Five years ago, with the dawn of the Covid pandemic, life in the UK seemed to change dramatically overnight.
Everything we took for granted – from social interaction and the daily commute to shopping and ordering a takeaway – was thrown out of balance.
And then… things seemed to mostly change back again.
Of course, there were some momentous shifts in society both tangible (the growth in popularity of working from home, for example) and intangible (such as a rise in conspiracy theories).
But remembering those early months of lockdown, for those lucky enough to not be personally impacted by the devastation of the virus, can sometimes feel recalling scenes from a movie.
Here are a few things you may have forgotten about.
Makeshift masks
Face masks became necessary for everyday life, whether you were travelling somewhere or just meeting someone on the street.
But it wasn’t always easy to get your hands on the kind of surgical-grade mask which was recommended by the experts.
This led to the bizarre situation where businesses and organisations would sell branded fabric masks as a merchandise opportunity – I got my hands on a fetching Aberdeen Art Gallery one.
And for those people who preferred more of a homemade vibe, there always seemed to be a relative or friend of a relative who would stitch their own from an online guide.
Popping to the shops
This was perhaps the most jarring shift in everyday life that the nation went through.
The weekly shop suddenly meant waiting in a massive queue outside the supermarket entrance, with each person spaced two metres apart.
One by one, each customer would be ushered in by a masked employee as others left, and once inside you would have to adhere to a one-way system and try to avoid touching anything you weren’t going to buy.
When you got home, naturally, you’d have to give your shopping a wipe down or leave it alone for a while to ensure any germs were dead.
Lockdown hobbies
All that time spent inside the home couldn’t just be filled with binge-watching TV shows – no matter how hard some people may have tried.
Many tried learning a new skill, such as baking banana bread and sourdough or mixing cocktails (though the latter could be a risk, considering the sheer amount of end product).
Alternatively, there were all the things you’d normally do in person that transferred onto Zoom: pub quizzes and gigs from musicians or comedians.
Once things eased up a bit, you might have taken the opportunity to go for a pint… with a strictly limited number of friends, and in a freezing beer garden.
Government-sanctioned walks
In the first week of lockdown in March 2020, then-Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove gave a bit of advice for people who wanted to venture outside.
He told Andrew Marr: ‘I would have thought that for most people, a walk of up to an hour, or a run of 30 minutes or a cycle ride of between that, depending on their level of fitness is appropriate.’
Thus began the concept of the time-limited daily government-sanctioned walk, with care taken to avoid coming within two metres of fellow wanderers.
There were some of us who even planned our days around it, as if it was some kind of indulgence.
Covid pass
Some people with older phones may still have, deep in their apps and long-unopened, their Covid pass.
This was a QR code or digital certificate that showed you had been given the coronavirus vaccine and could enter more high-risk environments.
Wales and Scotland required people to show this for entry into large venues or outdoors events from October 2021, and England did the same for a brief period between 2021 and 2022.
But it was used for a longer period to allow people to travel overseas.
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