9 strange habits the UK adopted during Covid lockdown - from Zoom quizzes to baking banana bread

It’s nearly been two years since the UK entered into its first Covid lockdown, with people working from kitchen tables, supermarkets shelves being emptied of toilet rolls and banana bread becoming everyone’s favourite comfort food.

Lockdown was a strange time, and two years later it’s worth looking back at some of the weird and wonderful rituals and collective trends that caught on.

These are nine weird lockdown situations you may have found yourself in too.

Panic buying in the early days of lockdown

Lockdown triggered a frenzy of people bulk-buying common household items, with staples such as tinned tomatoes, toilet roll, baked beans, flour and eggs flying off the shelves as soon as they hit them.

Most people soon realised what this was: needless panic buying, and stocks eventually returned to normal levels in the UK.

Asking endless questions about the rules

Going outside for your once-a-day exercise allowance or the weekly shop became a source of confusion. How far were we allowed to cycle? Was a long run OK? Could we go a mile further to our favourite supermarket or did we have to go to the nearest one?

Yes, there was a lot of time spent on Google in 2020.

Zooms, Zooms and more Zooms

Online work meetings, video catch-ups with friends, virtual gym sessions, quizzes, birthday parties, hen dos and baby showers. Any occasion could be turned into a Zoom call - but will we miss it?

Probably not, judging by how rapidly many of these calls have dropped from our calendars following the easing of lockdown rules.

The daily Joe Wicks workout

Who would have thought millions of people would eagerly anticipate a daily YouTube fitness video?

But chef and fitness guru Joe Wicks was the man of the moment, and his fame quickly rose during lockdown as he helped keep the nation fit and kids entertained with P.E. lessons from home.

A collective cringe at that ‘Imagine’ video

When lockdown first hit, Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot and a host of other famous faces - including Kristin Wiig, Sarah Silverman, Will Farrell, Sia, Jamie Dornan, Mark Ruffalo and Maya Rudolph - took part in a misguided and bizarre video singing a rendition of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’.

To be fair, it did unite many of us - in our hatred of self-centred celebrities.

The great British banana bread bake-off

It seems like most of the nation decided to take up baking during lockdown, with the simple yet effective banana bread becoming a firm favourite among many.

What else can you do with overripe bananas, after all?

That short-lived new hobby

Many decided to learn a new hobby when lockdown hit, with people taking up knitting, painting, 1,000 piece jigsaws and learning a new language - anything to stave off the boredom of lockdown and distract from the news was welcome.

Wearing PJs to work

Working from home meant many people could wear whatever they wanted to work. If you did have to join an online meeting with your camera on, why bother with a smart lower half when you could  adopt the trend of wearing funky pyjama bottoms, shorts or other random attire?

Becoming a local expert

They say that strict rules can lead to creativity, and for many of us even our daily walks took us to parks and streets we’d never bothered visiting before.

Whether this was a nice little bit of greenery or just a random cul-de-sac, it’s safe to say we all know our local neighbourhoods a lot more than we used to.

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