Just as we get into a lockdown routine are we really ready to go back to ‘normal’ ? - Catherine Scott

So we are halfway through week seven of lockdown and week five of home schooling.
Spain is starting to reduce its lockdown, but are we ready?(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)Spain is starting to reduce its lockdown, but are we ready?(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Spain is starting to reduce its lockdown, but are we ready?(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

We are surviving, in fact I would say we are more than surviving.

Don’t get me wrong, we still have the odd wobble with school workload and missing friends, but we seem to have got into a workable routine just as the talk of relaxing the lockdown is in the headlines.

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I noticed how we have adapted to our changing life while watching a film with one of my daughters on Friday night.

There was a scene where a young couple had friends round for dinner.

It was a very unremarkable scene in normal times, an ordinary couple laughing, joking, hugging and socialising with friends.

But after a few minutes my daughter quietly remarked: “I remember when we could do that. They are so lucky.”

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It just really struck me how life 
for all of us, but particularly 
through the eyes of a teenager, had changed.

The last seven weeks shows just how adaptable we are as human beings. It may take a while but, on the whole, we will make the best of any given situation.

Of course there are those facing real hardships – domestic violence and abuse – and our hearts must go out to those people affected.

Now, talk of returning to work, in whatever form it may be is causing concern among many people, understandably.

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We have just started to get used to our new way of living, social distancing, time at home and seen the rewards – a reduction in the death rate from coronavirus and the NHS coping with the pandemic.

But how will we fare when we emerge from our homes and are allowed out for more than once a day to exercise?

We will have to get used to wearing proper clothes again – and make-up.

Just how this new life will operate is still being thrashed out and there has been no mention as yet of schools returning.

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Strangely there will be things I will miss from this period of confinement. Conversations with my teenagers, more family meals, family games, jigsaws and walks, and speaking with family at home and abroad on a weekly basis even if it is via Zoom.

And time. I think many of us will miss having time once we are back to our hectic lifestyles. Of course lockdown has been a challenge on many fronts, but so will getting back to ‘normal’.

But what the last seven weeks have made me realise is that, on the whole, whatever the new future holds, we will adapt and get on with it, even if it is not always going to be easy.

Twitter@ypcscott

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