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 ...