I am recording diary entries to share how we are coping and spending our time at home. I may not write every day, but hope to do this quite frequently.
First of all, in my Pollyanna way, I have to count our blessings, and we have those in plenty:
There are three of us in the household so we have human company and people to laugh and be sad with. We can play games together and share our highs and lows. Let’s not forget that Tigger is part of our family, and Tibbs, who lives next door, would like to feel he is part of the family too!
Paul and I are still in gainful employment and being paid. I am a school librarian and can work remotely as well as being required to go into school to support vulnerable students. Paul is self-employed and can organise conference calls and remote working. He is based at home anyway, so it is not a big change for him. Jess is being treated very fairly by the owners of the pub where she works.
We have a big garden for exercising and never-ending gardening projects. We are also on the edge of woods, fields and National Trust land. We can exercise and walk with no fear of meeting too many people.
We have a huge network of friends and family with whom we can keep in touch by phone, e-mail and social media. I run an amazing facebook group called Archers Chit-Chat which is just the best support network ever!
We are healthy with no underlying health issues. We have always preferred eating at home and cooking from scratch to eating out.
We live in a rather remote location with very few neighbours. It is quirky and delightful and makes self-isolation easier!
I shall actually have to maintain social interaction because of working in a school. I feel privileged to be working in such an important sector and to make a difference to the lives of young people. At the moment there are very few children attending school because they are vulnerable or have parents who are key-workers. I think that my time in school will be very special and I have so much I want to do in terms of reading, playing board games, walking round our beautiful school grounds (33 acres in total) and perhaps taking photos of the scenery in the sunshine.
So, how did we spend our first day at home in isolation? Well I spent a large part of the day in touch with school, checking the rotas for the in-school provision and planning some activities. I also have all of the Year 7s as classroom groups, as I run library lessons with them. I have been sharing with them some of the many free resources available in terms of e-books, audio books and other sites where they can find out more about books, authors and mental well-being. My lessons are not compulsory, unlike the work set by teachers. However, it is great when the students respond with their thanks or send me work that they have done. I can share pictures and happy stories on our school library Twitter account. I am also a member of some other social networks and facebook groups in which we share ideas and resources.
Jess my daughter decided that she would like to do some painting projects – house and furniture painting rather than works of art (although that may be another idea for later on). She is better than I am at preparing with masking tape and not dripping paint everywhere! I am only allowed to paint outside because of my messy habits. Paul thought it would be a great idea to brighten up the insides of our front and back doors. You can see here what a fantastic job she made of the front door. Most of the paint we had already. You will see from pictures to follow that we like definite, bold colours, although the front door is actually quite subtle!
Jess also started re-painting our garden chairs, which is something that we do every year. She also painted two smaller chairs in a lovely sunny shade of yellow. These chairs were left behind by guests some years ago and never collected.
Other activities included eating lunch altogether in the garden. I somehow failed to take a photo of this, or lost it, but here is the loaf of bread I made:
We decided that as we have a big garden and Jess and I usually go to the gym, we should set up some improvised gym equipment outside. There will be photos to follow when we have completed this project, but to start with Paul and Jess repaired our home-made swing in the trees and we all had a go on it. You should soon be able to see a video on facebook of me giving it a go!
After lunch we had a message from my mother that the new SIM card had arrived. This was a purchase to set our uncle up with a mobile phone, which he has resisted for many years. He finally agreed recently that he should be in proper communication with the family, as going out to use a phone box is no longer sensible and does not allow us to contact him. Jess and I went round to the house and sat in the garden (complication is that mother is paying for the contract so the SIM arrived at her house) setting up the phone with all the contacts that Geoff could possibly need. We then drove over to Burnham to deliver the phone to Geoff and give him a quick lesson in using a smart phone. He tried out texting, phoning people and navigating the screen. Of course we also had to make sure he could find the keypad for ringing other numbers such as the emergency services. So to anyone who is saying, ‘was it a good idea to go and visit your uncle, a vulnerable, older person?’ my response is that giving him a phone lifeline was at that moment more important than social isolation!
So that was Tuesday 24th March, a day well spent. How did you spend your day?