This has felt like the most normal day since corona virus arrived on the planet.
The clocks went forward. I woke up at about 7.45AM. Immediate panic set in… WHAT IF IT IS ACTUALLY 8.45AM…… I shot downstairs to retrieve my phone ( no phones allowed in the bedroom) as my watch battery has run out due to excessive and now I know pointless time checking in pre-corona times.
I arrived in the kitchen, the dogs were fast asleep and looked up all ruffled and confused as only someone woken an hour earlier than normal would. I put the kettle on and nonchalantly, so as not to worry the dogs, headed for the studio and my phone….. 7.55AM……. So the bedside clock HAD gone forward in the night…… Then I realised it was actually “in olden times” 6.55AM - WTF was I doing up at five to seven on a Sunday morning???!! I made some tea and faffed about letting dogs out that didn’t really want to go out and texting all my sons who would be asleep and wouldn’t care if it was Sunday or Monday or what time it was.
I made Matt and I some tea and took it back upstairs “ It’s OK.” I loudly announced to his sleeping body “It’s only 8.20.” I hopped back into bed and Matt stumbled out towards the bathroom…. He returned “It doesn'‘t matter what time it is or even what day it is really…” He said turning to go and get a bowl of cereal which were followed by some stretches with a band and press ups whilst I instagrammed on my phone….
Eventually everyone was up and washed and dressed except for Elliott who is sleeping through as much as possible of the lockdown. It started hailing. I suggested to Anna we walk the dogs knowing full well by the time she had got her coat and boots on it would be bright blue skies. And I was right. The two of walked the dogs, laughing and chatting and saying “hello” to people we knew.
When we came home Anna wanted to have a shower and to wash her hair which she wanted me to curl…..Having being deprived of a Girls World as a child I am always up for trying out new hairstyles…. But first I noticed the bathroom could do with a bit of a clean so set to task cleaning the loo….. Anna looked on in absolute horror…”Mummy! That is absolutely disgusting. I am never cleaning a loo……I will definitely find a husband that does that!”
“Good luck with that.” I chuckled thinking I have never ever met a man who has cleaned a loo…. maybe it will be a post-corona thing……..?
One dog suitably exhausted post walk. Plus lovely daughter post shower and hair curling session.
This past few days has seen much improvement in Matt. He has progressed from afternoon naps and gangster movies to staying up and awake for great swathes of the day now. In fact I think this weekend has seen him awake for all daylight hours. He has painted some windowsills and fixed the downstairs loo which is always a good introduction back into family life.
We have been doing daily walks with the dogs around the town and across the fields. It has amused me to see the routes I regularly walk completely in solitude, save a couple of dog walkers, is now busy with people out for daily exercise. It is like the reverse of government guidelines as the countryside has suddenly become congested with people, I wonder what their daily exercise was before this? It also makes me think about how little my life has changed. Other than the school run and not seeing a little girl who we have looked after following school three times a week for the past five years our life hasn’t changed to a huge extent. It is sad not to see our older children, Grandma, Nanny and PopPop and our sisters and their families and our friends. Waitrose seems to have got on a more even keel with the shelves stocked to a fairly ordinary level and no queues at the times we have shopped.
Our friends house in our beautiful town.
I have been intrigued by half a dozen friends who have been taking enormous precautions with their shopping including washing and wiping it all, isolating it all, wearing protective clothing to shop in and getting changed after shopping and washing all their clothes. I am not surprised in the least that we managed to catch corona virus as we weren’t taking any precautions at all other than fairly sporadically washing our hands. I am still not convinced it survives for any length of time on surfaces but then I am not overly worried as I think we are now immune. These days people appear to be adopting a lot of “Crystal Maze” measures to avoid something they cannot see, smell or touch and I can see avoiding something so mysterious and potentially dangerous must cause a lot of anxiety and worry especially if you have someone with health problems in your family.
