Lockdown Life 2020

When the clock struck midnight and we bid adieu to 2019, the second decade in the new Millennium and we began life in the roaring twenties, no one could have predicted how much our lives were going to change.   I can vividly remember driving along the M62 early in January, just before The Chinese New Year celebrations began in China, hearing about how the area around Wuhan was being locked down.  I remember thinking how sad and scary it must be to have your lives put on hold because of a virus.  A few days later I began to see posters around our school and other public areas asking people who had arrived from China to see their doctors if they displayed symptoms of a Corona Virus called COVID 19.  News outlets begun to talk about it more, there were cases in Italy, Spain, Germany.  It was getting more real, it was getting closer to home.  Then they shut down Italy, we watched for weeks as the health care system struggled to cope.  We were seeing the best in society as everyone pulled together to help and look after each other.   Then some posh knob went skiing in Austria, didn’t wash his hands and brought COVID back to the UK.  We had seen the drastic measures countries all around the world had taken to limit and control the spread, we had been taking notes right?  Nope.  We were told to cover our mouths when we coughed and sneezed and to sing Happy Birthday while we washed our hands.  As time went by I had less and less children in until the week before Mother’s Day, I had only three children.  It was scary, the lack of decisions by all (who had elected this government?)  and the rumour mill running wild didn’t help.  We didn’t know what was happening until the Monday when we went into lockdown.  As the bizarre weeks progressed I have tried to document our “new normal”.  Sometimes it has been hard, particularly when nothing has happened but this is just a taste of our Life in Lockdown 2020. 

History Repeats itself

History repeats itself. Came across this poem written in 1869, reprinted during 1919 Pandemic.

This is Timeless....

It was written in 1869 by Kathleen O’Mara:

And people stayed at home

And read books

And listened

And they rested

And did exercises

And made art and played

And learned new ways of being

And stopped and listened

More deeply

Someone meditated, someone prayed

Someone met their shadow

And people began to think differently

And people healed.

And in the absence of people who

Lived in ignorant ways

Dangerous, meaningless and heartless,

The earth also began to heal

And when the danger ended and

People found themselves

They grieved for the dead

And made new choices

And dreamed of new visions

And created new ways of living

And completely healed the earth

Just as they were healed.

Week One

Trying to get into a routine, this is my proposed new routine let’s see how long I will keep this up.

Social distancing Week 1

7am - Wake Up CM&SM

• Morning ablutions 
• Stretch
• Make bed
• Eat breakfast 
• Get dressed

8am - Work from home CM

• Plan long term/summer term
• Assessment 
• Reports
• Tapestry
• Website update✔️
• 10.00 tea and pee break

11.30am - Get Fresh air CM

• Go for a walk 
• Do something in the garden ✔️
• Sunbathe 
• Read on the bench/hammock

12pm - Lunch time CM & SM

• Salad/soup/sandwich/leftover
• Fruit
• Biscuit
• Crisps 
• Juice 

1-1.30pm - Something for the soul CM

• Meditate
• Colouring in book ✔️ 
• Audiobook
• Podcast 

1.30-2.00pm - Something for the body CM & SM

• Yoga✔️
• HIIT
• C25K

2.00-3.00pm  - Something for the house CM & SM

• Bathrooms (toilet, bath, shower, sink, floor)
• Bedrooms (Hoover, laundry, declutter, dust, wardrobes)
• Kitchen (fridge, counters, sink, oven, microwave, floor)
• Living room (declutter, dust, Hoover, windowsill, curtains)
• General tidy (hallway, guest rooms, outside)✔️

3.00-4.00pm  - Something for the heart CM

• Bake
• Paint
• Photo books ✔️
• Cook
• Music
• Read

4.00-6.00pm  - Chillax CM & SM

• Netflix/movies
• Computer games ✔️
• Board games
• Social media 

6.00-7.00pm - Dinnertime

Week 1 🍲

• Take away 
• Creamy pork
• Chicken Drumsticks
• Curry veg and couscous
• Bratwurst, Sauerkraut, Reibekuchen 
• Lasagna
• Sausages and mash

9.00-10.00pm - Winding down CM & SM

• Shower
• Journal
• Read
• Bed by 10.00pm

Week Two

Trying to make our way through this weirdness that is  now quickly becoming our new normal, finding it quite tricky but we’ll get there.  We’ve had our ups and downs but GO and I both quite resilient and are enjoying being together.  He will never admit it but, even though he doesn’t stick to it, I think he likes my little routines.  I found the beginning of the week tricky as I wasn’t scheduled to work and found the lack of structure difficult.  

On top of that the clocks went forward and yes as everyone put it; “Remember the clocks have gone forward, you don’t want to be late for your appointment with the sofa.”  I found the time change trickier than usual, I don’t know why but I struggled to sleep and to get up at a decent hour.   

Hopefully this will improve when I go back to working from home. My pattern is to get up at half six, have breakfast and work through until lunchtime.  This is roughly five hours (similar to  9.00-3.30, which is 5.5hours) give or take a few minutes depending on the tasks I’m completing.  I haven’t really been set anything specific but I upload activities to the website, complete some “Hays” training (GDPR, First Aid Refresher) and update my online assessments, we have a virtual staff meeting every Wednesday which is interesting and a bit of an update.  It’s nice to see everybody, although once it begins we only see the Principal.

