Surviving C19 Lockdown

A better day today! In fact a good day.... This world pandemic has a habit of changing people's moods as frequently as we wash our hands these days. Today is a good day for many reasons, the main one being I have the perfect excuse to write an extra list for the day..... - I got a Tesco delivery slot! (Yes, I feel guilty as I can actually go the store, but I am a regular Tesco delivery receiver and have been for the last 10 years, so surely loyalty should count for something. Plus, with only 80 items allowed per slot, I have filled up on basics and can now do smaller shops in person for a while until I am able to get another slot in 6 months time). - Got to see mum from the gate for 10 mins (this a good thing but second to getting a delivery slot, sorry mum). - There was a bag of flour and a packet of biscuits waiting for us at the gate on our arrival, which we quickly scooped away whilst jumping back, before breathing any Corona germs 12 meters down the driveway where mum cowe...

“To be grey or not to be grey, that is the question.” I know this is a shallow and unimportant question in the scheme of the global pandemic, and I do feel guilty for asking the question. My thoughts are always with the NHS and all key workers and I am in total admiration for all they do. I cannot comprehend how difficult life is for these wonderful people and right now, and every day, I count my blessings that “all I have to do is stay at home”. While it’s not easy when all my beloved work has been cancelled or rearranged, I do know I am one of the lucky ones who just has to do our bit by staying at home. However, writing this blog is, for me, a way of voicing my thoughts and trying to stay positive, and if at all possible, trying to bring some kind of lightheartedness to this madness. So please don’t judge me for writing about my hair. I actually don’t care about it to be honest. Anyone who knows me will admit my hair always looks shit at the best of times. And anyone who doesn’t...

Two and a half weeks in to lockdown and already this life is feeling almost normal. There is a new routine (or lack of) for everything and the pace of life is so slow and uneventful compared to how it was. I popped round to my lovely grandma's earlier with some shopping essentials and we chatted from a safe distance (how often do we now use this once obsolete phrase?) in the garden. She is amazing. 98 and totally unfazed by all this. She just says her life hasn’t actually changed that much, which I guess it hasn’t, apart from that she is seeing less of people and can’t go to church. Normally I would stay longer and have a coffee with her, and probably some biscuits with a best before date of Jan 1982, but these days I take my own bottle of water and have a good excuse to pass on the biccies. We talked about the usual things, Corona, both world wars, politics, immigration, Corona, Spanish Flu, and how weird I will look when my hair is the same colour as hers in a few weeks... I ...

I was determined to use this time we have found ourselves with as the opportunity to have lots of lovely extra family time. When lockdown was first announced I had visions of a daily walk together, all 3 of us linking arms and chatting and laughing together as the wind rippled through our hair and the fresh air made our cheeks (already aching from laughter) red and tingly. My mind pictured me helping Mia with her school work, sitting down together from 9am until 3pm, and working through it happily, learning together and enjoying each other's company. I assumed this could be fitted in around my own work, telephone calls and Zoom meetings, with an hour's break for a home cooked healthy lunch eaten in the garden together, perhaps followed by a ball game, before returning to our desks. The house and garden would naturally be spotless, as with all this extra time, how could they be anything else? Once the day's work had been completed, the 3 of us would sit down for a tasty meal...

I woke up this morning and cast my mind back to the events of the day before. Confused images of my mum dressed in party wear and running trainers, jogging down the street having completed a park run in New Earswick flashed in to my mind. A vision of her skipping in to a house party, bottle in hand, and becoming lost in a crowd of revelers. I remembered my panic as I braved the hoards of party goers, frantically trying to find her and remove her from the Corona Virus breeding ground before she inhaled any deadly particles or touched a surface infected with germs. The music was banging, the drunken people were squashed together like hill walkers on Snowden last weekend. It was horrendous, where was my mum and why was she here when she should be self isolating? This wasn't usual behavior for my peaceful, church going, bicycle riding, tea total, lovely and reserved 71 year old mum.... Then I realised it was all a dream. Thank God! At least something interesting is happening in my drea...