The Adventure of the Covid-19 Lockdown

Life has got especially strange in recent weeks as Covid-19 spreads around the world and life as we know it has shut down for a while.

I've had a bit less time stuck indoors than most people. Though schools in the UK are shut to most pupils, they are still open for children whose parents are key workers or are especially vulnerable. The school I work for are doing a rota system so I seem to be working two days every other week in term time. It's just childcare really which is not exactly what I did an education degree for. 

Still, I'm lucky. Working for a school means that however long this goes on for, I'll be paid. I know lots of people who don't have this luxury and are wondering how they are going to manage financially over the coming months. I'm so grateful to have this security right now. I'm also fortunate that these difficult and unusual working days are only very occasional- carers and NHS workers have to struggle through this unprecedented situation. 

The covid-19 outbreak still feels a bit unreal right here. Cases locally are increasing and I’m starting to hear of people who have it but they are still a few connections away at the moment. Because we have to stay at home we’re in a bubble and it’s so hard to really assess the reality of this crisis when you’re biggest problem is boredom. I've no doubt it will arrive here and I hope myself and my loved ones manage to avoid it. 

Being stuck at home is far from ideal. I'm fortunate to have a fair amount of holiday during the year but I have realised that I rarely spend much time sat at home. We're allowed to go outside for up to one bit of exercise a day so I'm heading out for a walk every other day, though it quickly became apparent that there are limited routes without jumping in the car. Beyond that, I've been stuck inside. 

At least I have some time to watch films. I'm escaping into all sorts of stories and working my way through my 'to-watch' list at an unprecedented speed. Now is an excellent time to watch some of the three hour plus films that I've been planning to watch for ages but haven't had the time. Over the last few weeks I've fought in a revolt with William Wallace in Scotland, sank aboard the Titanic, joined a group of samurai defend a village from bandits and seen a man eat a live octopus. (If you're so inclined you can see what I've been watching on the excellent website Letterboxd).

I was able to go and give blood yesterday- it’s officially one of the reasons you are allowed out and in a medical crisis it’s perhaps more needed than ever. Like any of the few places that remain open, there was an elaborate scheme of taped lines and space out chairs so that a group of people can be in the same room yet still two metres apart. I have great admiration for the donor nurses who are carrying on as close to normal as they can, all wearing masks and constantly cleaning everything. 

This quarantine period has already contained some low moments. I had a plant on my bedroom windowsill which had died and had been meaning to throw away for some while. At some point a beetle got in and laid eggs on the plant and one afternoon when the sun was beaming onto the window I suddenly found myself in the middle of a swarm of beetles. The plant has been gone a while now yet still the beetles keep appearing. 

I've been inadvertently practicing social distancing all my life so in many ways I was made for this scenario. Every event has been cancelled and I discovered that this barely affected me at all because I had hardly any plans this Spring. I've weirdly found myself being more social than usual though, albeit virtually through video chats and text messaging. I've sent more texts in the last week than I usually do in an entire year. I do feel like there's a sense of communities coming together whilst keeping at least two metres apart which is rather charming. 

Mentally, things are very up and down. I've found that when you can really check out of the world things are better. I have a bad habit of constantly reading the news which I've managed to curb because it's literally all covid-19 related at the moment and I don't need to hear it all the time. I've also found it's important to keep occupied because it's those idle moments when the situation fills my head and it feels like we're living in a dystopian nightmare. There's always hope too. We don't know how long it will take but this situation is only temporary and things will return to some semblance of normality eventually. That thought keeps me going, the thought of how joyous it will be when we can finally go places and get together. 

I'm going to try to blog every week during this time, though I haven't quite worked out what I shall talk about given I won't be going anywhere. Perhaps you, lovely reader, have some thoughts? You can comment below with anything you might want me to write about or perhaps I can expand on something I've mentioned in this or a previous post. You can also ask anonymous questions, which means you can say literally whatever you like, on this page here. It would be great if you can help me out with some prompts! 

See you next week and in the meantime, stay well and stay at home.