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.
4th August
A cycle ride and a trip to the park today and a play date with one of Logan’s school friends in the park. Again I was struck by how hard social distancing is for children, and all people as it’s so against human nature. Bo went a bit too fast and fell going down the slide and started crying. I was watching him and just couldn’t get to him quick enough. Before I could get there another Mum had got there and scooped him up. I get it, I really do, it’s against everything in our instincts to stand there and watch a child cry, but it made me wince a bit too and I hate that. I hate that this pandemic has made me think that.
5th August
Today I did some filming in a local park about the pandemic, watch this space to find out more. I can’t say anymore at the moment. Filming is definitely a step outside of my comfort zone, but it is good to push myself and I think that it went well. I hope that it helps others too.
6th August
Had a lovely trip out to Paradise Wildlife Park today, I met my parents and my niece and nephew for a day out. Every summer holidays my parents take the children and their cousins for a big day out, and this was their trip this year. It was great to be able to do it as we weren’t sure we would be able to this year.
It was lots of fun, but I did find the lack of social distancing tricky. I think many people think the threat and the pandemic is over. We would queue to wait our turn to see an animal and people would just barge through and get really close. The play park part was horrendous and made me gasp, so busy and children everywhere. I felt mean telling me children they couldn’t play in there, but it didn’t feel right at all.
We did have a nice time, don’t get me wrong, but there were several times we made a conscious decision to step away from areas and all of the people.
7th August
A day out catching up on work and bits today. But in the evening I had my weekly catch up with my Mum friends. This week was a little bit different as one of the Mums has a projector in the garden. It was very hot as we are in the middle of a heat wave. So we all sat in the garden with our drinks and watched Hamilton on Disney+ it was fab.
8th August
Saturday was lovely, we haven’t seen my in-laws since early March due to the pandemic and my mother-in-law being shielded. Today they came to visit and I ordered afternoon tea which we all sat in the garden and ate. It was lovely to see them, we chatted and caught up the children were so excited too. As we haven’t seen them since my birthday my mother-in-law turned up with the most amazing gift of a quilt she has made for our bed. It is made up of bookcases with colourful books on. There is a cat sat on one shelf and on some of the shelves important dates and the names of all of the pets we have owned have been embroidered. It is absolutely stunning and such an incredibly thoughtful gift, I am so so touched and just love it.
Sadly at the end of it our dog ended up with a swollen paw (twice the size of the other) and had to be taken to the vets. After a series of tests and an x-ray, the vet said she has an infection. She is now on a course of antibiotics. Selfishly, I am hoping she is recovered enough for us to go on holiday at the end of the week. We shall have to see how things go.
9th August
We went out for an adventure and a blog review (gifted) today. Our local fair Carters, who we reviewed last year and loved, cannot open at the moment. So they are offering private sessions on the dodgems. Good for social distancing. We met up with my sister and her children and had such a blast. I’d definitely recommend it.
10th August
The heat continues today. I’m not a fan of the 30s, mid 20s is a much nicer temperature for me. I’m also aware again of the news and for most of this week I have been kept busy with the children and generally having a nice time so haven’t worried about it too much.
New infections in the UK went to over 1000 again yesterday. This is the most since mid June, so is really not good. There is also lots of talk about school safety too. Is it safe to open, isn’t it. I am preparing for the children to go back to school and buying all the things that they will need – uniform, shoes etc. They really need to go back emotionally, but I don’t want them to go back if it means we will all get sick. I think it really is just a case of wait and see.
For now, I’m getting work organised before we get away, the children are hiding from the heat and watching a Disney film. I’m taking a short break from my weekly updates while we’re away, but will be back in the first week of September. Keep safe everyone and let’s hope the spike in new infection rates is a blip.