S&C contributor and Pompey Politics Podcast host Ian Morris shares his experience of the lockdown, as someone with diabetes. It’s Day 84, and today marks twelve weeks since Ian – and many others deemed more vulnerable to Covid-19 – were sent into lockdown. The days are blurring into one as Ian looks back over the weekend.
Monday 8th June, Day 84 of 89.
A ‘bits and pieces’ weekend.
It’s twelve weeks today; another five days for the full 89 but it was twelve weeks ago today that the announcement came that some of us we were to go into lockdown starting at the weekend.
I am still not entirely sure why I started to blog – perhaps you feel the same – but here we are, twelve weeks later.
Looking back at the weekend, I’m struck with a feeling of ‘Is that it?’ Two days off work and what did you manage exactly? This phenomena of days blending together into somewhat of a blur seems to be something many are experiencing now.
I know Saturday late morning was punctuated with the arrival of a genuine McDonalds Double Cheeseburger – ah love of mine how have I missed thee? I can report it was fundamentally scrumptious in a chemically-obviously-nutritionally-void sort of way. There was a bit of listening to cricket from seven years ago: us beating the Aussies again, so no bad thing. That’s about all I can remember from Saturday, not because I got completely hand cart Saturday evening but because it’s all just a blur.
Sunday saw us nip over to Stoke Fruit Farm shop on Hayling Island, and this was the start of a yo–yo sort of day. We consulted on our preferred purchases and Nicky went off alone with her face covering on to enter the shop. I sat in the car and listened as whole families piled out from their vehicles and crowded into the shop.
When Nicky told me that hers had been the only mask in the shop I thought that there is so much news given to the government’s advice and the gentle easing of lockdown, but what will bring a second spike isn’t the government. It’s the great swathes of the population that are as thick as a whale omelette, can’t follow basic instructions, and are behaving like all this is over.
I haven’t enjoyed twelve weeks, so I really don’t fancy another this Autumn.
My Zen was re-centred and my chakras aligned by a bacon and egg sandwich – no ordinary egg though they were pullets, tiny weeny eggs, about half the size of a standard egg, but sooooooo delicious.
The afternoon was the build up to podcasting. We are not professional by any standard, but do like to do our research a bit and after last week’s technical challenges, I wanted to be prepared. A whole chicken was gently roasting in the smoker, we had a technical solution that worked, and we were ready to roll…except my wifi may as well have been two cups and a piece of hairy string: there were drop outs over and over, until in the end I had to bale and dial in on my phone.
We then had what can only be described as a ‘challenging episode’ that went completely off script, and I don’t have the heart to listen to it back yet.
So Sunday needed saving.
Mr Chooky Chook was smelling the part but it was the potato that saved the day. A Jersey Royal New potato is one of the God’s of your choosing gifts to the world, and if there is a good potato in your life then all is, well, carbilicious.
Don’t miss Ian’s diary each day, keep an eye out for new entries here, along with past editions of the Pompey Politics Podcast. How are you managing the lockdown at the moment? Get in touch with us over on Facebook or Twitter and let us know your experiences and any hints and tips you’re finding helpful right now.
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