Weeks 1 to 3. Lockdown entries begin...

Weeks 1 to 3. Lockdown entries begin...

I haven't blogged for a very long time. Not that there haven't been things that I would like to capture, but life gets busy and the next moment you look around and the girls aren't teeny little things any more - they are now 12 and 10 years old and Fidget is as tall as me - soon to be taller.

(back in 2010)

(start of 2020)

First thing to start with...Fidget is no longer ever called Fidget. I call her Woo if I am not using her proper name and Squidge is known to me as Bobs (though she objects and wants me to call her Child2 or Bunnykins (!!) on here) or sometimes I call her Bobskievich (because she's a Russian spy) which she really objects to - but I suspect that is that she doesn't want her identity given away. So really the safest thing is to stop writing about that and get back to the point of starting again.... It is now April 2020. I'm sure a quick google search will remind me of the details of how this all began so I am just going to stick with what I remember and leave the detailed journalism to the professionals. In February of this year TeamChallis took a half term break to London, which was great. 

At that point there were already a few confirmed cases of corvid-19 (a coronovirus) in the country and in London. But the risks were very low and we went and carried on with our trip - the only difference being that Woo had issued us all with a bottle of hand sanitiser each (complete with glitter) to use after tube journeys and such. Even by the time we returned there wasn't much of a sense of urgency in the country about it. By early March, there were more regular developments and updates, though the west country was definitely in a sheltered spot.  On the 14th March I went walking with Ben while Mark and the girls went to Ikea and chose a chair for our workroom and checked out the desks (work had been ahead of the curve in wanting us all to be prepared for home working). 

our workroom:

Monday 16th was a fairly normal day, the girls went to school as usual, I wasn't working on Mondays so met the mummies for breakfast, then went to a counselling session, then on to meet Dharani at the park cafe. Mark came home as I was heading out for Ukuleleland practice - he said something about "you're not going in tomorrow" but I was late so bustled out. There was just Ben, Kevan and I at practice and by then we had heard the news that with the new rules on social distancing, this was the last time in a while we were going to be together. Geoff, our over 70 member had already stayed home to begin his 12 week complete lockdown. Going home at the end of a day of seeing so many of my good friends in the flesh - I didn't realise how long it was going to be until we were together again. 

That week of the 16th was peculiar. Tuesday began with me settling in to work from home, while Mark dropped Woo at the bus-stop and walked Bunnykins to school. He then returned and was working downstairs in the new workshop area. It was so strange that Mark and I were hunkering down away from this virus and yet the girls were at school. Particularly that Woo was a whole bus ride away in town. I had a few tears and shaky panic that I hardly knew where it was from specifically, but it doesn't seem strange now. I was so glad to get Woo home. She was telling us about how they had to go and register outside in the courtyard and that classes were all re-arranged with lots more children in each than usual and across year groups as the school just hadn't had enough teachers turn up. Later that evening we received an e-mail to say that the school would be staying open but only for a reduced number of key year groups - not Woo's - much to her great delight, and my relief. For the rest of the week though we were still walking Bunnykins to school. We were avoiding being near people elsewhere, but then 3.15 pm comes and we crowd into the playground and Woo is running up to hug Hannah (ignoring me telling her not too) and you just can't help being closer than 2m to someone. But this continued for the week. We heard, maybe on the Thursday, that school would be closed to all but key worker children and those with an EHCP from the following Monday.

So Monday 23rd was the start of a new reality. We were all at home. Mark working in the work room and tbh run off his feet. He's supposed to do 4.5 days, but he's the operations director so things were going crazy for him. I have been working 3 days a week across 4, but after that first Monday I knew I had to drop my hours to max 2 days across 4 days. 

It had been quiet with Woo working from home. The school is using google classroom, so after we got her laptop sorted (and she stole the new IKEA office chair) she was quite self starting at getting on with stuff. Bunnykins has always been an independent worker and we got a schedule worked out for her. But I still needed to be responding to IT issues, getting snacks for them, printing materials and supporting Bunnykins in some of the project and craft work that she had been issued by the school. We started that Monday morning with the Joe Wicks workout that everyone was anticipating. The girls thought he went on chatting far too much however so we decided the following day to go with some zumba with our neighbour Karen who was doing a live facebook broadcast each day at 9am.  We've stuck with that since, or at least Bunnykins and I have. Woo found dancing with us too mortifying. Bunnykins just goes crazy which I love - if she likes a thing she gives it her all (her crazy train dance is the best). If she doesn't like it...it's dead to her!

