Friday 10 April
Leila woke up to Alex reading beside her. She was really happy to have a lie in because it was Good Friday. When she got up she immediately did the first thing on her long-weekend to-do list: wash the bedsheets. Alex made coffee meanwhile using the Alchemy beans which were lovely. They then sat in the garden and Alex spent some time linking COVID datasets whilst Leila FaceTimed her family. They were at home drinking coffee together and having a great time; it made Leila really miss home and being with them. She spent the next few hours wondering whether she would be happier at home but concluded that she wouldn’t be. Rather, there were a number of things on her mind in addition to just missing her family: why it seemed that everyone else was picking up new skills and taking a pause during the lockdown (her cousin Areef is building a rocket and learning the piano) vs. she was spending a lot of time working; whether her and Alex enjoy the same things (being outside, yoga vs. the idea of computer games); how their schedules don’t really align. They discussed for a bit on the sofa and then Leila did a barre class as she knew it would make her feel better. Meanwhile, Alex did his econometrics under a tree in the sun. They then made a picnic of mushrooms, broccoli, sourdough bread and salad and sat in the communal garden in the sun whilst writing the blog.
After lunch, they went for a short walk to Camden Road where they found a charity coffee shop serving takeaway. Alex noted just how many people were out and not maintaining social distancing. Leila was just happy to order a decaf oat flat white again. She misses ordering coffee and going to coffee shops. Then Alex ran back home via some council estates and Kings Cross parks whilst Leila went on a wander through some residential streets whilst on the phone to her cousin, Areef. He used the McKinsey feedback technique on her and she was not impressed. She ended up on Camden High Street which was rammed (every supermarket had >50 people queuing outside) except for the one store she wanted to go to: the Korean hypermarket. She bought more kimchi, veg and barley water.
When she returned, Alex was working on extrapolating trends from his combined COVID datasets – the end goal is a recommendation that the government do not base policy decisions on the number of confirmed new COVID cases in the UK. Leila started doing some admin outside and then promptly got bored and started watching Chicas de Cable on her laptop instead. She didn’t get very far before deciding to start listening to Spanish podcasts led by a man with sexy Scottish accent (Alex also enjoys his accent) whilst Alex worked beside her. They then decided to start cutting his hair.
Step 1 : 6pm. Alex showers and makes himself a G&T to calm his nerves. Before photo:
Step 2: Leila sets up a bin bag in the garden to catch the hair and puts some relaxing music on.
Step 3: Leila pretends to watch a YouTube video of a professional hairdresser cutting a man’s hair to make Alex feel more comfortable. She did this throughout the haircut as she knew he wanted her to, but in reality she did not follow it at all. She starts nervous (and almost clipped his ears a few times) but quickly grows in confidence and starts enjoying the feeling of power, uncertainty and creativity. And continued concentration.
Step 4: More of the same.. for another 1hr45…..(the slowest and most delicate haircut Alex has ever had)
Step 5: Voila
Feedback from the client: bit too short at the front but overall a good first effort. Hairdresser still does not like the back and can never look at his hair in the same way again. More refining to come.
Alex then made fish & chips, served alongside green peas and G&Ts (Leila had a soda water because tonic is too sweet for her). And we watched Groundhog Day (Alex defines this a romcom, Leila does not). Half an hour in, Leila fell asleep cuddling on the sofa. Alex persevered to the end of the movie and then they both went to bed. At this point, Leila remembered (they had gone back through old chats the week before) that the 10th of April 2019 was the day of their first date and they had a few mins of celebration before midnight.
Coffee, Wine and Isolation 