Tag Archives: lockdown diaries

Surviving the weather – 7Y2D COVID-19 Diaries Week 14

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I know that it’s a very British thing to do, but I can’t possibly let another week slip by without mentioning the weather! When lockdown started what feels like a lifetime ago, the world experienced an influx of rainbows as communities looked to spread a little hope and happiness to all who saw them. G and M created their own rainbow masterpiece to display in the window nearest the road snaking past our house and we enjoyed spotting them in so many different locations as we ventured out for our daily exercise around the neighbourhood.

Friends and family in Canada and in Scotland were hit by an astonishingly late snowfall in early May, whilst in our part of the world we were experiencing weeks of unparalleled sunshine. The children loved being able to spend so much time outside on the trampoline or on bike rides, whilst Mike took advantage of the good weather and his time on furlough to tackle many of the gardening projects that have been lingering on his to-do list for an awfully long time.

And then, this time last week, everything changed. Our village and the surrounding areas were hit by huge storms, flash floods and all the problems that comes with such heavy rain. We had our own personal drama when the electricity transformer in the field next to our house exploded due to the combination of the wet weather and a faulty cable with a hole, knocking out the power not only in our house, but in half the village too. Fortunately, it turns out we have a secondary connection to the mains electricity, so we only in fact lost power for around 10 minutes, although the internet connection took a lot longer to re-establish.

7 days on and we’re back to the glorious sunshine of a few weeks ago and even hotter temperatures. My sister-in-law in Canada told me they’re experiencing a similarly high 30°+, but the humidex (humidity index) has made it feel like 37° or more. Yesterday was filled with ice creams, ice-cold drinks and staying in the shade and today has seen more of the same. The only question now is whether the thunder storm forecast for early tomorrow morning actually hits or not and brings a little relief with it.

 

Channelling Creativity – 7Y2D COVID-19 Diaries Week 13

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When writing my blog posts, I usually find that inspiration will hit for the next during the writing process, although I do occasionally find myself scrabbling around for ideas to develop and explore. This post is the result of one such experience. The truth about the last 13 weeks for most of us is that one week has very much been like another. In our household, weekdays have, and continue to involve, getting up and ready for the day, heading downstairs for work or homeschooling, some venturing out for water, lunch and copious amounts of coffee and eventually the end of the day, for me at least.

Evenings are time for family, daily exercise and bed. Weekends vary a little with no work and much longer walks with the children, but the truth is, there isn’t necessarily a lot of new and exciting things to share with anyone most of the time.

However, the one thing we have been doing is spending time developing some new skills and channelling the creativity hiding inside. With no choir rehearsals, sports or performing arts going on, it’s been really important to find other ways to spend our free time. As I’ve mentioned before, M has been honing his photography skills in preparation of starting his GCSE syllabus next year, whilst both he and G have been choosing to bake different treats every couple of weeks, which have been delicious to taste-test afterwards. G also decided that she wanted to share her joy of dancing with our community as a whole, so every lunchtime, 6 days a week, she goes out for an hour’s exercise and dances her way through our village.

I have also been feeding my inner creativity by learning to knit, a skill that both my Dad and my Gran first shared with me as a child and something I’ve long been tempted to revisit. Someone in our village offered some “How to Knit” kits near to the start of lockdown and whilst I don’t think I’ll be winning any awards for the end results, it’s been fun to relearn how to do it. And thanks to the discovery of a box of brand-new baby clothes and other paraphenalia from a few years ago hiding in the study, I’ve spent a few hours creating some baby bouquets and clothes bundles. With the help of one of the ward sisters, we’ve been able to donate these to

the NICU at our local hospital, somewhere that looked after both G and M at the very start of their lives. G helped out here as well, by making some beautiful hand-drawn congratulations postcards to accompany each bundle. It was fab to not only flex my creative muscles once again, but to also work with G to create something beautiful we could share with others in our community.

Working from Home – 7Y2D COVID-19 Diaries Week 12

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The last 12 weeks have seen thousands of people starting to work from home on a much more regular basis than they might have done before and I know that for some, that situation will continue for the foreseeable future, if not as a permanent change to their work location going forward. The reality of lockdown has meant that businesses have had to review and consider how they work, and can work in the future, especially where this means that potential savings could be made and help them to survive the current financial crisis.

