Thursday March 19th 2020
Surreal is the word that is fast becoming the adjective of choice around the globe when describing the state of the present day.
It is the stuff movies are made out of.
This is the first day of isolation for me and my family. Coronavirus has placed me in the league of the vulnerable due to my asthma, so yesterday, I found myself talking through with my Headteacher the decision to bring myself home and listen to the government advice aimed at me.
And one day already feels like one month.
Unlike Inception, dreaming within a dream, I now live in a world within a world. My home has become mine and my families world and the world beyond our windows the one we carefully drip feed in and out of - through sheer necessity- but distanced appropriately in order to stay safe and well.
Surreal.
Seeing my family and friends, my full ensemble of work colleagues, again, in the flesh, isn't something I can say I know when will happen. It's shocking when you realise what you take for granted when its taken away from you. Without warning. Sure, digitally connecting will suffice but warm hugs and handshakes? Here in the UK, it's months away. But I can't put a number to how many.
Whilst inside, I can't help but feel more paranoid about the relationship my asthma has with the coronavirus and how one isn't good for the other. It's like one is Caster Troy and the other Sean Archer, vexing one another. Or are they of the same family, like Castor Troy and his little brother Pollox, making this association more toxic?
And I've only been at home a day? I have been advised to stay sane.
Seriously, right now is no joke. Dreaming within a dream sounds much better than living in a bad one. But, I am not alone. I have my 3 musketeers and my Queen with me and we are doing what we can. Hence the start of this photography project within a photography project - 19.
They'll be many documenting life in March 2020 and beyond, throughout this season. But, that is what this is, a season. I hold onto my faith in Jesus Christ more than ever and pray for this present day and for safe and protected deliverance through and out of this season. For me and my family, my friends, the NHS workers and researchers and the connections we all have with one another during this time. In some way, it's sad that it has taken something this huge to bring people together and realise what is important. And what is not, like loo roll. Equally, it's amazing to see what governments can do when push comes to shove and who really matters, on the front line, when for a great majority of the time they are forgotten and neglected.
#NHSandteachersROCKapoliticalmessage
1. Today, was a time of setting up a home school and sitting the SATs that will never be. Reading first (and my boy would've aced his reading paper.) We also journeyed to the back garden for fresh air and then NETFLIXed before dinner.
