literally a Silver Surfer. :

Well, like I said, you’re still hot. I’d do ya.

In the next life we will be wed, so of course you will.