thoughts about lockdown and the virus (the foreword for the book)

 
All of us seem so different.

Different lives, different countries, the same planet.
Colour, belief and age see no barriers just now. We are all human beings, susceptible to the Covid-19 strain of Corona Virus.
    How has this been for us as different humans? What are our experiences, thoughts and feelings? Will we feel the same as each other and live the same groundhog days – or have we had different journeys?
     This time in history is unique. We all initially, thought we were invincible. Until the numbers showed every day just how easily this virus was spreading. We started to realise the very real risk of dying from it. Everyone knew someone who had it or knew someone who had sadly died from the virus and that motivated us to all follow the rules, stay indoors and tut at people who didn’t seem to be following the social distancing advice.
     Human lives everywhere have been affected by this global pandemic and all of us have seen a myriad of emotions evoked during the lockdown. A few of us decided to journal our experiences to share in this anthology and piecing the tales together you can see a common theme uniting the human race yet all of us with vastly different voices.
     Then the positivity began to arrive towards the end of April 2020. People were beginning to realise the positivity of being home, the lack of worry for the usual things despite the concern for the basic right of survival.
     One of the loveliest things is to walk without a watch. Life began to feel very different in many ways. Memes trickled their way through social media, speaking of ‘high maintenance’ ladies who regularly had eyelashes, eyebrows, nails and roots taken care of by a salon which were unable to open just now.  Those greys got longer, google answered ‘how to remove acrylics at home’ and ‘how to cut your fringe with nail scissors’ and men began to shave their heads. Facebook and Instagram stories saw photos of men with almost bald heads and smiles in a submissive fashion, occasionally a shoulder shrug.
     Before the pandemic, patients complained about the National Health Service (NHS) waiting times or the fact the clinics were always running late. Things never seemed good enough. Yet now we are taking to the streets every Thursday at 8 pm with fireworks, banging pots and pans as we ‘clap for our carers’. People have never seemed so supportive of our NHS.  My appointment in rheumatology has been cancelled. No problem. Most clinics have been cancelled and people have accepted it without a grumble.
     Number ten downing street must surely be full of meetings and crisis talks in this global emergency. New schemes to help us have been rolled out ‘at pace’ the Chancellor tells us. My knowledge of politics is limited but from what I have to judge on in front of me, it looks like those guys making the decisions are doing okay.  I won’t suggest y congrats to the Government on Twitter. I can’t fathom that debate. Some like it, not me.
     Holidays were cancelled, people were missing their loved ones. A vacant embrace being replaced by words and encouragement of, ‘when we get through this, things will be even better.’ These thoughts were carefully shared on social media as if to reach out to others in the hope of some encouragement of one's bravery. But not once had I heard anger or frustration. rather more a clenched jaw and an internal air-punching, ‘come on!’.
     Cash wasn’t allowed in shops, if possible. Contactless please. My purse was only opened these days to remove a card for internet shopping.  A lonely, blue £5 note sat in there week after week. Usually, that wouldn’t last longer than a round of Starbucks.

I missed Starbucks.  Not the coffee so much; the drive, the being there, the buzz. The other humans.
     Instagram was full of posts like these:
‘Ok so yes, I miss the coffee shops. Do you?
I can’t lie, I love packing up my mint green rucksack with
•pencil cases
•laptop
•chargers
•earphones
•journal
•notebook
•purse
•glasses
And getting in the car with the music up loud, driving to the coffee shop in the sunshine. Dancing in the seat, tapping the steering wheel, making those other drivers smile with your contagiously happy mood.
Oh, happy day.
⠀
But we can’t.
And that’s ok.
We have all adjusted, shifted things. Lots of comments like this are being written about life changing. It’s so different.
We will look back on this time and say, “do you remember when...?”
Fondly probably. Thoughts of the times when we had time to make coffee at home, how much money we saved, we could work on the laptop with messy hair, last night’s mascara still trying to escape, wearing comfy clothes and a snoring shihtzu next to us.
The clock ticks in my living room just now and I’ve decided to make another cuppa then get to my exciting edits. This is nice.
But, @Starbucks you’re perfectly safe.
We can live without certain things. It won’t stop us missing them, wanting them, remembering ‘times when...’ and that’s perfectly okay.
Isn’t it?