The Covid-19 Diaries: Day 16

How Are You Surviving Lockdown?

It’s starting to feel a bit like Groundhog Day already for me, and we’re only on Day 16. Judging by my social media feed, I’m not the only one so for a change of pace in today’s post, I thought it might be interesting to hear how everyone else is keeping themselves occupied during lockdown?

I’m the sort of person who can’t sit still at the best of times even though I love being at home. I always have to be doing something – blogging, knitting/crocheting, tarot cards, yoga, meditating, guitar, reading, PS4, Candy Crush! And then there’s the more mundane tasks – cleaning out garages, cupboards, every room in the house from top to bottom. And when all else fails, there’s always the Netflix/YouTube rabbit holes to fall down.

It’s not often that people in every country in the world find themselves going through an event like this all at the same time. So whether you’re in lockdown in the UK like me or elsewhere in Europe, North or South America, Australasia or Asia, why not get involved and add a comment to this post telling us where you are and how you’re surviving lockdown.

If nothing else, it’s a way to fill the time – ready, set, go!

The Covid-19 Diaries: Day 8

Back to School

Monday morning here in the UK, being the start of the working week, saw many of us returning to work – remotely. For kids, it was back to the homeschooling started last week. For keyworkers, back to saving the world. For everyone, it’s trying to carry on as normally as possible as we start Week 2 of Lockdown.

In the news today, there is a glimmer of hope that the number of deaths in England, although high, have been relatively stable over the weekend, so at least they haven’t continued climbing for a few days. Can’t count our chickens too soon but maybe, just maybe, this is a sign that things may not be as apocalyptic as feared. Maybe some of the measures enforced are beginning to work.

It will no doubt be one step forward, two steps back though for some time to come so I don’t want to give anyone false hope. But hope itself can be a powerful thing:

“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”

 J R R Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

When I first read The Fellowship of the Ring, I highly doubt that I truly appreciated the significance of that particular statement, but its relevance to our current circumstances is remarkable.

The world is, and always has been, full of danger; it’s just that now it seems more dangerous than we have, perhaps, become accustomed to. The challenge is to find that which is fair in it – even when it seems surrounded by the darkness. For in that is Hope.

Doesn’t Hope become more “precious” in times such as these? What can you find in today to be “my precious”?

The Covid-19 Diaries: Day 7

Lockdown: The First Week

Has it really only been a week since Lockdown started? It feels twice that. I’ve not seen the news much today but, when I have, I was pretty surprised actually to see that the Prime Minister has written to every household in the UK, apparently indicating that tougher lockdown restrictions may soon have to be introduced.

A letter from the Prime Minister to every household? Probably not unheard of ever but almost certainly a rare occurrence.

Tougher lockdown in other countries has meant people in some places not being allowed out at all, heftier fines and an increased military presence. Honestly, I think it’s just a matter of time before these tighter restrictions have to be introduced here too.

And no sign of Lockdown lifting anytime soon either it seems, with even the most optimistic estimates suggesting that they’ll last throughout May at least.

In case you’re running out of things to do, I’ve added a couple of videos to our YouTube channel under the playlist, Learn to Read Tarot Series. Even if you’re not thinking of learning to become a reader yourself, you might find it interesting to check the series out as there are a lot of misconceptions out there about what tarot cards are and how they work. And who knows, you might discover a new hobby:

Want to Learn More About Tarot Cards?

With 78 cards to get through, it should keep us going for a while!

And don’t worry if you don’t have a tarot deck of your own. Why not make one? Get a piece of paper and a pair of scissors and cut 78 “cards” out. For now, just write the names of each of the cards on each of the cards you’ve cut out. The first 22 cards will be your Major Arcana, as follows:

• 0 – The Fool
• 1 – The Magician
• 2 – The High Priestess
• 3 – The Empress
• 4 – The Emperor
• 5 – The Hierophant
• 6 – The Lovers
• 7 – The Chariot
• 8 – Strength
• 9 – The Hermit
• 10 – Wheel of Fortune
• 11 – Justice
• 12 – The Hanged Man
• 13 – Death
• 14 – Temperance
• 15 – The Devil
• 16 – The Tower
• 17 – The Star
• 18 – The Moon
• 19 – The Sun
• 20 – Judgement
• 21 – The World

The rest of the cards are divided into 4 suits of 10 cards numbered one through 10 plus 4 Court cards in each suit, Page, Knight, Queen and King. The suits are:

• Wands
• Pentacles
• Swords
• Cups

You won’t really be able to shuffle in the traditional sense but you can “stir” the cards round and round, face-down and select your cards that way. And now you’re all set to learn how to read tarot!

The Covid-19 Diaries: Day 5

Coronavirus Infiltrates Downing Street

Breaking news today was that Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, have both tested positive for Covid-19 after displaying symptoms of the illness, with England’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, also said to be symptomatic. Probably not a great sign for the rest of us then.