Clapping for the NHS on Thursday 26th March 2020
On Thursday evening we all went out on our doorsteps to clap the NHS which was a lovely thing. We are so fortunate in out country to have the National Health Service and I do hope that after this pandemic is over workers in hospitals can access a few things that one doctor I heard interviewed put so succinctly “ Free Parking, Free tea and Coffee and less abuse from patients.” Not much to ask for is it?
Clapping the NHS with our neighbours.
I have made and finished a lot of work this week and am so grateful that my studio is at home and I can carry on working. I held an online sale which sold out in record time and I was so overwhelmed and grateful I just stood and cried in the kitchen. I just hope the postal service isn’t stopped anytime soon. One of my biggest fears is running out of propane gas or clay and not being able to get any more supplies. Not a huge problem in the overall coronavirus scheme I realise, but at present, I am the only person able to keep working in my house and frankly that needs to carry on. Other fears I have about this pandemic continuing for a long time are for my older sons jobs and whether they will still have employment (one of them) or be able to keep employing people and remain self employed (the other one) when this is all over. Having just read this evening this lockdown may all be carrying on for six months at least I am even more fearful. But we have to trust it will all work out. I know that we are all at home to save lives and protect vulnerable people and I am not doubting the importance of this. It doesn’t make me less fearful of the economic situation we will face when we go back to our “normal” lives.
A wonderful card I received this week all the way from Inishbofin Island off the West coast of Ireland. Somewhere I visited nearly 30 years ago but where I still have enormously fond memories and am so happy to have befriended Tara who lives there through Instagram. Definitely on my list of places I want to go to when this is all over.
I have had a lot of people asking me about symptoms we had when we had coronavirus as they think they may have it now. Ours were aches and pains in muscles, loss of taste, temperatures, dry annoying cough. Other symptoms included sore throats and headaches and loss of appetite. We very sporadically used paracetemol but drank a lot of water and slept as much as possible.
Today has included flute practice….. and dog yoga
At the beginning of this piece I said it was the most normal day we have had since our experience with coronavirus began. We had a dog walk, Anna did some flute practice, Matt cooked a roast dinner. We danced in the lounge with the kids after dinner with Elliott our in house DJ playing the top tunes. We also went to see a friend whose 50th birthday it was today. We put her presents on the front door step and then stood well back and had a chat for a few minutes once she and her husband answered the door. It didn’t even feel that odd not to give her a hug to say happy birthday or not to be invited in……how times have changed and how quickly we adapt to new situations. I hope we can all remember how to celebrate when we are allowed to mingle again……..
Anna and I embarked on a paper bowl making project from a book called Book Arts by Clare Youngs. It was great fun and very satisfying until we ran out of pritt stick glue and couldn’t just pop to the shops for a new stick. If this ever happens again in my life time I will be stockpiling pritt stick and felt squares. Two things I didn’t realise I can’t manage without.
I don’t feel I have enough hours in the day never mind one being snatched from us today for British summertime. I seem to spend so much more time communicating with my Mum, older sons, sister, friends and Matt with his family than ever before even though none of us have been doing anything different or exciting and no one has anything new to say. My Mum is on a permanent cycle of Rosemary Conley fitness DVDs, a regular walk to a shop she (wisely) won’t go inside followed by a cribbage tournament with her partner, the winner of whom buys lunch at the pub they had their first date at ten years ago if they are ever allowed out to roam again. They have at last managed to get on the vulnerable people list for Sainsburys delivery and so we won’t have to worry about them starving….. As she can’t get hold of one this spell might wean her off of the Daily Mail although I think she may well work out it is available online….. She sent me a photo of herself yesterday and I swear she is looking younger by the day with isolation…..probably because she knows exactly where everyone is at all times.
Anyway I am going to draw this blog to a close now as without the extra hour the day has run away with me and I need to get some sleep before I start worrying about all the things I can’t do anything about anyway especially at 3am.
Me earlier when I managed to delete the first version of this blog……