Today I'm stepping back to look at all of the things that are going on within the village to make this lockdown bearable. We really are a lucky village to have so many residents that are willing to get stuck in. I'm not talking about the NHS staff and essential personnel such as firemen, it goes without saying that we are all so proud of our key workers and the clapping on Thursday nights demonstrates that. I'm talking about the local volunteers who have stepped up to support their neighbours in a variety of roles.

 When the coronavirus became global, I spent much of my time with my friends, working out how close we were to closing the schools. We’d compare the number of people known to be infected in England in comparison to the number in Italy.   Every time Boris Johnson did a live speech, my friends and I would watch it, just to see if schools were going to close. When he did announce it, I was talking to a few of my friends on the Xbox and we were all so happy! But now I feel like going back to school might be better (much less boring).

Three weeks (I think) into lockdown and the days are rolling altogether. Its Easter weekend and it seems just the same as every other day in the past three weeks. I am very relieved that I am able to work at home to give some structure to the day, my two daughters do not have that luxury as both worked in retail and are climbing the walls.

Like many stressed out employers Im waiting with trepidation for the HMRC online portal to become available in order that I can pay my staff their furlough money. Im sure there are many people working behind the scenes to get this up and running but it does worry me that we have so little information available about how this is going to work and who is going to answer the 'what if' questions.

I have been a remote worker for 10 years or more. I made sure my company had a 'work anywhere' culture and so when the lockdown started the household had it's fair share of technology to make keeping and building relationships without physical presence as easy as possible. This tech is now battle-hardened for both business and pleasure use. Here's what we've found.

Video Meetings

Having tried a lot of these over the years, here's a top selection of meeting software and systems:

As with many people, I'm currently supposed to be on my holiday. It's a trip I've been planning for over a year - I decided to organise a solo trip to India, a country that has always appealed to me - partly as half my family originates from Pune. But as CV-19 took off, my plane didn't. So, if I can't get to India, I've decided that India can come to me.

This essentially means that my day has consisted of;

Has anyone else noticed that their alcohol consumption has gone through the roof or is it just me?

I'm going to Sainsbury's tomorrow and I'm really excited! I haven't been anywhere except my daily walk for about 3 weeks. How quickly what we find exciting changes. Once upon a time food shopping was a tedious chore, now a treat to look forward to. Hopefully getting to choose what we will eat next rather than sorting something out from what we have in. Not that it's been that bad - I'm known for keeping a well stocked pantry and freezer and it's been good to use up some stocks and make different meals.

I find myself waking each morning and doing a mental check - do i feel well, is that a dry cough on its way, can I smell and taste, is it hard to breathe? I never considered myself a hypochondriac but this somewhat unusual situation we find ourselves in does rather lend itself to conversion. I even have an app C-19 Covid Sympton Checker Guy's & St Thomas' Biomedical centre that positively encourages me to log any symptoms.

Who would have thought six months ago that we would be apologising to people when we cross the street to stay away from them, that we would be dancing around people in Budgens and holding your breath (in more ways than one) if you have to get closer than 2 metres? We took for granted that the supermarket shelves would always be full and now we have to plan meals around what is available.