Voices from The Coronavirus: Grandma in splendid isolation

Rosemary Hill is a 79 year old grandmother of 10. She lives on her own and is following the Government advice to isolate herself for 12 weeks.

In the current coronavirus era we have all been assigned a group status. I fall into the “elderly” category.

Like everyone else, the oldies didn’t have much time to prepare for the stringent social-distancing measures and the enforced periods of self-confinement. This meant that we were all running around like headless chickens - checking supplies of knitting wool, borrowing DVDs, filling up at the garage and stocking up with printer cartridges and shampoo. Oh, and also cancelling dentist’s and hairdressers’ appointments!

On 21 March Boris solemnly announced that the elderly and other vulnerable people were to stay at home for twelve weeks. Three months!  How were we going to fill our days without the leisurely stroll to the leisure centre for our exercise classes, driving to the garden centre on a sunny day or popping into Costa to spend an hour reading or doing crossword puzzles? And what about our baby-sitting duties?

Our leader said that Mothers’ Day was off limits for the elderly. They could not celebrate with grandchildren and this year they would have to settle with mimed hugs and kisses through the window. I really felt for all the pubs and restaurants that had been fully booked for months before the cancellations came flooding in.

We were instructed that shopping should be left by the door. There were to be no invitations to friends or family to drop in for a coffee or a cosy chat. In this time of social distancing we should communicate via telephone calls or video links. I’m not very computer literate and have never felt able to talk spontaneously to a machine or a screen. I’m now on a steep learning curve trying to get the hang of “quick draw” games on something called “House Party”!

I’ve lived on my own for the last six years and am used to keeping busy to stave off loneliness. I’ve travelled a lot and pass the time painting and learning Spanish. A few years ago I even spent time writing some memoirs about my life and travels (“Over the Hill and Far Away”). I hope my musings will give the next generation an insight into my life. Anyway, I think it’s real bit of social history about the times before IT and social media dominated the world.

The first week of the “stay at home” regime proved a challenge. I spent most of it trying to unscramble all the arrangements to celebrate my 80^th birthday in a few weeks.

I then set to devising my schedule to fill up the days – not always successfully.  Apart from mundane housework I needed to include sessions to prepare my Spanish homework and to pick up on writing some more chapters for my sequel. I shall call this “Coming  Down the Other Side”. When I do manage to get stuck into it I find it very therapeutic. I can get lost in it and re-live my experiences. I think every grandma should do it!

Apart from the usual aches and pains I am lucky to enjoy reasonably good health and need to factor in some sort of exercise regime during this “at home” time. So far I’ve managed to sneak out for a half-hour walk at 6.30am each morning. I only ever see two or three people walking dogs at a distance. I’ve also dug out a couple of fitness DVDs made by the Green Goddess and Mr Motivator, both of breakfast TV fame in the 90’s. Now there’s a blast from the past! In fact I’m being quite tenacious about doing these at 4 o’clock every day. It’s quite fun and no one can see me puffing and panting. I might even end up getting fitter and leaner.

We tend to feel safe in our bubble and it’s easy to put the desperate situation in the world out of mind from time to time. I think we should follow what’s going on but limit the round-the-clock coverage flowing into our living rooms. We should look after our state of mind as well as our physical health. We should not feel guilty about this.

As we are not going anywhere it might be tempting to keep our dressing gowns and slippers on. But it’s important to get dressed as if the days were normal ones, even though they definitely are not. Put your lippy on, paint your nails and choose your favourite necklace. Don’t forget that you’ve got to look glamorous and well–groomed for your video appearances.

Now, more than ever, it’s important to keep positive for ourselves and the others we speak to. They too are worried sick about this disaster.  Let’s find time to smile, to listen and share. Let’s check up on those less fortunate and take the opportunity to re-connect with old friends. Let’s think of our brand of furlough as an extended spa break rather that a prison sentence. 

 

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