Friday 29 May

Last week day before the lockdown restrictions begin to ease on Monday, it’s also the last day of half-term, not that we have really noticed it.

It feels like many people are not keen to return to work or have their children return to school due to the risk of infection.

Psychologically we have been doing this lockdown for a long time and there have been many positive to have come from this.

Families have been ‘forced’ to spend time together without work or school getting in the way; we have all had to engage with the people who are most important to us!?

Even my Dad, living on his own whilst Mum is in lockdown in a care home that he can not visit, appears to be doing really well.

Thursday 28 May

Just finished watching Question Time on telly and the chat afterwards on the radio is about how so many politicians seem to know next to nothing about what is going on at the moment.

Fair enough, things are moving so quickly but you would expect MPs selected to appear to know the latest facts.

The conservative MP tonight was unable to answer questions about the new Test and Trace app that is being released today.

A lot of talk tonight about how the PM avoided answering questions about Dominic Cummings in the briefing this afternoon.

Late evening walk today with Lisa, the kids and Mabel and we tried to answer the question, ‘Does Mabel know she is a dog and we are not?’

Wednesday 27 May

The last few days have seen the winds drop to nothing and the temperature drop to an insipid ‘not too hot, not too cold’.

The whole country is betwixt and between places; some people are back to work whilst others are not, we’re facing some kids returning to school and others continuing to be educated at home.

It’s like we have woken up and are out of bed but still in our pyjamas with no plans for the day ahead.

I did some work setting remote lessons for pupils and then went and got my air-conditioning and tyre leak sorted on my car.

Later we watched the PM being grilled by ministers about everything Covid/Cummings. I’m really finding it all quite difficult at the moment; the hardest its been so far.

Tuesday 26 May

Sixty-seven days – it’s a number that has hit home to me just how big this thing has been.

Worked this morning on the content for our trust website that will distill all of the (crazy amount) of information that has come from the DfE and just give the staff and parents what they need to know.

We have to have entrances that will enable pupils to be escorted one by one to their own room where they will be taught in isolation.

The irony is that, before the pandemic, this was suggested by the DfE as a potential consequence of poor pupil behaviour.

I started a new book today, ‘A Short Philosophy of Birds’, many lessons for us as we come to terms with life after lockdown.

Monday 25 May

I’m sitting in our sun-drenched garden writing this first part of today’s post to the breaking news that Dominic Cummings will hold a press conference later today, and field questions over the allegations of him breaking lockdown guidance.

It’s become a frenzied media story that angers me; not so much because of the breaking of the rules but, more so, how he is clearly so influencial on the PM and government. He’s a bloody adviser! A civil servant!

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Ok, it’s now late in the evening and the craziness has been replaced by calm and contentedness.

We had a barbecue this evening and then drove to Stutton (just across the border in Suffolk) for one of our favourite walks through beautiful agricultural and coastal scenery.

The sun had set by the time we’d returned and I had forgotten about the weird world we live in; we had immersed ourselves in the great outdoors and the wonderful company of each other.

Sunday 24 May

Writing this late on Sunday evening I am aware of a real change in direction on a number of levels.

Lisa and I started the morning with a trip to a local garden centre, both of us able to go in together. This has been impossible up to now not only because garden centres, like everything else other than supermarkets, has been closed.

But also because we were able to go in together rather than one person only per household.

The press and opposition politicians are also becoming doggedly critical of the government and the prime minister especially as he has backed the unacceptable actions of Dominic Cummings whilst in isolation.

Also, we all admitted around the dinner table this evening that we are now all fed up with the restrictions and the whole lockdown situation. We’re tired, and I am certainly showing signs of frustration.

Saturday 23 May

Really windy today; dry, warm but really blowy.

There are stormy conditions in and around number 10 too as the PMs chief aide, Dominic Cummings, is coming under pressure to resign or be sacked for breaching lockdown rules and driving from London to Durham to see his parents.

A whole bunch of Tory cabinet members have come out to defend what seems like the indefensible, and the media are gunning for him.

Back at home, another day going nowhere as I did the trip to Aldi yesterday, meaning a windy day in the garden making a new flower bed for Lisa to plant Dahlias and the like.

I bloody fell over and scrazed my back at the end if the day too; caught my ankle on the top of the fence to the veg garden and only days after turning fifty. Coincidence?

Friday 22 May

It’s Stan’s 17th birthday today and we have now celebrated a third birthday in our household under lockdown; happy birthday, Son.

Me and Lisa were both at work today while crazy preparations persist for the grand opening of schools after the half term ‘break’.

The pressure is really on the primary headteachers to make this all work; they shoulder so much for little to no reward.

The children that do come in are in for a day of reduced class size and segregation at playtimes and lunchtimes; they can only use the items from their own trays whilst other resources, areas and book cases are taped off like crime scenes.

On a happy note, we were able to get the family together on Google Meet to sing happy birthday to him as he blew out his candles; followed by a small quiz about the number 17 and the year 2003 when he was born.

Thursday 21 May

These weeks seem to be whizzing by, it’s half term next week and then schools are due to reopen for some primary years on 1st June.

Me and Stan have just finished season 8 of The Walking Dead which we started from the very first episode on the first day of lockdown; that’s getting on for 90 episodes.

Another day at home today, a couple of online meetings and preparing for the school to reopen with a big emphasis on distance-learning.

Went to the supermarket in Manningtree this afternoon, left due to a queue around the carpark and went to the farm shop instead.

Adora had to wait in the car as only one person per group was allowed in at a time.

Wednesday 20 May

The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced to the House of Lords yesterday (via Zoom) that the impact of Caronavirus and the subsequent recession “will be severe”.

Recession affects everyone in some way or other but obviously, in the worst cases, people will lose their jobs and be unable to get anything else.

In April alone, unemployment has risen to 2.1 million and job vacancies fell by a quarter – and the recession hasn’t even started yet!

Again, as always it will be the poorest who will feel it the most, the rich might be inconvenienced.

On a lighter note, we saw this cloud whilst walking the other evening; I love the fact that clouds can do this, present a familiar shape, then within a few seconds it’s gone. Right place, right time.