The Quarantine Diaries

I'm moving to weekly posts as I'm too busy now to update this daily and it was becoming a source of stress. Given that the government has also given up reporting deaths from Covid-19 daily it feels like the virus is no longer the primary focus of our daily lives. I'm not sure that's a good thing; I'm still fearful that there will be a second wave as people become complacent and forget to take the necessary precautions. Yesterday it became mandatory to wear masks in shops, in addition to public transport where it has been the rule for several weeks. Honestly you would think people had been asked to sacrifice their first-born. Apparently their entitlement to do whatever they damn please is more important than doing a small thing that can help us return safely to normal life without increasing infections. Some are conspiracy theorists who see it as another erosion of our human rights; some are just plain selfish. Both groups jeopardise the wellbeing of those who genu...

I reach the office in good time and am first in. My colleague Mary joins me and we have the team call from her laptop. As the call progresses I realise that she is leaving for Greece on Monday - I knew she was going in August to get married, but it seems she'll be working from Greece until then too. I'm impressed that my employer is so enlightened. After the call I move to the other office, as we'll both be taking part in a webinar and this will be awkward from the same room. First, I have a call with my ex colleague who has a prospective client for me. It's great to catch up with him and the opportunity seems a good one. The webinar is a shambles - I had bailed on a previous one by the same organisers and had assumed they would learn from previous mistakes. It appears they hadn't and I was embarrassed because although they convened it, the climate change partnership and my charity were co-hosts. With a short break for lunch, my colleague and I went to the school ...

That's better - a good night's sleep. I get to my desk in good time to check emails and review my schedule before the team call at 9.30 but one of the emails tells me it's postponed to 10.15 due to another call. We all check in and share our plans for the day, and my list looks quite manageable - just three things on it. The director grabs me straight after to talk about a couple of projects I need to pick up, and he asks whether I know any graduates who will be looking for work as we'll need to recruit soon. Then I have a call with a colleague about a proposal we need to submit for some extra work for an existing client. A few emails later I'm at a network event for women in sustainability having a conversation that reminds me how helpful and supportive my industry is. Coincidentally, three women out of the eight present say they don't currently work in the industry, but want to moe into sustainability consultancy. Two are actively studying with CISL at the mom...

What a rubbish night's sleep. Just kept waking up and took a while to get back to sleep each time. I don't feel really rested but I have a lot to do today - as usual. After breakfast I email the IT support people my company uses to see if they can reconnect my personal drive which they messed up while trying to fix other issues, then pop to the M&S at the petrol station to get a card and some gifts for my daughter's anniversary tomorrow. Hubby is on a call when I come back with a card and I leave it for him to sign and get on with some bits and pieces to fill time. He finishes his call, asks me whether he should sign "Dad" or his name and then disappears into the loo for 10 minutes - no doubt checking his phone, but I'm waiting to go out and have a list of places to get to before lunch. Eventually he comes out, signs the card and I go about my morning. Two lots of masks to pick up - some plain black and blue ones for the boys and a black and white chevro...

A full-on morning as last night's cleaning challenges meant I wasn't able to prepare for this morning's meeting of the climate change partnership at 9.30. I'm at my desk by 8 preparing some slides and reading through the papers, and have time to check my work emails before the meeting starts. We have some issues getting one of the board members connected, but we only overrun a little and manage to get all the main decisions made. Soon after my meeting ends hubby leaves for a funeral; the friend who died suddenly from a stroke. Just before he goes he answers the door for a delivery, which turns out to be a gorgeous bouquet from our son's girlfriend to say thank you for letting her stay. I grab some food to eat at my desk, set off the breadmaker so my guests have fresh bread on arrival and carry on working, breaking off only briefly to discuss lunch options with my son. I have a long to-do list today but I power through it and manage to tick several items off. Hubby...

