Lockdown

It sounds like a song, or fictional in a way. I think we are all so used to disaster movies, apocalyptic programmes and films that living through and with the coronavirus lockdown doesn't feel completely real.

When we leave our house to walk the dog daily it doesn't feel any different to normal. The roads are still reasonably busy with traffic, the park still has lots of people in varying group sizes having a walk, a picnic, playing in the park or having a chat by a bench.

The daily briefings from Downing Street confirming the numbers of deths caused by this coronavirus are awful. The numbers of people losing their lives every single day across the country is terrible. It is annoying though that they keep using skewed data, presented in various graphs to make it look like they (the government) are dealing with the coronavirus well compared to other countries.
One day they use one set of data, then when that doesn't show the picture they want, they change it slightly for a different set of data for the next briefing. Thankfully some of the printed media seems to have cottoned onto this now too and is starting to question it.

Around us, there haven't been many deaths attributed to coronavirus in the community or in hospitals. There was an outbreak in a nursing home in the city, but other than that the numbers are very low. I assume this is why people are so blase about the government guidelines. I do have concerns around the lockdown being lifted and the virus spreading like wildfire in that situation.

Life in lockdown has been OK here. With my disabilities and illnesses, I spend a lot of time at home anyway and am usually here alone whilst the children are out at their activities. It has been lovely to have my husband home more and to be able to walk the dog together. The children have also commented on their lives being more relaxed and having more time to chill and less rushing about.

We are all missing our friends though. That is a really difficult part of all this disruption. For my youngest, some of her friends live on our street, so close yet so far.

With every briefing, we are listening for any changes to the lockdown, along with every other person in the country.