A bit more on routine is worth recording. Pre-Easter holidays and post lockdown, we had the following:

• 7am - all wake up. Get dressed, get breakfast (this 7am start is a luxury in itself being used to 6am as the normal)
• 8am - 
• get Woo logged on and help her write her schedule for the day (the school had issued a timetable, and then individual lessons are accessed on google classroom). She also adds other things to her schedule like reading, yoga, cooking, tidying her room or writing letters.
• Bunnykins starts with her online Maths work, there is a school set one and then some games on bbc bitesize Guardians of Mathmatica she loves.
• I can get started with e-mails and work at my desk
• 9am - dancing with Karen online, then Bunnykins goes out into the garden to do some skipping or swingball
• 9.30 - Reading time for Bunnykins and more work time for me
• 10.30 - breaktime. I make a snack for both girls. Put out the washing. Try to encourage them outside.
• 11am - 
• Woo carries on with whatever is in her schedule
• Bunnykins does deskbased work like story writing or research for a project
• Another chance for 50 mins of work for me
• 12 noon - I make lunch for everyone. We've managed to have a variety of nice lunches and eat outside. Soup, "rice and stuff", bagels, jacket potatoes. It's amazing how much more food you get through when you have 4 people at home all with good appetites. The girls are being good at eating what they are given. We have a veg box, but now you can't make any substitutions, so there's no getting rid of courgettes. 
• 1pm - Woo back to work and Bunnykins does a 2hr stint of project work. She's made a Masai Mara shield, made a space themed board game, done some investigating of electrical circuits using snapcircuits. Sometimes I am helping her, sometimes she doesn't need me and I can get on with work.
• 3pm - the girls can finish for the day and either read (or Woo goes on her phone) or go out to the garden. This is then when I get a bit more time to get my hours in for the day. 
• 4.30pm ish - make tea for everyone and try to get Mark to join us for around 5/5.30pm

Lunches and outside time:

We're now on Easter holidays, though it doesn't feel recognizable. I am still working 4hrs Tues to Friday, but I am doing those later in the day. The girls get up at 8am. Bunnykins and I do Karen's 9am dance. By 10am I try to encourage the girls to do something active, that I can do with them. Woo has been making a quilt from some old t-shirts (including one seen on the previous post on here). Bunnykins did some baking, made a polymer clay succulent for her dolls house and we did a jigsaw. They put slips of paper with choices of films each in a jar and we pick one out at lunchtime. After lunch they get on with what they want (phone, reading, dolls house whatever) and then when they both agree they can put on that film. I might not finish working until 5pm or 6pm, so Mark has been sorting out the tea which is good - though he's still so busy himself. 

Our evenings have a schedule too, in that we've been trying to keep in touch with people. We've had a couple of skype calls with the family Dickson. They have been fun, as the girls are keen to see M&C as much as we want to chat with Hannah and Jason. We had a Wednesday one, and a couple of Saturday evening ones, where we get a takeaway each - even dress up a bit and just chat and drink prossecco - almost like old times. 

(me getting ready for a glam evening)

Then on a Sunday the Mummies have been catching up over microsoft Teams. There is always about 10 minutes at the start which is just people struggling with who they can see and can't and Naomi deciding that she can't stand to be on webcam. We have even managed to get Sarah to join us all the way from Oman. 

On Monday we contact John on a facebook messenger video call. He gives us an update on Mum and tells us about his gardening. It is funny to see how his beard is growing between calls - goodness knows what he'll be like by the end of lockdown. Then straight after I have a zoom based get together with Ukuleleland. Because of the time lag (and laws of physics) we can't all play together, so one person leads a song and the rest mute and play along. So if you aren't the lead, you just hear yourself and the lead. The lead just hears themselves. I really miss that sound of us all playing together, but we'll have a whole load of new songs by the time we're back together again. 

Then Tuesday or Wednesday we catch up with Mark's parents on skype - make sure they are behaving and staying in :-D ! Thursday I still have my ukulele skype lesson with Ben, and it's so nice to see him and catch up as well as play. 

Friday at 2pm I have joined Ben's Skype ukulele group - a bonus being that Stella joined also <3 div="">

But otherwise Friday evening I try to keep free of online stuff so we can have our Friday night meal and then film night all together. I know we are so much all together at the moment and it really makes me appreciate how much I like my family!! But Fridays have always been special. We make an "around the world" supper, play music from that country, we all sit down together, we talk, we have a nice pudding (certainly not a given in the Challis household) and then we decide on a film and all go and watch it together. I like that bit of normality and that marking time - we've got through another week. The first week of lockdown, after the girls were both home, went so slow. That Friday celebration felt really needed then.