It would have been my lovely Dad's birthday today. The morning news is full of Brexit - the government has announced that today they will publish a slew of documents about how Brexit will affect business. It feels as though they have "got Coronavirus done" and now it's time to "get Brexit done". It feels both more irrelevant and more ill-advised than ever, creating additional unnecessary disruption and complexity on top of that already created by Covid and with the potential to increase prices and interrupt supply chains. The news that the government is now considering eliminating Hwawei from critical infrastructure has led to warnings that it could take 10 years, or else cause interruptions to mobile data services. A busy day at work, with lots of Team meetings and plenty of writing. I also have to prepare for my B&B guests who arrive tomorrow and I'm behind schedule. I prepare ahead for dinner so that I can do yoga at 6.30 then as soon as we...

As usual for a Saturday I'm up first and spend the morning alone. Clearing up the hall I find a cool bag with some tahini in, so I finish off the humous and make some felafel ready for lunch. I unload the dishwasher, clear up the kitchen, put on the first load of laundry and get it out on the line to dry. Still no sign of anybody else. My son and his girlfriend are going to my daughter's house tonight for dinner and have asked me for a lift late-afternoon. We had talked about a lunch-time drink in the garden of a local independent pub as an act of solidarity, but at this rate we won't have time. I grab some lunch and get on with more chores.  Finally hubby emerges, and then a hungry son. He tells me they're still up for a drink at the pub and I tell him what's for lunch. I go to the garden to plant out my basil seedlings and cane my tomato plants and wait to see what develops. Hubby books a table at the pub for 3pm and we arrive just after; I'll have to leave ...

My "day off" ... having got to sleep after 2am and moved my alarm from 7am to 8am I barely have time for a shower and breakfast before my first online meeting at 9am, followed by others at 10.15 and 11, all for the climate change partnership. All very productive, though. Hubby is taking my son and his girlfriend to Bristol today to collect the last of my son's things from his halls of residence and drop the pair of them at his girlfriend's new digs so they can let the wifi installers in tomorrow - they have a delivery window of 9am to 9pm or something equally ridiculous. I cobble together a lunch for them (leftover halloumi fajita filling mixed with leftover pizza sauce and mixed with pasta) and leftover veggie brunch items for me. Hubby has forgotten that I got a lasagne out of the freezer for him last night and had some soup. They leave around 1.15 and I follow shortly after for a walking meeting in the local park with somebody I hope will agree to take over as le...

I'm due in the office today but first I have to email a brief to a web designer, pack a lunch, start the dishwasher and the washing machine and put the oven on so hubby can cook the sourdough I prepared last night. On the way I hear that the chancellor has announced £3bn of funding for insulation, a preview of tomorrow's mini budget. I'm pretty sure they committed £9bn in their manifesto, but I guess it's better than nothing. I'm first in, but the colleague I'm meeting today arrives soon after. We have our 9.30 call with the rest of the team then a client meeting that lasts almost two hours. I'm finding it difficult to do screen sharing for online meetings when I have to sit 2 metres away from the laptop and its owner; I think I'll suggest that we get a projector for the office. On the way home I hear President Bolsanaro has tested positive for Covid. It really couldn't happen to a nicer guy. When I arrive, my son and his girlfriend are out; they...

At least last night's physical exertion gave me a good night's sleep! I got about 5 hours in one go, then slept again until the alarm went off for work. I'm working from home today but before I start I get one load of washing done for my friend, and start another off. Many of her things got soaked in the flood, with water of dubious cleanliness. Coronavirus news is that three of the pubs that opened on Saturday have had to close again because customers have reported coronavirus symptoms; they are now having to contact all their customers to warn them to quarantine. And in Australia the state of Victoria has been put on lockdown because of a spike in cases in Melbourne and surrounding areas. I'm not surprised; this is precisely why I'm not keen to start mixing in large groups again. It's a busy day for both hubby and me now that we are both working. A lot of time is taken up with calls on Zoom or Teams. I'm still having trouble getting my laptop set up pr...