On a personal level though, today was a far better day with it being results day for the further education law students I teach across A-Level and Degree Level qualifications, all achieving a 100% pass rate and a good portion of those actually obtaining distinctions. Proud tutor moment!!

Today was the first day of the year when I actually took my yoga practice outdoors into the back garden to make the most of the glorious sunshine. Feeling the warm sun whilst listening to birds singing makes it such a different experience to indoor yoga that I’d quite forgotten how much I’d missed it through the colder months.

Finished knitting the Easter Bunny for my eldest, Chloe all ready to make another one for Mia tomorrow.

My husband, Lee, went and did the weekly shop and had to do the whole queuing outside and being restricted to a certain number of items once inside. Nothing over the top mind – it just seems having chicken nuggets and chicken burgers is frowned upon currently! All in a good cause so I’m sure we’ll make it through the week without the burgers!

The lockdown restrictions are now noticeably being enforced with someone Lee works with having a family member fined for being outside inappropriately. Hopefully, the message starts to get through but I don’t know. Unbelievably people are still having BBQs on Winter Hill in Bolton, leading to a fire up there today, which our already overstretched emergency services had to then deal with. I’m almost praying for a change in the weather just to keep the selfish ones in.

We’ve big plans for tomorrow – clearing out the garage! To be honest, one of the real positives of this situation is that it’s forcing us to crack on with jobs we’d normally procrastinate about just to stave off the boredom. I’m a real homebody anyway with too many hobbies to fit into one day as it is, but I think Lee and the kids are already starting to climb the walls.

Myself, I’m quite ready for the Rise of the Introverts…

The Covid-19 Diaries: Day 3

On Lockdown – with a Mouse!

If I thought Day 2 started strangely with a text message from the Government, Day 3 of Lockdown was about to knock my socks off. One minute I was sat chatting away to my 8-year old daughter, the next minute she was screaming “Mouse, mouse!!” as we both screamed and jumped on the couch – talk about a wake-up call.

Luckily, later on when we checked some traps we had put down when we thought we might have a little visitor a few weeks ago, there it was, large as life, ready for the husband to be a hero and release it safely into the wild. I’m still not 100% comfortable being sat in the living room on my own – just in case it had a friend!

The good run of weather has continued so after getting the usual times tables, Education City app, reading and spellings out of the way, the kids were more than happy to sunbathe in the garden. Time for a science lesson – I know they’ve been studying vertebrates and invertebrates so we made a list and they poked about the garden together looking for different bugs. It was on the list of things to do sent home by the school so she can build on this topic tomorrow by drawing and labelling a poster about her findings. Still learning but keeping it fun.

After school, a couple of parents had come up with the idea of a video call between the children in Year 3, using Zoom. It was actually really nice to hear how excited they were just to touch base with each other again. For the first 5 minutes or so all you could hear was them shouting “Hi!” to each other 🙂

Then, finished work to find out that the Prince of Wales has been diagnosed with Coronavirus – this thing really could alter the course of history now the heir to the throne is infected. Crazy times.

So what with mice, plagues and historical moments all happening at once, today had something of a biblical feel to it to say the least.

I’m looking forward to a quieter day tomorrow…!

The Covid-19 Diaries: Day 2

Limited Trips Out Only

The irony is not lost on many of us for a second, I would guess – the warmest day of the year so far here in the UK, with the toughest restrictions yet on our ability to leave our homes.

It is all in the best cause though so we will all just have to man-up, grin and bear it.

Today has been much the same as yesterday but rather than taking the dog for a walk before and after “home-school”, me and the youngest took her out this morning, with my eldest out with her now, following carefully the latest government guidance/instructions.

Similar home-school programme to yesterday too, more times tables, reading, maths and adding to our rocks and minerals topic before revisiting our spellings and rounding the school day off with some PE (aka skipping and running about the back garden whilst mummy conducted a remote assessment with a student over the phone!).

Today was easier on the home-school front as we had a bit more of a routine.

On the other hand, come lunchtime the last few days, I’ve had a blinding headache so I think it’s going to be a case of being careful not to try to do too much each day. We’re not teachers; just parents trying our best to keep our kids safe and occupied whilst minimising the ongoing effect on our children of this whole sorry situation. I always start the day with a bit of Yoga with Adriene on YouTube, even before all this, (which is something I highly recommend for anyone interested https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene) so maybe tomorrow I mix things up a bit by swapping my morning walk for an evening one to better spread my active time throughout the day.

So overall, Day 2 of Covid-19 lockdown was a bit of a non-event for us – the day did start slightly strangely though, with a text message from the government(!), which I’m fairly certain is a first here, setting out the new rules. It would all feel very 1984 if I didn’t agree with it all so strongly. Maybe if the UK creates its very own Room 101, we’ll have folk less inclined to flout these very necessary rules without good cause. I always thought I’d be more like Winston or Julia to be honest, but with the daily death toll steadily rising, I feel no shame in following the government’s advice.

More of the same for Day 3 planned but, at this point, I’m not sure there’s much point in planning anything! Let’s see what tomorrow brings…