Is Lockdown Getting Easier or Harder?

[bgmnts]

Some guy outside going absolutely ballistic on the phon to his girlfriend (I think). Full mental, screaming at her.

I think maybe she cheated on him, which is impressive during lockdown.

[Dewt]

The only thing that has really got harder for me is the descent of supermarkets into fuckery. I liked going shopping. I'd choose a quiet hour and amble around buying stuff. It was badly-lit me time. Now it's all full of rules and idiots and disease and I simply won't go.

[Beagle 2]

The last week has been really tetchy and the rows have started. Getting earache for doing so much work whilst also getting overloaded with work, so that's nice. Averaging about four or five hours of sleep a night. There's definitely some positives in the way I'm connecting with friends and family more but work just gets in the way of everything. Put on half a stone. Boozing a lot.

[Annie Labuntur]

Okay for me at the moment, luckily, but as others have said it feels like a phoney war period before things deteriorate further.

Talk of passing the peak and the gradual release of lockdown feels like magical thinking to me, and I think things are going to take a terrible dive that will last a long, long time.

That could be the hemlock talking though.

[Noodle Lizard]

Luckily for me, home life in the lockdown is not significantly different to what it was before, as the wife and I have been working largely from home on our own schedules for a while. What is bad and getting harder is having the school-aged stepson home all day and having to keep him entertained whilst juggling my own emergently mobile spawn. That leaves very little opportunity during the day to do anything for yourself, and not having the option to go out for lunch or just to the pub for a bit makes that even more oppressive.

On the other hand, we're very lucky that we (or my wife anyway) are financially stable enough to weather this for the time being without too many severe consequences, and our landlord's been kind about rent, so we're alright enough in that regard. It'll probably hit harder once the economy's back up and running and we realize our business is fucked, mind you.

Other than that, I've actually realized that I don't really miss anyone - moreso the option of being able to see them/be social. It's made me reevaluate my social life a bit. I'm worried that it'll be a while before we start getting concerts or other such in-person events back, that'll eventually take a toll. And my own side-business/creative output which involves putting an audience in very direct contact with performers/others is probably fucked for a fair old while, which ruins it financially.

Thing is, I'm in one of the better positions to be in during this whole fiasco. A lot of people I know are feeling it far worse, and I genuinely worry about them. The mental health impact of losing your livelihood and passions as well as most social contact can be deadly.

[Kryton]

IGNORE

[Non Stop Dancer]

As much as I'd like to get the business up and running again so that I might actually be able to make some money, this is basically how I imagine retirement to be, and I fucking love it. I'm basically a full time music producer right now, my ideal life.

[mrpupkin]

Still have to do work all the time but now to the soundtrack of the neighbours' kids going mental all fucking day. Dogshit.

[Chollis]

still absolutely great. would rather live the rest of my life like this than what it was before. i've actually been having nightmares about lockdown being over. every second in lockdown is blessed gift to be cherished.

my thoughts

[Annie Labuntur]

Okay for me at the moment, luckily, but as others have said it feels like a phoney war period before things deteriorate further.

Talk of passing the peak and the gradual release of lockdown feels like magical thinking to me, and I think things are going to take a terrible dive that will last a long, long time.

That could be the hemlock talking though.

       Miserable bleeder.

[Mister Six]

I've been very, very lucky with all this. Mrs Six is Chinese and I work in the news, so I'd been aware of, and mentally prepared for the FUCKDOWN before the virus touched America. We've got a balcony and a roof on our apartment building so we can exercise ourselves and the dog when the sun shines. I work from home, so I've not been laid off or furloughed without pay. We have a ton of films and shows to catch up on, and Animal Crossing too. And I had far too many library books to read in too short a time, but those return dates have all been indefinitely extended.

I'm more worried about my friends who're struggling with unemployment (potential and actual) and the stress on their mental health. Plus my parents, who are elderly (even though they don't seem to want to accept it) and so at risk. Also this could be the death knell for lots of lovely independent bookstores, cinemas, pubs and cafes in New York, which would be really fucking dogshit.

Personally, I'm loving it and if it weren't for all that stuff, plus the deaths and incoming Great Depression, I'd be happy for it to carry on a while.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Sorry to hear that :(

I'm finding the "let's torture myself by imagining this all happened x number of months/years ago" game is a bugger - in my case it's really petty, stupid, trifling stuff, but I keep thinking that if I'd stayed living in the flatshare I decided to move out of in September, I'd at least have access to a balcony, and a bigger bedroom, and two flatmates with whom I've got more common ground in music/TV/film/humour taste than my current cohabitor and who are both single, ostensibly straight males, who might have eventually got desperate/drunk enough for some clandestine Coronafornication at some point, ahh jesus I'm bored/lonely. And the irony is I decided to move in order to be a bit closer to my office, ha.

Mainly it's just dull, punctuated by bouts of depression (also dull), but am incredibly grateful to be working and in a relatively very very fortunate position overall.

Gonna start donating the money I'm saving on transport/pints/kebabs every month to charity, I guess if I drink enough booze, keep staying indoors and let my PCOS run rampant then I might begin to resemble a 100 year old white man and I'll be the new national hero.

Thank you for that, it is appreciated, and I'm sorry you're going through a tough time of it as well. I'm with you on the grateful to be working front , but the rest of it is an ongoing nightmare and I think the end is much further away than most people I know seem to think, I can't remember who it was but someone on here recently said they thought we were about half way through and I think that's incredibly optimistic. And depression may be dull but it's all kinds of horrible, I came off anti-depressants a couple of months back but imagine if this is still going on in June (which it all but definitely will be in some form or another) I'll be back on them. Anyway, rambling, but I really hope things pick up for you, and soon too.

[flotemysost]

Ta, appreciate that too, and hope you're managing OK as well. I've honestly got things really very cushy compared to a hell of a lot of people. Think I just need to stop looking at people's social media posts featuring their gardens/partners/cats/dogs.

Also this could be the death knell for lots of lovely independent bookstores, cinemas, pubs and cafes in New York, which would be really fucking dogshit.

This, but in London/UK. Again, massively privileged wanky thing to say with everything that's going on I know, but the thought of potentially never being able to spend an afternoon browsing independent galleries/record shops/pubs etc. again is pretty sad.

I also love charity shops and there are some great ones here, especially the Crisis shops which are nice shops/cafes in themselves but also do really good work in providing experience and training for homeless people, it's hard to see how something like that will be viable any time soon in this situation.

Basically in the near future all goods and services in the world will be paid for by triggering an algorithm in Seattle which fellates Jeff Bezos, no other options, that's where this is headed isn't it.

[Danger Man]

This, but in London/UK. Again, massively privileged wanky thing to say with everything that's going on I know, but the thought of potentially never being able to spend an afternoon browsing independent galleries/record shops/pubs etc. again is pretty sad.

The virus might just accelerate what has been going on for the last decade or longer. Rich people (young or old) do things and the poor do the best they can.