Lockdown!

Abi doing her history while Izzy relaxes having finished 

her lesson early (I think)

It's the end of week one of lockdown and we are living in a whole new era. After a weekend of lovely weather and less than acceptable behaviour from a small but significant sector of the population (ignoring the guidance to stay a safe distance away from each other and flocking to national parks and the beach in their droves), BoJo had his Churchill moment and told us in no uncertain terms that we now needed to follow the rules. Until further notice we can only leave the house for essential purposes; work that can't be done from home but can be done at a safe distance, shopping for food or medicines and limited exercise once a day. Pretty much every shop other than supermarkets, pharmacies and essential goods (including DIY which would have been good if our staff were prepared to work) has now been closed, as has everything else. The stock market has experienced another week of freefall and basically we are in this for the long haul. Ugh.

So started the first week of experimental schooling alongside me working from home whole Glenn foraged for food in shops that still haven't caught up from the panic buying of the past few weeks, While some items are back in the shops you still can't buy eggs, flour, yeast or calpol for love nor money and depending on the time of say, most major supermarkets look like they've been ram raided. Over the course of the week we've got more used to what the government means by social distancing and now the few places that remain open are operating on a one in one out basis, usually with chevrons painted onto the floor to show customers what 2m actually looks like.

There have been ups and downs this week. I've found that my workplace functions relatively well by

Izzy's PE lesson - teaching Bertie to jump.

Not sure that's on the curriculum!

video conference and I've spent pretty much the whole week in meetings this way. It's actually not been too bad. Other than Wednesday when I had a lull in the flow of work and therefore a bit of a energy slump, I've not found there has been anything I couldn't do and I even did virtual beers with the team on Thursday night before a yoga class via Zoom - technology makes all kinds of things feasible - because I certainly couldn't have managed to do both those things in person previously.

The kids have managed the school day reasonably well. Monday was hard going as the teachers were still finding their flow, but by the end the week they'd found a rhythm of sorts and it gave enough structure to get them motivated while not overwhelming them. I did wonder that they still insisted on homework in some subjects, but I suspect that will even out over time. This is the last week of term so will be interesting to see whether they maintain the pace, but hopefully we will see a bit more of the interactive classes to get them through. I gave up completely after day 1 on trying to get them to put their phones away while working - at least that way they could speak to their friends as they went along - it's hard at their age not to be able to have that social contact.

The thing I've noticed most is that with us all in the house together, no pressures to go anywhere and neither Glenn or I rushing off to the next thing, there is a sense of calm that maybe isn't there normally. Abi doesn't seem to hate me so much in the mornings She even speaks to me) and, other than Glenn who is fed up of having us in his space, we don't seem to have as much arguing between the two girls, or in fact anyone else.

We have followed the instructions to stay away from anyone else and keep to ourselves to the letter. I am walking Bertie twice a day but at times when there are very few others around, and other than that haven't gone anywhere. The kids have walked to the shop and come for walks with me, but again other than that have stayed at home. Glenn has been to the supermarket and ridden, but no more. We are determined to do what we can to support the efforts not to overwhelm the NHS. And its will take all of us to do our bit. This evening the death toll in the UK is over 1,200 and we are nowhere near the peak. The estimates are that we will see restrictions for 6 months. I just wish I'd sorted out a few pre-apocalyptic essentials, including a haircut and a fresh supply of jigsaws!

A master of social distancing - happy with his lawn mower and tea!