Corona Diaries

Luke

“Sophie and I watch a Zoom webinar about child autism during the CV lockdown. Harry may exhibit

characteristics of the spectrum he’s not ASD. I don’t know what to do. This could go on for years. The

evening is subdued, Sophie obviously upset.”

Background Information

Male, Aged 45-54, IT Consultant, Northern Ireland, White, Married to Sophie, one son, Harry aged 12,

who suffers with an acquired brain injury and moderate learning difficulties.

March 2020

Reason I created this is that in a year’s time, the minutiae of all this will (hopefully) start getting foggy and

forgotten about. I wanted to note these events as they’re quite extraordinary and not something any of us

have experienced before and I hope will never experience again.

w/c 09 Mar 2020

At the start of the week, we (the country, employer, everyone, me) are still very much not taking too much

notice of CV. Yes people have fallen ill and the number of cases in NI has increased but it seems to be just

some other news item on the TV. Yes, work has instigated a ‘split site’ approach but I don’t think we are

taking that particularly seriously, more an inconvenience.

Thinking back a few weeks to those stories of people in quarantine on cruise ships in Japan or people

coming back from China and having to spend 2 weeks in isolation in some NHS facility, it all seemed to be

‘over there’ not here.

This is until 11 Mar. That day everything seems to change. The WHO declares it a pandemic. I come home

from work and it's like, this is surreal but suddenly very real. Ireland closing all schools. Boris and his

chums do the press conference where they speak about ‘herd immunity’! As if we’re f*king cattle or sommit.

They’re basically saying it's alright if a huge number of people die as they’re old and had other stuff wrong

with them anyway.

Toward the end of the week, people start to make noises that this isn’t a sensible approach and anyway,

it’s been woefully put across. Uncaring Tories as usual. Looking after the markets.

At home, our politicians manage once again to make an ‘orange and green’ thing out of it. Arlene and

chums are not closing schools until her ‘betters’ in England tell them it's ok and anyway they’re not going to

take no instruction from no southern taig. The shinners do their usual, ‘if Ireland does it, we obviously need

to do it’. One’s as bad as the other. How can people have confidence in these people to look after us?

All football is cancelled. The Euros are cancelled. This is all getting scary.

w/c 16 Mar 2020

This feeling of it being an extraordinary time is really hitting home. The government now back-tracking

massively on their ‘herd immunity’ tactic of last week. Someone’s obviously sat them down and told them

it’s not really on for a government to let potentially 270,000 of its citizens die so others can live. A bit callous

all round. They change course and we’re all to socially isolate/distance. Those over 70, pregnant women,

those with underlying conditions are to stay indoors for 3 months!

The government offers £260 billion in support of people and businesses (loans, deferments). I think back to

Gordon Brown stopping the UK economy from tanking in 2008 and getting roasted by the Tories for that.

Oh how times have changed. How will this be paid for in the coming years I wonder?

NI is still sticking to schools open but Scotland and Wales announce they’re closing theirs so what do

Arlene and Peter do now? Oh England my England… Harry’s school initially closes on Wed and Thur, then

on Wed announce Fri closure too. We can’t see it reopening before the summer.

Varadkar gives a national broadcast, very stirring and sobering.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0317/1123774-taoiseach-to-broadcast-to-country-on-covid-19-at-9pm/

Working from home is painful as network performance is poor. I get kicked out of my remote desktop a few

times. When I’m actually online, it’s painfully slow. Still at least I have the option. Many others don’t.

Eastenders stops production! Hold the f*king front page! Glastonbury cancelled. The Yes tour will definitely

be canned. The Olympics for some reason though are still to go ahead. Not sure about that one.

Well, 5pm on Wed 18, finally announced that schools will close across the whole UK. A part of my brain still

seems to think this is all being blown out of proportion. But it mustn't be surely? It just seems so

unbelievable.

Thur 19, Harry on great form. We chat about school at home. Many London tube stations closed. I take a

morning walk. Sun is shining, birds singing. Everything feels the same. On a COB call with work, they're

now referring to 'the virus'. Like a Hollywood movie but unfortunately not a movie.

Michel Barnier tests positive. Talk of London being locked down by the weekend. First death in NI. Work is

again frustrating due to the network but there's things I can do. Have a call with the team. We all have a

laugh, gallows humour and all that. Go out in the afternoon to try to pick up some essentials. No luck. The

local Pharmacy has built a complete barrier, stopping anyone getting into the shop. I probably shouldn't be

surprised but I am.

A bit of fun at celebrities expense:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/lostinshowbiz/2020/mar/19/gal-gadot-celeb-friends-sin ging-self-

isolation-jared-leto

The BBC guide to isolation:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51506729

Robin Swann says the surge coming towards us in NI is of biblical proportions. That'll cheer people right up.

Marie-Sophie Connolly (BBC) says health care workers still don't have enough equipment to cope.

Fri 20, another beautiful day. Short morning walk again to clear the head then off out with Harry as Sophie

has a client coming. I actually meet her at the bridge as her car blocks me passing. I get a bit annoyed

which in hindsight was not a useful thing to do. Note to self I need to be more considerate.

