Coronavirus diary

My discovery of the day is yes, alpacas can be cat like. I wanted to jump over the fence in the Horniman Museum gardens and give him or her a lovely belly rub. I didn’t. But my days in whatever stage of lockdown we’re now in continue with me being befuddled. From what I’m seeing, and what I’m hearing from others, it seems many have forgotten about lockdown, about social distancing. An increasing number of SAGE members are nervous. SAGE is the government’s scientific advisory group for emergencies. One member has gone as far as saying that politicians are not […]

The sunniest May in the UK since records began. Monkeys in Delhi attack a lab worker. They escape with Covid-19 samples. A Trump tweet was tagged as having violated Twitter rules. Riots in Minneapolis. Cumming’s remains as the PM’s advisor despite making a 260 mile trip to Country Durham with his wife ill in the car, and him at high risk of having the virus. It wasn’t possible to make alternative childcare arrangements in London… More and more people finding themselves retweeting Piers Morgan. It is indeed strange times. And things are slowly changing with a gradual easing of lockdown. […]

The thing about being in lockdown, about being in the midst of a global pandemic, is there’s no time nor room for boredom. At least for me. There have certainly been times I’ve been frustrated, annoyed, angry, lonely, a little miserable, exhausted. But given my background in health policy and my current interests in data and tech, there’s little time to be bored. Today was the launch of the government’s Track and Trace programme. Only it won’t be fully up and running until the end of June, another month away. The idea is that if you are symptomatic, you get […]

There’s some further easing of lockdown – some good, some anxiety inducing. Traffic is up today. Walking to and from Brockwell Park, traffic seemed about 70% of what it was in ‘normal’ times. I shouldn’t be surprised. Yep, avoid public transport, drive, cycle or walk where you can…. Lambeth Council have narrowed some of the roads to give more space to pedestrians. It will be interesting to see if such changes are made permanent. The park was busy. While many stuck to social distancing, I saw at least one large gathering of what looked like a few families, trays of […]

A bit of a change of pace required today.  And a very short post. My reason for writing these posts is to keep a record of what life is like in lockdown. At least my experience of it. It’s hard to remember what day of the week it is or how long this has lasted for. The days and weeks and months bleed together with time doing strange things. It’s now Tuesday, the day after a Bank Holiday weekend. And what a glorious weekend it was. On Saturday morning, I met up with my friend at the Horniman Museum gardens. […]

It’s very strange days. I can’t work out if I’m in a series of the Twilight Zone or Black Mirror, or is it more a gruesome Monty Python sketch or a perverse take on Yes Prime Minister. By way of background, on Saturday evening, it was revealed that Dominic Cummings, special advisor to the Prime Minister drove 260 miles with his wife, who they suspected Covid-19, he was symptomatic, and their child, to County Durham to stay at his parents’ property. During lockdown. He helped draw up the rules for lockdown. Cabinet Ministers spent much of Saturday evening defending Cummings […]

Much of my day has been taken up by following the news. And the news rumbles on. Media and social media has focused on one issue – Dominic Cummings, special advisor to the Prime Minister. It follows revelations that while his wife was ill and he was symptomatic with Covid-19, he drove 260 miles to County Durham to stay at his parents’ property [yesterday’s post here]. Cabinet Ministers spent much of last night defending Cummings and his right to protect his child during lockdown. Once they’d had their say, it was revealed it wasn’t just one trip to County Durham, […]

I feel like I’m in the novel, Catch 22. The narrative is circular and repetitive, much like the days in lockdown. There’s little to differentiate one day from the other. Nowhere new to go. Very few moments that will be retained in my memory. Another 10 days will make it 10 weeks in lockdown. One day melts into another, melts into another. This is why time for me in lockdown retains a bendy and stretchy quality. Moments are long, days short, weeks even shorter. Months disappear. There is little to mark the days. But there’s something lovely about all this […]

Lockdown can be exhausting. I’m not a key worker. There’s noone else I have to look after day to day. I’m doing this solo which most the time I’m fine with. But some days it’s exhausting. Perhaps it was the 3 hour videoconference I was on. I only had to show my face for some of it so the rest of the time I could stand or carry my laptop with me into the kitchen to make another coffee or have a bite to eat. Perhaps it was running the gauntlet of a local supermarket. There was little in the […]

I woke up in an odd mood and the mood continued. Some days it catches me out. Day 58 in lockdown, it caught me out. I’ve spent some of today tearful about someone else’s circumstances. I won’t go into this here as it’s not my place. It’s enough to say that the social impact of being in the midst of a global pandemic is devastating, the fact of not being able to get through the good and the bad with friends close by. Yes, they can stop at your door, and chat at an appropriate social distance. But sometimes what’s […]

I’m at that stage of lockdown where strange days have become the new normal. Yes, it is now normal to cross the street if I see someone coming my way. I pre-empt if they’re older folks or folks with children, otherwise it’s a case of who moves first. Yes, it is now normal to cautiously approach and peer around corners if there’s no clear line of sight. It’s also now normal to wait in long queues for supermarkets with few people in them. Normal to peer into corner shops before entering to check there’s noone else I might come within […]