Not what I expected. I was sure this was a yellow rose last year!

It’s definitely red.

I was reading an article about the main things that have surprised people about the Pandemic and it’s impact on lifestyles. The author went for 5 things – Boredom of not physically meeting people, missing going to Pubs, Parties and Restaurants, missing playing Golf with friends, how hard mask wearing is and how much she misses going on holiday.

Ok let’s have a stab at this. What are the five things which has surprised me about the Pandemic. What was I not expecting.

  • The impact that just not being able to buy just a few of the useful foodstuffs can have on mine and Hawklads life,
  • How quickly you can settle in to new ways,
  • How much money you save if you avoid going to shops,
  • The way days and weeks can just merge into each other if you take out things like the school run and most shopping trips,
  • Just how difficult it is sometimes balance homeschooling, with work, domestic duties and things like running.

I guess a fundamental difference between me and the author is circumstances. She and her husband both work. They have one kid of a similar age to Hawklad but that child seems to spend a lot of the time with friends and doing group activities like sport. They use babysitters to allow for frequent social activities for her and hubby. So yes the Pandemic will have a major impact on her family’s social life. I can so understand why she would list those five things.

My life is currently different. I am a single parent to a kid with Aspergers. Even before the Pandemic I was partly cut off from society. Enforced isolation due to parental requirements. Many other people are in a similar position due to a range of circumstances. So if anything the Pandemic hasn’t really changed that much in terms of social contact for me. Yes it might have tightened things up a little further. But fundamentally there has been few radical changes. If anything it feels like for a few months some other people life’s have become a little more like my normal routine. Maybe it’s provided a glimpse for some people into what daily life actual feels like for many people out their. A daily life which existed before the pandemic.

I quite like this five unexpected things idea. Might see what if throws up in terms of things like grief and Aspergers.

85 thoughts on “Not what I expected”

  3. I’ve been thinking about the coincidence of buying cat-face masks almost exactly 2 years before the pandemic; and how spending 2+ years in bed with undiagnosed med-induced lupus did a great job of prepping me for coping with the C19 world.

    I know some flowers can change color based on soil acidity (it’s how you get white vs blue vs pink hydrangeas) but haven’t heard of such a drastic color change in roses. But I’m not gonna rule it out!!

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  4. The five things thing is an interesting idea, and I may have a stab at it myself.

    Obviously, the list will be different for everyone, but it is surprising the extent to which we (or me, at least) are most affected by the things we were least expecting.

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  6. Definitely relate on several fronts. My life is rather insular on a regular basis due to autism-2 of my children’s as well as my own. In addition to that, my EDS causes a great deal of fatigue and joint pain. These things, in fact, even keep me from driving at all, further limiting outings to when my husband has time to tote us, as we live in a country town with no stores or public transportation (Yep. Pretty inconvenient, but quiet. 🙂).If anything has changed, it’s that the major sensory issues we have with masks have curtailed most all of even those infrequent outings-at least when online, curbside, or doing without is an option. Also, the loss of most playdates for my youngest and, this past spring, things which made life more worthwhile for my older three-music, performance, and youth group(This last I volunteered with on a low key basis, so yes, I guess that is a change for me, too.). Other than that, it’s business as usual for me. I think I hurt for the kids’ changes more than my own.

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  7. For me, personally, nothing has changed because I already lived a very isolated life. The only thing that is different is news, from out there….I find myself living in a country that is becoming more and more angry, more and more divided. I knew before it all started that the world was in a mess, but it has reached a stage of “Oh Wow.” Maybe I need to go walk around the garden and look for some colour, as you did, Gary!

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      1. God, Gary, that is exactly what I have been saying and actually for a lot longer. There is so much injustice, so much not-caring about others. I try not to get angry, but some days are hard.
        Your blog is a help, though. Thank you XX

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  8. Yeah, not much has changed. Ih, I became a Scientist, that’s different.😆
    All the introverted hermits are like “yeah, I can totally do this” while the social people don’t know what to do.

    Maybe the Red Queen had Alice in your garden overnight, painting the roses red😉😂💌💌

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  11. Beautiful rose Gary. You have some lovely ones in your garden.
    Had to laugh at the five things the original author missed: her friends, playing golf, the pub/parties/restaurant, holidays and her attitude to wearing a mask.
    Four of your five are similar to ours, our fifth would be not being able to get the DIY materials when needed, with an added 6th of people’s attitudes.

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      5. Mr Derek is no longer with us. My first husband gave me a small Basil and then a bigger one which sat on the car passenger seat when I moved away. I got some funny looks I can tell you! I ended up giving it away, as I did a huge pink panther to a 3 year old girl who had never had any toys and was being fostered short term by Bro when I was living with them after my relationship in Bath failed.

