Day 5...

(If I miss a day here we're going to be utterly confused, aren't we!)

So here we are at our first lockdown weekend - and I have to say that it hasn't felt SO different from a regular one so far. It suddenly occurred to me last night that one positive coming from this is that we are gaining time - a rare and precious commodity for many of us much of the time. Just from our perspective, although we are still working our usual hours, we're "saving" our commute time - which can amount to a couple of hours a day on weekdays. A couple of hours may not seem like much, but when you suddenly gain that back it seems quite substantial.

Of course with all the events being cancelled, we look like gaining quite a lot more time as well - so the government announcement today that those of us in employment will be able to roll over any holiday time that we have been unable to take due to the virus was very welcome. Although the company I work for (small and very hot on treating their one employee - me - well) would almost certainly have been fine with me taking the holiday that is falling during the current situation later in the year, there will be firms out there who would have taken great delight in telling people to take the time as they have booked it - regardless of the fact that this current situation doesn't really lend itself to any form of holiday. That the government has recognised this and addressed it so early on must surely be seen as a sign that they are at least trying to be in touch with the way the rest of us have to operate. MrEH and I have already had two events for each of which we had a weeks worth of holiday booked cancelled, and it is very likely that another fortnight for a little later in the year will go the same way yet. While we may be able to use some of that time in the autumn, it won't be practical to use a full year's holiday allocation in those few months, not least as everyone else will be doing the same!

With no clear idea how long the lockdown is likely to continue for we've reached the conclusion that this first period is all about learning to adapt, learning to see the positives and find the ways in which they can outweigh at least some of the negatives, planning ahead for later in the year when hopefully we are able to find our way back to some form of normal, and to make the most of being able to just wind down, take time to read, watch films, do jigsaws or play games together.

Robyn