Day 2 of x
** The following should be read in a Geordie accent, like the fella off Big Brother all those years ago. For the ladies, think like Cheryl Tweedie/Cole/Whatever she is now.
It's Work From Home Day 2 in the Victory house and tempers are starting to fray. IT issues continue to cause productivity concerns, the flow of coffee from downstairs has long since dried up and the presence of two small people in the house is adding to the tension.
The small people call me 'Dad' and seem to think they own the place, but take no responsibility for any bill payments or household tasks. Neither of them, however, have asked me how a particular formula works, changed their minds about where to make efficiencies over the next 5 years or apologised for 'being on mute' after not paying proper attention on a telekit therefore needing to buy themselves more time to think up an answer, so there's pros and cons I guess.
(Oh, if you're still reading this in a Geordie accent, you can stop now. If you want. The accent was only meant for the first paragraph.)
"Hold up, why are your kids at home, schools don't finish until Friday?" I hear you ask. Good question. My eldest, Henry, is a bit of a complicated little fella. He was born with congenital heart disease, and it seems that this puts him at greater risk of Respiratory Tract Infections. We know he's been susceptible to chest infections in the past, so there's a bit of history here to back this up.
Following Boris's announcement that schools are to close from Friday, we've decided there's not much point in risking him being at school the next couple of days, so he's now at home. And my youngest, Eva, is staying off too. There's no sense in keeping one off just to be safe while letting the other one go off, contract whatever disease she fancies, and bring it home to share. Which she would do, she's very generous like that.
So here we are, the four of us plus two cats, and one giant African land snail, all set to weather out the Covid-19 storm. We're going to get ourselves into a bit of a new routine: some exercise, some work, some free time, some food, and repeat. It's bound to take a bit of time to settle into, I'll let you know how it goes.
The kids reactions to being told they weren't going to school was interesting.
Henry: yes! yes! yes! Get in! Yes!!
Eva: but what about (*wobbly bottom lip) all my homework my teacher is going to give me? (sob)
Earworms
For days now I've had a song on repeat in my head:
You give me fever, when you kiss me
Fever when you hold me tight
Fever in the mornin'
Fever all through the night
(Fever, Peggy Lee)
It's highly inappropriate, I know, but if you can't be honest in what is turning out to be the most popular working from home blog ever written*, then when can you be honest?
(* To be clear, the most popular working from home blog ever written by me. And it's the only one I've ever written, so the competition is limited. The concept of 'popular' is debatable too, if readership ever reaches double figures I'd be surprised!)
Change
It's been mentioned in the past that I can, at times, be a little flippant. This is me stepping away from being flippant for a short while.
Lots of people, for a variety of reasons, struggle with having changes in their lives, and there's lots of change happening at the moment. Some people are well practised at suppressing their anxieties, but that doesn't mean they aren't feeling stressed.
Some people are stressed about not having changes in their lives too. While WFH is stressful, I can imagine for people still having to go into work is at least as stressful.
If you notice anybody behaving a little differently, a bit of tolerance and a kind word or two can make all the difference.
Neighbours
We have an elderly neighbour, George. Hannah popped round to check he was ok. Turns out he's actually called Eric. You learn something new every day.
I have to say like, George suits him much better. I might suggest he changes it. I suspect he's not a big fan of change though, he's in his 80s and has lived in the same house all his life.
Toilet Roll
Has anybody actually run out of toilet roll yet?
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