Life during the Lockdown time 1000 words easy
Answers
Answer: hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
My recipe is one hour of trusted newspaper reading in the morning, a news update around 6 pm and, sometimes, wine and talks with friends on the Zoom app. Oh, and I almost forgot, it is important to silence the many WhatsApp forwards.
Once I have made my home safe (from germs and misinformation) I work on my routine like never before. I am finally getting up early, eating a healthy breakfast and exercising everyday. Most importantly, the excuse “I don’t have time” has expired. I have time to read all those books I bought and never opened, watch all the movies on my list, write all the books I have been playing in my head. If I don’t do it now, it feels like I never will.
It is not an easy time, uncertainty may keep you up longer than usual at night, but it is useful to meet yourself for real, to understand you are lonely but not alone. And to be sure that when everything is over, we will take care of the things that matter with greater consciousness.
A little over a month ago, we sat on a flight to start life from scratch in the City of Love, Paris. I’m a lawyer who gave up Law to pursue my passion that is food, and my husband, Sriram Govind, currently works with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, headquartered in this stunning city.
We were merely beginning to get acquainted with our freshly-minted Parisian lives when COVID-19 made its appearance. And now, we are in the midst of a lockdown and mandatory quarantine. We are on Day 14 of complete social isolation in our 700 square feet apartment and it has not been effortless. We are allowed to step out for medicines or groceries. However, only one person from each home is allowed to step out at a time and that too armed with a form that must be filled out with an appropriate reasoning.
I am a self-employed private chef who is in the nascent stages of setting up shop in Paris. As someone who thrives on the hustle of running a small business, I now realise how much time a day holds, especially when I cannot cook as much as I would like to, lest we should run out of our limited stock of groceries.
New routines such as late afternoon tea dates on the balcony and movie nights with wine are slowly taking shape. Despite the grim atmosphere around, I refuse to forget that this is probably the most time we are all going to be blessed with to focus on things that make life worth living.
But we are very conscious of the effect of this disaster on some of our neighbours. The hotel which is central to the village shut two weeks ago, one neighbour had a flourishing catering business, another runs a garden care concern. Now that lockdown has been announced, for them and their families, there’s a grim few months ahead.
A couple of weeks ago, when the government advised the British population to stay at home as much as possible, to keep a minimum of two-metre distance when talking to anyone and to look after the ‘elderly and vulnerable’, my immediate reaction was to call some of my neighbours who are frail and in their eighties, and offer to do shopping or collect prescriptions.
The street has become my stage and passers-by, my players — dog owners giving non-owners like me the comeuppance, walking their pets several times a day; the man striding purposefully and joyfully, to the supermarket with his shopping stroller; the delivery boy going about his food delivery; birds strutting on empty carriageways; a rainbow drawing stuck on a window; the 8 o’clock ritual of clapping hands; playing bingo and “I spy” with neighbours across the street; balcony concerts of singing, dancing, music. Life’s joys have become simpler
My quarantine is really not that isolating, if I were being honest. I’m on video calls everyday, with family, with work colleagues and with friends. And, on more than one occasion, I have had to mute WhatsApp conversations or tear myself away from Facebook so I can focus on work
I go to our corner store (Mellons, run by a lovely, sleep-deprived couple with three kids) for milk and eggs, or to grab one of their fresh breakfast breads. I also go out for a walk but I try to be out when there is no one about. Luckily the Irish have been taking social distancing seriously so it is not hard. You never get closer than six feet from another person — so it makes for some very funny-looking, long queues to get into grocery stores.
For the kids, the initial excitement of an unexpected extra holiday disappeared very soon as the schools re-started within a few days with online classes and homework. But there is also a lot of insecurity and uncertainty over finishing the academic syllabus, the new schedule for exams. One of my kids is not able to cope with that in an easy way. So complaints keep coming up: my throat is aching, I have a headache, is it the virus? So, I constantly have to keep him in good mood and motivated which is not that easy when so much about the disease is still so unclear.