Corona Diary: Day 2

For the children, it’s their second day of corona restrictions. For Bethan, it’s also the second day of the rest of her life, having finished school unexpectedly and forever last Friday.

I’m aware that some people will be saying how lucky this year of students are. The shadow of exams is lifted and, unlike the rest of us who will have to continue our work and studies via VC or other means, they have six months of utter liberty. Nothing to do except sit at home and wait for the next stage of their lives to begin.

Nothing to do. Nothing at all.

Remember when you finished school. The long build up; the moment of release and excitement and dread when you finish your exams; the frantic celebration with friends; then the sudden moment of emptiness when you wake up the next morning when you realise that you’re not sure what to do next.

Now take out the celebrations.

A generation of children have just been told that the final year of their lives has just been cancelled. The final assembly, the sixth form review, the leaver’s ball. The eighteenth birthday parties. The tearful goodbyes have been compressed into two days. Now the friends of seven to thirteen years are socially distant, the faceless text on the other end of a WhatsApp group.

This is why its so important to keep structure in our lives. Bethan has already started applying for jobs, partly for the money and partly because we desperately need more people in our supermarkets to stock the shelves and prepare deliveries.

We also all did an online Yoga class today. Apparently, we didn’t need to watch the introductory video’s because, as my wife Sue put it, its all incredibly easy to follow.

I didn’t know it was possible to bark out instructions so fast while simultaneously wrapping your left leg around the back of your head. I was still trying to touch my toes. Joachin, our youngest, was attempting to use a beach towel instead of a yoga mat. On the first downward dog, he slid halfway across the living room and ended up in a crumpled heap against the sofa. By this stage, the woman on screen was already seven moves ahead and telling us to align our chakras.

One nice thing about this social distancing is that it’s forcing us to spend more time together as a family. Last night, I made the children watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. They still haven’t forgiven me.

For those that are isolated on their own, there are still ways of feeling connected. I’m making a list on this very blog (see the menu at the top of the screen), and everyone is welcome to contribute. I’ve already had several requests to sync up and play online games, and I’m starting to seek out more interesting activities. For instance, on Tuesday, Big Drop Brewing Company are holding an online version of their regular pubquiz by live broadcast over YouTube.

It feels that over the last few years, we’ve increasingly found new and exciting ways to socialize, moving on from the old ‘meet up in the pub in the evening’ to Secret Cinema, Escape Rooms, Art classes and giant ball pits.

If the new state of the world means we have to come up with new and innovative ways to socialize all over again then so be it. We’re an innovative people. I believe in us. I believe that over the next few months, we will see an amazing wave of invention, online apps, new ways of using VC, and social closeness. The next wave of social distancing is social re-connection.

I look forward to seeing you all there.