Has the Pandemic changed you in how you feel when you are out and about?

AMKC

It has changed me. I used to have no problem if someone stood near me in a line but now I hate it and I put my hand out to make sure they sand at least 4 foot back which should really be 6 foot back.

I was in Lidl last week and there was big man trying to stand close to me I just kept moving. For now on I think I will get a trolley whether I need it or not and use that to stop anyone standing close to me.

eggy81

Definitely find myself more anxious when out particularly in the pub. Not really in relation to Covid stuff. Just feel I became more of a recluse during lockdown. Find it much harder to engage in conversation.

Potential-Monke

Yup, I've basically given up on pubs, clubs, concerts, festivals, and more than likely flights. I wasn't into most of that before lockdown, but it has shown me how disgusting people are in general and they are completely oblivious to it. Things are going back to the way they were pre-pandemic and it's like the last 18 months never happened judging by the carry on of a lot of people.

I was helping a mate move last week, and he treated me to dinner. The place he brought me to looked for the covid cert/QR code and took his details. My sister and parents went for dinner with relatives Sunday and the place didn't ask for anything. I will be turning around and leaving those places. I understand some businesses don't want to deal with it/don't agree with it, and that's fine, but I won't go there.

It has changed me. I used to get sick once a month with a chest infection and sniffles for a lot of the other times. I haven't even so much as had a sniffle since last March. Other people make me sick, that is obvious now. So other people can go and feck, I'll live my life in solitude as much as I can now. Have a niecphews 21st the weekend, apparently 50+ going. I will show face, leave the mask on, and leave after 20 minutes. Feck that!

CptMonkey

ya I have definitely changed. I avoid crowds now at all costs really. Can’t be dealing with people on top of me. Haven’t eaten inside a restaurant yet. I opt to eat out side.

Havent got my customary chest infection in the last 18months which has been a positive.

I'm fortunate that I will continue to be working from home for the foreseeable when many people I know are going back to offices. Were I not so fortunate, I would go back to the office kicking and screaming and would be job hunting for a remote work job. Getting on a crowded train or bus, for an hour or two per day, no thanks.

Ive been in a pub once so far this year, and sat outside. Not been to the cinema since.... 2019.

My annoyance the first time things reopened, before the most recent lockdown, was that everywhere I went, seemed to have a slightly different interpretation of the rules. Now that things are reopening, my annoyance is further increased by every individual you meet having a different interpretation. Some think the crisis is over. Some are as vigilant as ever. Certainly discourages you from starting a conversation or standing too close to someone.

Talking to a friend today, he said the pandemic has stopped spontaneity in life. He went for a walk with his wife recently, and they met two friends of thers who were having a drink outside a pub. The friends invited them to join them, but they'd forgotten their phones, so didn't have their covid passports, and didn't know if they should have made a reservation and between uncertainty and hassle, they declined. He added another anecdote, they went to the cinema at the weekend, booked the tickets online, but didn't know they had to book their popcorn and drink online too so when they got there, they weren't able to get drinks or popcorn. They took their seats and found they were the only people in the cinema.

BrianD3

I'm generally more cynical, engage with people less than I did before and give less of a fcuk about social niceties. I just ignore people and don't make eye contact when out and about. Also when I go out I often look and smell like a tramp, pre covid I didn't do that.

Jinglejangle69

I feel sorry for you all feeling like this.

I was happy pre covid so I will be happy after covid.

It's not going to change me or the way I live my life.

lawred2

No I'm grand.

But I am saddened when I see people acting like they are at risk of the bubonic plague.

ednwireland

Nope.

Was in the UK. In the pub having pizza and beers no masks generally in shops.

Only things have changed are things that are forced on me like masks and vaccine passports. Was eating out plenty in August when on holiday.

Will be flying to london for a course next month

poisonated

I was in the U.K. recently and I found it to be a little uncomfortable being inside a crowded pub with no one wearing a mask. In Ireland, it seems that it only really gets crowded outside the pub(in beer garden etc).

Mad_maxx

No

Potential-Monke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117921541#Comment_117921541

Why though? We're quite content with it, there's nothing to feel sorry for.

Jinglejangle69

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117921948#Comment_117921948

You don't sound content when you are giving out about people being on top of you and too close to you and spreading the black plague around you.

Or trying to talk or socialise around you.

Maybe stay under your duvet while the rest of us enjoy life and whats left of it.

Potential-Monke

Right, feck everyone else as long as you have your fun is it? Christ, it's not that bad. Personally, I'm just not socialising anymore. I don't need it. I never did, looking back. It's all a load of **** if you think about it, meeting up to gossip or talk about inane things that really don't matter. I can't stand it. And people in general suck, I've learned. They're greedy and selfish behind the faux persona they give off. Most the time anyway, there are some genuinely nice people out there, but they're very rare I reckon.

