Today was my first day of lockdown after finishing work yesterday. It was also the second night of virtually no sleep, this has now become real for me. It wasn’t that I was under-estimating the horror of this virus and the utter destruction it is wreaking on the world, but suddenly the fear crept inside my head and heart and this is keeping me awake at night. But I’m lucky, as far as I know I don’t have the virus, I’m not a key-worker so I don’t have to put myself in harm’s way. I can only imagine what strength of will it takes to get up each morning and throw yourself into the thick of it and the fears that these inspiring people must be experiencing. So, I threw my big girl’s pants on and got on with my day.
A quick phone call to my mum identified that she and Dad wanted a few items from the shops and I needed a few items too, so I set off on my motorbike and rode to Tesco’s Osterley down fairly empty roads. There was no limiting of the amount of people allowed in the store, they had set up a table with disposable cloths and a spray to wipe down your trolley before entering should you want to. I considered it, but the people who were waiting to wipe theirs seemed to have no concept of social distancing so I walked on by. Inside the shop, Tesco have set out spacing for the queues at the check outs and had a security guard managing it. Nice one Tesco’s. However, the shoppers still have no concept of giving each other space whilst shopping as people congregated in some aisles and someone squeezed in around me to grab an item from the shelf. It took all my willpower not to say something.
Placing the bag down on my mum and dad’s doorstep, I knocked on the door and retreated to behind the gate. It was lovely to see my parents, even if it was from a distance and I couldn’t hug or kiss them, but their well-being means more than anything else.
Once home, I pottered around the house and garden doing bits and pieces. I have a list longer than my arm of things I want to do and suddenly I have the time to do them. As I said, I’m one of the lucky ones. The sun was shining and it seemed the perfect opportunity to wash my motorbike clothing and to weed the garden (a small amount – I have time!).
One of the things I’ve wanted to do for ages is get all my digital photos onto a portable hard-drive so was able to do some of that, it will take a long time to do but I made a good start today.
My plan was to start eating healthily again today and exercise as I went off the rails at the beginning of March, that didn’t happen. Oh well, there is time.
One of the key things I want to achieve during this time is to spend time writing my books and am excited at the prospect of being able to find time to do something I love and which calms my brain. I didn’t start today, but have plans for tomorrow.
Keep safe everyone, stay inside if you can and don’t risk the lives of your loved ones. Big shout out to all the key-workers, you know who you are.
I’ll check back in tomorrow for the next instalment.
Maria Gibbs 