We arrive at our first dilemma, how to agree a start date. Let’s say hypothetically I started my blog when the virus hit China, what would be the defined start date, when a case was reported? Why would I want to retell the news anyway? When me, you, the world has and are hearing about it? So, let’s start by agreeing to disagree on a start date.

It was a week like any other. I know what a cliché. But so true. I got up and threw on old clothes to exercise. We live in a bungalow with one step, I know ‘we’re getting old quick’, ‘ready for our retirement’ and all before 30 – we’ve heard it all before. But getting back to my exercise, I ran up and down our treasured step. Not a health fanatic, not even claiming to be fit and healthy – but trying, and that must count for something, right? On this day, it was early days of the new morning exercise ritual, I was sauna faced and walking after 10 minutes. It’s a lot when you first start out, I would say you should try it, but I promised not to advise. (Ps it’s a few months on now and I can comfortably run the step for 20 minutes, thus more proof of the fable of the tortoise and the hare, no need to tell you which one I am.)

After my exercise I turned on the news, while I wheezed and attempted to catch my breath. Now at this point I know you are probably wondering the date, but I can’t remember, I didn’t think much of what I was seeing, I just didn’t relate. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that I didn’t care. But I had my morning head on, running through the plan: jump through the shower, grab a healthy lunch, pack eggs for breakfast, do I need to get meat out of the freezer for tea, traffic? Any reports of accidents on my route? What’s happening tonight, do I need to do anything in the house or for: Scouts, family, or friends? Let’s not spend too long on the order of my thoughts, ‘you are all my favourites’ as Gran says and will continue to for many years to come!

Yet, writing this in hindsight, I think I would have liked to have said ‘we should all take care’. It’s amazing how much can change in a day, a week, a month… I dread to say a year. But let’s keep in touch and see what long term, maybe even positive effects the pandemic has on society as we come out the other side.

I watched it spreading in China and pondered for a split second on how those people were, and what might happen to them, not to me, or my loved ones. But at this point, no one I knew expected a pandemic was on its way. It was a new year after all, full of possibility and hope.

From the first news of a new virus in January 2020, reports began to intensify: first case outside of China, rising death tolls and a global health emergency announced. I tried to feel reassured, that reported cases of the virus so far, seemed to be among the elderly, or people with underlying health conditions. Surely, this new virus was ‘not that bad’. I can hear myself saying it now and feel a chill of reality wash over me. I was scared then and am scared now. Who could I lose?

Then the spread, cases were reported in Europe as it swept the globe. And what did we expect with a world so well-connected by land, sea, and air. It was at this point I joked, ‘it’s already here, so we might as well all crack on with it.’ This made them gasp: friends, colleagues and family said, hoped and prayed I was wrong. But my outlook was different then. With our holiday booked for April in Rome, at this point, I was still hopeful of going. It got cancelled, and I feel like I must have been mad to have entertained the thought of going during Covid-19. However, this was a month or so ago, and colleagues at work joked with me about there being no queues at the attractions. Meanwhile, I was still imagining a romantic trip exploring the busy city. The reality, a capital in lock-down with its residents trapped indoors, was far from my thoughts.