Lockdown week #659

At least that is how it feels!!!

Yesterday I was talking to a colleague in Chicago (via Skype of course) and he was saying how he just wanted to get back to normality. I asked if he meant normal as in how life was back before anyone had ever heard of coronavirus or social distancing or lockdown or did he mean a new post-lockdown normal where anything a little bit less lockdownish felt like a win and a step towards normal. We laughed but the truth is that we are a long way from getting all the way back to life as we knew it aren’t we?

Lockdown has been hard on everyone for so many different reasons, many of my friends are furloughed or find themselves without work. I am one of the lucky ones as I am still working full-time in my IT job. We started working remotely 10 weeks ago and honestly it took some time to get used to, even Fridays stopped feeling special! We always worked from home on Friday but once I had to work from home full time Friday felt like every other day. One thing I certainly do not miss is my commute - the most frustrating futile waste of time - how it took an hour to drive 12 miles I do not know!!

The week after I started working from home the kid’s schools closed and home learning began - where do I begin with that? There have been so many ups and downs and tears (mainly mine) and just when I think I have it all worked out it all falls apart again. My three kids are different ages and all at different schools so the juggle is real! The support from the schools has been amazing, I know that it was a herculean effort to switch to online learning in such a short space of time and I know more is being asked of the schools now as they prepare for some children to return to the classroom. Unfortunately my three kids do not fall into the year groups that will be returning to school in the near future - or fortunately none of them are in critical years at school is another way of looking at it!

Honestly somedays have been a breeze juggling home working and home schooling and other days have felt like I was doing everything badly. I have trained adults all my life, teaching your 12 yo son about the chemical reaction between metals and acids or explaining the difference between past perfect and past imperfect tenses whilst doing back to back Skype meetings for work is a whole new ballgame! I was not good at Physics and Chemistry when I was at school, evidently I am still not good at Physics and Chemistry!

The thing is that no matter how hard and stressful it has been trying to keep it all together I am extremely fortunate to still be working in these crazy times and as tempting as it has been to quit, I am a self-employed single mum of three kids and I am under no illusion that it would be near on impossible to find another job right now and could be for the foreseeable future so I just need to stick with it.

Of course there have been good things to have come out of this extended lockdown - I cherish the time spent with my kids, all too soon they will have grown up and leave for university (except for the little one, she says she will never leave me!). The big girl has taken to baking every week - she started with macarons and this week we have had blondies - I think I have managed to instill in her now that a good cook cleans up after themselves - the first week I was left to deal with a mess akin to the Icelandic ash cloud!! Bless her heart she is 14 and missing her friends and finding that hard but she makes time to FaceTime my 89 year old Mum every single day. Even the boy has learnt new skills in lockdown - he is now able to tie his own ponytail - a skill that will stand him in good stead if he is blessed with daughters in years to come! If lockdown goes on for much longer he may well master plaiting his blue hair!

This week the kids are officially on half term holidays so no home schooling - hurrah as I think we all need the rest!! Looks like the English weather is at least going to play ball so a staycation in the sunny Costa del Backyard it is!!! And after that who knows what the next few weeks and months will bring?!

Much love xxx

Lockdown Week #2

“You can’t fail at this - there is no roadmap, no precedent”*

Two months ago coronavirus was something that was happening far far away in Wuhan, China and like most people I don’t think I thought it was going to affect us.  Four weeks ago social distancing and lockdown were things that were happening in other places, here, we were still going about our everyday business as normal – I remember my last run with my running buddy before social distancing measures were put in place – an unremarkable run on a beautiful sunny day – so pleased that spring seemed to be finally on it’s way after such a wet few weeks.

By the end of the following week I was working from home and my running buddy and I were running two metres apart and all we talked about was coronavirus, no sweaty hug at the end of the run.  The same weekend the boy played what turned out to be his last match of the football season – the boys elbow fived at the end of the match and I think there was a feeling amongst the parents that we wouldn’t be seeing each for a while.  The Premier League had already been suspended and grass roots football was to follow soon after.

By the end of the next week the three schools my children attend were all closed except to children of key workers and homeschooling had begun, followed closely by lockdown.

I know that lockdown is different in each country, here in the UK lockdown means you can only leave home for the four following reasons:

• Shopping for basic necessities such as food and medicine – shopping trips should be as infrequent as possible

• One form of exercise a day – this should be done alone or only with people you live with

• Any medical need or to provide care or help a vulnerable person (this includes moving children under 18 between their parents’ homes

• Travelling to and from work, but only where work absolutely cannot be done from home

We have now been in lockdown for two weeks and there have been so many ups and downs and bumps in the road along the way.  There have been more tears than I can shake a stick at (I admit I have hidden in the loo more than once and just cried)– the craziness of the situation can creep up on you and take your breath away – the life we took for granted has just disappeared almost overnight.  And I think it is that the boy has struggled with so much – there was no warning, no getting used to it, it all happened so quickly and so suddenly that the change has been totally overwhelming for him.

We have found huge positives though:

• Facetime and Zoom are the new going out – the kids have had playdates, we have done quizzes and I have even been to the theatre via Zoom! (No need for a designated driver or a dash to make the last train home!)

• We have been out to the park and played frisbee as a family every day – and the dog has wallowed in the same smelly muddy puddle every day.  We are not getting any better at frisbee but our excuses for being so poor are definitely improving

• I kind of like the queuing surreally around the Sainsburys car park with everyone at 2 metres distance – it feels like I am in a scene from Shaun of the Dead – somehow the calm sunny plane free skies make it feel even more bizarre (I am naturally an introvert so if there is some way to make everyone respect the 2 metre rule once this is all done count me in!)

• The clapping on our street on a Thursday night for the NHS and key workers is so overwhelming and bloody emotional!

We have tried hard to find something positive everyday and we try really hard to concentrate on what we can do rather than what we can’t do.  And we have found things to laugh at in amongst the craziness too.

And on that lighter note I watched “Contagion” last night – anyone else think it was a good idea to watch Hollywood’s idea of what life would be like during a global pandemic?  Nice try Hollywood but I found myself watching and saying out loud “no it is not like that!”  Please make more Tiger King – that is just so car-crash but so hilarious!

It is now Easter holidays here and I know it will feel very different to normal school holidays but we have lots of staycation activities planned.  I would love to hear how you are staying sane during the lockdown and your suggestions for keeping the kids occupied, oh and Netflix suggestions gratefully received!

Let’s all take this one day at a time and please please please #stayhome

Stay safe and much love

Jane x

*From an article by Margie Donlon