But read all that in a happy, upbeat voice, and not the downtrodden angry voice you seem to have assigned to text. I'm happier now than I was 10 years ago when I tried to be the social butterfly type. I'm happy in my bubble, and I wouldn't even go to shops if home delivery was actually good/quick. Let ye off, socialise away, I won't stop or look to stop ye, I just won't be joining in. Each to their own and all that, but crowded places making people uncomfortable is not something new, just that covid has opened the eyes of many more people to how filthy people can be, and no longer want to be part of that. Like another poster above, I'm probably the healthiest I've been since my teen years, and it's because of not socialising. I will take my health, thanks very much.

bucketybuck

Nothing about that is healthy.

It's great - all the paranoid antisocial people are gone and it's only good fun well adjusted people that are socialising. Plus plenty of space in the pubs. Result!

The fact you all aren't getting sniffles is not a good thing for your immune system.

Strumms

apart from my home obviously, I haven’t eaten indoors... managed through luck and through research to have two regular pubs, one new one to me and one restaurant on the north side of Dublin not a million miles away from home who have invested big time in their outdoor dining experience... safe, distant, comfortable, nicely designed screens with segregation and with heaters although haven’t experienced those turned on yet...

be a while yet before I head to a gig or cinema...

im still avoiding big Q’s and crowds as well as public transport which I wouldn’t be a massive fan / user of aside from the odd taxi anyway.

Day Lewin

I've forgotten how to People.

Very tense before going out...and stupidly don't know if hugs are "allowed" yet, etc. Do we shake hands? Or what?

Skerries

I was in England the other week and it was brilliant to be back around normality again with no masks indoors and able to go to pubs and restaurants without covid Nazis demanding mein papiere so I was a bit resentful when I was back in the airport and had to put on a mask again

Potential-Monke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117921999#Comment_117921999

According to you. Trying to do the opposite was worse for me mentally.

People really need to stop judging those who don't conform to the same normality's that they do. Threads like this are great evidence of it, with anyone who isn't mad for a full reopening being referenced to nazis and saying there's something wrong with them. Bullying is all it is. As long as you have your fun, that's all that matters. Greed and selfishness. Thanks for proving my points!

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117921411#Comment_117921411

Being the only one in the Cinema is the dream.

ShatterAlan

There is no pandemic.

Now there is a shortage of CO2 and a fucking food shortage?

I can't wait to see the next crap.......can't buy a biscuit because there's a shortage of Carbon Dioxide.

HildaOgdenx

I just want some kind of normality tbh. Looking forward to attending shows, plays, and eating out - well I have made a start on the eating out, meeting friends for lunch and so on.

I would like if people kept some concept of personal space, i.e you do not need to stand on my heels in a queue at the supermarket.

Nothing will happen, nobody will pounce into the space between us, really they won't... 🙄

Purple Mountain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117922166#Comment_117922166

Yes I agree. I think it's all about balance. I am itching to get back to weekend trips away every now and again, meeting friends and family on my terms etc but definitely I don't think it's any harm going forward to carry a little bottle of sanitizer in the car/handbag and get used to using it even after this is over, especially after using a public toilet or shopping trolley etc.

But yes, I'm not going to let this pandemic shrink my life in the long term. Enough is enough and with balance and common sense life will go on for me anyway.

AllForIt

Not in the slightest.

Whey would it? A virus is not a new thing and Corona Virus wasn't that deadly anyway.

I'm looking forward to life getting back to normal, that is if the climate change activities don't get in my way.

jimbobaloobob

I’ll probably shake less hands was never too comfortable with the times that it occurred I’ll still do it but less

my ocd for hand hygiene will continue as it was before all of this just now it will look like I’m trying to be trendy

I still miss all the hugs 🤗

Mister Vain

Not really, I just avoid shaking hands with people now. I wouldn't be into pubs or large crowds generally but I did go a large outdoor event last weekend and it was great. I was a bit hesitant but I'm glad I went.

Hasn't really affected me too much but I have noticed people in general are more polarized and divided. So much bitterness and hatred out there towards each other.

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117922101#Comment_117922101

For somebody who basically wants to remove themselves from society you sure seem to have a lot to say about it on your way out the door. You do you of course, but its a simple fact that human beings are social animals and somebody displaying the strong aversion you appear to have, somebody considering all other human beings to be filthy and nasty, well that just isn't a healthy mindset.

Regardless, I really couldn't care less what you or anybody else does, hide in a bubble for the rest of your life if you want to. My problem throughout this pandemic is that those living in fear seemed intent on dragging the rest of us under the beds with them. I for one do not intend to live in fear and would really appreciate it if the single issue demographic would stop infringing on my life.