Visiting Tesco, Asda and Lidl looking for the hallowed paracetamol and hand sanitizer. Rarer now than

hen’s teeth. Did get toilet roll which is a relief. I’m surprised by the number of people out and about though.

Looked like a fairly normal day which is a bit alarming. See an old chap pushing a pram with a toddler in it.

What about all the advice of not using grandparents as childminders? With this amount of people out, it’s

no wonder the virus is spreading.

Work better although in terms of productivity, not sure how I’m stacking up. Government announces they’ll

pay 80% of the wages of those out of work due to the virus. Gob-smacked. Just when you thought this

could get any bigger/madder etc. it just does. Government also announces that pubs, clubs, restaurants,

leisure centres, concert halls etc. etc. need to close tonight with no indication of when they might reopen.

They're saying that social distancing could last a year. As another day ends, I wonder how long I’ll be

writing this diary.

Sat 21, Sophie has an emotional call with Deborah. We decide to offer to pay her £80 a month ‘retainer’

while this thing is ongoing. I message Josephine and Anna just to check in. Call Graham to see how he is.

He sounds ok, still working but asks me not to call down. I listen to audio of a London Dr speaking on LBC

on Thur. Powerful stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQD4B_hmdvo

Out with Harry to get his magazine and some groceries. Surprised yet again with lack of social distancing at

the Spar. 220 dead now in UK, 800 dead in past 24 hours in Italy!! Some f*king idiots in Belfast and

elsewhere having street parties. Tossers.

Sun 22, Mother's Day. Feel bad as I only get Sophie a card. Beautiful day. Sophie goes for a walk and runs

into Gracie who will be working at her school through all this. I need to find something that Harry will

engage with apart from an iPad.

I vacuum and clean the bathrooms. There's an Steve Howe interview on Radio 2 so I listen to that. I take

Harry to Tesco, pick up some stuff, chat to Gary about Leeds mostly. On the news, reports of crowds out in

London, Snowdonia, other places. Quite unbelievable the stupidity and selfishness of these people. The

son of one of Sophie's friends tests positive. He works in the NHS.

w/c 23 Mar 2020

It’s beginning to sound like there could be even stronger measures to stop crowds. Photos from the London

Underground today show people packed into carriages. Due to pressures with network at work, I’ve been

told I might need to log off soon from 1pm onwards. Sophie goes into work to be told it is closed as of

today. Harry gets more agitated at home.

Michelle O'Neill breaks down in tears addressing the assembly. Boris addresses the nation at 20:30. It's

official. We're all to stay home. To be enforced by law.

Tue 24, take an early morning walk. Less cars on the road. Busy work day. Harry ensconced in front of the

TV, seems to prefer the middle floor now, probably as he can rewind TV there and watch Sky+. Toothache

starts to worry me a bit. I don’t know if dentists are open so if this starts to get worse, will I be seen?

Another 2 deaths in NI from CV. On the news, pictures again of packed tube trains and construction

workers going to sites. Confusion over the government’s message. It seems they want us to stay at home

yet they want people to work in close proximity as they don’t want to tank the economy. How do you square

that circle then??

They’re turning the Excel centre in East London into a 4000 bed hospital.

Wed 25, drizzly. News from the US is not good. Trump says the US will be open for business again by

Easter, yet in many states cases are rising rapidly, especially NY. Trump is a very dangerous individual. All

he’s caring about is his re-election.

Seems that off-licences are re-opening as ‘essential’ shops. Prince Charles tests positive for CV. Things

feel a bit more settled. More deaths in NI. I read a sobering article in The Atlantic:

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/how-will-coronavirus-end/608719/

Thur 26, Harry up at 06:52. Arghhhhhh. He goes back to sleep in our bed thankfully. Busy work day and

looks like a potentially nasty piece of work has landed in my lap. Grrreat! Sophie goes to Tesco and does a

huge shop. Think we are covered now for a while. Harry is generally in good humour today. Spoke too

soon. He breaks a table in the living room and fires one of the legs at the television then proceeds to attack

me for a good 30 minutes. Oh well. At 8pm we congregate outside (keeping our distance) to applaud the

NHS. Over 100 dead today in the UK alone.

Fri 27, Harry up around 06:15. Double arghhhhhhhhhhhhh. Trying to spend less time online today and

more time with him. We take a walk to the post box to post a letter to Jennifer. Boris Johnson and Nick

Hancock test positive for COVID-19. Belfast GPs appeal to Stormont for a complete lockdown. The US

exceeds China and Italy in confirmed cases. Deaths rise by 181 in the UK today.

I speak to Daniel on the phone. His employer is still insisting they stay open. FFS. Putting profit before

health. Stormont executive needs to get it's head together around which businesses are essential and

which aren't. I'm feeling a bit more anxious today. What if a lot of health workers go down with the disease?

Ireland introduces similar lockdown to the UK.

Sat 28, clocks go forward tonight, weather settled and bright but cold. Not much to be cheery about. I think

I'll clean the back patio today. Patio turning into a bigger effort than I was expecting. Still, must be done.

