I just re-read the last post I'd written on here just ten days ago - and I find it hard to believe that I didn't even mention Covid19. Things have changed so fast - to the point that this week the new normal is Boris Johnson appearing on our TV screens every day at about five pm, telling us about the latest developments.
Boris is fascinating - I'd often read about how his bumbling persona was just an act to endear him to the people and that in reality he was sharp as a pin - and now here he is live on TV every day, being sharp as a pin. I mean, I already knew it, but sometimes you have to see things to believe them. He answers almost all of the questions the journalists throw at him off the cuff, word perfectly, and without beating around the bush. Amazing - and impressive.
I'm still losing weight - I mean, the world has changed around us and we have to adapt, but that doesn't mean we have to change everything in our own lives. Although once or twice I have thought - does this actually matter? Should I just start buying cakes and crisps again? But the answers are always yes, and no. It's even more important to get into shape in the current circumstances because being the correct weight is part of being fit and healthy and it all benefits the immune system. In fact, other members of the family - I won't name names. Okay, it's just Paul - have joined me on the Blood Sugar Diet. It's the ideal opportunity in many ways. The family were already benefitting from the new way of eating because of my improved understanding of nutrition and cooking - now they can reap all the benefits of feeling healthier, as I am.
Paul has frozen our family gym membership, although I expect the gyms will all be closed soon anyway, if they're not already. He's working from home because he has asthma. I'm still visiting my mum daily because she's really vulnerable and needs regular human contact and other care. She has COPD and is 84 and very frail. We've kept our sons off school since Wednesday morning (the government were only a couple of days behind us, closing the schools from this afternoon, although most of the boys' friends are already staying at home). Our younger daughter goes to a different school and has been having online lessons for the last couple of days - her end of term was scheduled for today anyway. Our elder daughter is at Uni and has already been home for a week or so anyway - her end of term was last Friday.
We've kept up some routine - quite a lot of routine. We're getting up early and having breakfast together (we eat all our meals together in fact). The children are all studying in the mornings and part of the afternoons (they have short breaks and walk the dogs during the morning). We're also all going out in the afternoons together for walks.
Our routine is evolving. Soon all the kids will be on their official Easter breaks, and then maybe I won't be insisting that we all get up at 7am - although I'm going to make sure they don't just dive into the internet and get lost there for several weeks. The girls wouldn't anyway, they're really motivated to study, but the boys might... So they're going to be reading books for a large proportion of the day instead. We're also going to garden together...
I bought some vegetable seeds a few weeks ago, aided by a friend who has been working her allotment for many years and advised me on some foolproof first-time grower purchases, such as courgettes and potatoes. Of course, this was nothing to do with the virus, we weren't even thinking about it back then. And we're not planning to become self-sufficient in case there is a famine or anything - it's pure coincidence. A lucky one though - again, not because of a famine - our supply chains are all still working and I don't think carrots can catch coronavirus - but because gardening will be good for all of us. I planted quite a few bulbs back in the autumn which means we can spend more time admiring the flowers and making the most of our outside space. We can also make the garden look even better by all weeding together and make it more productive with the vegetables. Gardening is very therapeutic and it will be a brilliant learning experience for all of us. It was going to be something for me only - like the new way of eating was originally, but I'm really glad to be able to include the rest of the family. Despite the circumstances which have led to the change of plans...
The weather is improving - we might even get started with the weeding and digging this weekend. Yesterday I bought compost (the shops are surprisingly quiet mid-afternoon and I've been able to buy all the provisions I need, including toilet tissue - the only thing we can't find is eggs, but that was yesterday and they're probably back in the shops today, or will be soon. As I said to the guy on the checkout in Aldi yesterday, it doesn't really matter if we can't get eggs, we'll live. And then I realised what I'd said. But I stand by it - we will live.)
