Pre-Covid-19 things that made you :)

[newbryford]

As an antidote to the carp that currently surrounds us all:

List here things that made you  or feel good before (and during!) lockdown.

i.e stuff/guilty pleasures that cannot be currently - or difficult to be - enjoyed.

 

 

Negative comments will be frowned upon. 

 

 

I'll start the ball rolling with just  three letters and a simple image.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 18, 2020 by newbryford
typo-ish!

[Kingzance]

A game (or more than one) of cards in the pub.

 

A pint (or several) of draught, cask conditioned beer.

 

Spending time with the grandkids - honestly!

 

Going to work (I retired in 2014).

 

And the thing I miss the most:

That SWMBO could go shopping and leave me in peace

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Being at home in the right country.

 

Mike.

[Sprintex]

9 hours ago, newbryford said:

I'll start the ball rolling with just  three letters and a simple image.

 

 

 

Was missing this too as our usual Friday night treat, until last night when we found a local place on Just Eat that does most of the same things, only better as it turns out!

Chicken wasn't as greasy, chips were better, the Mrs' spicy chicken fillet burger was available in three levels of heat, and they do beans, coleslaw, corn, etc. 

Best of all they were OPEN 

 

I can see the colonel getting slightly less business when he does decide to open up again. I fail to see why the major fast-food outlets didn't stay open for delivery only.

 

Paul

 

Quote

 

Edited April 18, 2020 by Sprintex

[Jonboy]

Apparently in our local McDonald’s even though they had taped off the seating area people were pushing through and sitting down and refusing to leave.
Our local BK didn’t say anything but already had issues with teenagers behaving anti-socially, employing bouncers and police visiting regularly.....

neither offered delivery as we are a just-eat town rather than Deliveroo.

 

what has surprised me is how much I miss visiting my parents, and particularly surprised at missing my dads rambling discussions on what local shops have opened and closed, what the local building sites are doing etc etc. Phone calls just ain’t quite the same.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Fish and chip Friday.

 

Mike.

[Colin]

Days out with my wife

Visiting a heritage railway ( occasionally as part of the first line)

Pub lunches with real ale that hasn’t come from a bottle

Morning coffee as part of a shopping trip

Visiting family and dog walks with the grandkids

Working in the shop, looking forward to getting back there!

[PaulRhB]

11 hours ago, newbryford said:

 - or difficult to be - enjoyed.

 

For some reason the national shortage of these means I’m missing them 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

The liberty to simply amble about, wherever and whenever, and enjoy whatever serendipity brings.

 

2 hours ago, Sprintex said:

...I can see the colonel getting slightly less business when he does decide to open up again. I fail to see why the major fast-food outlets didn't stay open for delivery only...

 

That's going to be a general truth. Practically the whole population discovers 'different' for a whole range of activities, and while for many these will be things they will be happy to abandon for 'normality', a significant proportion of 'alternative preferences' will have been developed.

 

The major fast food chains are machines, with a programme; and heaven help the franchisee who implements new code without type approval from H-headquarters-Q. The prizes are going to go to those that had the ability to adapt to the suddenly altered playing field, and operations that just needed a break to get their superior offering in front of new customers.

 

Likewise the supermarket machines. Hopefully they will have people already working on a better understanding of their business process, for superior response on future occasions (provided it happens within three years or whatever corporate memory is these days).

 

 

[EddieB]

Friday night takeaway curries with some friends had become a regular fixture, even before they moved up the road from us,  Now we only see each other, from a distance, on "NHS night"...

 

What I do miss most is simply being able to go out and photograph trains.  As the nearest main line is about five miles away, and decent vantage points even further, there can be no justification for going near the railway.  I quite envy those whose daily exercise can include a bit of linesiding.

[SM42]

 

Missing visiting the in laws

Can't understand much of what they say most of the time but the hospitality, love and mutual respect are clearly understood.

