Good morning, folks.
I hope you are all well and keeping as safe as you can during these weird and worrying times. I've had a bit of a break from doing my blog; it's not that I didn't have anything to say - quite the opposite. The situation is this. My best time for writing is in the morning. (My head gets clogged up with daily minutiae after midday.) But probably like many of you out there I find that unusual factors have taken over my morning routine since we've had this partial lockdown due to the virus.
First and foremost, again like many of you, my thoughts turned to family, immediate and extended. More than ever making contact seems to be crucial especially as we have some very frail and ill members. I won't go into too much detail here, just to say it is absolutely heart-breaking not being able to jump in my car and go and support those family members. At this moment I should be with my sister in London helping out with her beloved husband who is very ill. I spent three nights with them in January. Even under sad circumstances the three of us had great chats and good laughs. Louise give me instruction on how to arrange my knife and fork drawer so all utensils are in regimented rows.
This tremendous skill and time-consuming hobby went to my other two sisters and also to many friends on my FB who will have benefited also. Lou and myself sang songs and played the guitar; I read her husband Peter’s superb autobiography and discussed some fascinating details of it with him. Basically, we had happy moments and assumed that we would continue to have many more on my intended weekly or fortnightly trips to London. Little did any of us know what terrible times lay ahead. This is what I'm struggling with enormously, like many of you will be also, not being able to physically support those we love. So instead I’m spending even longer than usual catching up with people on social media.
The rest of my morning then seems to be taken up with planning the day ahead. As you know we have a little dog, thank God, the best four-legged companion. It’s essential that she gets her walks, and thankfully John does her morning one - no change there. Shopping and meal planning is another
matter. We have to give that serious consideration in order to minimise trips to the supermarket - number one, to keep us safe, but also to avoid the lengthy
queues. I've spent 30 to 40 minutes queuing outside our local supermarket several times. To be honest I don't mind it as the public in our little town are so friendly and our store is very good. The staff seem extra helpful and jolly in their attempts to cope with the very peculiar procedures inside and outside of the store. Well, by the time I get through all of that, my morning has gone. Then it's lunchtime, my turn to do the dog walk and then my thrice-weekly run, or should I say jog? No, I should say fast walk. This is essential for my well-being; I've been exercising in one form or another for 40 plus years and I won't stop until I drop!
There was an element of panic all over the country yesterday, which I think often happens because of the way things are done in the media. I watched the Andrew Marr programme at nine o'clock in the morning. I don't normally get up to watch telly so early, especially on a Sunday, but I wanted to see and hear Keir Starmer. On a positive note, I think he's going to be great and a real support to Boris during these difficult times, ideologies being put to one side as he said himself. Keir wasn't actually interviewed until 10:00 o'clock but it was more than worth the wait. Leading up to this Andrew also interviewed Matt Hancock, the health secretary. Andrew asked him if there was a possibility of a total lockdown if people continued to ignore the rule about visiting parks
etc. in large numbers. Matt Hancock said yes, it wasn't ruled out, which is exactly what I expected him to say. But I felt that Andrew had put the words in
his mouth, sort of. What else could he say? Throughout the rest of the day this was stirred up and reported in the hourly news as if it was imminent, causing
much anxiety around the country. Now it may happen, but I'm really hoping not. The minority who flout the rules shouldn't take away something so essential from the majority. Hopefully the message will get through. Matt Hancock explained further what he meant last night on telly, to allay people's fears. He said it was not imminent. I'm very very relieved and pleased about that; there are only so many attempts I can make to climb up the walls in our flat!
To finish, this amused me. We all in our little friendly town became one by clapping for the NHS one Thursday night a couple of weeks ago, a very warming experience we shared with the whole country. Now, I don't know how this happened, I'm usually on the ball with listening to the news several times a day, but I didn't hear that we were all going to do it again the following Thursday for other key workers. I was watching the news at ten o'clock in the evening when I saw the event unfold around the country. I did have a moment where I thought “Will I go out and have a little clap?” When I told this story to my sister Clare we laughed and laughed at the idea of my sole little pathetic clap. Also, my son Peter works in the local supermarket but he was on a two-week holiday. “I’m not going to clap for him until he gets back to work!” I thought.
Now this gets worse, folks. I really thought that this was a windup and a bit of fun. I read or heard somewhere that we were now going to clap for all little children who have to stay indoors, who can't meet their friends and don't understand what's going on. To my mind, children have never had it so good, with no school, parents at home all day doing a terrible job of trying to be their teacher which must be amusing, hours watching telly, on iPads, on iPhones, skyping, facetiming with friends etc., etc., AND they can also be taken out to walk and exercise and so on. Well I'm not clapping for that. Now I’m not being frivolous and unthinking. I know some children are not in good circumstances and those are the children I worry about.
Now a lot of good things may come out of all this but I’m certain of one aspect, which is that all parents will have a huge increase in their respect for teachers and for schooling in general. Not alone does a teacher care for and teach their child but they also do it with most likely 30 other children in a classroom for about 6 hours every day. In a secondary school on a full day a subject teacher could have in excess of 150 pupils entering and leaving their teaching room. I was a teacher and I haven’t forgotten what these days felt like, exhausting in the extreme but rewarding on a good day. I don’t think that you could do this job if you didn’t enjoy the company of teenagers, and you were well equipped to deal with the difficult ones. When this is all over and schools are open this is what I would love to see happen. All parents who can, to gather outside every school on a Friday afternoon when the school day is nearly finished and clap loudly in appreciation to all teachers for what they do for their child/children, the school children also joining in. A gesture by all to show gratitude for the care, kindness, support, tolerance, affection, commitment - and education. How good would that be? It would certainly have cheered me up at a low moment as I drove home thinking about the marking of books and planning of lessons I needed to do over the weekend as well as a myriad of domestic chores.
An elderly lady made a profound comment on television a few nights ago. She said that parents knew real fear during the war when their children were evacuated. Can you imagine packing a small case and sending your child off to God knows where? It must have been terrible. I can relate to this big-style. Due to ill health, I had to send my two children to Ireland for three months to be looked after by their grandparents while I was in hospital. They were only toddlers at the time. This was a dreadful experience and one I wouldn't wish on anybody. I nearly went out of my mind when I saw my two babies being taken to the airport by my sister Louise. I didn't know then when I was going to see them again. I feel deep sadness when I remember it and it was 45 years ago.
So, I guess things could be worse in many ways, folks, although not for those that are losing loved ones during this worrying time. Hopefully we will get through this and have a big party when we come out the other side. In the meantime, enjoy the solitude; it's very good for profound thoughts and creativity seemingly. And do your very best to keep yourselves safe.
