It was bound to happen...

Day 240...

Yay it's Friday...well that was the start to the day but it didn't take long for things to take a sideways turn.

Not long after arriving at pre-school we received a call to let us know that we had a positive case...and then the day got kind of busy!

So after contacting the relevant authorities we were basically told that anyone with close contact with the positive case would need to self-isolate for 14 days; the upshot of this meant we had to close pre-school.

We had parents waiting outside to drop their children off for the day and my deputy had the unenviable task of telling them we had to close while I remained on the phone with the powers that be to ascertain the why's and the wherefore's.

Once we had a handle on the situation everyone headed off home. Due to the fact that we are a small pre-school it does mean that a good proportion of our children and staff are now needing to self-isolate which means that we have no option but to close pre-school. We hope to be re-open in just over a weeks time.

It did mean that once I landed home I was straight on the laptop to fire off a load of emails to all our parents, the relevant authorities and anyone else I could think off. Just daft things like remembering to cancel our milk delivery!

As it was, Simon was off work today and when I got home he was busy doing some DIY in our bathroom; re-grouting tiles followed by a bit of plastering. By late lunchtime he had finished all that he could do which coincided with me having done everything I needed to do so a walk out was very much needed and deserved; just a short one today but lovely none the less.

The afternoon saw us take another batch of parcels to the post office; I think we must have had almost 20 to take today. Getting home it was time for a coffee, getting up to date on emails and re-listing some of my online sales. Simon was able to sand down the plastering he had done which means that we are all ready for a spot of painting tomorrow.

And that means that as it's Friday it must be time for a glass of wine and to sit and watch the 'Baby Yoda' show as we like to call it!

So with all the crazy going on please take care and look after yourselves.
xx

Closed for the Day

Day 204...

Well...where to start with today?

So last night I received word that one of the pupils who attends our pre-school had tested positive for the dreaded virus. I had to make the decision late last night to close pre-school today as it was too late to contact the necessary powers that be.

So once up this morning it was on the phone to our Department of Education helpline and while I did have a little wait to get through once I was through the whole process was handled so well and clearly and with care.

Thankfully the outcome was that because the child hasn't attended pre-school in the couple of days before the COVID symptoms appeared we were given the green light to re-open, which we will be doing tomorrow. And hopefully I should be contacted by the UK's 'track and trace' system, which will be interesting to see what their advice is!

We find ourselves on the edge of an area that has seen a drastic increase in cases over the last week and there is talk of much stricter restrictions coming into play over the next few days. As a result we seem to have become aware of more cases locally that are causing various school year groups to be sent into self isolation. Unfortunately this affects the daughter of one of my staff, for the second time, and means she will be in self isolation for her 18th birthday as well which is so sad.

So as I spent my day at home today I still managed to get work done...maybe not the work I would ordinarily have done as most of the day was spent issuing and responding to emails and keeping parents, staff and committee informed of the days developments. I also managed to complete the online part of my first aid course that we are all completing at the moment; a requisite of childcare is that we have to take a first aid qualification every 3 years.

In between the emails and the first aid course I was able to get a few odd jobs done around the house, find time to have a coffee outside with Simon in between rain showers, we had a lovely chat with one of our neighbours and then later on when my dairy delivery arrived I was able to catch up with one of my older neighbours and have a good old moan about the current state of things!

So we enter another period of uncertainty. We have possible new restrictions and a new alert system coming in...possibly...maybe...sometime next week. Why do we have to wait for a seemingly random date for these restrictions to come into place. If we need to do something surely we need to do it now, and not wait for a future date?

I think this is where the problem is at the moment, and as it has been throughout this virus, the messaging and guidelines that we are issued with not only keep changing but are never straight forward or simple to understand. We seem to be in a perpetual state of questioning what we should be doing, where can we go, who can we see, how many people can we see at once and does this apply to everywhere or just where I live? The more questions we have over what we 'should' be doing the more problems we are going to have. How can the public expect to do the right thing if we are struggling to understand what that right thing may be?!

All I can say is please take care, think carefully about what you are doing; keep your distance, wash your hands and wear a mask.
xx