This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
Here we go again……Lockdown returns for No-go-vember and this time we know what we are in for but without the sunshine, long days and al fresco dining sipping chilled Rosé wine. We knew this was coming but honestly the thought of being separated from family and friends for a minimum of four weeks still seems to hit hard.
This time round the weather is not so user friendly and it would be so easy to just snuggle up on the sofa, under a duvet, and eat masses of comfort food. No point in saving that tin of Quality Street for the festive period as Christmas may be cancelled this year.
I was meant to be having a haircut this last week but I cancelled as there seemed no point in spending the final day of freedom in a hairdressers and anyway no-one is going to see my hair. Actually I am rather enjoying trying out all my daughters’ hair accessories. Velvet hairbands seem quite seasonal and if I tie my hair back really tightly, in a hair tie, it is like having a temporary mini facelift.
Seriously you must, like me, be wondering when will this truly end? Michael Gove says it is his “fervent hope” that England’s new lockdown will end on 2 December – but that ministers will be “guided by the facts”. I wish we knew which facts are the truth as there are so many differing views and information coming out from Government ministers, scientists or medical health officials that I am not sure how anyone knows what is going to happen in the next few months. Professor Chris ‘next slide please’ Whitty produces endless graphs which terrify me to the core and then two days later we are told that these were based on out-of-date data.
And now if we haven’t got enough to worry about I gather that the UK terror threat has been raised after the attacks in Austria and France. Could someone tell the terrorists that most of us are in lockdown and we aren’t allowed group gatherings, plus everyone is trying to avoid public transport so please stay home as we don. Will any of us ever go anywhere again I wonder?
Remembrance Sunday is presumably not going ahead though in Wales, I understand, they are allowing outdoor, socially distanced events however communal singing is to be controlled. Good luck whoever has to police that one as the Welsh are phenomenal singers and I am not sure they will understand ‘limited singing’. I am still going to wear my poppy on my dog walk with my one friend (which is allowed), and around the house this year, but that doesn’t help the British Legion with their fundraising. In my local supermarket there are normally people selling the poppies outside the store but I saw that the poppies and a money tin were discreetly placed on a window sill – so discreetly that no-one saw them. ‘Lest we forget’ is emblazoned on badges, face masks and all sorts of paraphernalia in an attempt to try to encourage us to donate. Maybe it is a good time to remember that two bouts of lockdown in one year is nothing like years of a world war so we must not forget those heroes of yesteryear together with the ones that are fighting this new viral enemy.
Some time ago, during the last Lockdown, I wrote about cleaning out our kids garden shed where unmentionable activities had allegedly taken place during their formative teenage years. It involved wearing full protective clothing to clean it in order to hand it over to builders to convert it into a guest apartment.
10 days ago, on a Friday, we waved goodbye to the builders who had done a terrific job and husband and I started to decorate it. Whilst we were doing this we thought how nice it was and we would be quite happy living in there, as lockdown returns, for it has wonderful river views and is tucked away amidst huge Scottish Pine trees. It is like our own woodland cabin.
However we were scuppered as, no sooner had Boris announced the next lockdown and No-go-vember, than our phones started to ping as our children thought ‘Lockview’ as it is called (though Lockdown would be more appropriate now) would be an ideal place for them to stay. They said that it would mean they could be close but would not put us at risk as we are considered ‘vulnerable’. They are now all fighting it out for residency.
Meanwhile husband and I are thinking we could move into Lockview and they can all have the house. Cocooned in our little cabin, sheltered from the wind and rain we could easily forget the mayhem outside in the world.
I may be trying to add some humour to No-go-vember and the return of Lockdown but I am only too aware of the dire consequences of Lockdown both mentally and/or financially, for many. This pandemic has affected all of us, if not directly, then for our children and grandchildren. Christmas may be cancelled but to be honest this year may be the year that we appreciate our families and the giving of presents and parties will just have to take a backseat.
All I want for Christmas is to have my children all healthy and around us – that will make Husband and I very happy. So Boris do whatever you have to, to give us Christmas together and we will all battle on through No-go-vember and then prepare for 2021 when we will defeat this virus.