The new normal

[GIMH]

A phrase I hear a lot of now. But what lockdown concepts would you be happy to keep?

- I worked from home anyway but it being broadly accepted is a good thing. Hoping to get to a point where I only have to trek across Cheshire twice a week max without feeling like I need to explain myself
- people crossing the road to avoid me on the pavement. More of this please
- Limited people inside the shop. No more life stories being exchanged in the veg aisle. Get on with it and GTFO. Keep this up.

 

[stephen]

- wife home every day is awesome
- no social pressure to visit family constantly; leading to free weekends
- attending children's birthday parties is so much easier and less time consuming
- when I do go out, petrol is way cheaper and the roads are empty
- working from home is normalised and people who insist on working from work are fascists

As a society I think people are realising how little we actually need in many areas of life and that's a good thing. The photos of how nice some cities are now looking should hopefully be making loads of people environmentalists. The cities would have gotten dirtier and dirtier over a long period of time. The sudden reappearance of the sky should leave some asking questions of how we treat the environment.

 

[Flem274*]

i liked working less days and the extra time to watch youtube, play games, read books, write terrible books and talk **** on the internet.

the rest of it sucks. i miss getting smashed with my friends and being able to sit within a kilometre of other human beings. i want a cuddle man.

there won't be a new normal though, and if anything is a new normal it will be more inventive dubious employment practices and government/business privacy invasion. people took less than a week here to start crying their wallets and their freedom is more important than other people.

nothing will change because half the population still requires their medicine disguised as a treat to set aside their self interest.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

I definitely do want a ****in' hug man.

 

[Daemon]

OT activity to be maintained

 

[GIMH]

I won't let it drop no matter how much the mods want it to

 

[Starfighter]

-low net immigration
-low petrol prices
-meetings only when absolutely necessary, rather than for the sake of
-working from home
-no Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Logie Awards or Rugby League

I expect the good things to go away and the bad things to stay though.

 

[Flem274*]

one positive i hope remains is the attractive checkout operators seem chattier than usual. long may this continue.

 

[Adders]

I won't let it drop no matter how much the mods want it to

The sooner they realise this is our subbie and not theirs the better we'll all be.

 

[Line and Length]

No more life stories being exchanged in the veg aisle.

I like that one!

1 - An innovation I noted came with the relaxation and re-opening of a local golf course. The flags were locked in the holes and a rubber insert added so the ball could be easily retrieved which removed the necessity of handling the flag.
2 - Groups were initially pairs then reverted to traditional fours with social distancing expected - that was easy for those who wander off into the rough.
3 - Another aspect was groups given 10 minute tee-off intervals instead of 7 resulting in less hold-ups.

1 & 3 would be welcome "new normals" while nothing has changed with 2 apart from the post game handshake. No group hugs in golf.

 

[sledger]

As long as I could occasionally see people that I actually liked and was able to go on proper excursions to remote locations it could stay this way forever as far as I am concerned. Oh and sport on the TV as well.

 

[Furball]

Working from home is the big one.

 

[Pothas]

Nothing really. Not being able to work from home anyway means there is going to be no upside.

 

[trundler]

This has all definitely made us view things from a different angle

 

[vcs]

This has all definitely made us view things from a different angle

That should get a reaction from the physicists here

 

[Uppercut]

Not all of the online social events work well, but those that do should stay. I've really liked playing poker with some friends that live far away while chatting on Zoom.

 

[sledger]

Not all of the online social events work well, but those that do should stay. I've really liked playing poker with some friends that live far away while chatting on Zoom.

I think the devil is in the detail with these things. I have done some "virtual pub" and "virtual quiz" sessions that have been surprisingly fun, but others have been predictably awful and tedious. On the whole I agree though. I have had more contact with some friends over the last few weeks than I have had in years.

Zoom fatigue is definitely a thing though.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

-I've had a lot more contact with my brothers during lockdown than I'd usual have. Mostly simple things like entering remote 'pub' quizzes together.
-I've also had a lot more to do with my neighbours, having fairly lengthy chats with them most days over the garden fence (it's nice to see people in 3D I guess).

Would be good if those contacts don't slide completely back to pre-lockdown levels when it's over.

Not a fan of working from home. Actually looking forward to getting back to the office and even to the commute (used to do most of my book reading on the bus).

 

[Uppercut]

I think the devil is in the detail with these things. I have done some "virtual pub" and "virtual quiz" sessions that have been surprisingly fun, but others have been predictably awful and tedious. On the whole I agree though. I have had more contact with some friends over the last few weeks than I have had in years.

Zoom fatigue is definitely a thing though.

The problem I've had is that socialising on Zoom only really works with 4 or 5 people max, but it's hard to organise an event that size without feeling like you're leaving people out.

 

[zorax]

I miss all the things I had time for during the lockdown. Working out, cooking, reading, playing games on my phone.

My workload has picked up quite a bit since coming back into the office this week, and it's harder to find time to goof off while seated at a desk.

Also I'm actually going to be seeing my gf less now that lockdown is up - while we were both working from home, we could spend all day together. now we're both at work and she just goes back to her place after.