Covid-19 lockdown: Day 2

Sunday 15 March 2020. On the face of it nothing is different. It’s a Sunday and not much happens on a Sunday.

But we were both feeling a bit glum today. The specifics of the lockdown are starting to emerge. It’s ok to walk your dog, but it’s not ok to go for a run. There are videos and pictures circulating of the police reprimanding people for being out on their bikes or out running, even though the official lockdown doesn’t start until tomorrow. It is difficult to get our heads round the fact that we really are housebound other than for essentials.

The children are fine. They’re enjoying things that they normally enjoy – playing, colouring etc.

And at least we have a garden. A number of families will be housebound in flats with no garden or even terraces onto which to escape.

We made our schedule for the week today. We’re going to try to keep as much of a routine as possible mainly because we both have to work from home whilst also keeping the children out of trouble. The routine we’ve come up with more or less mirrors the schedule that the children have at school – some learning activities, some physical activities, time for snacks & lunch and some creative activities.

What else did we do today? I cooked… leek & potato soup, cheese scones, granola, lemon curd, slow cooker ribs. Yum. Although now we’ve run out of butter, we’re low on eggs, flour & onions! We played at ‘Doctors’, the children made a home out of a massive cardboard box we have lying around and we played ‘hide the thimble’. The littlest member of our family likes to tell us where she’s hiding it in advance though!

And outside of our home, there was one particularly uplifting event. At 8pm we stuck our heads out the window to hear people in the neighbourhood applauding in unison from their terraces and open windows. Applauding to say thank you to everyone working in the medical profession during this situation.