This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
Could this be the last of my diaries as Lockdown Week 12 draws to a close? Read on as you will find out why this is not the case as OH (Other Half) and I are about to enter two weeks of complete isolation.
However for everyone else Boris has been blowing some bubbles – single dwellers are allowed in a bubble with one other family. This has made many a grandparent very happy but choose carefully I say, because I can foresee big problems if you choose one set of grandchildren over another. I feel sorry for the grandparents that are not single but maybe there will be a Boris bubble for them next week.
Meanwhile the shops are opening on Monday. For my own age group I am not sure how much of a welcome thing that is. I have survived so far on supermarket deliveries, Amazon and other online shops so why would I now go out to queue endlessly in the high street. Shopping as a browser is no longer a pastime. When asked by a shop assistant if they can help you, I think the words ‘Just looking’ won’t cut the mustard. They want customers with purchasing potential not the browsers. Don’t worry I am kickstarting the economy by exercising my purchasing power online.
In my own family eldest daughter visited on a rainy day so she sat outside in the drizzle whilst we sat inside with the window open. Not ideal and if I was single she could come and stay on Saturday but that would exclude some of my other children. Youngest son is living with us now as he has had Covid-19 and has a certificate to prove it so he moved home. Not sure if that is allowed but it is our interpretation of the guidelines. Plus, with husband incapacitated, he has been able to help with all those outdoor jobs.
I feel all of these new social ‘bubbles’ are going to be very testing of friendships. Social distancing and queueing comes naturally to the British. However this whole period of lockdown has been the cruellest of times. People have had to spend weeks indoors, unable to enjoy the sunniest spring for years. And now we are being slowly released back into the world and the sun has disappeared.
I had my first non-Zoom Yoga class outside, socially distancing, and it was fun – all the banter was back and whilst Maddy, our teacher, cannot physically adjust our positions, she was able to watch and verbally correct us. The sun came out so our last Savasana was pure bliss as we soaked up the warmth.
On re-entering the house, feeling fully charged my OH said the hospital had called and his long overdue back op was pencilled in for about two weeks time. No exact date given but he was top of his surgeon’s list. To be fair his op was meant to be 3 months ago but lockdown had ended that and after 12 weeks of increasing pain he was keen to get under the surgeon’s knife. However the bad news was he needed to now go into complete isolation for two weeks, then be tested for Covid-19 and if all clear the op was on. His isolation means that I too have to isolate, so no yoga in the garden, coffee with girlfriends, dog walks, shopping in real shops etc. All of my social bubbles have been popped 😢
So as I finish Lockdown week 12 I begin again but it is all worthwhile if the end result is that my OH is back walking, sleeping, and smiling again!
For more Lockdown diary posts click HERE