Lockdown in review

Lockdown has largely lifted for us this week, when we started back at school. (My son is Year 6, one the year groups that the schools have reopened for. They've hired me as a supply teaching assistant in the afternoons, which makes me a key worker so my daughter gets a place while I'm working.)

It's the first time in almost three months that we've been allowed to mingle (at a distance of 2 metres) with other households. What's been our experience of that three months?

Aside from lounging around in the back garden....

Homeschooling
This is the one part of our planned lockdown routine we actually stuck with, and I'm so glad we agreed on the schedule at the start.

Being from a small school benefited us: both kids were in the same class. Added to that, my son's always been an independent worker, who was accustomed to getting through a lot of homework thanks to his previous school in the States. So for English and their 'topic work', he mostly set the tone and they worked together. They had separate work for maths, which my daughter had a habit of panicking over, so most of what I've had to do is to get her calm and confident... It's been mixed results.

Their teacher has been great. He's not back in school yet, so really they're still distance learning, but he's always been really on the ball with talking to them via their homeschooling app. My daughter in particular has posted all kinds of random stuff, just to share with him, and he's been fantastic about responding and showing interest in what they're getting up to.

The third wave...

The butterflies have remained an ongoing science project for us ever since the days of Biff. We had a second generation turn into butterflies this week, and that's going to be the end of that... It's been an epic saga, both fascinating and exhausting, and we feel quite ready to be done with it.

Shopping
Our first lockdown visit to Tesco was frankly terrifying: it's only supposed to be one member of the household going inside, though as a single mother, I'm allowed to bring my kids in. However, that made it impossibly awkward, so we made the call that the kids would stay at home alone for future shopping trips.

It's still exhausting and stressful. ADD doesn't like multi-tasking, so I struggle to look for the items I want and simultaneously keep an eye on how far I am from other people. I only go once every two weeks, and in between we top up on things we're running low on at our corner shop. (Our corner shop is wonderful, but we can't quite give up the Tesco shop altogether.)

Plan B: supplement with wild foraging! Making wild garlic pesto.

Over the past few weeks, I've been trying to wear a face covering while in a shop, but it's not ideal. Half the time I forget it, and even when I do remember, all we have are Survivor buffs and they're very imperfect. We need to look into getting some proper washable face masks. These aren't compulsory, but I think they should be.

Socialising
One of the things I meant to do was to get a sort of rota going with friends where we have nights to chat with different people, maybe set up some activities... Best of intentions, and then I did my thing where I sort of withdraw into myself and talk to fewer people when I need to talk to more. I'm bad at reaching out to people, and then even if I do, I get hesitant and don't want to push for an event. And then I get anxious because I haven't interacted with them for awhile and therefore I'm not entitled to interact with them now because I'm not a True Friend.

So huge fail. To the point that I even went quiet on here and most social media. I did keep up on Facebook for the most part and my parents and I message regularly, plus I've walked their dog a few times as an excuse for doing a doorstep check in on them.

I'll keep meaning to reach out to people... At some point I might actually get round to doing it.

Relationship
 The nice thing about relationships is they're built on a very definite social agreement that yes I am entitled to my boyfriend's time and attention, although we're both pretty quiet people. I've kept in touch with him throughout, mostly via whatsapp chatting, with the odd phone call.

With lockdown relaxing over the past couple of weeks we can finally go on dates again... provided we stay 2 metres apart at all times. Oh, and my kids have to come too. Still, our relationship is based on getting each other out and about in the local geography, and that's perfectly doable without breaking current guidance. That's done me a world of good.

Getting hot and heavy on our last date

Housework
Don't ask.

I never handle this well when the kids are home... best of intentions, and it just degenerates to the point that I can't functionally see the mess anymore, but the clutter still gets me down. The kids, being kids, grumble and stall when I want to tidy up. Even when they do help, they often need so much direction, that it's twice as much work as doing it myself... and if I don't ask them for help, they'll inevitably end up asking for my attention over something: Look at this! Can I do this? My sibling is breaking a rule!

