When I first heard about Corona Virus on the news, I thought it all sounded a bit exaggerated. Then it started being news around the world, I still thought all the measures were a bit extreme, and expected my Mum’s 70th birthday celebrations to go without a hitch.. we had friends from abroad, and my sister flying over as a surprise. Obviously, this was wishful thinking as by the time it came around, flights were limited, and people were being strongly discouraged from having large social gatherings. Oddly, while the 30-50 year olds were keen to stick to the rules, the 65 + year olds were more reluctant and thought it was ridiculous to be stopping anything. My Mum was still playing Golf and Tennis, my parents were also happy to meet up for walks in various National Trust venues (who opened their gates to all, for free). My husband quite rightly (although I thought he was being over the top at the time), said there was no way we’d be meeting them. My Mum, although not quite 70, has a throat condition and my Dad is a Diabetic.
About 3 months ago, my husband bought a job lot of hand gel. At the time I thought he was ridiculous and was just feeding his OCD.. which was possibly true, BUT it all came into it’s own about a month ago when hand gel had sold out everywhere (along with rice, pasta, flour and toilet rolls – my God, why did so many people over buy toilet roll??).. I say that, but when my husband was asked what he’d like for being extra helpful at work, he requested loo roll. He could have got biscuits.
So, the rumours started about schools possibly closing shortly. One of my children was very excited at the prospect – he’s eating his words now. Hubby was still going into work for a week or so at the beginning, but he’s now working from home for the duration. He has been helpful, as the rules changed on what we could do (or not), he managed to give me a daily break from the kids.
Here we are today, week 3 of being at home, all my initial plans to set the children off with their school work, (so I could work too).. then have a lovely dog walk, followed by board games, jigsaws and all round family fun have well and truly vanished. I now eat chocolate behind the previously despised massive column in my kitchen (I have discovered that if I position myself correctly, they can come into the kitchen, not see me, then leave and carry on ‘MUMing’ around the house). The days are a bit of a blur. I’m so thankful for my daughter’s days of the week underpants – they’re the only thing keeping us on track.. Thank God for the Easter holidays… at least there isn’t schoolwork (although, we are still playing catch up). Teachers are remarkable, wonderful creatures – Apart from the amazing NHS, refuse collectors, supermarket workers (including delivery drivers/shelf stackers), police, firemen and all key workers, the teachers surely must be the most unappreciated people ever. I saw a post that said all teachers deserve a massive pay increase, and a holiday in the Maldives. Yes.
We love going out and clapping the NHS and Key Workers on a Thursday evening. It’s truly emotional and lovely to see friends and neighbours joining in supporting such a wonderful and amazing task force. I have seen other posts about applauding Boris Johnson – to lift his spirits (he’s currently in intensive care with COVID-19)…. There won’t be any clapping here. I hope he does get better, but I hope everyone gets better. This whole situation is horrid …. Oh, and Donald Trump is telling people they can wear masks, but he won’t. He’s such an idiot, I can’t work out how such a dangerous numpty is still in power.
Back to the clapping – I also read something about clapping for the kids who are coping so well. NO. The kids are doing ok, yes, they’re bored, and I feel very sorry for those at Uni or who were due to take A ‘Levels/GCSEs, it’s an awful situation. However, apart from the key workers, the only additional people who need motivating at the moment are the verging on alcoholic Mums, trying to work while homeschooling and entertaining their kids… of course, I’m biased. Yes, I know there may be some Dads too….
The highlight of yesterday was agreeing, out of desperation, to a game of hide and seek. I hope the neighbours didn’t see me commando crawling around the cars in a bid to avoid detection, they would be mentally scarred for life.. I can now only wear in leggings, and to quote Victoria Wood, it’s like squeezing toothpaste back into the tube. On a more positive note, we discovered that we could get up in the loft, pull the ladder up and lock it. The perfect place to sit and have a quiet uninterrupted bottle of wine… through a straw….
So, while I wait to see what the next few weeks have in store, I will consider getting dressed. I may tell the kids to get out of their PJ’s, and try to be enthusiastic about ‘Daddy’s bootcamp’ at 11.30. Maybe we should just go back to Joe Wicks….
Me x
