Full Diary

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.

You know things have gone from bad to worse when the main task getting you out of bed in the morning is cleaning. I've written myself a long list of all the jobs that I should have done that I've been putting off. I've already cleaned / smeared all the windows inside and out (I could definitely see through them better before I started - but on the plus side, I can now do my aerobics classes with the curtains open and without fear of being spotted by the neighbours).

These are desperate times but I never imagined that I would find myself breaking Government guidelines! I think I can get myself off on a technicality, but here's how easy it is to slip into the role of 'rebel' when you are in a lockdown.

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 70^th birthday celebrations to go without a hitch.. we had friends from abroad, and my sister flying over as a surprise.