As I mentioned in last week’s post, I am carrying on working from home and will be for an as-yet-to-be-determined amount of time. Working for a charity within the care sector, we are taking a very cautious approach with our work processes in order to protect our service users as much as we can and that same approach is being applied to those of us who work in the Head Office. Our Board of Trustees and Senior Management Team (SMT) are anticipating that our regular meetings will continue to be virtual for several months and our Head Office will continue to be manned by a skeleton staff whilst the rest of us work from home until further notice.

Working from home can come with its own challenges, be that about motivation and focus, or working excessive hours because it can be difficult to switch off mid-task; or, these days, the juggling act required to manage workloads, team dynamics and meetings alongside homeschooling and childcare. I attended a webinar a few weeks ago run by recruitment consultants, Robert Half, which looked at the pressures that working parents have felt during the lockdown period and the importance of changing the way we look at things for our own mental wellbeing.

One of the key messages from this webinar was that those of us who are working parents should aim to be a “good enough” parent, rather than a “perfect” parent. We may have started lockdown with ambitions to conquer the combined dizzying heights of homeschooling and working from home, but many, if not all, have struggled to achieve their own goals and the knock-on effect on motivation and wellbeing has been huge. Seeking virtual support from friends and family as well as setting more realistic goals for what can be achieved each day and not beating ourselves up about if we don’t manage to tick everything off the list is critical.

There were also some great suggestions about how to help yourself and your children get through lockdown. My favourite ones included using your usual commute time for some me-time however that looks like for you; or as a family making notes of the things we’re missing doing the most and saving those into an empty box or jar. Once we’re out of lockdown completely, you can pick those notes out and work your way through each experience. At the end of the day, succeeding at working from home might not look quite as you imagined it would, but getting through this time relatively unscathed is, without a doubt, the most important thing of all.

Easing Lockdown – 7Y2D COVID-19 Diaries Week 11

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How things have changed in the last week in the UK. The government announced that we could start easing the lockdown measures that have been in place since the end of March, a decision that has received mixed reactions from across the country. Changes have been discussed at the daily briefings, or published via press releases late at night, and all too frequently there has not been sufficient detail or further explanations provided to give comfort to anyone expressing concern that maybe we’re moving ahead too quickly when considering current statistics.

As lockdown eases, I’m able to continue to work from home for the time being, which has been especially reassuring given the recent publication of scientific research into the risk of COVID-19 on those living with diabetes. We had all been advised that those living with underlying health conditions were at higher risk during the pandemic, but the evidence suggests a particular link with diabetes and other health factors, some of which are relevant to me, others that aren’t. I won’t be changing the way I’m working at the moment and continue to limit myself to being at home or out for a walk in the area surrounding our village, somewhere I haven’t left since lockdown began.

Both G and M continue with their homeschooling and it was confirmed just before half-term that neither of them will return to school before September at the earliest. We continue to balance school-work with other activities to keep them entertained during the day, but they are yearning to spend some time with friends, although they do understand why that just isn’t possible at the moment. Our old trampoline finally gave up the ghost with a number of springs popping off in the first few weeks of lockdown, but we managed to get an order in for a replacement one and M has been waiting eagerly for it to arrive. The delivery finally happened at the start of this week and the introduction of a 16 foot trampoline to our paddock is certainly a sight to see. G and M have already been out bouncing as much as they possibly can and it’s definitely big enough to accommodate them both at the same time.

The biggest change with the easing of lockdown is for Mike. Having been furloughed on 1 April, he has spent the last couple of months doing a number of DIY jobs around the house and garden, but that is now coming to an end as he starts back at work tomorrow. This has come with its own set of concerns, not least about how Mike can best protect himself to minimise the risk of him bringing COVID-19 home to either M or me. We have agreed a process whereby he will change in the garage as soon as he gets home from work, put his clothes straight into the washing machine and will then come in and go straight to the shower before coming into contact with the rest of us. He has also been provided with a supply of PPE to wear throughout his day as he travels between houses to complete surveys and valuations. Finally, as I have taken over his study for my home office, he will be using the desk in the spare bedroom for when he needs to work on his reports.

What does the lockdown easing mean for you and your family? Are you returning to your new version of “normal”, or taking a more cautious approach for the next few weeks? Whatever you’re doing, stay safe and keep well.