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  12. I guess I miss having more outdoor space. ( Alone outdoor space.) Which kind of surprises me because I thought I didn’t like being alone. It’s more like I don’t like feeling alone. Although, I do have times where I feel alone and I don’t want to be alone. But thankfully I’m not really alone. I’ve had so many wonderful reminders of that. Wow this got jabbery fast. My brain worked on this post. 😀

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  15. Five things you say? Well maybe:
    1) How my feelings about keeping my personal space seems to be sooooo much more heightened and how unexpected aggressive I feel inside and get, yet even more unexpectedly still stay polite on the outside.
    2) I’ve taken on a job that is well below my qualifications to help out due to covid locking down other workers, something I wouldn’t have done again in a million years before all this.
    3) These days I feel so appreciated by rainbows in windows, but pretty much really unappreciated by my new bosses. Still, I know why I’m doing it and realise they’re under pressure too.
    4) For a while I ate like there really was no tomorrow and now tomorrows have arrived there’s the bill to pay (working out how to get rid of about a stone in weight).
    5) Not being able to hug people and how lonely that feels, even when they are standing only 2 metres away.

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      5. or try to burn the calories off afterwards? Now before bedtime I’m going to give myself heartburn with a small glass of something or another, as I’ve earnt it doing what should normally take hours in just one.

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      7. Once after a performance, we went to get refreshments and the audience hadn’t left us any, I mean this truly was a WTF moment (pardon my language). Lesson learnt: to always take a snack with us.

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  16. 5 unexpected things
    1) it’s just as easy to buy things from home as the store
    2) I do miss being with people
    3) but on the other hand enjoy that I would be better off staying home
    4) the three of us have not harmed each other
    5) doctor visits are more stressful

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  17. I am very happy staying home, so in that sense, nothing has changed. I have had a good reason not to have to go out. Not having church was difficult. Not being able to hug people has been hard, too. I am 75, live alone and have never been married or had children, so there is no one close that I can hug. I do have one friend that, along with me, is not afraid of this COVID, so when we see each other, we do “sneak” a hug. 🙂

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  18. Hmm 🤔… well depends how you see it…

    Unexpected things you never expected are not always bad.

    Sometimes it’s exciting ❤️ all new and totally unexpected – like that rose… you believed to be yellow, yet it gave you red… surprised you with color – that’s awesome!! Are you a red rose or something… didn’t you say something about red roses and white roses? Yorkshire? I’m pretty sure I remember that lol… I could swear you say you were red rose – maybe you wished it true? Lol ✌️

    And Aspergers just gives you new ways to see things… outside of your own view. Maybe show you the world you didn’t know to see?… just brings a different light to what is normally the world

    Grief … to know grief is to have heart. That’s not a bad thing …

    I don’t like bad unexpected things lol… but they happen. Life is a mixed bag.

    You just have to figure out how you absorb, and take time to do that.

    Hopefully nothing throws up on you 🤮 lol

    Life is beautiful sometimes when is unexpected ❤️✌️

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  19. Things for which covid inspired changes are responsible
    1 1 have found Joe Wicks and lost weight
    2 following 1 I’ve found my TV plays youtube and then netflix even though it’s powered by steam
    3 being here every day means the veg get watered regularly and we have experienced courgettaggedon
    4. I miss hugs; I don’t miss air kisses
    5. My lists have got shorter

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  20. 1. I need to wear a mask in public. I have no trouble doing same, as long as I remember to put it on.
    2. A fixed income is still a fixed income. Nothing changes.
    3. My health issues are still the controlling factors in my lifestyle.
    4. I run into fewer people who acknowledge my existence, espescially those who would prefer not to acknowledge it, though they used to feel they had to for some perverse reason.
    5. There are genuine people out there who really do like running into me.

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    1. One of our so called Government Ministers. The one who has just basically messed up the exam results for thousands of kids. Was filmed wearing a mask in his car when he was by himself but he immediately took it off when he got out and started meeting people…….

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      1. The Fool. He is the type of person who should get the bug, if anyone has to. But who is he protecting himself from inside his car. Oh, I’m sorry. He was showing respect for all his passengers.
        Yeah! Right!

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      11. Wasn’t even trying to write one. Somehow you, Gary, put it in my lap, or head.
        Just, it was my fingers who typed it. Think I’ll try to put it onto the Urban Dictionary. See if they accept it, lol.

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  22. Pingback: Things I wasn’t expecting about the Pandemic – Keep it alive

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