I get into a state where my head is 'full' and I can't hold a focus on anything... Generally, my attempts at housework succeed in doing the first chore properly and then a lot of other little bits and pieces get done without anything substantial getting finished.Then I fog out and spend the next few hours trying to unwind so my head can drain itself.... which only works if the kids, by some miracle, stay self-occupied and quiet.

I really really miss ADD medication. Unfortunately, I had just reached the top of the list to get an appointment with an ADD clinic when lockdown hit.

Career
I've applied for an Early Years Teacher Training course, which was supposed to entail an interview followed by a literacy / numeracy exam. The interview got switched to Zoom. I'd not used Zoom before myself, but I had the app downloaded as my son had done a call with his year group one time. What I didn't realise was that he had set the account in his name, which confused my interviewer greatly.

For the exam, they ended up emailing me the test papers. I had to print them off, take them under exam conditions (or as close as possible), scan my answers and return them. Handling the IT of it all didn't give me much trouble, but it turns out I'm wildly out of practice at taking exams. I lost all track of time and went fifteen minutes over without even getting to the last couple of questions... rookie mistake! I submitted anyway, with a note of explanation, and we'll see what happens.

A potentially bigger concern is what will happen with nurseries going forward. Technically, early years staff should be in more demand than ever as the children have to be kept in smaller groups under the latest government advice. Unfortunately, that isn't financially viable for most early years centres and many nurseries may end up having to close, unless the government rescues them. I'll need a placement at a nursery next year if I want to do this course, and I'm a little worried that there just won't be one available.

We chalked a "Thank-you NHS!" rainbow in the car park of our flats.

Driving
Speaking of tests, remember I don't actually have a UK driving licence? I was supposed to take a theory test on 1st April. Due to the pandemic, it's been cancelled and rescheduled four times--last time, it was with less than 24 hours notice. I did try applying for an emergency test as I count as a critical care worker, but they're only doing those for healthcare workers right now.

My main problem is that my US driving licence is about to expire. Technically, I can still drive so long as somebody with a full licence is in the passenger seat... but I'm the only driver of my household, and right now, I can't just borrow a friend to pop out to Tesco. (There's a new support bubble rule being implemented, so maybe I can find another household to team up with? I don't know the social etiquette for asking that!)

So we're going to get to know the local public transport (it isn't great in Cornwall, but luckily we do live on a bus route,) and I'll try and study up as much as I can—the last time I met up with my boyfriend, I made him stand in the road and watch while I parallel parked behind his car. (Made it on the second attempt, though I think my wheels touched the kerb.)


Veterinary Appointment
We've managed to avoid any requirement for a doctor or dentist, but the cats were due for their vaccinations in May. Our vets had a set up where we park in the car park and call to say we've arrived. The vet then comes to the car, checks over what's needed and takes the pet inside if required while the owner waits in their car.

Obviously, vaccinations required taking them inside, so I warned him about Meg. He got the shot done, but I've no idea how he managed, considering she's usually a two person job. The cats actually seemed less stressed this way, though unfortunately they were required to have a flu shot which they'd never had in the States... and that meant we had to come back three weeks later for a booster.

Haircuts
I have often been thankful for having low maintenance hair, but never more than over the past three months. Oh, my hair is in dire need of a trim to tidy up the split ends, as is my daughter's, but otherwise we're fine—luckily, I've been cutting my own fringe for years.

My son was a different matter, and although I had managed to get him a cut right before lockdown started, we eventually bit the bullet and got ourselves some hair clippers. There, like so many others, we discovered that the longest setting on the clippers is a lot shorter than we envisioned. The haircut was a pretty traumatic experience, and I'm relieved that my son took it pretty stoically, despite a fleeting moment of horror when he first looked in the mirror. And he didn't want to leave the house for a couple of days...

We'll have to do it again in the next week or so, though this time I can at least just leave the top alone.

Welcome to my salon....

That's our montage of lockdown life. I'm not really expecting a steady decrease of restrictions how. Our government is so vague and inconsistent about everything that I'm anticipating a second rise in the infection rate and a second lockdown. Even if I'm wrong, we need a huge overhaul in the infrastructure of, well, everything, if the country's going to be able to function over the next year.

Keeping afloat!