3 years ago today……

We were enjoying the unexpected benefit of a really warm and sunny spring. (Looks out of window and glares). We made a timetable to keep ussane in the first lockdown and the parts of it tht have remained are: homemade curry on a Sunday night and crime drame on TV on a Tuesday.

I remember it all feeling very surreal. DH and I were glued to the TV news several times a day, especially those special COVID bulletins with Boris, Chris Whitty, Patrick Valance etc etc. It was so very scary and my daughter had begged us not to go out AT ALL, even for the one hour per day permitted exercise. So we stayed at home, had online food shopping and I did exercises in the evenings as I wasn’t “allowed” to go for a walk. Fortunately the weather was absolutely wonderful for weeks on end and I spent a lot time time in the garden. The worst thing for me was not seeing my adored twin granddaughters who were 2 years old and who we had looked after for 2 half days per week. I felt very upset about that, and missed them dreadfully, but at the same time grateful that we were retired from work, able to keep safe at home and not mix. I found the images of hospital staff in hazmat suits absolutely terrifying, like something from a sci fi film. I was in absolute awe of the doctors and nurses An awful time and our only hope was the vaccine, which we knew would be a long way off - it turned out almost a year’s wait, but they pulled out all the stops to have it ready as soon as possible. I did enjoy the quiet and unpolluted atmosphere (once we could go out for a walk) and feeling that the world was somehow resetting itself to be a better place where we would appreciate each other more and value the simple things in life, at least for that period in time. I hope it never happens again.

We had watched cruise ships being denied docking in far away places. We watched Italy suffering, and never thought it would reach our shores.
We had just returned, thinking we would be off away in a short while, to then remain for the best part of 2 years.

Shut in my home, birthday week, saw no-one, spoke to no-one apart from my dog, for months, so was decidedly fed up and depressed, but who wasn't?

I was and still am living in a retirement scheme of independent (living) flats....
Within a few days my downstairs friend and neighbour said that she wasn’t feeling very well. She was only in her mid sixties. The next thing I knew she was phoning from hospital struggling to breath and telling me she was about to be put on a ventilator. She was basically ringing me to bid her farewell. Her final words to me being “love you” 😢 Completely well one minute. Dead the next. She was very popular for her warmth humour caring and inclusive attitude towards others. Also here intelligence and creativity. Heartbroken doesn’t even touch it. I was overwelmed with shock and sadneas.. That for me was three years ago almost to the day. 💖💔😢

Two other residents in our retirement block, a lovely couple also died suddenly from Covid. A very sad and frightening time before we had vaccinations. 💖💙💔💔

I was depressed. I almost expected to catch the virus. Could see no light at the end of the tunnel. However, one spark of human kindness kept me going. My younger neighbours, who already had deliveries from two supermarkets, asked me to add my requests to their weekly lists. The virus only caught up with me two years later and then I was unaware of it until I had to have a test prior to admission to hospital for a minor op!

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This is a lovely book.
A photographic memory of Lockdown - people, places, worries, loneliness, isolation, coping, 'making do', new hobbies and pastimes etc.

How we coped - or didn't ...

It was certainly a very odd time! I was working 2 days a week in both a specialist hospital and a local general hospital, so saw it coming some weeks before. I had been expecting to retire fully. We lost some colleagues early on. The week after lock down was frantic and spent triaging all the cancelled appointments ( at the hospital) setting things up so I ( on the shielding list) could keep things running and do as much from home as possible and trying to upgrade my very poor IT skills! All non urgent clinical services were cancelled and almost all admin - and IT staff ( essential to almost everything!) were sent home so nothing really worked.
Those first few weeks were stressful and exhausting - but eventually life slowed down. We live semi rurally but very close to what is usually a busy noisy motorway - but it was so quiet and peaceful. We saw when the army lorries started to distribute PPE and supermarket lorries food. The weather was lovely so there was a peaceful side!