Lock Down 2020

I imagine Open Diary has been quite busy these last few weeks, as we navigate such a different way of life at the moment. I shall try not to get political with my ramblings, I often go off on a tangent- so will endeavour to steer past that particular divergence on here.

I hate to say it, but I had forgotten about my Open Diary -again! It wasn’t deliberate, it’s just one of those things. I find life quite busy with two children and since the lock down I have my eldest son at home with me again. I also have my husband at home part of the week, he should technically be able to work from home- but often times his job means he gets called in for things that can’t be done here.

It is such a strange time at the moment, I feel guilty for saying this, but I am really appreciative of the extra time with my family…of course I am sad about the situation for so many families who are facing very difficult times due to problems with employment and financial stability, not to mention those who are working in stressful environments and of course those families who have paid a very heavy price- but in terms of what it means for my little family of 4, we are spending more quality time together. I thought we were pretty rich in that aspect of our lives but I realise just how much more I appreciate it and want to make more of it. Life is so short, it’s so precious and it can all change so fast- there is nothing anyone could or can do about that. I don’t feel, it’s predetermined exactly but I do realise we have a finite time here and so intend to try and make the best of it. This strange set of circumstances has emphasised just how fortunate I am to have the life I do. Yes, like many people we have had to cancel our much longed for family holiday and I feel sad that I can’t see my Mam and sister,  but things are otherwise relatively OK for us.

We don’t live in a big fancy place but we have a comfortable little house and a wee garden for our boys to play in. The garden might be wee, but it has been greatly used these last few weeks. It has been a lovely sunny April and while some people have gotten cross that the sun has decided to shine when we can’t go anywhere, we have made the most of our time outside the house. My eldest son and I have planted some things (some not very successful!) we have spruced up the garden and my husband and I built a little swing for our smallest boy. We have played cars and football, we filled up the sandpit where we have made castles, volcanoes and roads amongst many other things. We have drawn with chalks and painted pictures, my son has drawn a lovely rainbow which has pride of place in our front window…all sorts of things. We have tried to eat out in the garden and enjoyed feeling the sun on our faces and the sounds of birds singing. On our allotted walks we have tried various different routes round the neighbourhood and while the smallest one often uses this as an opportune time to nap, his brother and I notice different flowers (which Daddy finds out the names of on a clever little app on his phone!) and do things like, keep tally of different coloured cars we pass and that sort of thing.

I am trying keep up various educational activities with our eldest son but I am quite relaxed about it, I am not a teacher and nor do I pretend to be! I log into his school things online and we have done various tasks from that but I am not too strict. I am trying to do some things this week that I think we might need to persevere a bit with, like written work but he enjoys things like maths and science, geography etc. he has even started doing some basic coding stuff. He is a bright button and sometimes I need to remember that he is only 6 -so I don’t want to stamp out his enthusiasm by overwhelming him with too much. We even do PE together on weekday mornings with Joe Wicks. My boy doesn’t enjoy it very much but once we get going he is OK. I do my best to hide the fact I am not a natural lover of PE and feel if I show willing, it helps him along a bit. He does enjoy yoga so we have done some of that too.

We are all just getting used to this new normal and I think we need prepare that this might be the way of things to go for a while yet. We are all saddened about cancelled holidays, not being able to go to pubs or out to dinner, just coming to terms with it all and accepting that various events we are so used to just won’t be happening for a while. But there are interesting little highlights in the dark, spending time with our closest loved ones and keeping in regular contact with those we cannot go to see. We have been trying to help local businesses a little by using their delivery options (the hotels and restaurants are doing delivery services and using their waiting staff as drivers to try and keep them employed etc). One surprising event we enjoyed was watching the virtual Grand National horse race! Which I think my son hoped would be a weekly event and I wished I had put some money on! We play games and quizzes together including Jimmy Carrs Quiz on YouTube. We go out each Thursday at 8 and clap for the NHS and other key workers who I think and hope people have found a new respect for, a respect that perhaps had been lost along the way for some.

To be honest there are a lot of things I thought I would have time for during the lock down; trying to decorate the house, brush up my language skills and my guitar/various other instruments I have not found time for in years but there just isn’t the time! I was hoping my son would at least want to learn sign language with me, but these things just haven’t happened yet. I have tried to widen our culinary horizons in keeping with my eldest son’s interest in different parts of the world so we have in the last week eaten, Italian Gnocchi, Spanish Paella, French Beef Bourginon, German Onion and Bacon cake … so I intend to keep up the culinary journey around the globe if I can. I find it interesting, it’s educational but in a gentle way. Besides I like cooking and it’s good to keep things varied.

Anyway, I am waffling (ooh Belgian Waffles! Maybe next week 😊) and need to go and rustle up something for dinner. Todays walk was a brisk affair as it was a little rainy when we set out but it soon cleared away and we were able to enjoy an extra meander round the streets, but other than that today has been a pretty quiet affair, I called my Mam and sister, spoke to my father in law, emailed some friends… before you know it the day has sped by. So I shall try and write more in the coming weeks, keep a note of life in these strange days, but I thought I better get something written down before they throw me out of here again! Take care folks x