Lockdown Life.

The ASDA delivery man winked at me this morning. I wouldn’t have minded, but I was stood in my Harry Potter dressing gown, he was about 80, and he was also trying to walk into my house to pass me a bag of shopping.

“I’m ok if you are love!” *wink*

Erm. Actually, I’m not ‘OK’ thank you very much. We’ve been doing our best to shield our son for the past 3 months, so you can turn your derrière around and social distance from my doormat please, Grandpa Joe.

Lockdown Life, is a strange old thing. When it ends properly, there are going to be parts of it that I will really miss. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly wouldn’t wish old ‘Rona to linger any longer, or to have ever been here at all; but, it’s actually been lovely being all together at home. Ordinarily, we would never have had the chance to be together this much as a quartet.

T and Squidge have developed the most incredible bond with each other, its a wonderful thing to see.

J has also developed an incredible bond with the Amazon delivery guy, and I have developed an incredible bond with the fridge and various bottles of gin…

This situation has also brought to the forefront what an amazing group of people we have in our lives. Wonderful friends picking up shopping for us when we couldn’t get delivery slots. Neighbours being incredibly kind and thoughtful with their time, their generosity… and their TikToks (shout out to TikTok Tony). Zoom quizes and catch ups galore to fill the evenings. Family video calls and letters sent between the younger members so they still feel connected. Doorstep drops to make us smile. Fundraising feats I can’t even begin to describe. I could go on… but please know that we are eternally grateful for each and every one of you.

T is still being a total legend. I mean, he’s sassy as hell and is definitely displaying some serious ‘pre-nager’ tendencies, but, he’s still a dude. There is a strong chance however, that J may throw his Nintendo Switch out of the window before lockdown ends due to the incessant shouting at Fortnite. Seriously, what is the deal with this game? He screams bloody murder at it and then announces that he’s had the “best time” and got “42 kills” (I mean, that in itself does not sound good) and that he may need some ‘v-bucks’ (aka, I’ll have to sell a kidney) to get Season 3…

I feel old. Bring back Sonic the frigging Hedgehog.

Home schooling is ticking along steadily. I’m still loving Carol Vorderman. Although, and I feel terrible saying this, we have sacked off Joe Wicks. Yes, its true. He is no more. Its been a gradual, yet conscious fade out of the floppy haired one which neither me, nor T, have discussed. He is the proverbial ‘elephant in the room’. Instead, we are doing more ‘Cosmic Kids Yoga’ (its chuffing mental. I was a dolphin called ‘Popcorn’ the other day?!), and, we’re GOING OUT FOR WALKS. Yep. T is leaving the house! He is LOVING it. We’re not going far, and we are being super careful (I would totally carry a cattle prod if I could), but we’re getting out. Its doing him the world of good.

His energy levels and mobility are still pretty low, so we’re trying to do little things to help him out a bit. For example, J has tipped the football goal in the garden on to its side as T likes to be in goal, but was struggling with the large space of the full goal. This has made it much more manageable for him.

We’ve made the decision not to send him back to school at present. No judgement to those sending their children back, but this is the right choice for us. We discussed it with T today and he said that although he misses his friends and teachers, he feels it is the right thing too. I am gutted for him, and the rest of the children in the Class of 2020, that a part of their educational experience has been taken from them. But, as long as they are safe, that is the most important thing.

So, thats a bit of an update on us. Not the most exciting post I’m aware, but an update non the less.

Lets see what the next few weeks bring.

Stay safe,

The Rileys

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