Voices from The Coronavirus: Love in the time of Covid-19

Ok, so yeah this covid-19 thing, is a worry.

Most of my family has been in self isolation for several weeks now (age and health precautions rather than symptomology), my son is half way across the country and don’t know when I’ll see him (or anyone else) next etc etc.

And I’m not insensitive to the huge difficulties this period is inflicting on people everywhere. Jobs, the economy, mounting death tolls tragedy everywhere and it sucks, and the news is awful everyday - unless you believe Trump who apparently is beating the pandemic single handedly. Basically it's all enough to make you want to crawl under a duvet till at least June.

However:

Normally I live alone, but my girlfriend and I decided to do lockdown together. A bold step? perhaps, but we’ve been together a while and don’t live apart by choice.

So far I can report, I cook real food... every single day! I smoke less, the bed gets made, laundry is done when available rather than as a last resort.

We’ve cleaned the windows, and the curtains are hanging out to dry!

I watch less telly, my screen time is down, my step counter has stopped nagging me for sitting still too long. I don’t go to the pub out of lack of better things to do. I monitor my sons homework and well-being, and use the extra web content to help his education, so I’m far more involved. I have watched a ballet, an opera and a play rather than endless cop procedural reruns. I have been helping her with her work and life stuff more than ever, and she with mine.

I have found long lost cuff links and photos in drawers that we’ve emptied (admittedly under a certain amount of duress). My neighbourhood and the people in it seem much less socially distant in this time of social distancing. I think I might even be smiling a bit more.

Again, I’d like to reiterate that I am aware of, empathise with and share in the problems caused by the pandemic. 

That said, so far, I may be one of the only people whose quality of life has actually improved during lockdown. It really is the “little” things. and obviously having someone you love to share them with

As long as I can avoid becoming part of some “the Shining”-esque strangeness, I’m cushty.

Swindon Link is calling on its readers to write to us about their experiences for our campaign called 'Voices from The Coronavirus'. The idea is that we can share our experiences underlining that none of us are alone.

We want to hear from you from whatever walk of life you come from to hear how you are dealing with this new reality. Everybody has a story to share from keyworkers to teenagers. It doesn't matter what your writing ability is, the whole point of this is to make sure every voice is heard so that people don't feel that they are battling this alone. We will try to publish your story on our website no matter who you are.

All you have to do is write to us with your experiences to [email protected]. Please make sure that you send a picture of yourself to go with the piece and try and keep it under 500 words. Please also include some basic details about yourself. For more details press here

And for previous entries into our Voices from The Coronavirus series press here