When lockdown started we were all frightened and scared. Would we lose someone, how would we cope…all these questions going around in my head. I could not settle at bedtime…the mind was a whirl….so I started staying up, watching youtube, Facebooking and watching drama on Iplayer. I still do that in the evening so that I am so tired when I go up I can go to sleep quicker.

I began to miss family even though we all live in the same town. Son no 2 we were his support bubble and son no 1 had me and his dad in the bubble he formed so we did get to see them. Son no 1 organized on my laptop that I could video chat so I was able to see son no 3 and family as well as “end of the path” chats.

When lockdown started the scariest part was a visit to Tesco….hubby had been told to shield so I did the weekly trip to Tesco and the first sign was that things were changing as I started to use a shopping trolly. The queuing to get into the supermarket in the glaring sun …very uncomfortable. What I found worse was just before the supermarkets but restrictions on were the panic buying…the crowds in the shops…the empty shelves etc.

I have always read and watched movies that had “end of the world” type scenarios and some days I felt like I was living in one. I found a booking Tesco called Lockdown by Peter May set in a pandemic London ……gave up halfway through as it was near to the bone with true life. (TJ serves you right for showing me Surviviors (1971) when I had the flu!!! – sorry no sympathy from  me LOL)

Hubby and I stood and clapped outside every Thursday. Did my daily walk around the green outside our house. social distancing and when it was made mandatory to wear a mask.a visor or one of my many floating scarves.

I never got into baking banana bread…..did make jam tarts and fairy cakes once when I managed to get some flour. I started to knit what I called “isolation” scarves to give to friends and family managing approx 60 and then a few “random acts of kindness” hats. I still have stuff on the go.

I have dealt with “family issues” which have been intense….but I am not the only one. My right knee has decided that it needs to be replaced…so my walking has slowed down. I could use a stick but I won’t as I do find it makes me ungainly and unsteady. So I take my painkillers when it gets bad and fill the hot water bottle for comfort.

Having the video chat on my laptop surprised people like old school friends that I had not seen since leaving school. Catching up with family further flung. Son no 1 also set me up with this blog. I have kept up with my pen pals and letter writing, read far too many books, bought an unnecessary amount of magazines and tried my hand crosswords…..not finished one yet.

Missed going to volunteering at the charity shops..one did not reopen but I replaced it by more or less transferred to the bookshop (Oxfam), which I totally enjoy. Had my first covid jab in January then my 2nd in April. It does make you feel safer. I am now happily back at the charity shops.

Life seems to be getting back to”normal”….but do you that it will be like “before”.I don’t ….life as we knew it has changed. Has it made us better people…I hope it has to some of us……but there will always be a percentage of us that will only be concerned for themselves and always put themselves first. I only hope I am not one of them.

When I started this blog I had no idea what I was going to write. So it may all be “mutterings”.Until next time xx