Covid-19 and lockdown, five years on: A personal reflection

It sometimes doesn't feel real: I lived through an actual pandemic, what should be the stuff of history or fiction. I know I'm reflecting from a place of privilege even saying that. Five years ago today the British government announced lockdown restrictions as part of a "huge national effort" to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Many vulnerable people had been effectively under lockdown before then. In the period that followed some didn't feel the need for restrictions or vaccinations. 

Was it too late? Was it a step too far? Historians will look back and draw different conclusions. As a society we're still dealing with the aftermath of the virus, the restrictions, the conspiracy theories, the mental health issues, our approach to collective responsibility, the realities of hybrid working - positive for me and many others, not so much for some. We can say the pandemic deepened existing inequalities and exposed vulnerabilities in our health and social care systems. Impacts on school and university goers of the time aren't fully understood.

These are simply my experiences and I'm thankful most are mundane: In a household of two, working from home meant we no longer had a kitchen table - it was an office space. That quickly became the norm. I queued at distance. I wore face masks. I started ordering supermarket home deliveries. I received my first vaccination on 19 March 2021, a year after that first lockdown. I went back to the office in September 2021 having worked from home for 18 months. I got Covid in April 2022 and thankfully wasn't very ill. An aunt in a care home died, not from Covid. Her family endured few visits and a restricted funeral. An uncle was in intensive care with Covid, but survived. I read Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake. I made banana bread once and my own lemon curd (also once).

And these are some of my photos:




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