Lockdown 1 vs Lockdown 3

After experiencing three national lockdowns many of us are now subconsciously comparing them. Although none of them were exactly fun.

Personally, I would definitely choose to relive lockdown 1. This lockdown in particular gives me a sense of nostalgia, the carefree life that I believe I would happily return to. As dramatic as it sounds it was almost like a different life that we were all living together. Not being allowed to leave the house almost felt like a strange sense of freedom; it gave people the break we didn’t think we needed. The initial disappointment of not sitting exams gave way to a big sigh of relief after the realisation that exam season was really starting to creep up on us all and many of us had done as little as make a Quizlet set. However, then along came the no prom, no long summer, no festivals.

Despite this, I’d say Summer 2020 was one of the best yet. Spending the nights in a random field with the people we grew up with and jumping in dirty rivers. As boring as it all sounds, it felt like all the stress was gone, our life was put on hold for six months. Boris gave us time to think about what we had all been wasting time on. If lockdown 1 taught me anything it's that you don’t always need people to feel happy, but it also taught me that we take everything in our ‘normal lives’ for granted.

Lockdown 3 however, didn’t promote the same careless attitudes that everyone had back in March 2020. After almost a whole year of being in and out of lockdown, everyone was sick of it. Christmas celebrations were well spent but not long after ground- hog day returned. Online lessons, rainy dog walks and the constant wish for Summer 2021 to arrive somewhat became a part of normality. New year’s resolution plans and “2021 is a new start” felt abolished on the 4th of January when Boris yet again announced national lockdown number 3. When I said I would relieve lockdown 1 this was not quite what I meant!

Written by Emily Donaldson

Photography by Beth Slattery