Here are the things you're most looking forward to after the pandemic

We asked you what you were looking forward to after the pandemic.

Author: Mick CoylePublished 18th Jan 2021

More than half of you say your biggest ambition for 2021 is to meet up with friends and family.

With the coronavirus pandemic and a series of lockdowns dominating most of 2020 we've been asking you how you feel about last year and what you're looking forward to next year.

54% of you highlighted meeting up with friends and family once the pandemic is over, although 1 in 7 people who responded to our survey were most looking forward to going to the pub!

Our survey was conducted between Saturday 9th January and Friday 15th., here's what we found out:

The results of our coronavirus pandemic survey

We asked you what you were most looking forward to once we've made it through the pandemic and life can return to normal:

  • 54% of people say their biggest ambition for 2021 is to meet up with friends and family
  • 14% said their priority was going to the pub
  • 7% said they had to focus on finding a new job

We also asked if lockdown had led you to making any strange purchases, you told us that it definitely had!

People purchased hot tubs, robot hoover and sponsored llamas!

Click here to see our gallery of the strange things you've told us you've bought.

Who will you hug after the pandemic?

Parents came top of the list of people to hug once we're done with Covid 19. Around 1 in 3 want to wrap their arms around mum and dad.

Just under one in five of us are planning on hugging their grandparent or grandchildren.

One in 20 are saving themselves for a work colleague.

Friends also came high up on the list. After months of social isolating, a quarter of us will hug a friend first.

So long, 2020!

Most of us will be glad to see the back of 2020, but its not been all doom and gloom.

  • 42% of people say they've lived through worse years, while 1 in 5 are still undecided
  • Half told us spending more time with their family was a 2020 bonus.
  • One in 10 enjoyed learning a new skill, watching TV or doing a hobby.

And while most people's relationship with the neighbours stayed the same, one in five said it improved, while one in 10 said it was worse now than back in March.

Long term impact

Around 60% of people who took part in the survey said their biggest take-home from the pandemic was to appreciate family and friends more.

Just over 10% were concerned about their long term mental health, and slightly fewer said the loss of a loved one would be their resounding memory of the coronavirus pandemic.

And focus on jobs was never far away, although just one in 50 were actively looking forward to going back to the office

Oddest purchases during lockdown

So it turns out all that time indoors has driven a few people to buy some odd things.

We asked you the most unusual things you bought during the pandemic, here are some of the answers you gave us:

Lots of people sponsored a llama


Balls of wool for knitting


Hot tub sales sky rocketed!


Some people bought robot hoovers to help with the housework


Shed extensions were also popular


And then people bought beer machines to put in their shed-bars!


Ring lights also proved popular to improve lighting while working from home


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