I have decided to write a weekly diary of our time through the Coronavirus pandemic. To keep for the future. It’s such an unprecedented time and full of so many mixed feelings and events we have never encountered before it is hard to process it all.
14th July
A hospital trip for my youngest son today due a problem with his eyes. We were informed before going, only one parent and no siblings were allowed to attend and I also had to wear a face mask. The hospital car park was much quieter than usual and the whole hospital had been transformed into a one way system.
The children’s waiting area had been stripped of all toys, for hygiene reasons. There was just a TV playing cbeebies. I decided to take Bo in in his pram to keep him entertained and had some food with me as it was his lunchtime and that worked well. The hospital has really slick systems and our temperature was checked with a scan of the forehead before we were allowed into the waiting area.
15th July
Back to drinks with my friends in the garden after a two week break due to be being poorly. So good, it wasn’t as warm this week and a tad drizzly, but we all sat with hoodies on and really didn’t care. It was so nice to be out and chatting and doing something normal. To share the highs and lows of lockdown with people who are experiencing the same.
16th July
Getting very close to the end of term now. The children put together presentations for their new teachers telling them all about themselves. This is the first year they haven’t had the chance to meet their new teachers before the end of term. Although Aria will be having the same teacher which is great. The teachers tried to do a meet and greet online, but it didn’t quite work.
Things are going to be a bit different when they go back, so there are some things for them to get used to. No mixing between years, so different food hall time and playground time. We’re waiting to hear more, I’m expecting staggered start and finish. Only one parent is supposed to do the school runs and it is recommended to wear face masks. I will deal with it all closer to September!
17th July
End of school term! It feels a tad flat, we don’t have the same excitement as normal. I imagine because they have been home so long already. I have been trying to work out what we can do in the summer holidays, how to manage socialising which my children do desperately need with social distancing that is still required. We have tickets booked for Chiltern Open Air Museum next week and hoping to do a socially distanced play with friends at the park. Our local libraries starting to open now, so I am hoping we will be able to get some new books too.
18th July
Aria and I ventured out today for our first trip to the shopping centre since lockdown began. It was a little strange, there was hand sanitiser stations located everywhere, queues into some of the shops due to limits. You also had to remember not to pick things up when browsing which didn’t feel very intuitive.
I was really surprised too how few people were wearing face masks too. I would say less than 20%. The law doesn’t change until the 24th, but I still thought I would see a higher percentage. However, I went to try and buy some more facemasks and lots of places had sold out and I struggled to get hold of some, so I guess that was positive.
It was really nice to have a normal mother and daughter day out in the shops and buy a few bits. I do miss the normal world and after today it felt like we’re starting to get a bit of it back.
20th July
The first day of the summer holidays. As I said above, I have been really debating how to do this and manage this. Today we cycled to the park for a play with friends and a socially distanced picnic. The weather was lovely and the children were so happy. We had such a nice time and it really felt like a touch of normality. It makes me feel optimistic for the summer holidays and being able to see friends and have days out in hopefully a safe way. We came home and the children were shattered. They spent the whole time pretty much running about and cycling and I think with lockdown it’s probably the most amount of exercise they have had in a long time. So they spent the afternoon watching a film. It was a great day and I didn’t miss home schooling even a tiny bit!