L woke up early and started work whilst listening to the FT broadcast conference which was on whether China would remain “dominant” in a post Covid world. She thought the speakers were a little biased so she zoned out a little. Then she listened to Anish’s work webinar on Return To Work guidance for their clients. He was super professional and sounds like a newscaster, she was very impressed and he seemed happy. She continued working and A joined her downstairs. He was happy because on the BBC Global News podcast they had mentioned that extending furlough was the right thing (L did not feel the same way, but was happier when she realised employers would be asked to contribute to the cost starting in August. She doesn’t agree with the flat extension as she thinks it is supporting some “zombie” firms whose markets will have changed massively by the time this ends). A ate toast with chilli that was too spicy for L. He spent the morning figuring out how to do power tests for the Togo government. L did a barre class at 12.30 on IG Live which was fun, and she then came down to start an afternoon of calls.
L’s presentation to the Chief Risk Officer wasn’t as good as usual – she was less clear than she wanted to be, maybe because her computer froze so she couldn’t see the deck or maybe she’d underprepared. Unfortunately Freddie’s presentation didn’t go well either and he was annoyed afterwards, which also made L a sad a little. A tried to make her feel better in a 5min gap in between calls by listening to Indian music, but there wasn’t much time. They also couldnt get Alexa to understand “Maahi Ve” and instead she played Marvin Gaye. A joined a call with Ana and they had a check-in on life and love. L’s afternoon at work didn’t get much better unfortunately and all her calls were a little frustrating. A, meanwhile, started working on his Myanmar poverty data assignment and fed our babies for the first time (Bernard & Bernadette). A also had a call with his roommates, Ashan, Rashmi and Pankhuri, and they wished him happy birthday and had a catch-up. L called her grandma who was sad because her car had broken down and she was really excited to go out, and then her mum joined the call. They laughed a lot, especially as L’s grandma told her she was happy she “finally got a boyfriend” and is living her own life. L’s mum joked that they were like a married couple. L agreed, but A argued that they were not – he finds the concept of marriage much scarier and more restrictive. A joined the call for a bit and they chatted about how her grandma was going to fast the next day as the Pope had called it as an act of global solidarity. L finished working and was not in the mood to cook so took out stuff from the freezer and made peas alongside it whilst A populated the Tesco order. A put a shirt on in a bid to improve her mood and put on some Indian music. They then watched old school RnB music videos (Timbaland, old school Kanye like “Hey Mama” etc) and had a glass of wine, before going to bed. L felt better after listening to all the music and they headed to bed happy.
Coffee, Wine and Isolation 