COVID-19 Restrictions - tentatively related to Saint Baldred (he was a hermit)

COVID-19 restrictions

As I read the story of Baldred the hermit, I realised that COVID-19 has turned some of us into hermits … not quite as extreme as Baldred but still with limited movement and limited social interaction.  We are in week 11 of Lockdown currently although restrictions have eased somewhat.  Those of us who can work at home and are not high risk are encouraged to go out for exercise as many times as we want rather than the original once a day.  We are now allowed to meet up to 6 people from different households outside and we must wear masks on public transport.

Coronavirus blew up in the UK when Paul was in Brunei, Countries were closing their borders and I had a few days of not knowing whether Paul would get home as he had been turned away when he made his first attempt to leave Brunei, at the airport.  I eventually wrote to the Brunei government and his papers were signed the next day.  He has been home since which is great, and I feel for the people who are alone.  Ben is also here and is a keyworker at Tesco.  He is starting to go out and meet with his friends as the restrictions are lifting. 

In these 11 weeks we have seen Nina once and Pippi once, she has collected and dropped off bits and pieces as well, but we have only seen her briefly on these occasions.  Of course, I cannot hug her which is odd.  I started off well at the beginning of the lockdown keeping in touch with people, but it gets harder, as life stays the same.  I speak to my dad every day, but the calls are generally short.

The lockdown has affected several events that I/we had booked.  My brother was getting married, but his wedding got cancelled.  We were due to go to Colchester for this and would have seen the family.  For Easter we were due to go to Ireland and my dad was coming with us.  That was cancelled.  I was due to go to Berlin with Pippi – mainly to go to the zoo, that was cancelled.  Paul was due to give a training course in Brisbane and I was helping, that is postponed.  We are due to go to Wales on holiday in July – it remains to be seen if that will get cancelled.  I will write separately over the experience I have had with the various companies as events have been cancelled.

The scary thing is, I am starting to get used to not speaking to many people and not going out.  I have only been to the post office once in the last 11 weeks, I have not been to any shops as I have various local companies delivering and with Ben working at Tesco, he can bring home anything I have forgotten.

It will be interesting to see what the World will be like once the lockdown is lifted completely and when life gets back to normal – if it ever does.  I have a feeling that the new normal will be quite a different place.