Our Year in Cambridge

Emma is taking an online touch typing course offered by the BBC. Yesterday, as she was practicing, this sentence cropped up: .....which pretty much sums up what's been going on at 12 Green's Road for the past few days. This weekend was hard, in large part because our time, spent indoors except for an hour outside on Saturday, was unstructured. Both Saturday and Sunday are a bit of a blur; I can't really tell you what we did. I do recall that on Sunday I was exhausted and spent part of the day in bed (and the rest of the day feeling sorry for myself). We ordered take-out from a Thai restaurant. That's about all I can recall. Next weekend we will have to do things differently. Yesterday I went grocery shopping for the first time in awhile. Normally I shop daily. I hadn't realized until this whole quarantine thing started how much daily marketing took up my time and formed part of the structure of each day. Of course I am still going to and from the store(s) b...

The weather here has been almost insultingly beautiful this week -- sunny, in the low 50s, with barely a cloud in the sky. In my more despondent moments, I am almost angry about it. After months of cloudy, chilly weather, we are forced to enjoy the sun from indoors while under quarantine. Depending on my mood, I find this either ironic or deeply unfair.  Like many people, we have settled into a bit of a routine. The UK will be in lockdown for at least three weeks. Businesses are shut. Cambridge's city centre is a ghost town. We are able to leave our homes do go grocery shopping "as infrequently as possible" and "to take one form of exercise a day," separated from other people by at lease two meters at all times. Public gatherings of more than two persons are banned. For the most part everyone seem to be obeying these rules here in Cambridge. Emma's daily schedule has been moved to a dry erase board on our refrigerator, so that I can tweak it each day....

You know you are in dire straits when a trip to the market to get toilet paper becomes a Phys Ed activity for your now-homeschooled child. This morning Emma and I walked (well, I walked; Emma scootered) to several shops, on a mission to find a package of loo roll, as it's called over here. We found some in shop #3, our local Aldi, which had lots, but was limiting customers to one package only. Happily, Aldi also has lots of very good and inexpensive wine and there is no limit on that. This past weekend the weather was glorious. On Saturday we went to Anglesey Abbey, our closest National Trust property, where we practiced our social distancing with hundreds of other people. Perhaps inevitably, the National Trust announced yesterday that they were immediately closing all their parks and gardens because too many people were descending upon them en masse. We were hoping to go to the Botanic Garden yesterday, but alas, they have closed as well. We ended up going to Jesus Gr...

Yesterday was not a particularly good day, and I was too tired at the end of it to write anything. Emma is not a willful or fractious child, but there was some acting out that occurred yesterday afternoon. All three of us struggled with feelings of boredom and anxiety. At the end of the day, as she was getting ready for bed, Emma said, "Daddy, I don't like today." Which about summed it up. Yesterday Boris Johnson said the UK could "turn the tide" on the coronavirus outbreak in 12 weeks. The thought of doing this for 12 weeks is almost unimaginable. We are taking it day by day. What choice do we have? Parents at Emma's school are thinking that the school's closure (labeled as "indefinite") will be something akin to a holiday, when they will be able to tackle things they've been putting off while spending quality time with family. I'm not sure whether or not this is willful ignorance on their part, but I hate to break it to them: this...

Word came late this afternoon that the UK will be closing all schools and universities as of Friday. Emma's primary school will move to distance learning, but details are still being ironed out. This is a good thing, as Emma's days have been a light on academics. She is spending a lot of time on her computer, playing Minecraft with friends and cousins, and watching shows on Youtube. We are still working on getting outside each day. She and I took an 45-minute walk (well, Emma scootered) along the river. And I did take her to her horseback riding lesson this afternoon. It's a pretty hands-off activity and I knew it would be the last one for a long while -- perhaps her last one before we move back to the U.S. Who knows? This morning I managed to run to the grocery store to pick up a few things. Still no pasta or canned goods, and no toilet paper or paper towels. I need to hunt for the latter, as we will be running out soon. I find it interesting what people are hoarding. ...

Day 2 is drawing to a close. So far so good, although it's hard to feel like I can't just go out and run errands in town, as I normally do. And I am in mourning the fact that we may not be able to enjoy another pub visit for a long, long while. All three of us (Emma included) really enjoy English pubs. Yesterday Emma and I made a carrot cake from one of my favorite baking websites: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/super-moist-carrot-cake/ .  Delicious! Richard and I have both been on a bit of a diet for the past couple months, and eating one piece of cake made us feel slightly sick. But it sure tasted good going down. We took a walk this morning and played some frisbee near our house. Spring has truly sprung here. People are definitely still out and about, but we didn't go into town, so perhaps it is less busy there.  This afternoon, Emma and I worked on a puzzle for a bit. She did some homework, played Minecraft with friends in South Carolina, and wor...

I've joined a Facebook group called "Cambridgeshire Coronavirus Mutual Aid." This was posted this morning: hello I'm a kind widow age 64 with diabetes and reduced immunity so I'll be self isolating with my cat. I'd be very happy to offer conversation chat and moral support over the phone to other older people stuck at home on their own. I previously worked 20 years as an administrator within a mental health advocacy charity and I'm still interested in mental health generally. so if there's an older person out there who feels under stress and alone please contact me for a chat. I'm a pretty positive sort of person and I know there's a lot people in the community can do to help rather than turning to doctors with our problems. any day will be ok as all my regular activities have been cancelled until further notice so I'm at home from now on..thanks and I look forward to hearing from you. take care Just going to leave that there so we can ...

We decided to keep Emma home from school today, partly because she woke up with a slight cough (now gone), but mostly because we feel that schools in the U.K. should be closed. I told her primary school that I was going to keep her home for the rest of the week -- and probably longer. The Easter holiday starts on 2 April; I would be surprised if she went back before then. This morning I drew up a schedule to make sure we don't all go nuts:  Before 9 am Wake up & eat breakfast 9 - 10 am Screen time Play Roblox or Minecraft Watch Youtube 10 – 11 am Academic time Logic puzzles Khan Academy, Ted-Ed Times Tables Rockstars Sudoku Journal writing Scratch 11 – 12 pm Outdoor time Walk or cycle 12 – 1 pm Eat lunch 1 – 2 pm Creative time Bake Legos Draw or paint Do a puzzle Ukulele (you can use Youtube) Listen to a book on Audible 2 – 3:30 pm Screen time w/ friends/family Play Roblox or Minecra...