As a family we are now half way through Week 10 of lockdown. Day 65. Not that I’m counting…
Like for everyone this has truly been one of the most bizarre experiences of my life. Despite being this far in I still wake up every day and it hits me anew. We are so lucky as a family that we have been largely untouched so far by the pandemic. We are healthy and well in our immediate and wider families, though that can be in part attributed to us following lockdown rules to the letter. Even now we are still choosing to follow the Stay Home message rather than the slightly vague Stay Alert. Financially it is absolutely hitting us harder but as long as we have our health we will get by.
There are so many ups and downs to living as we are now but I try to focus mainly on the ups. Home-schooling 3 children of 3 different ages is a challenge no doubt but after a testing couple of weeks, mainly at the beginning and mainly with the systems, we have settled into a good routine. In fact I am more worried about filling the holiday periods! I am lucky that the children have been very accepting of their new ways of life and are getting on with the work their respective schools are setting without too much argument. They are still finishing much earlier than they would on a school day so it’s giving them the opportunity to get on with other things they like doing as they have so much more time available to them.
We have had opportunities that we have never previously had to do so much more as a family and teach the kids things that we just don’t have time to do normally. We have done two 1000 piece jigsaws. We have discovered more and more of the beautiful countryside that we live in as a family with some brilliant walks and bike rides together. We have watched more films and programmes together. Sophie has perfected the cooking of an awesome quiche, Sam cooked cheese toasties for lunch yesterday and brilliant chicken, mushroom and pepper kebabs last night. They have really enjoyed doing more cooking and it’s been a great chance to teach them exactly how the dishwasher should be packed! Talking of which, there have also been valuable life lessons in how the washing should be hung out, hoovering the stairs and cleaning bathrooms!
We have spent so much more time with Joey too. He’s planted sunflower seeds, sweetcorn, tomatoes, strawberries and cucumber with me. We have bought him some caterpillars to take care of and watch turn into butterflies (Insectlore on Amazon if you’re interested). We’ve made play-doh meals, Elmer the Elephant from a milk bottle and coloured in rainbows which my uselessly crafty self is very proud of. However, he has also played by himself and watched way more TV than I would ever ordinarily want.
For me I have too learnt valuable cooking and shopping lessons. It has made me much more resourceful and much more aware of waste. Whereas before if I was making pesto (a recipe from a children’s recipe book we came across years ago that is so easy!) and had no parmesan I would just nip up to Waitrose. Instead I made it with cheddar cheese. It was just as nice, in fact I can’t see when I might buy parmesan again! We were running low on food the other day before a delivery and rather than go to the shops I semi-invented a butternut squash (frozen) and chickpea (tin) curry that was amazing! I have done more work in the garden than any other year because I have the time and we have been blessed with glorious weather for weeks. We are eating almost all out meals as a family in the garden. Normally we are only able to eat as a family at the weekend due to all our different commitments. I am running, walking and cycling more for the same reasons (and because I get a break!) and now we are getting more settled I’m getting to read even more too! I also have the best tan I’ve had in years!
On the downside, I have developed what appears to be a fairly severe allergy to fish during this pandemic. Not ideal when I can’t be referred for further testing to confirm until lockdown is lifted. I had some tests before it started which basically gave me food groups I appear to be allergic to and so until I can have the further tests I am having to eliminate all fish, wheat, soya and peanuts. None of these foods have I ever had a problem with until January. I have been in considerable discomfort from the skin reaction that has been caused by it and often felt very unwell too. I am also sick of the constant thinking and planning of meals. Despite the kids starting to get involved I have never cooked so many meals in my life. The dishwasher is never off, it constantly needs emptying. The floors need sweeping, mopping, hoovering so much more because we are always here. There is so much noise! I am used to 4/6 hours a day at home alone to work and I love peace and quiet but there is none and that is tough to get used to. Every time I sit down I feel guilty that I’m not playing with someone/educating someone. I haven’t set eyes on my mum for almost 2 and a half months. I miss my friends and family and I really want to go to Spain!
BUT hopefully this will be for just a period of our lives. We are so fortunate that we will be able to look back and smile at our lockdown experience, something that will evade so many others.
Tell me about your experiences – good and bad!
Wonderfully written!! Love love love!!! So much of what you say rings true!! Great idea to start a blog. We’ll be following with interest and love! Xxxxx
Love this!!! True to form as ever! Never felt so many emotions but All for the greater good ! Xx
Enjoyed reading this 🙂 well done Marika. xx
Well done Marika great read xx
An enjoyable read! We can get through this! Love that you are on line.. x
Great article and very relatable! Sounds like after 10 weeks you’ve pretty much got lockdown life mastered! Hope you get to go to Spain for some R&R soon xx
Great article, well done Marika
Lisbeth x
Well done Marika! I hadn’t realised we’d been in lockdown for ten weeks 😬 Just think, six weeks of summer holidays will feel like a breeze from now on! (Well, maybe not this year if they don’t make it back to school before the term is over…) xx
So much of what you say about the challenges rings true, Marika. Sadly, we have had far less quality family-time this Pandemic, as Jon is on the vulnerable list and can’t come outside, so I drag the two children off to the park and all around the countryside, and we don’t go in shops or meet up with anyone, even though the rules are slightly relaxed. Like you, I miss any moment of quiet when a nap time happened pre-Covid , when I had 5 minutes to have a cuppa and think for myself… Now it is onto the next homeschooling task when Seren sleeps, whilst also trying to teach lessons to my adult student teachers over Zoom, while Jon plans the entire school timetable (and knows it could all be ripped up depending on what happens) and tries to teach his remaining classes via online work exercises and email dialogue… Our house is also never clean and, like, you, I’m sick of thinking about food! Poor Seren barely remembers her grandparents and vaguely waves at these people on a screen and then wanders off to watch more TV, whilst Seth shouts “stay back, mummy, people coming! “ whenever we go out anywhere. Even Seren, at not quite 2, knows to keep a distance from people which is really sad in some ways.
But there have been good times too, and I do have a real appreciation for the simple things in life, and realise how much I took for granted before.
Look forward to reading more, Marika.
Sorry, when I say the park, I should clarify I mean walking the meadows and fields and not the play park… as this is right next to our house, our is a sad reminder of lockdown each time we look at out of the window!