When I originally started this blog, way back when, it was to try and find some sanity when I made the choice to be a stay at home parent to my little ones. I loved it, but as the children grew and went to school, and I started working part time, it just wasn’t needed in the same way, so I stopped blogging.
Now, here we are in March 2020 and becoming a stay at home mum has a whole new meaning to it, thanks to the corona virus, covid-19. As of Monday I will be a mum staying at home again but also working at home and attempting to educate my children at the same time. I’ve decided to resurrect this blog again, partly to once again try and keep some sanity, but also to keep a record as these are weird and interesting times we are living in.
For the sake of posterity and for the me of the future looking back and reading this, this is where we are at.
A coronavirus, called Covid-19 originated in Wuhan, China in late December 2019. It transferred from animals to humans and affected respiratory systems, particularly in the elderly and for people with underlying conditions. To most of the world, it seemed to be China’s problem, then it started spreading. Still, most of the world (myself included) were incredibly blasé. Then it started spreading more. Italy was particularly affected. A week or so ago (I am writing this on 20th March 2020) Italy went on lockdown to try and contain it. More and more countries have now followed suit. France has the military on the streets and is fining people who leave their homes for unauthorised purposes.
In the UK, we are not at the same levels of infection or deaths yet, however in the last week more and more measures have been taken. Anyone with a high temperature or a cough has to self-isolate for 7 days. If there is more than one person in your household you all have to self isolate for 14 days if one of you has a cough or a high temperature. The government has recommended people work from home as much as possible. We are advised not to go to bars, restaurants, clubs. Not to meet up with friends and family. The elderly, vulnerable and pregnant are being advised to self isolate for 12 weeks.
The reason for this makes sense. It is protect the healthcare system by slowing the spread of the infection. There’s a great video I will try to link to here which explains it way better than I can.
The measures have been drip fed to us over the week and now, as I think most people expected, schools are being closed to all children except those of key workers. Doctors, nurses, supermarket workers, delivery drivers.
In all honesty, it’s a scary time. I am trying to stay positive but it is hard. People have been panic buying and there are horrible stories out there of the abuse supermarket workers and schools are facing. The truth is that noone really knows where this is all going to lead and what the heck is going to happen. What is to become of the economy? All the businesses that are temporarily closing. When will children go back to school again? Exams have been cancelled, theatres closed, clubs shut down.
No-one knows so I guess panic is inevitable. But there is positivity too, so much support is out there and for my part I am trying to stay positive. I have come up with a chart to try and schedule our days, though I have made designed it to be flexible so I can move things around (I’m already thinking of ways to adjust it, and we haven’t even started the new routine yet!).
So there we are. This site hasn’t been maintained in years so there is a lot that is out of date. I’ll try and update various bits as we go and I’m not sure how much I will post but this is just a record for us really!
Anyone out there who does read this, feel free to comment and stay in touch with how things are going for you in this crazy new world.
