What We Learnt During Lockdown

We Can Cook:

Having to queue to get into supermarkets for sometimes hours on end kind of put us off going shopping. Restaurants were closed and takeaways closed also. These 3 things combined to have a positive affect on all our culinary skills. We suddenly had to learn how to cook (well some of us did).  With all this spare time and all our favourite things taken away from us  that involved leaving the house, cooking became  a welcome break from the stress of lockdown.

We suddenly started to all become chefs, creating home cooked meals from scratch with proper ingredients. Having a go at that complicated meal you’ve always wanted to try make. Social media become full of peoples proud photos of their work. We also found out that it’s not as daunting as we maybe thought, well to us novice cooks anyway.  We started to take pride in our food shopping, picking fresh ingredients and each week trying new things.

We Miss The Outdoors:

You never realise how much you miss something until it’s gone sometimes and in this case we missed just being able to go outdoors. Morning walks with the dog and family, trips to the local park, canal walks and cycling. All took away from us in an instant for a period of time.  This was made all the more worse by the warm and sunny weather we had during this period, especially in March and April.

We were all glued to the news for weekly updates, hoping to be allowed to go out more. Short 10- minute walks near our home just didn’t quite cut it.  Suddenly we realised what we were missing and what we had always took for granted.   The canal paths were quiet and missing joggers, mountain bikers and dog walkers.

As restrictions were eased and we were allowed out more suddenly the lanes and canal paths became a haven for families. Walking became popular, not just short walks but walks that took hours with people re-discovering their local areas and nearby countryside again. Now lockdown has eased a lot more this trend has continued as people have fallen in love with the great outdoors again.

TV Dramas Are Better Then We Realised:

As filming had to stop the TV channels had to rely on old TV to fill in the slots. Exciting TV shows like Line Of Duty and other new Drama shows had to be delayed meaning a delayed release date more likely to be autumn or even 2021.  Suddenly the TV channels had to find things to show. Old TV shows were re-shown such as The Fall. People who had missed these shows were just discovering them for the first time.

We started to rely on great TV for our form of escapism and shows like Killing Eve and all the Netflix releases like Tiger King kept us entertained. The new dramas dried up eventually so we had to watch re-runs, not a bad thing but made us realise how much we look forward to our brand new TV dramas.  Nothing beats chatting with friends and co-workers about the latest episode of that new drama on TV.

We Can Adapt:

For many of us we follow a daily routine, probably without realising it.  Doing the same things day in, day out, same habits etc.  Even down to what we had for lunch or how we commuted. Routines make us feel safe and secure and we get used to them, not really realising it. All of a sudden we had to adapt top change and restrictions. Work, leisure, eating all became something we had to change to continue doing.  For many it was working from home, for the older generation it was using technology, for children it was finding something to do stuck at home. Thing is we all adapted, people started doing online classes for exercise, celebrities kept us entertained with free concerts like Gary Barlow.

We had to convert bedrooms and dining rooms into offices, tables into schools and gardens into gyms.  It made us just a bit more clever then we were before.  Social media became important to keep in touch with friends and family. We used the internet far more then we did before and in clever ways, like Zoom for instance, people having online cooking Zoom classes, quizzes with family and more.

Watching Live Sport Means More Then We Thought:

For some the weekend is based around sport, professional or amateur. Attending your teams home game to shout from the terraces, followed by a pie and maybe a pint.  In some cases this has been a lifetime tradition.  All of a sudden this has gone, and in some cases it’s gone until 2021.   We realised that yes whilst sport isn’t life or death it’s vital to your mental wellbeing and metal health.  This was the time people saw their friends, stood on the same spot on the terraces or seating, met before the game and so much more.

Watching live sport gives us so many emotions and a sense of release. The highs, the lows, the long cup run, all giving hope to hundreds of thousands each week. Expect to see crowds increase when we are able to attend sporting events again as the sit on the fence go to one game in 5 fan realises just how much he missed his weekend day out.  Lockdown has made us realise just how important sport is to our mental health, not just for exercise but for professional sport also.

We Really Miss Our Holidays:

How many times do you hear “we really need a holiday” at home and in the work place, after a bad time or in the winter when it’s cold? For most families the annual holiday is something to look forward to, to get you through the bad times.  Even the short weekend break was a welcome relief from the day to day grind.  With most peoples holidays cancelled we became more aware of just how much we looked forward to our holidays abroad., sun, sand, sangria and relaxing, just reading that book in peace or a walk on the sand.

Thing is once the lockdown was eased the first thing many people did was look at taking a holiday, some people managed to get away in what was a restricted holiday market, what with many countries still in lockdown with closed borders. Sadly however many of us have had to put any thoughts of a holiday (unless a staycation) out of our minds until 2021 due to flare ups and some countries being out of bounds.  Many now daren’t risk it now for fear of being stranded abroad too so it’s safe to say 2020 is write off for many of us holiday wise.  The staycation has proved popular but the British weather can make or break a holiday so it’s not the same as being abroad no matter how hard we try.

We’ve Still A Long Way To Go:

So to conclude, we all adapted well and made the most of things with our usual stuff upper lip attitude. We carried on and continue to carry on as things are still nowhere near back to normal and probably won’t be for a few months maybe even years yet.  We adapted our lives to carry on and in some of the most testing of circumstances for most of us we still managed to raise a smile.

There’s still room to progress and improve things though and as things are still not back to normal we will continue to develop and adapt, to find ways to make our lives as normal as possible. If we can all pull in the same direction we will make great strides and progress.