Video calling just isn't the same

 

Also missing visiting the land of Mrs SM42s birth. The food, the SM42s, the sometimes utter bewildering craziness and the often common sense things and attitudes  we don't have in the UK

 

Now I'm enjoying the almost empty roads on my commute to/from  work. The joy of approach control traffic lights, less maniacs about, less drunk pedestrians, unlit cyclists and on a sunny day absolute heaven.

Takes me back to when I learnt to drive,  there was more space on the roads, it was more civilised  and it's at least 10 minutes quicker each way.

 

Andy

 

 

[Sprintex]

3 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

For some reason the national shortage of these means I’m missing them 

 

Shortage?

 

They had that many in our local Tesco that half a dozen packs were in the "reduced to clear" section.

 

Paul

[newbryford]

A round of golf at the weekend.

Or a Wednesday afternoon/evening sweep - these would have started two weeks ago..

 

Luckily my local chippy is still open - operating a simple place your order in the shop and then wait outside. Or via JustEat.

 

But the chippy near work is closed, so no longer do we have the "anybody fancy chips for lunch?" at about 1130am. (not that there's many of now physcially there anyway)

Edited April 18, 2020 by newbryford

[Sprintex]

Archery on a Sunday morning right outside Knebworth House.

 

Easter weekend we would usually do a public Have-A-Go to coincide with the Jousting event.

 

Paul

[Dagworth]

Really missing this!

 

 

Andi

[Wild Boar Fell]

Another one here for Archery.

Walking from the carpark past idling 37s and the NMT.

Chippy chips at the pub.

[eastglosmog]

Browsing second hand bookshops - the online experience is nothing like as satisfying

[StevieD71]

Taking my mum down town for some shopping and popping into our favourite cafe for a cappuccino and one of their excellent scones.

 

Also, impromptu lunch dates with my wife. The days when we are both off work together and decide to go somewhere for a nice lunch instead of having sandwiches in the house.

[Allegheny1600]

I'm pretty much okay with lockdown and self isolation as I work from home anyway (not that I get many orders now!) so the only thing I really miss is popping over to my mates house with a box of trains and enjoying a good running session. Plus of course, I can't do any work on his layout: 

 

[EddieB]

On 18/04/2020 at 22:49, Sprintex said:

Archery on a Sunday morning right outside Knebworth House.

 

Paul

Even better in Chester, allegedly, unless you happen to be Welsh?

[Ozexpatriate]

12 hours ago, eastglosmog said:

Browsing second hand bookshops - the online experience is nothing like as satisfying

You cannot touch or even smell the books.

 

In Amazon's early days I purchased an out of print book. When I opened it, the waft of tobacco was very strong. Clearly it had been kept by a long time smoker. Besides the yellowing, in every other respect it was in the excellent condition as advertised, but I wasn't expecting it to smell as strong as it did.

[newbryford]

6 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

You cannot touch or even smell the books.

 

In Amazon's early days I purchased an out of print book. When I opened it, the waft of tobacco was very strong. Clearly it had been kept by a long time smoker. Besides the yellowing, in every other respect it was in the excellent condition as advertised, but I wasn't expecting it to smell as strong as it did.

 

Was it a "scratch n sniff" book?

[Ozexpatriate]

Just now, newbryford said:

Was it a "scratch n sniff" book?

Had it been, it would have smelt of the sea, tarred hemp, bilgewater and an unwashed crew.

 

In the end it was just a "sniff" book.

[newbryford]

At work we (normally) have a great team who pull together with plenty of banter inbetween.

 

I'm currently mixing WFH with WFW.

We have good isolation procedures when we WFW, but because of that (and WFH), I'm missing the general joshing and chit-chat that we have whilst cracking on with the jobs at hand.

 

WFW tomorrow - only 2-3 of us there, instead of the more normal 6-8.

 

(oops - sorry, I've been negative - I shall warn myself)

 

 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by newbryford

[PaulRhB]

We’ve gone single man to reduce contact and cut the passenger services, freight is normal still, but that’s created actual opportunities in the day to get backlog work done. The maintenance teams are very busy as a result, I’m starting to feel more like a call centre than box on some shifts. 
I miss the local teams just popping in for tea to organise the days work though. 
(the biscuits are lasting longer, but not by much  )