A series of blogs about my experience during the pandemic of 2020. My words are in italics.
Me.
I am a 76-year-old single woman. I moved from my home town, London, in 2010. It has not been easy. I have learned that old, old lesson. People, my adult children and friends are more important in my life than possessions or location, location. Oh, and Location.
Coronavirus / Covid -19
My thoughts are in italics.
2019 into 2020
Words, words, words and more words. Repeating and repeating. Endlessly.
Daily briefings.
Gushing from the mouths of the people who line up behind the sombre brown lecterns.
‘Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives’
19 March,
Boris Johnson
..said ..
‘In 12 weeks we can turn the tide.’
and..
‘I am absolutely confident that we can send coronavirus packing.’
Me.
We sit between the dangerous Orange Devil over the Pond and a shower of shits and Toxic Toffs on our side. Between the Devil and the deep blue sea.
“Brexit means Brexit” and “Leave means Leave”
Me.
In 2019 we were drowning in Brexit. No-deal Brexit. or.. Remain.
Take back control.
Get Brexit done.
No deal is better than a bad deal.
The will of the people..
Flummery & Fiddlesticks.
FF Sake.
Bombarded by words.
Coronavirus Covid -19
Me.
As the year slid into February the word Coronavirus began to be on the lips, the screen, the radio, the print, online, everywhere. Clouds full of words. I planted potatoes.
Smoke & mirrors. Bull shit, fibs & lies.
Words, often repeated.
Unprecedented.
Key workers.
Unskilled workers?
Underlying health conditions.
Stay home Protect lives saveThe NHS.
Lockdown.
Me.
Words words and more words. Buzz words. Sell, sell sell.
I…I .. what should I say?
I have become De- Socialised. Lacking communication with others.
I have been alone in this flat since the second week in March.
I am not speaking. I am thinking too much. But I have my beloved cats.
Afraid. Scared. Alone. A prisoner in my own home.
I want to talk – I do. When I am in a conversation, on the phone or a zoom,
I feel lost for words. Am I saying the right thing?
The talking muscles are fading..
Hot, hot, hot. No rain for over a month.
I and I.
More empty words. On a loop. endlessly repeating .
Protective ring, protective shield. Isolation. Shielding.
Help!
Me.
I have had several Pneumonia bouts in the last decade, that and asthma, eye problems, Tinnitus and, and, and… I am over 70, so I am told, ‘don’t go out.‘ Shield.
Ella Louis and Theo who visits .. a lot’
More words.
Government.
Front line.
Herd immunity.
Wash your hands while singing happy birthday, twice.’
Breaking news.. ‘we hope to get more sanitiser.’
Me.
Yea right-
Prince Charles shaking hundreds of hands?
Boris clustering around the speakers chair with his cronies.
Shaking hands in Hospitals any where he can get his photo opportunity.
When will he walk on water, is he holier than thou?
Chrissakes!
Boris says the government ‘have their arms around us?’
And they will rise again in a cave in the Cotswolds?
Me.
All boasting .. waffling, lying, bluster and balderdash.
NHS
Me.
Lip service, they ran it down over decades. Hypocrites.
January into February… March.
Me.
Mind and body low.
Swimming against the tide.
Waving, waving. No one there to extend a hand.
My light has been turned off.
Walking in quick sand, dragging my shredded confidence in a bag.
I could see the fear and wariness in some people’s eyes.
How close are we? Is it the 2 metres?
Pandemic.
Matt Hancock
Following the science.
WFH (working from home)
May 8th
.. told the Education Select Committee the date for opening would depend on scientific advice – but schools would get “as much notice as possible”.
But not all schools have reopened..
Some parents have chosen not to send their children back.
It is not currently compulsory to send children to school.
Me.
Exactly, a plan without a plan, go back to work before we are prepared… walk from the suburbs into city centres, or clog up the roads once more, or… risk infection on Public transport. Send 5-year-old kids to school and tell them to play 2 meters apart!!! ???? The teachers, cleaners, food providers? Advice face masks but stocks are low or make one? and.. ‘Be a LERT.’ Damian Green? WTF?
Matt Hancock.
Confirming the move, he told MPs he wanted all children back to school in September and that “exams will take place next year”.
The education secretary told the House of Commons that there was a “cautious, phased return” to school – but that would no longer mean all primary year groups going back before the end of term.
Mr Williamson said that if schools had the capacity they could take more pupils if they chose.
Me.
Go to school don’t go to school, wear face masks don’t wear face masks..
Matt Hancock
Coronavirus Covid -19
‘..made the right decisions at the right time” on implementing the coronavirus lockdown.’
More words.
Data Analytics.
New normal.
Covidiot.
Covideo party.
Covexit.
And the..
‘.. use of Masks should be the new normal.’
Social distancing.
2 metre distancing rule.
Furloughed.
Quarantine.
Death Toll.
Me.
My shed is in a right state. A mess. There is no way in.
No room. I must sort it out.
29 April 2020
The reopening of schools in England is expected to take place in a “phased manner”, says the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson.
He told the Education Select Committee the date for opening would depend on scientific advice – but schools would get “as much notice as possible”.
In England, some nursery and pre-school children – plus pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 June 1st.
Me.
Exactly, a plan without a plan, go back to work before we are prepared… walk from the suburbs into city centres, or clog up the roads once more, or… risk infection on Public transport. Send 5-year-old kids to school and tell them to play 2 meters apart!!! ???? The teachers, cleaners, food providers? Advice face masks but stocks are low or make one? and be a LERT. Damian Green? WTF?
Boris Johnson
Called Covid-19 a ‘..an invisible mugger”,
and
It is not currently compulsory to send children to school.
And..
“It is your civic duty,”
‘.. the Government had met its target to carry out 100,000 tests a day ..’
Matt Hancock
‘This will be voluntary at first because we trust everyone to do the right thing, but we can quickly make it mandatory if that’s what it takes.’
.. passed through the peak’
‘ .. I knew that it was an audacious goal, but we needed an audacious goal, because testing is so important for getting Britain back on her feet.’
A health minister has hailed the UK’s approval of an immunity test for coronavirus as a game changer that could allow more people to go to work with confidence, although the government has not yet managed to buy any of the tests.
Me.
The rains came eventually. My garden was happy. Counting my blessings.
Words words and words over and over and over..
World beating. Test and trace.
Easing the lockdown.
R factor.
Second wave.
Ramping up.
ZOOM.
Bubbles.
Donald Trump
said
“.. when the looting starts, the shooting starts”.
“I can’t breathe.”
Me.
Cambodia, Rwanda, East Timor, Armenians, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia) Darfur, forces under the command of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, on and bloody on. Slavery.
Genocide before and after the Holocaust. Imperial colonisation. Native Americans. Australia, New Zealand, Brazil on and on we have pillaged, raped and committed genocide. Yes, we need to keep it all alive. Lest we forget? When we ever learn? I cannot speak without difficulty. The tears fall. The rains fall.
We are so lucky here. Without rain, there is no life.
THE SINGERS TALE. A VIRUS- COVID-19
An introduction to a series of blogs about my experience during the pandemic of 2020.
I am a 76 year old single woman. I moved from my home town, London, in 2010. It has not been easy. I have learned that old, old lesson. People, my adult children and friends are the more important in my life than possessions or location, location.
As always insightful and powerful. Keep safe and strong and let’s do more socially distanced walks down to beach.