I have begun to go for my daily constitutional, generally I walk a loop around our estate about eight times and this tor’s up to about 1.5 miles.  It’s boring but I feel so much safer than when we walked to the park last week.  On the days I don’t walk I complete either a yoga or HIIT workout, I feel that I’m getting more consistent exercise that I would if I were at work. 

Week Three

We are getting into the swing of this.  I find "working" weeks easier as I have a reason to get up.  We have made physical activity a priority.  We have a few "safe"'walks that can add up to 2 miles to our daily mileage and have  discovered 80's workout videos online.

  

Week Four

Our rota has been split into “in school”, “working from home” and “on standby” as I am being shielded due to my asthma, although I still have no letter from the NHS, I work from home for two weeks and then have a holiday.  I like the lie in but apart from that find the week quite tiresome.

We made a start on “tarting” up the kitchen and GO was so inspired he decided to sort out the garden.  It’s a work in progress but it’s looking good.

We celebrated and donated to the wonderful Captain Tom who has raised millions of ponds for the NHS by walking laps of his garden.

My honey seeds are beginning to bloom.

Spring has sprung and the door looks very welcoming.

I treated myself to some very pretty little Easter treats. Yummy.

Week Five 

The weather has been glorious (this may be our summer) It’s been a work week for me so I have spent every morning glued to a laptop, planning, training, sorting and got the phone call to say where I will be next year.  Obviously I wanted to move on but in this strange time, I will admit, I’m scared.  I don’t know how to go about applying for a new job, in this socially distancing era, so I’m sticking with the devil I know, all be it in a year group I’ve never taught. So with that in mind I will be spending an awful lot of my time research and reading about how to teach in Nursery.  Wish me luck. 

I set the hammock up for myself, while my back was turned he hopped in, I’m not complaining I love to see him relaxing it has only taken a year for him to feel comfortable to try it out, maybe we will need to buy a second one so we don’t have to share.

The garden is a work in progress, we need some new so that we can plant flowers, last year I was given a “honey mix” of seed to attract butterflies and bees.  I wasn’t hopeful but here are the first few flowers, I take no credit it all goes to Mother Nature.  At least I know things will/do grow in this garden.

During our daily stroll we have continued to explore our local park each time we discover something new, this time it was this lovely little babbling brook.  We also caught glimpses of Spring time Bluebells.

We got our first delivery from Butler’s Larder, it was great to have fresh fruit, veg and little goodies delivered to our door, it’s the little things that impress, like the Stay Safe message.

And how was your week?

Week Six

We tiled the back of the cupboard, the kitchen continues to take shape.

We baked and cooked and tried to use up the old before using the new.

I took another Freddie’s Flowers delivery but these flower from two weeks ago we still looking fresh.

We enjoyed a ripple or two while finishing the Marvel series.

The flowers we planted last year came back with a vengeance and looked beautiful.

Week Seven

Trying to work out how to go for a walk and still be able to socially distanced from the rest of society.

Week Eight

This is the week that we were invited to have a Covid19 test, we explored the moors and discovered a hidden valley.  After the government’s announcement that schools (N, Rec, Y1 and Y6) would be opening June 1st 2020, I called my GO to find why I hadn’t received a shielding letter.  It turns out that I am not asthmatic enough (no hospital admissions and not enough prescriptions) and will need to return to school.  While this has freaked me out, as I am still asthmatic.  I am looking forward to returning to school but I need more information and do not think N, R, Y1 are the best years groups to begin with.  It has nothing to do with the children’s welfare or their future chances and everything to do with restating the economy.  We shall see what will happen in the days to come.  

I cocked up a bit on the deliveries this week and we ended up with three boxes of salad and vegetables, GO has taken charge and has said will use everything.  He has begun with chicken and bacon salad, it was like a personal salad bar and it was yummy.

Ad the winner is........

Week Nine

Week 9 of lockdown and we had things to do, people to see, I was back on the in school rota and things began to feel a bit more normal.

While dropping the car off for its service we were able to pick up a Tim Horton’s and it was yummy.  We over indulged a bit but after weeks of lockdown it was worth it.

I got a nice little surprise in the mail, although it was snapped into little pieces it didn’t take long to repair.

I made the most of the sunshine, who knows how long it will last?

The drunk oven arrived and it is lovely.  So clean and efficient, now I really need to buy some new pots and pans.

We had fund with the dandelions as we clapped for carers.

Testing out the new oven with a Swedish Apple Cake. 

        Week Ten

We started to take tentative steps out of the house.  Yes, it was to a garden centre but it was out.  We went for a walk along the canal and GO got a very interesting phone call.

We finally made it to the holidays.  For the first time since March 23rd I'm not working at home or at school.  I don't really have plans I just want to relax.  It has been the strangest year of my career, so far.  Academic year 2019/2020 is officially over.