In a world that hasn’t been havoc wreaked by COVID-19, I go to work. Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm I am an administrator for a mining and environmental consultancy, and my time is not my own.
But here we are in a world that has been completely upended by a highly contagious virus, the UK is on lock down, I find myself off work as a fully paid up member of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (well an 80% paid up member anyway) and my time is completely my own.
Luckily, this week England seems to have been blessed with sunshine and cloudless skies, and it is easy to imagine basking in the spring warmth and making a sizeable dent in a long list of books that need reading. But this is far from a holiday…there are rules:
No socialising with anyone not in your household (for me, this is my mum);
Only leaving the house once a day for exercise/dog walking; and
Infrequent supermarket trips where supplies are few and far between thanks to stockpiling panic buyers.
Not to mention that these are emotionally and financially worrying times. Then add in the stress and frustration of having to cancel plans, haggle for travel refunds from operators that are continually unreachable and the uncertainty of how long this will actually last.
So, although I don’t tick all the boxes of the “introvert” definition, I definitely lean heavily in that direction. I began to wonder, as a person who very much enjoys their own company and being alone, will I find it hard to live in quarantine conditions for the foreseeable future or will it be a loners dream? Of course I won’t be completely alone all the time, my mum is also off work, but will her continuous presence prove to be pleasant or too much?
I’ve seen many people on social media float the idea of starting a diary, a simple way to record the passing time and feelings whilst in isolation and I thought I would start something similar and share. So, here goes…
Day 1:
Last night I was quite looking forward to the prospect of the first furlough lie-in, but my body had other ideas.
At 8:10am, admittedly 30 minutes later than a usual Wednesday morning, I was wide awake. After the normal ablutions, I had a cup of tea with mum before she got ready for a supermarket run. I took a toasted bagel back to bed and watched the “This is Us” season 4 finale followed by washing up last nights dishes.
Upon mums return, we partook in a celebratory dance at the sheer indulgence of managing to find enough food in the barren supermarket to fill not 1, not 2, but 4 bags for life! Joy comes in mysterious ways these days, and the completion of almost a weekly shop is, in my opinion, just cause.
The afternoon began with clearing out and cleaning the refrigerator and cupboards. Getting rid of jars filled with dubious condiments more than likely still lingering on from Christmas. After I had completed filling the cupboard, in “Sleeping with the Enemy” style, with our precious cargo, we had lunch in the garden before enjoying 4 hours of uninterrupted sunshine and reading.
At 5pm there was a shower, a dog walk and an accidental call on the hottest new app to come to isolation, ‘House Party’.
Sitting on the sofa discussing what to have for dinner with mum (having meal options thanks to the supermarket swag is the highlight of the day) I heard a voice. I hear you asking, has she gone mad already? Well no, not quite.
The voice was saying ‘Hello…hello?’ In a rather distinct and familiar Bristolian accent. When I looked down into my lap and there was my friend, Kate, staring up at me from my phone. Neither of us were sure who initiated this video call but much hilarity ensued with chatter of quarantine roots, hairy legs and mono brows. Of course the real disaster in the midst of this global pandemic is the closure of salons and the cancellations of hair and beauty appointments…just keeping it real folks!
The afternoons antics were followed by a sedate dinner and a film thanks to the wonders of Netflix. All in all it was a fairly chilled but great first day. My face had that warm after sun/outdoors tingling (in other words - burnt), I was pleasantly tired by 11:30pm, and I went to bed again hoping for a lie-in and a slightly later start to Day 2.
References:
Film - Kissing Booth (Netflix)
Book - The Binding by Bridget Collins
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