Week 24 - Sally reflects on six months in lockdown

 Edited BY


G P Kennedy



Sally, the Baby, and James - London, UK


 I am writing this is a rush after spending the last 4 days camping in Wales so we could socially distance visit the ‘in-laws’.  The weather was quite nice 17 or 18 degrees in the day but pretty cold at night so camping was probably not the best idea in September.


 Wales has just made it mandatory from Monday that masks must be worn in all shops, this is something that James and I are use to as its been the norm in England for a while now.  In fact on Saturday we went for a stroll in a seaside town in Wales and I felt pretty uncomfortable as it was super crowded and not a lot of social distancing was going on but I guess that is something that the Welsh will have to get use to pretty quickly.


 The infection rate (R) rate is back above 1 in the UK and there is talk of a second lockdown happening as there is in other places around the world but hey our government couldn’t organize a piss up in a brewery so how the hell do we expect them to get a global pandemic under control.

 As I mentioned a few weeks ago I had a couple of days work coming up and we were staying in my parents’ house.  A few days after we were there my uncle passed away, which I talked about last week.  His funeral is this week so we will be travelling back to Liverpool in a few days time.  Funerals in the UK are still limited to 30 people, which won’t be a problem as my uncle was my mums last relative on her side of the family so there will just be 10 of us attending.  


 The issue is that the new rule this week is that only groups of 6 people can now visit other peoples houses and we were meant to be having the wake at my parents house.  To get around this rule we are having the wake in their garden as you are still allowed to meet in groups of up to 15 outside.


 Going back to work was an experience.  We have to have our temperature taken before we enter the building and wear a face mask at all times inside, which was pretty hard going on 13 hour days.  There was a one-way system in the building and lots of hand sanitizing stations.  I was working on a show called Naked Attraction, Google it ha-ha.

 As well as writing for this blog I have also been doing a photo blog called ‘The Isolation Diaries’ posting a daily photo of my daughter and the things we have been getting up to during lockdown, for example to day she took her first steps and her first taste of ice cream.  The 15th September marked 6 months since we started the diary and the 6 months we have been in lockdown.  With everything that has been going on I decided that my photo journal would end on the half a year mark.  This is what I wrote as my last entry.


 15th September was exactly 6 months in lockdown for James, Iris and myself and although lockdown isn’t over (and we will probably have lockdown two the sequel in the coming weeks), we have managed to see both our families and I have been lucky to have a few days work in the last 2 weeks.


COVID has been shit; shit we lost half a year; shit we lost work; shit we lost our social lives; shit that the family missed Iris’ first birthday;

shit that my dad had a heart attack and my mum couldn’t go to hospital with him; and really shitty that my uncle died without anyone apart from our brilliant NHS doctors and nurses around him.


 We have enjoyed our family time together as a threesome and I know/hope that you have enjoyed seeing our beautiful girl grow from a baby to a toddler.


 Thank you for all the likes and comments it means a lot and has helped me feel connect to family and friends.


 

2020 can do one! X


 Stay Safe and Healthy


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