So, I said our routine is evolving, and it will continue to evolve. I'm hoping for lots of reading and lots of exercise for us all. I'm also hoping that Paul can keep working remotely (i.e. that his company won't go bust, as many will). We had a lot of foreign language students booked in for the next few months - I'd decided that this would be my financial contribution to the household and I was intending to stick at it and make it work. We've hosted students in the past and I know it's not always easy having non-family members in the home, especially as in our household it means the boys have to share a room. But anyway, all that has gone out of the window - the student groups had cancelled one by one and the language school gave up the ghost yesterday and closed its doors for the foreseeable future. Just one of the many businesses that have suffered - I do hope they'll all re-emerge before too long, hopefully working from paper-free offices (we're all going to be working online anyway for the next few months - we'll manage without paper, and it's an ideal opportunity to keep that going). As the kids have said, there will be silver linings to various accumulating clouds - the environment will benefit from less air travel, for one.
One big thing has changed in our home and to me it is definitely a silver lining. On our first day at home - Wednesday - I was worn out by lunchtime. I had spent three or four hours preparing and clearing up breakfast and lunch for everyone, cleaning the bathrooms, hoovering, walking the dogs and so on. All the things I do every day, but there is more of it to do when everyone is at home. At one point, Luke (our youngest) came into the bathroom when I was on my hands and knees and said, in genuine surprise, 'Why are you cleaning?'
'This is what I do,' I told him, surprised that he didn't realise. I suppose when they're at school they think I sit around at home and read the newspaper or something. I do that too...
Anyway, on the portentous Wednesday it suddenly occurred to me - I don't need to provide a support system any more. I mean, Paul works. The older girls study very hard and the boys will be studying too. But we all live together in this house and I have things I want to do. I am a writer. I don't earn anything most of the time but this is partly because I so often distract myself with various other things - visiting friends, hosting students, holding writing groups and so on.
Now this is my opportunity to take my own work seriously. I can actually be a writer. Why should that be less important than everyone else's studies and Paul's work? They'll all have leisure time and can use some of it to keep the house running. All my time does not need to be sacrificed to that.
I want equal parity, I told everyone over dinner that evening. And to my surprise, they didn't object. So I drew up a rota - everyone is to take turns preparing each meal. Everyone is to help with cleaning and washing. We'll all garden together (as I already mentioned).
The thing is, it will be beneficial for all of us. The children already have some cooking skills - learned at school and at home, and in Anna's case, at University and on her gap year when she lived away from home. They can all read a recipe book and follow instructions. They are learning self-sufficiency. The youngest is only 12 so I am helping him to learn some of the necessary skills - even the 15 year old didn't have a clue how the washing machine worked - but basically they already know how to do most household tasks, they've just all assumed it was my job because that's what I've been doing for all these years. Practising them, and being praised for doing so, can only be a good thing.
And for me, the new order of things is bliss. I came back from visiting my mother yesterday evening to a meal of lentil fritters and salad, cooked by my eldest daughter. What a treat - better than being out in a restaurant. This morning, Paul cooked porridge for the family. At lunchtime, Luke made a salad... Each household chore is not onerous in itself, it is only when the entire burden falls on one person that the weight becomes too heavy. A lot of my time has been freed, just like that.
I just need to justify this by taking my work seriously. By actually writing. So, I was reading the newspaper this morning in the living room, when Anna came in and reminded me that I should be writing. 'A writer has to read' I announced, before reluctantly taking her point and getting out my laptop. Two and a half hours later, I had got properly stuck in to my work and was really pleased with myself. (I'm editing my thriller, Into Thin Air, it's going to be so different and so much better than before. I'd already written half of the next book in the series, but stopped when I started my healthy eating thing a couple of months ago - it's still there, waiting for me to pick it up... I am going to write the three book series I said I would. After that, who knows?)
This time, I'm really going to get it done (just like Boris and Brexit and now Boris and Covid19 - he did actually say on his broadcast yesterday that he was going to 'get this done'. I was watching Gogglebox the other day when one of the viewers said that they wouldn't take Boris seriously until he said exactly that in relation to the virus...it made me laugh at the time and when he said it yesterday I couldn't help wondering if he had been watching that episode too).
I haven't changed my politics by the way. But Boris seems to be an example of someone coming out of this in a good light - it turns out that he is a good leader after all, or hopefully so. It'll be interesting to see who does and who doesn't. Acting selflessly is easier when we don't feel that we're in personal danger. I hope I'm one of the people who acquits myself well and with dignity, if push comes to shove...
Enough for now. Love to all.
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