I was in school so when that was put on hold I essentially played video games like it was a job. I remember vividly playing Grand Theft Auto IV in one sitting for the Liberty City Minute achievement and I’m pretty sure I played through Master Chief Collection.
Do you look back on any aspects of it nostalgically?
I was considered an essential worker, along with a few colleagues.
There were three phases: going into it, being in it and coming out of it. During the first and and third of those there was new legislation and instructions coming in pretty much every day that needed to be interpreted and implemented and we had to do all of that. It was exhausting. And then everyone else came back from furlough and told us all about the DIY they had done and the books they had read and so on.
In the middle though: well, I work across a cluster of heritage and wildlife sites. There was a bare minimum of checks and maintenance that we were expected to do - pretty much alone - one at each site. Once that was done we went out and did patrols. They are some beautiful places and there were a few days when I completed the entire circuit of the site and saw absolutely no-one. Just me and the wildlife. That was excellent.
By DIY do you mean things like the plexiglass shields they put up for cashiers?
Re-decorated their living rooms, fitted new kitchens, built patios and bbqs and so on.
We were the ones fitting the plexiglass etc.