I remember I was at my uni library and I learned from a tweet of the health ministry that schools and unis are shutdown for the foreseeable future. I immediately went home early.
I remember telling my siblings “Meh this will probably last a week or so”. lol in hindsight.
In Accident and Emergency with chest pains because I’d caught Covid already.
I had already shifted to working from home, ordering groceries for pickup, avoiding crowds, etc. for several weeks before shutdown happened.
I too thought it would last maybe a month or two, so started a degree thinking I would have at least a semester knocked out during lockdown. Jk, I had the whole degree done before we returned to office.
I was in highschool at the time. I just got suspended like a week before school officially closed for covid. It was for a fight, and I was in self-defence, and the bully probably picked me to harass probably because I’m Chinese-American and probably blamed me for Covid. I got arrested, but charges were eventually dropped, after like 10 months and multiple virtual court hearings or some bullshit.
I was glad to suspended from school, I fucking hate it. I always wanted to just skip it and get a GED (its a test you take to get the equivalent of a High School Diploma). So yea, eventually, I just quit and took the GED, passed on first try, zero studying (I mean, cmon, that shits easy), the scores when converted to GPA are better than my actual GPA anyways 🤷♂️
At that time I researched a lot about immigration laws, and learned that the USCIS could see juvenile arrests and “convictions” (its technically called “adjundicated delinquent”) within the past 5 years, and also any adult arrests and convictions. Including overturned, sealed, or even pardoned ones. Laws are so bullshit, I’m glad my mother’s naturalization gave me citizenship, it’d be so bullshit to potentially get deported for a school fight.
I was always a loner, I just chilled and watched a lot of pirated Movies and TV Shows, I remember watching a lot of Youtube, particularly Jacksepticeye (very wholesome btw).
(Btw, why does this world suck so much? 😓)
Sorry to hear you went through all that bullshit
Early February 2020. Someone in my main friend-group groupchat posted some news regarding Coronavirus. Me, happy citizen of UnderARockVille said “What the fuck is a Coronavirus?” and got gently made fun of.
A few weeks later aaaaand we were quarantining.
Wuhan, Hubei, China.
It was evening in the UK when it was officially announced but we had been expecting it for a few weeks as the UK government at the time dragged its heels unsure of what to do, spoiler alert I did not even get a day off unless you count the weeks i had off because I kept catching covid, the first time completely knocked me off my feet for a week.
Probably at home? I worked from home running my own business so really didn’t notice any change to my circumstances.
My elderly neighbour on the other hand - he was on a very long cycling holiday in New Zealand. He was up in the mountains when it all went down. He came down the mountain and found the place like a ghost town and had no idea what was going on!
At work. Co-workers said probably two weeks. I said probably a year.
I had requested a week off of work because I was miserable and about to quit. Was watching the governor of my state speak on tv with my family, and knew what was going to happen based on what was happening everywhere else. Look, the pandemic was clearly awful and the consequences have screwed up the world even more than it was already screwed up… but in that moment learning that I’d never have to go back to that job and I was about to get $1000/week to sit home, spend time with family, cook, relax, play games and watch movies? Oh, it was the best times of my adult life. So this is how the rich get to live? Turns out I’m not depressed. I just hate being a slave.
I was doing my internship at a small accountancy firm in Belgium. Happy I got to leave and be home.
God damn, COVID was a blissful and amazing period. Basically the last part of my life where I spent a lot of time on the computer.
After that I got married and basically am just working and spending time with my wife. Of course that’s fun. But I guess my “solo time” ended with COVID.
Kinda never, I never really experienced the lock down. I lived off grid and worked super rural at the time. I heard about everything shutting down all over the country but it never reached me. Still just went to work everyday. I also never got covid.
That’s amazing. You should write a book lol.
UK, so announced in the evening before it happened. My patio was in the process of being done and they struggled to get the slabs as all the builders merchants were closed, fortunately it did get finished - their last job for a while. Other than that I was working from home but I don’t remember if that came in slightly before lockdown was officially announced. Went from five days in the office to none.
I was driving home with a good friend after camping out for an amateur radio contest weekend and we pulled into the Stud Country Tavern at North Dandalup for some lunch.
The staff member said that this would be the last meal they would be serving.
We asked why.
After looking at us as if we were mad, we were shown the local paper where the lockdown would go into effect that evening at 18:00, 22 March 2020 in Western Australia.
I’m not the type to enjoy camping anyway, but this is another reason to tack on for not doing an extended trip. It’s not only a trope in lots of stories, but I see many real stories of people coming back and wondering what the hell happened while they were out in the wilderness. I know if I ever partaked, I’d come back to something very bizarre. Especially lately, just reading the news daily has that feeling sometimes.
Not sure how sleeping under the stars for two nights is considered an extended trip, but I can tell you that being disconnected from the onslaught of 24/7 news is good for my mental health and it gives me the opportunity to think, laugh and have fun with friends.
Upvote for you, I didn’t mean to offend and suggest camping itself was bad, only that it’s not for me. Even in a few days things can change. For my part I had just started a few days into a week of vacation from work and the news hit, and I wondered if I’d have a job to go back to.
Not sure what voting has to do with it, this is not Reddit and there is no karma around these parts. I haven’t voted on the matter, but I can say that your response seemed incongruous at best.
As far as having a job or not, that’s nothing to do with camping and outdoor activities, that’s to do with poor working conditions and entirely caused by your employer.
You have the right to be happy and healthy and if your workplace scares you to the point where you’re afraid to go outside, you seriously need to look for a different employer.
I was trying to be nice, as it sounded like I hit a nerve when I was just conversing (literally the community name). You didn’t understood my point on my own situation, but we’ll just leave this as a total misunderstanding on my replies to avoid any more conflicts.
Have you considered that not everyone is out to get you?
I was across the country, close to the shithole that was my home town. Was supposed to be there helping a friend of mine with his pot growing operation but to be honest, the whole thing was a bit of a bust even before lockdowns. But lockdowns hit maybe a two months after I got there and that more or less fucked everyone’s plans.
But I was stuck there for a while. And my internet was spotty to non existent. And at one point the house got broken into and my shit got stolen. So it was overall pretty crappy times.
I was on one of the last few planes into Italy before they locked it down. I did not keep up with the status, so I arrived with tape on the floors everywhere, noone around, just confused on how to act now. Went home and started to keep track of the graphs and numbers of the spread.