On Friday 27th March we talked about what the lockdown made us miss and what it made us feel glad for. I was glad for the space we had in the house, how much I liked being around TeamChallis. How we had jobs that weren't at risk. How we were all fit and healthy and had a nice garden, veg box and loo roll deliveries (yes from https://uk.whogivesacrap.org/) and an electric car and a vegetable garden and a wood burning stove and all those things that made me feel safe in my home. I said that the main thing I missed was my friends and the fun things we had planned. The following day I had been planning on a charity shopping day with Hannah. We were going to go to Chipping Sodbury rather than our usual Gloucester road. We would have spent the day chatting and laughing in the changing rooms - Hannah skeptically trying on the various suggestions I made. We would have ended the day at the Duck & Willow (our happy place), with a burger and bottle of prosecco. Saturday 4th April I was due to go with Ben to the Cardiff Ukulele festival. We've been twice before and it is such a fun day. Last year we were late and so the venue was full. While we waited I suggested we start our own mini festival in the foyer of the St David's center hall. A number of people joined in and we used the event songbook to jam with / perform for the crowd. It's also (like with walking) a day where I just get loads of time with Ben without him having to rush home or to a lesson. So we just talk about anything and everything as well as having alot of fun with the ukulele playing. To have a hall full of people (we did get in eventually) playing and singing along raucously to I think we're alone now or I wanna be like you (from the jungle book) - is such an exhilarating thing to be part of. Some videos from previous years...

 (2018)

(2019)

In a couple of weeks time we were due to go down to Dorset and see Tim and Deirdre and then Mark and I were going to an Elbow concert. I can only imagine now how fun that would have been. I don't want to dwell on all the things I will miss. It's not really the events themselves, but connection with other people is so important to me and you remember these events because you shared them with special people. So I am glad to be sharing this event with special people. 

Sometimes being alone is good too, and I am grateful for the space we have. Last night was a beautiful evening. Mark was out getting our groceries - which is a whole other tale of this strange new life of Qing to get into a supermarket, maintaining 2m distance. Then not being able to buy things like bread flour or rice or quorn. Or having what you buy rationed. It is all very strange and makes you realise what availability and access to things we take for granted. Anyway, it was a beautiful evening, the air was still and warm and I went to sit outside for a while.

It was so calm, though there were plenty of noises to be heard. There were so many birds and the sounds of bees. Then I made a note of what else I could hear:

• I can hear lots of birds
• I could hear a kid (over the back fence) having a chat with one of the noisy birds in our apple tree 
• I can hear Lee from hells bells putting away his bike. Heard the garage door
• A dog further down the street
• Kids playing in another garden
• A crow has started up
• Someone emptying what sounds like a plastic bucket
• Someone laughing
• A door inside our neighbour's house (their backdoor is open)
• A little traffic on park road - and it's surprising
• A brother and sister bickering and competing a little.
• A trampoline
• Giggles and shouting
• A football being kicked
• Bird wings low overhead
• Wood pigeons. A seagull. Lots of smaller garden birds who's calls I don't know
• Two small birds (tits?) Flew into the Apple tree with frantic wings.  Could hear them pecking and flapping at each other.  Mating probably...
• My feet on the gravel going back inside

I like the sound of the neighbours from all around. It feels comforting. Last week someone from our street set up a street WhatsApp group. At first it was just chat about had anyone seen a badger and videos of foxes in the gardens. Then on Saturday 4th I wanted to paint some shelves for our workroom, but our knotting solution was super gloopy. Normally we would have just "popped to B&Q". I looked online and no joy for any kind of click and collect or rapid delivery. It really made me think about what we take for granted in terms of just being able to get stuff as soon as we want it. That is a financial issue but it is also a "benefits of modern life" thing too. Anyway, I asked on the group and within 20 mins Thom from down the road had looked in his shed and away we were going with the knotting solution. 

As I sit here writing this I can hear Karen in her front room leading one of many dance classes. It feels good to know the people around you. Connection is everything and being removed from it really gives pause for thought. 

There's also all those people that we're all worrying about - family and friends. And there's very little you can do to help. Grocery shopping and keeping in contact is about it. I worry alot about other people. I can only send them my love and hope they stay well. 

A care parcel from when Claire was in self isolation with her family:

So that was alot of stuff!! I wanted to capture as much as possible. I'm not doing this to be shared around, it's really just for us to remember and for the very limited number of people who care about the detail now! I might try and do a weekly blog going forward, or one for special occasions. Who knows. If it's just this one at least it will be something to remind us of this historic moment. Stay safe everyone <3 div="" xxxx="">