Monday 23 March
We tried an early wake-up, we both got up for the 7.45 alarm, down, showered and coffee in the morning. We worked for a while before coffee, and then Alex experimented with packing the beans really tightly, the coffee comes out suuuuper slowly but also strong (in a good way). We decided to write the blog in the sun outside, and sat outside. It was super nice, Leila declared it ‘her favourite part of the day.’ We sat outside in the sun and it was great.
Alex created a mini-movie for his Dev class in the morning, Leila did her work. Alex then had his first online class which was a disaster, it was a old French man, rocking backwards and forwards yelling out equations to the 80 or so classmates on the call. Alex made lunch because he was so uninterested in the lecture (and because he already knew all the stuff being taught). It was potatoes and some veg, it was much nicer when Leila added salad and tahini. Leila loves that Alex also enjoys tahini. Life would be very tricky if he did not. We also had another break in the sun, cause it was great, we played with a flat football and hung out for a while. Leila took a 1 hour call outside which she really enjoyed
Alex called his Dev classmates and then had his micro lecture which was much better. Leila carried on doing her generic work (I don’t know what she does). Freddie was back so it was infinitely more chill than Friday. Alex called his parents and sung happy birthday to his dad. We couldn’t get the whole family on one FaceTime, so we had multiple iPads pointing at each other so Grandma could see. It was really strange, Alex’s mum had made a cake and dad ate it in front of us. I then crept in on Leila doing Barre (I’m not sure why she’s embarrassed).
Alex practiced his elevator pitch while Leila cooked dinner (green shakshuka with only one egg each because we are rationing). Whilst Leila was cooking she listed to Boris J on BBC News. He announced the UK-wide lockdown at 8.30pm GMT. No going out apart from for essential food or medical supplies, for one form of exercise a day (with people in your household only), to care for a vulnerable person or to travel to work (if you are “essential” absolutely can’t work from home). All restaurants and non-essential shops to close at midnight. The police will be enforcing all of this, though less strictly than in other countries it seems (in France you could be asked to demonstrate papers every time you leave the house). This was a pretty sharp change from the UK government’s approach in the last few weeks i.e. build up herd immunity. It came as a little surprise. But it feels necessary to prevent overload on the NHS. Lots of people have not been obeying social distancing guidance (although, to be fair, the government had been setting out pretty mixed messaging until this point). Alex did his pitch in his lecture which went well, then we reconvened in the dining room and worked out where we should be.
Alex called his sister, who has turned his room into a gym, and she’s probably going to stay with her best friend and see parents, we discussed for an hour the pros and cons of where we should be. We sat on the sofa and cuddled and thought about it. We’re really happy and excited to try this together.
Coffee, Wine and Isolation 