Another disturbed night – it’s getting really annoying now. I’m not feeling stressed or anxious so I really can’t understand why I can’t sleep properly. I’m up by 8 and catching up on these diary entries, hampered by a really flaky internet connection. Having paid little attention to coronavirus yesterday, it’s alarming to see that in London the R-rate has I increased to more than 1 and that in Israel which locked down early and opened up about a month ago, infections are now back up to the highest recorded levels. I shower, wash my hair and dry it in good time for our 11-12am grocery delivery slot. Unfortunately, the groceries arrive on the dot of noon, leaving little time to pack everything away before our lunch appointment. I stash the frozen stuff, cram my friend's chilled items into a cool box and message my friend to say we'll be a bit late. There's a little initial awkwardness when we arrive, with everybody pressing themselves back against the walls of the hallway ...

So tired after a night of very interrupted sleep - I can get to sleep okay but I wake up every couple of hours and I don't feel rested. I have a lot to do today, though, as we have guests coming over. First my niece, and then she will be joined by my daughter and her family. Indoors, like regular people. Today is the first day since lockdown that we have been officially allowed to have another household indoors with us. It's also the day that bars and restaurants re-open to the public. Some have been open since 6am ... I dread to think what state people will be in, and the quality of their social distancing after several hours on the booze. My first priority today is to ensure I have sufficient provisions to make fajitas (veggie and chicken) for 7 people; it turns out that I do. The guacamole I make from scratch, taking care that it's not too spicy for my grandson. Then I prepare brunch for the family; we'd agreed to eat at 11 to accommodate an earlier dinner due to t...

My first day working from home in my new job. I’m online by 8.30, making sure I can connect remotely to the VPN and that everything works. At first I can’t get on but then I realise that my user name is still incorrect and that gets me connected. My email sender ID still doesn’t match my name, as I suspected. We have our team call at 9.30 and then I get on with my day.   I’m pretty focused and plough through the reading I need to do to get up to speed with client projects. Over lunch I catch up on a few pieces of work for the climate change partnership and the charity, then it’s back to the day job. I’ve messaged the IT service about finally getting everything corrected to show my real name but they’ve not responded. I have a meeting in the veranda at 3.30 and was hoping that they would fix my laptop during that; unfortunately they haven’t responded by then. After the meeting I go back to my laptop and find that the internet has dropped. I reconnect and find that they messag...

I have to wash my hair before work this morning so it’s essential that I get up on time but I oversleep because my phone has turned off during the night. Fortunately I’m only 10 minutes late and I leave the house on schedule and am first in. My colleagues arrive, who I have only met by Teams call before. There is a schedule, but nobody has shared it with me – apparently we are to spend 9-9.30 talking about Life. We do this until the 9.30 team call, then I go to the other office with one of my colleagues to talk about her projects. We’re joined by the MD to outline another project, then I return to my desk. I’m still trying to get my PC issues resolved, but they still can’t get it right. Today I was asked to attend a webinar but it seems that I will instead be attending a project meeting at a local school with one of my new colleagues. I can listen to the recording of the webinar later; it will be useful background. It has been raining on and off all morning, sometimes heavily, an...

My first free day since I started back at work and I have a lot to do. My first appointment is a coffee with the deputy chair of the charity I chair, which I expected to have in his garden but I'm invited in and sit just inside the open french windows. His wife makes me a coffee and we chat for about an hour; it rains briefly so inside was clearly a good choice. They have some very dramatic plants in their garden, I especially like the giant thistles with silvery leaves and bluey-purple flowers. I'm back in good time for my call with my co-chair to agree the agenda for next week's board meeting which it's his turn to chair, followed immediately by an ops meeting. I share the good news that my preferred candidate has agreed to take on the resources theme I'm stepping away from, and we agree on a candidate to approach for the health theme. After a quick lunch there's another Teams meeting with the comms and engagement team of the climate change partnership. We m...