It's a glorious sunny Sunday here in Wales, at what should have been the start of the Easter holidays. We had planned to go to Italy this Easter (of all places!) but luckily for us I was looking at booking something last minute so we hadn't booked anything. As it turns out the weather is beautiful here in the UK for once, just typical when we aren't allowed out of the house!
The situation is much the same as last week. We are allowed out to exercise or walk the dog once a day and to visit the supermarket to buy essentials or medicine. We are lucky that we live near to lots of beautiful open spaces but unfortunately on sunny days like this they are a bit too busy to social distance effectively. During the week I head out with the children early, by 9am and it is quiet enough but at the weekend we have struggled. Today I think I'll head out in the evening for a run when it is quieter.
There is talk of the lockdown that we are in being increased as too many people are flouting the social distancing rules when going out for exercise, especially as the weather has been so nice. I can't even imagine what we will do if we can't get out for that one hour a day.
We have managed two weeks of home schooling and it's been a learning curve! Even though it is supposed to be the Easter holidays now I think we'll continue with the little routine we have got going as it is working, and without anywhere to go there's only so much I can do to entertain them in the house. We are loving using Twinkl's resources and the Reading Eggs app and we will do workbooks over the Easter holidays as there is no school work set from the school.
I had managed until this week to not visit a supermarket. A while ago I managed to book three online deliveries but because some items have been missing from those and because I can't get another delivery slot I had to venture out to the supermarket this week. I won't lie to you - I was really nervous to go, and I wavered a lot on whether I should go or not, or whether we could make do. I decided to go, do a big shop and then we wouldn't need to worry about it for a while. I hadn't been to the supermarket for a couple of weeks and it was a big shock to see what it was like now. You have to queue 2 metres behind the person in front meaning there was a long queue out of the door just to get in. The number of people in store was limited so that social distancing could be observed inside, although that was still difficult with people walking in different directions and shop workers stacking shelves. In Tesco they had implemented a one way system but most people didn't follow it. Pretty much everyone wore gloves and they anti-bac sprayed the trolleys before you took them. At the checkouts the cashiers are protected with new plexi-glass screens and paying by card is encouraged, even mandatory in some shops.
It wasn't a nice experience going out and I hope not to have to do it again for a while but we are still missing a few of our regular shopping items like quorn, bread flour and yeast but I think I will just have to get creative!
I have been cooking (and eating!) a lot since we have been stuck home and I've definitely put on a few pounds. It doesn't bother me massively but I know that I have to either cut down on what I'm eating or pick up the exercise if I don't want to carry on this way! I have a cross trainer at home and I want to do some yoga but our days have just been so full on with home schooling and playing with the baby that I haven't found the time. The bonus is that I have lots of recipes to write up on my vegan blog We Made This Vegan.
The children have taken the situation quite in their stride but they are well aware of the situation and that this virus can kill. My eldest talks to her friends regularly through facetime and they play Minecraft together online. Miss J (9) writes notes to her friend that lives on our street and texts and facetimes her friends from her new school but Little Boy (5) doesn't have the opportunity to talk to his friends. I have been thinking of setting up something up for him as it must be difficult to all of a sudden not be able to play with your friends. He has been bickering with Miss J a lot but otherwise they have all been getting on ok.
I have gotten more and more worried about what would happen if we catch the coronavirus whereas before I was more relaxed about it. A news report about a 13 year old boy with no underlying health conditions to die from the virus has plagued my thoughts. He died alone in hospital without his family due to the isolation rules and his mother couldn't even attend his funeral. It's too close to home to think about. I know that the likelihood is that the children will get a mild form of the virus but to be honest at this point I've read some horror stories and it's a risk that I am not prepared to take so we are being very careful.
I've made a couple of diary type videos on my YouTube channel - one of a day in the life homeschooling and one on our first weekend in lockdown. I'm sure they will be fascinating for the children to watch back in a few years time when hopefully their memories of this time will have faded.
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