Coronavirus diary

I slept well last night. I’m not sure what the difference was between last night and the night before. I’m also getting a bit of reading done. Not nearly as much as I would in normal times, but it’s a start. I’m currently flicking between a Stephen King short story collection and Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year. And on occasion I pick up The Oatmeal’s How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you. I have eclectic tastes when it comes to reading. These are from my local library, now of course closed. I’ve read […]

I slept badly last night. I started waking up from 4.30am. Sleep was sparse for the next few hours. I crawled out of bed at about 7am. I flicked between various newsfeeds, Twitter and the like. Decided to then not. I went back to bed for a morning nap. A lazy start to the day. I managed to get out for a walk. I ran into the my neighbour just up the road who’d been out for a run with his two boys, the boys on bikes. Somehow we got onto the topic of haircuts. I think we’re all missing […]

How the hell is it Day 18 already? Time is moving both so very slowly and so very quickly. Perhaps Groundhog Day on slow-mo and then on speed? I’m feeling pretty good right now. First thing this morning I heard a mum across the road explaining to her toddler daughter repeatedly, ‘No, shoes are not for eating.’  I then got quite a bit of work done, polished off an article for a company I do some work with, and worked on a grant proposal. Yes, I know it’s Good Friday. Working today is more a function of being self-employed than […]

Grocery shopping, or how I like to think of it, running the gauntlet. In these times, rather than heading straight to my high street, I take the back streets. It’s calmer, fewer people, less time having to jump onto roads or jump into bushes. Yep, I’m taking my social distancing seriously. Standing in the queue, it was a longish queue on a not very wide footpath, a couple walked past. The man was looking at the queue ‘This is how the government wants to control people’. Her response, ‘Don’t worry about it’. OK, not everyone gets it. But it is […]

What is it about baked beans and a pandemic? Sadly I went into lockdown without a tin of baked beans. I’ve not managed to find any since. And I have looked. Baked beans are not something I eat often, perhaps 4 or 5 times a year. However, they are one of those foods that on very rare occasions, I have a real hankering for. It’s that mushy sugary salty combo, one that I just can’t replicate with home cooking. I’ve not contacted my street’s WhatsApp group, that would be weird. I’ll keep looking. However, I did contact my WhatsApp group […]

I’ve managed to get a bit of a suntan over the last few days. Walking in the park or on footpaths/roads, while keeping an appropriate distance from others, my daily one trip out for exercise; a chat with a neighbour outside who passed on a bag of onions spare, in a candy bag; sitting by my windows in my living room, I don’t have a garden. This tan of mine is starting to include sock tan. Sun and warmth make a huge difference. I remember those moments in previous years, in normal times, the first warm day of the year, […]

At 8pm last night, Her Majesty The Queen addressed the UK and Commonwealth on coronavirus. This is only the fourth special address in her 70 year reign. It was a good speech. In it, she reflected on the challenge that the virus is bringing to all of us. She thanked those working on the NHS ‘frontline’, carers, and all of those involved in delivering essential services. She also acknowledged those of us staying at home to protect the vulnerable. This is very much a global common endeavour. ‘We will succeed…we will meet again.’ OK, so watching it again today, I […]

I’m at the stage of lockdown where I’ve reorganised under the kitchen sink, and my freezer. I’ve left some of the other cupboards for another day. All I want to do is go outside, go for another walk, wander randomly in Dulwich Park and perhaps run into a few people I know. I left it a little late this morning, not leaving until 11. It’s a bright sunny day and the sun finally has some warmth. The hottest day of the year thus far. I got as far as the park and walked around side streets rather than walking through. […]

A glorious day, in terms of weather that is. The weather is getting warmer and the sky is blue. I headed out early this morning. There was traffic equivalent to what you’d see in ‘normal’ times on a Saturday morning. There were a lot of police around Peckham and Nunhead. This is unusual for a Saturday morning. Perhaps they had a day ahead of largely enforcing social distancing. I don’t envy them that task. I did a little volunteer queue monitoring in Nunhead, only they didn’t need anyone, I didn’t know that. Ooops. Got to have some good chats with […]

Yesterday, in addition to writing my letter to Dear runners and cyclists, I managed to get some work done. And last night, at 8pm on the dot, I opened a front window to cheer the NHS, and everyone working to keep up safe and enabling us to survive. And today? It’s not be a great one. I slept well. But I woke up tired and I’ve been feeling tired all day. I got out for my daily bit of exercise, a walk where at various points I throw in some knee lifts and lunges. I ran into a few people […]

Dear runners and cyclists, As a now pedestrian (former runner), thank you to all of you who are maintaining an appropriate distance to people you come across. Thank you to those of you who are going out when things are quieter in parks, or around side streets. Thank you to those who might be out for a run or a bike ride in the park when things can get a little busy, who will slow down, speed up, take a slight detour, all to get the appropriate distance from others. Thank you to those who are constantly reminding your kids […]

My ability to concentrate has gone out the window. A low level anxiety humming in the background. At least today I’m not furious, sad, or angry. It’s a malaise, a flatness. I feel unsettled, unable to keep my mind clearly on one thing for a period of time. I woke up late this morning, having gone back to bed after an early morning call to my landline. I listened to the message. I thought it was spam but later found out it was someone texting me from Australia. The message sounded like someone saying the alphabet. Odd. I also walked. […]