I’ve noticed that I’ve been feeling more ‘down’ of late, and even though I know it’s okay to feel all the feelings, I’d much rather focus on the positives.
Travel:
The negative: All our travel plans for this year have been postponed or cancelled.
The positive: There is still an outside chance of going to Bruges in October. We are considering a day trip to my favourite university town, Cambridge. I am reliving fantastic memories of living on Ascension Island for 6 months, half a lifetime ago. We are making plans to hang out with family and friends. We are making use again of our annual memberships of the National Trust and Kew Gardens.
Staying at Home:
The negative: Both The Brainy One and I initially thought that the stay-at-home lockdown wouldn’t impact us that much, given that we work from home. We forgot to factor in The Boy Child being at home with us for 24 hours per day. We forgot to factor not being able to leave the house when we felt like it. I didn’t realise just how much I would miss the pool at my gym.
The positive: We’ve survived being at home with The Boy Child for 24 hours a day. 🙂 We’re grateful to have Tilly in our family, giving us a reason to leave the house for exercise every single day. I’ve embraced online daily Pilates and Step classes and feel so much fitter for it. We’ve spent less money. A lot less.
Homeschooling:
The negative: If I’m honest, The Boy Child lost all interest in homeschooling around the week 6 mark. His parents lost all interest in homeschooling around the week 2 point. The struggle has been real.
The positive: The end of the school year is less than a week away. We will use the Summer holidays to have The Boy Child to complete as many outstanding topics as possible.
In the News | Current Events:
The negative: I stopped watching the BBC Six O’Clock News daily fairly early on in lockdown, as I couldn’t cope with the saturation coverage of this Covid-19 global pandemic. I found it macabre that the number of reported Covid-19 deaths was read out every evening, as if this horrific figure was something to be proud of.
The news of the death of George Floyd was something that couldn’t be ignored and I watched in awe and concern as crowds gathered around the world to take a stand and to make their voices heard.
The positive: It’s okay to feel all the feelings.
As someone who lives with unearned, inherent privilege, thanks solely to the colour of my skin and where I was born, I am open to listening and I am open to learning. The words of Dr King are a timely reminder of all that is true.
My lovely friend, Melissa, inspired this post. See how she did that here.
This West London Life 
I admire every single parent who has had to home school all this time, especially those who were trying to work from home themselves as well. It must be so hard, whatever age the child is. Now you ‘just’ have to navigate your way through the summer holidays 😉
It is a shame that we have all had to forego our holidays, but won’t we appreciate them so much more when we can go again? My friend who lives in Spain said she is very worried about tourism coming back and hopes that tourists realise just how strict places are over there about mask wearing and distancing. Drones flying over beaches and still with the military on the streets in some places, plus swift local lockdowns if cases start to rise. Not quite the holiday atmosphere we are used to! I think we will be seeking a dog friendly cottage somewhere in this country – Coco has been the one member of the family to truly benefit from all this!
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Thanks so much for the brilliant card! 🙂
Our finds in Spain (Valencia) have said that they are still heavily policed. My pal in Melbourne is remaining positive and accepting of how things must be.
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Another great post. It is quite the balancing act, trying to balance the good, the bad, the ugly all together to make a normal day, a normal life during the pandemic. Some days I’m successful at being more positive than negative.
You touched on a point that I made a 4 page journal (rant) entry about; the news & giving out numbers. I’ve noticed an almost competition feel to people reporting the stats, the numbers, the percentages, it’s gives me such a sense of the macabre.
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I really do find that whole stats and figures thing horrible.
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Great post! I’m so glad you were inspired to get these thoughts out & love how you’ve also located the positives in the midst of the tough negatives of the year.
I’m so very tired of “the numbers” as well … and they are growing so fast over here right now that it’s scary! Definitely not numbers to be proud of and people are still going out. My nephew & his wife (from Alabama) are on the road today because they must take a great-niece back to her mom here in Texas. They just texted to say there are LOTS of people on the road.
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Thank you again for the inspiration!
I have my fingers crossed for you in Texas – difficult days.
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This is a good post, I like your positive slant. I can see where it would be both a blessing and a challenge to be in lockdown with kiddos. I have always had the greatest respect for homeschoolers; I could never have done it. Good for you for exercising at home – that’s something I have never been able to stick with.
As far as the news goes, I actually restarted watching the COVID coverage; it’s all the other stuff that has disintegrated that I cannot take. This too shall pass, right. I do honestly hope we address the real issues eventually.
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I now know for certain that I could never be a teacher!
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