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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. We do a mix of academic work, arts and crafts, and virtual socializing on Zoom or House Party (both video conferencing apps that allow her to see and talk to others).


Emma's teacher has created a classroom blog, where assignments and suggested activities are posted. Emma joins a Zoom call each day with her teacher and classmates at 2:30. It usually lasts 30 minutes, as she and her peers update her teacher on the work they've been doing.


On Tuesday afternoon, she had her after-school art club on Zoom, which was wonderful. It worked incredibly well.


Children across the country are putting homemade rainbow drawings and paintings in their windows as symbols of hope and cheerfulness. Emma and I have seen a number of these in our daily walks. Yesterday, we decided to paint a few stones with rainbow designs that we put at the entry to our house. 




Finally, in the good news category: the Director of the National Infection Service (with the rather wonderful name of Professor Sharon Peacock) announced yesterday that home testing kits, used to detect antibodies for Covid-19, are currently being evaluated in Oxford. She anticipates that this will be completed by the end of the week. If the kits are found to be effective, they could become available on Amazon or in pharmacies around the UK "in the near future." (She has said "days rather than weeks" but I think that may be pushing it). Millions of tests have already been ordered, so we can only hope that they work. 

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