Bit soon, but it’s hard to imagine anything being like it used to be again. I’ve had clients in hospitality and retail tell me that they’re closed for good now. Some places only keeping on a few sites, others shutting up altogether, so the landscape will be different anyway.
It’s not like a date will be announced and everything will start back up again, the supply chain will take forever to get reestablished, everywhere will need fumigated, staff will need to be persuaded to come back even though they’ve all got into something else or taken up education, or been sent packing because of Brexit. And the virus will still exist anyway, vaccine or not.
Maybe people will get super healthy because there’s fuck all else to do or maybe everybody will get obese and useless.
Even if Covid was wiped out tomorrow it’d still take an absolutely ridiculous amount of time for all the cogs to start moving again.
Ends up with toned abs, all the DIY done in the house, learns some new skills/programs/improves self sufficiency.
Puts on a little weight, but is now stellar at baking cakes and bread.
Was on the edge, but has now gone full slob, eating only chocolate, crisps and snacks, drinking beer by lunchtime and hasn’t changed their PJs/tracksuit (usually the same thing) in 3 weeks.
The move online has massively accelerated, loads more people doing loads more stuff online.
Lots of people rekindling relationships that had long since gone, I must have spoken to twice as many people since lockdown than before.
Final nail on coffin for the high street.
Lots of people career changing, some obviously cos the old ones vanished but also some others doing it after some furlough and realising they actually hated their job anyway, especially the commute. I’m involved in setting up one of the Nightingale hospitals and it’s made me realise how pointless the usual work we do is. Plus i can now sit in my pants and do it in my bedroom rather than putting on a shiny suit and travelling an hour to do it.
Hopefully people rediscovering their imagination a bit cos they can’t default to just going to the pub or footy on a Saturday.
Lots of babies and divorces.
House prices will sink but ironically the houses will be in mint condition from all the boredom-induced DIY taking place.
They’ll set up some new global structures to deal with stuff like this in future.
Can’t work out if terrorists are all at home relaxing and isolating with Ozark season 3 or using the the opportunity to get extra terrorist stuff done while no-one is watching.
I’d love to think the NHS will come out of it with loads of praise and given shit loads of funding and a secure future but I reckon actually after enough time has passed Dominic Cumface et al will do a public enquiry into how the NHS responded in the crisis and conclude that private could have done it better/kept it all going and strengthen the case for privatisation.
It’ll be interesting to see what happened with airlines and trains cos I can see this shoving it all back into public ownership for a decade or so until private sector come up with better business models
That’s already happening as a load of AirBnB properties are lying empty and the owners are panicking and putting them up for proper long term rent at more realistic prices.
Random thoughts -
Supermarket staff become as important as footballers and actors used to be and the rest of us who want to working for Aldi, Waitrose, etc. find it damn near impossible.
Saying that, if it’s pretty much only supermarket and NHS staff working and earning, in a couple of weeks, their cash will help get businesses opening again.
I’m liking this fluttering experiment with what’s pretty much a UBI. No idea if it will work or if it will be extended.
If some businesses have already had to permanently shut after 2-3 weeks of not trading, while not paying any suppliers, landlords or banks, it’s a wonder how they stayed open in the first place.
Genuinely worried about the re-emergence of a wartime black economy - all that goodwill that’s currently going on will run out if this lockdown lasts a few months more.
I like how quiet the place is with less traffic, but hating those fuckwits who think it’s GTA because the roads are empty.
I am not liking how my motivation to do things fluctuates a lot and I often feel like I’m not doing enough. I seem to get a lot more done overall that day when I get out cycling and training in the morning.
I very briefly watched my Dad via FaceTime as he watched Gogglebox as they watched telly. Meta. And shit.
Loads more home working and loads more gig economy. Companies will realise: we don’t need people sat in the office to work and we don’t need all our staff all the time, let them sit at home and do bits for us sometimes and they work for the company down the road rest of the time.
Maybe less xenophobia? I know there are conspiracies about China etc but generally it seems like the virus is a proper leveller for all classes/nations and best dealt with by cooperation.
Hopefully lots of people realising how pointless and vacuous the whole social influencer thing is, that lot are sat at home too with fuck all of interest to say generally. Hard to live your best life at home all day in your unwashed Lululemon gear.
Millionaire footballers never get to moan about how hard their job is again. Celebs famous for being famous are of no interest anymore. As people can see their petty lives for what they are and want something real of their own. People remember who stepped up in our hour of need and who hid. People that put their hand in their pocket and people that tried to cash in.
Some people will take time to readjust to normality while others will run naked out in the streets, hugging strangers to feel free again.
We’ll have learn’t that we are stronger than we think as individuals and even more powerful when we work as a community.
I think the London property/rental prices will drop considerably as people realise they don’t need to move there to work for the big firms when they can work from home.
All the fuckos bitching about streaming services at film festivals and award ceremonies will be streaming all their content.
Xenophobia and nationalism will rise and there will probably be some wars as countries race to rebuild and sneak up on others.
Hopefully some cool innovations in medical practice and manufacturing. Crowdsourcing will become more normal.
More people 3D printing their own gizmos maybe?
I’ve stopped giving a fuck about possessions. You realise how little having stuff matters in comparison to getting out and doing things.
I think a few people have beaten me to it with some of the predictions about attitudes to work, I can definitely picture a lot of people never setting foot in an office again which could change the horrible presenteeism culture that can be pretty prevalent at times. I hope it does anyway!
