Alex was wide awake when L woke up to head off to see her parents, and was bothering her in the morning. He played Indian music while Leila rushed to get ready and did some dancing behind her in the mirror. L steadily got ready and decided to wear only comfy clothes for her visit. She prepped with a couple of masks in her bag to head off and her mum arrived at 9, and she jumped in the car. This was the first time A and L were apart for more than 3 hours in 60 days (the 3 hours was only because A had an exam). It was nice to catch up with her mum alone without the rest of the family, because as soon as she arrived home both her sisters were waiting for her in the kitchen. They jumped straight in the car and went to get coffee before coming back to eat breakfast together. Leila ate lots of fresh berries and fruit which they have less of in King’s Cross. She chatted all morning with her mum and sisters in the kitchen and heard about Liyana’s 111 job and Iman’s new role at Vodafone.
Meanwhile, Alex was enjoying his freedom at Kings Cross and engaged in a heated D&D game, he then had back to back zoom calls almost until Leila came home. After D&D with the boys, he chatted to Sam and Hannah, who were meeting up outside on the Boston side of the river, as it had less strict mask rules; then with Beth Evans, his friend from McKinsey, who lives up in Scotland with her girlfriend; and then finally with Ibrahim, who was in quarentine in Egypt, stuck in a hotel with almost no internet. By the time these had finished, he was exhausted, and mad himself some breaded fish before Leila got back.
In the afternoon, Leila’s dad came back from his visit to a new site for a cemetery in Farnham and brought with him lots of Indian mangoes. They all sat outside in the garden together and chatted in the sun about lockdown, furloughing, how the family was etc. Then they went for a 1.5hour walk around the local farms and meadows which was beautiful. Some kids had created a teddy bear scavenger hunt in the woods. They came back in time to join their weekly JFR family call. Unfortunately Leila’s greats uncle isn’t doing very well but he seemed to perk up a lot on the call and they showed him a slideshow of pictures of himself with all the family through the years. Nevertheless, it was still pretty sad to see him that way. After the call, they had a family feast of a few Indian curries and sides with roti, some vegetable pastries mum had made plus salad and lots of fruit. Leila felt really comfortable being at home and she noticed and enjoyed how much she brought up Alex in her conversations with her family (in a good way). She chatted to her mum about relationships for a while whilst they walked in the woods.
Leila arrived home with her dad and Liyana in the car, they’d brought back goodies such as a guitar, lots of Indian food and all the cleaning equipment they’d been set to buy from Tesco. They also had tennis rackets ready for their game on Wednesday. When L got home and had had a chill on the sofa, she was also exhausted, they did the bedsheets and chilled by looking for houses in West London where her dad had recommended. After an hour of house browsing, L was in chill mode and Alex played some guitar. They had planned to chat to Evie and Ed, but luckily Ed was working Sunday eve so they postponed the meet-up. They were secretly happy because it meant they could go up to bed early and sleep.
Coffee, Wine and Isolation 