Living in a small village without amenities, there was little option but to go shopping as usual. People were cautious, but I think that rules were interpreted flexibly

and most managed to maintain a degree of normality. Our daughter came to visit (quite legally) a number of times which was nice. The 'First minister' tied to limit cross border travel, but the airlines, railways etc still operated. For up, the worst thing was the inability to visit the theatre, go for trips in our campervan etc etc. but we've been making up for that since restrictions were lifted. We avoided the plague and as some compensation, saved money.