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Short films of Lockdown Edinburgh by Jim Sheach

Short films of Lockdown Edinburgh by Jim Sheach
Short films of Lockdown Edinburgh by Jim Sheach
A collection of videos produced by Jim Sheach an Edinburgh resident, capturing the atmosphere around Edinburgh and the changes to normal life during the Covid-19 pandemic from April 2020 to December 2022.

On the 9th April 2020 he set out on his bicycle to capture Edinburgh during lockdown “before things got back to normal”. He continued to document the impact on Edinburgh life into the third year of the pandemic.

Early videos travelling across Edinburgh on weekday mornings and the overwhelming impression is of deserted streets and pavements.

As lockdown eased in late summer 2020 shops reopened and there was some further lifting of restrictions, however Edinburgh in August with all the Festivals cancelled was a very quiet place. A return to tighter restrictions over the festive period saw an empty Princes Street on Boxing Day and an eerily quiet city centre at Hogmanay.

Scotland's second lockdown continued into Spring 2021 and streets remain quiet, shops shut with often little sign of human presence. However, there was some activity with football matches taking place in empty stadiums and people attending vaccination centres.

April 2021 saw restrictions starting to be eased. The first relaxation was the widely welcomed reopening of hairdressers and barbershops on Easter Monday. Then on 26 April, Level 3 arrived and restrictions started to be eased further allowing non-essential shops, museums, libraries, sports venues, cafes, restaurants and bars to reopen.

Further good news for the hospitality industry came on Monday 17 May with Level 2 when venues were allowed to serve alcohol inside once more and people could travel to other areas of Scotland (also in Levels 0, 1 or 2) and to the rest of the UK.

Scotland moved to Level 0 in July 2021 allowing fans back into football stadiums and Edinburgh’s Festivals to tentatively restart with limited audiences and many outdoor venues.

As autumn turned to winter more events returned, albeit with the necessity for Covid-secure measures, such as vaccine passports and face masks. In September, large capacity theatre venues reopened and in November international rugby returned to Murrayfield. As the end of the year approached large open-air events took place including a return of ‘Edinburgh’s Christmas’ activities.

However, the emergence of the more transmissible Omicron variant of Covid-19 in mid-December led to the cancellation of theatre performances, the reopening of the EICC as a mass vaccination centre to support the vaccination booster campaign and for a second year Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party was cancelled. Social media led with the hashtag #BoostedByTheBells. Edinburgh’s New Year derby match between Hearts and Hibs was postponed until February 2022.

The second anniversary of Lockdown in March 2022 saw a delay in lifting all Covid-19 restrictions with masks still mandatory on public transport and in many indoor settings. Covid-19 hospitalisations reached a new high.

April 18th 2022, 739 days after the first pandemic Lockdown video in this series, saw the final Covid-19 protections backed by law become guidance. Scottish Government publicity moved to "Use Covid Sense".

Edinburgh’s Festivals returned to a degree of normality in August 2022, with the Usher Hall in use again by the Edinburgh International Festival and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo back on the castle esplanade. The RAF were in the skies over the castle again with several Tattoo flypasts. However, for the third year running the Festival Fireworks were missing.

Edinburgh’s Christmas delivered it’s first full season of events since 2019 with a complete run of the panto, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The famous Hogmanay Street Party celebrations also returned but without the Torchlight Procession the night before or the South Queensferry Loony Dook on New Year's Day. The economic climate was blamed for the reduced programme.

Fireworks from the Castle, the first since 2019 marked the end of 2022 and this collection of Covid-19 Lockdown videos.