So it’s about time I wrote about this jolly ol’ lockdown/pandemic/end-of-world thing.

I would say it’s going about as well as you’d expect.

What is happening around the world really is incredible and surreal and of course, unprecedented.

I’d like to recap what lockdown has meant for me personally in the last few months since it began. First, from a very practical point of view, and then from a mental health and life-planning point of view (saving the best till last).

• 2020.feb.16: I fly in from France having spent a week learning how to ski in the resort of La Rosier. On the way to the resort, we saw news of a British man infecting people in his ski chalet in a resort in the same region as us. Ski resorts are fairly remote places - there was no sign of any special measures.
• 2020.feb.16 - 2020.mar.12: things continued as per usual in London for the most part. I went to a couple of concerts, a film screening, a meetup, drinks with friends, and if I had been feeling well I might have even gone to Bristol for a house party…

I didn’t realise it at the time, but those three weeks would include more social events than the entire following four months.

• 2020.mar.12: I left work, feeling unwell but only one of my symptoms (lack of smell/taste) seemed to align with covid so I considered myself lucky. By this point, we were still in the office but people were aware that the number of infections in the UK was increasing. Parts of Canary Wharf had already seen entire offices being told to work from home.
• 2020.mar.13: The next day, those still in the office were told to pack up and head home to prepare to work from home for the foreseeable. My flat mate immediately left London to go and live with his Mother in Edinburgh, leaving me by myself.
• 2020.mar.14 - 2020.may.2: For the next two(!) months, I lived alone, keeping up with friends and family via video calls and messaging. Every couple of weeks my dad would instigate a family pub quiz, which was super fun.

In hindsight, living alone for two months was a bad decision. Not to mention the almost complete lack of non-virtual social interaction.

• 2020.may.2: Following a near complete break-down, I relent and decide it’s time to move back up to Bedford to live with my family until living in London is feasible (i.e. when socialising is ok again). My family welcomed the decision - they were starting to worry about me.

• 2020.may.2 - 2020.jul.7: I spend the next two months living with my mum and spending a lot of time with my close family.

• 2020.jul.9: I meet up with a friend in person for the FIRST TIME in almost four months.

OK. So that’s what has happened practically speaking so far. It’s quite simple really - two months completely alone, two months living with my family.

I’d now like to take a moment to reflect on how lockdown has impacted me mentally.

I think I will leave that to another post though because I’ve started writing and I can tell it’s going to be a lengthy analysis. Stay tuned.