Like Japanese soldiers found hiding on remote Pacific islands decades after the Second World War, unaware the hostilities had ended, I fear I may emerge from isolation months in the future to discover everyone else has been out and about, holidaying and having fun. Scenes on the news of crowded beaches and beauty spots and anti racism protests, leave many of us wondering if we have missed a miraculous and sudden end to the pandemic.
One of my earliest memories is looking out of our upstairs window at sunshine and blue skies and feeling shut in. Until I was nearly seven, by which time my parents had a toddler and baby to cope with as well, Mum and Dad rented what they called a flat, but was really the spacious two top floors of a large Victorian terraced house. A quick glance on Zoopla reveals you would pay over a million and a quarter for such a house in that road today. But Mum had to lean out the kitchen window to hang the washing on a pulley line, suspended high above the back garden of the ‘wicked old lady’ ( mum’s words ) who lived on the ground floor. She never offered to let me play in her garden. But I certainly wasn’t a prisoner; my parents were always taking me down by the river or to Kew Gardens, Marble Hill Park and Richmond Park for fresh air and exercise. I feel so sorry for children literally locked into cramped flats because of the virus. Most children in England will not now return to school till after the summer holidays. While many are having fun and never had so many walks and bike rides with their parents, some children are isolated indoors because of their health or underlying health conditions of someone in their family.
We adults may grumble and some people have found themselves in dire situations, but we are not sheltering in a basement in a war shattered city. For writers, bloggers, artists and gardeners it’s just another day at home, an endless succession of days at home, but it’s okay. Obviously I could not survive without BBC Radio, books, music, the internet, television and of course chocolate.
When we were having our medical dramas just before lockdown, there was another patient who seemed to be following Cyberspouse from ward to ward. He had no visitors because he had a frail wife at home and no family near. I knew this because I heard all his conversations to medical staff and on his mobile, but his greatest upset was not having anything to read and nobody seemed able to get him a newspaper. When any medical staff asked how he was he told them he was soo bored. He was reduced to doing origami with the paperwork they left behind. By the third ward I made sure I brought him a newspaper and he was overwhelmed with gratitude. Boredom can be a worse threat than a pandemic.
What things have been essential for your survival in isolation?
Times and Tides of a Beachwriter 
Great post. Essential for my survival is my bicycle. I’ve discovered how lovely it is cycling along empty country lanes. My leg nuscles have become much stronger too!
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Thanks Stevie xcellent choice, though a bicycle would have its limitations inside a flat.
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You would have to take it down in the lift and ride it outside!
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Sorry… muscles.
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If I hadn’t spent the whole time working I might be bored, but more likely, I’d be very worried about money as there is no social assistance here. It isn’t nice for the children, but life is full of adversity and it comes in different ways to everybody.
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There must be many people in many places worrying about the money, especially in countries where they have nowhere to turn.
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Sunshine. I have never spent so much time on our deck until this year. 🙂
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Yes our glorious sunny spring has made this much easier.
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How kind of you to get a newspaper for that patient; I am sure it made his day. I’ve kept busy trying to master some online teaching tools, and then actually using them while teaching. But I can’t wait until the lockdown is over; we have been on the cautious side…
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Hello Jim, I think there must be a lot of adult learning going on, as well as home schooling, well done.
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I think there is, Janet, and most of it out of necessity 🙂
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Books have been my salvation. I don’t feel like wring but there are two bookswap places nearby and I have made good use of them. I have also bought books on line but still haven’t sorted my kindle.
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Hello Julie, never mind the Kindle, book swaps are fun because you don’t know what you might find and I’m sure books have been the salvation of many people lately.
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I also feel sorry for those kids who can’t play outside and the people suffering with the isolation. How sweet of you to deliver a paper to the patient. Eventually, this virus will have a vaccine, but we’re still so far away from that relief. Thank goodness for books.
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Yes Diana, those kids probably feel closed in at the best of times. books are a winner in the lock down.
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Your blog posts for one, along with a few others I depend on to understand, to get it, and to say it out loud. Keep writing❣️
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Thanks Cynthia, that’s great to hear.
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WordPress 🙂 … as much as it can be annoying sometimes, it’s an invaluable resource … that and YouTube. 😀
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Yes we hope the internet or electricity is not switched off!
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I would be lost without my computer! The world is at my fingertips, I connect with people. and I can write. Thank you for following my blog.
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Yes so would I, the world is literally at our fingertips.
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