Monday has rolled around yet again.
There was the usual trip to collect the weekly grocery shopping and once home and packed away there were some household chores to do. Simon has been working on his R2D2 build off and on throughout the day; a process of wet sanding, pieces drying, spray painting, more drying and then repeat for numerous different parts!
We did take a walk out for coffee and although it decided to rain while we were out it wasn't too heavy thankfully. Another 3.6 miles in one hour and eleven minutes...total for March so far stands at 16 miles.
After lunch there were a few more jobs to get done; cleaning round, a little garden tidying and sorting out a returns parcel. Simon has spent some time updating his website (simonphipps.com) as he has a new limited edition print up for sale; a piece inspired by a game he worked on in 1999 called Shadowman.
The day was rounded out with a trip to the 'gym' for Simon and a trip to the living room for me to complete my body-weight workout.
So here in England we have seen the return to school for all our children today. Those attending secondary school are having to be subjected to three lateral flow tests before they are allowed to attend and then each week they will have to be tested twice. They will also be requested to wear face masks all day, if social distancing is not possible - all seems so ridiculous and over the top.
The evidence is out there that masks make no difference what so ever, that testing will eventually turn up positive cases because of the false positive rate that comes with any test and yet all these kids want to do is to go back to school, see their friends and try and learn something.
While some children will take this all in their stride I fear there is going to be a large amount that will struggle. Struggle with catching-up on missed education, struggle to relate to others, struggle to adjust to new routines. There will be those that have missed out on so much because of their home life situations, those that have suffered both mentally and physically and those that will simply slip through the cracks.
It is very easy if you have been able to 'carry-on' during lockdown relatively unaffected to assume that everyone else is like you and not appreciate what it could be like in someone else's shoes. But there are lots of families out there for whom lockdown will have been devastating in all sorts of ways and we will not know the true affects until much further on down the line.
Whatever you're doing, wherever you are, take care.
xx
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