The deaths in the UK pass 1,000. Boris is saying even tougher measures are possible. Letters going to all

households. Trump saying New York may be quarantined - although he rows back on this eventually.

On a lighter note, I’ve settled on Reaper as my DAW, connected up my usb keyboard and tried some old

VSTs and they work! Need to set aside time to get to know it. Adam sends me a new track he and Chrissie

recorded so that's an incentive.

Some start to BST. Get to bed at 4am.

Sun 29, Harry wakes me at 08:45. Wreaked. NI Executive passes law to enforce lockdown but the list of

manufacturing businesses that should close has still to be agreed. I try to complete cleaning the patio but

that drain blockage is a pain. I call Graham, it seems his work will finally close on Tuesday.

w/c 30 Mar 2020

Another fairly ok day. I take a morning walk with Harry to the post box which he tolerates quite well. Log in

to work and start working through the usual. Harry has a bit of a blow up in the afternoon which comes out

of the blue. He calms down after a while. In the evening, Sophie and I do a Zoom tutorial which does clear

up a lot of the confusion. I get some guitar practice in before bed.

31 Mar, Harry up early again for his game shows. I order two items for the shower, a bit of retail therapy. A

busy work day, working on the app health stuff. I write a Zoom install guide for Sophie who's running her

first conference tomorrow. Harry is a bit restless. I speak to Graham on the phone. He sounds a bit fragile

and has been drinking. He’s worried about being stuck at home for a long period. I’m worried for him too.

Jennifer has apparently rode back on the suggestion that he go to her house and live there for the duration.

Nearly 400 deaths today in the UK. Grim. The US passes China in terms of deaths. A US carrier docked in

Guam has apparently over 100 sailors infected.

April 2020

1 Apr, not many jokes doing the rounds today obviously. Harry gets up early again but goes back to sleep

in our bed. All the news is about CV testing or lack thereof. There’s a story about my local council digging a

lot more graves at the local cemetery. In the back of my mind I still think the whole thing is being over-

egged. The numbers quoted for the US, even NI just seem so extraordinary to be not realistic. Sophie

explains this is due to not having a reference point or experience from youth to base this on. The SSE

arena and MOT test centres are being repurposed as testing centres. Over 500 dead today in the UK. I call

Jennifer in the evening to talk about Graham. It sounds like she will ask him to stay at hers which I think is a

good idea.

2 Apr, Harry gets up early again but I manage to get him back into bed with the radio on. I get a morning

walk in. Work is fairly standard. In the afternoon, Harry has another blow up thanks to f*cking Tipping Point.

He hits the TV, I try to stop him and it all escalates. Sophie gets involved. Harry leaves me with a cut on my

forehead and takes about an hour to finally calm down. It’s the worst yet. I give up on work at about 15:30.

In the news, just more and more on the lack of testing. Some idiot DUP councillor in Ballymena says CV is

God’s punishment for NI’s abortion and same sex marriage laws. Jesus indeed wept. On The View, more

proof of the problems in the NI Executive when Michelle O’Neill is criticising Robin Swann for the lack of

testing.

3 Apr, TFI Friday. Go for a short walk with Sophie and Harry. Try to keep busy with work. Harry is relatively

calm today although there is one minor kick-off. Hacked off with the whole thing.

Getting very little guitar practice in which is also affecting my mood. Sophie sets up a Zoom meeting for

Harry to play Now! Game with his cousins but he doesn’t want to join in.

4 Apr, quiet day. Get some time to set up my audio interface with Reaper and do some test recording. I

hear that a friend in NYC is in hospital on oxygen. I decide to post a response to a CV conspiracy posts on

FB. What a f*cking load of bollox. Talk to Jennifer about Graham.

He went over to hers then left. He’s not in a good way according to Jennifer.

5 Apr, do a few jobs around the house. Harry is generally ok but does have one outburst when I ask him to

lower the volume on the TV. The Queen does a broadcast to the UK and Commonwealth about CV. The

Chief Medical Officer in Scotland is cautioned by Police for visiting her 2nd home, flouting her own advice!

Boris Johnson goes into hospital.

w/c 06 Apr 2020

Dad's anniversary. CMO for Scotland has finally resigned. Didn’t think there would be any other outcome.

One of my new Yes books arrives. Harry in good form all day. The number of deaths in the UK drop slightly

so that's good news but Boris Johnson is admitted to Intensive Care so obviously very ill now.

7 Apr, sunny day. Didn’t sleep well last night. Keep thinking I’ve got a dry cough but as day wears on feels

normal again. Harry on fairly good form if a little loud. Work busy today. Couple of calls about use of a

restricted product for traders. Looking forward to some time off. Sophie braves a trip to Tesco. I call the

Health Centre about my INR test on Friday. Mr J still in Intensive Care.

8 Apr, it's been 100 days now since this all began.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2020/apr/08/coronavirus-100-days-that-changed-the-

world

Annual leave today, hopefully a quiet day with Harry. Singer John Prine dies having contracted CV. A study

says the UK will have the worst death toll in Europe, 66,000 by August. Once again, I find this very hard to

believe and think it's massively over-egged. Harry writes a letter to Alice. I give Jennifer a call. Graham is

moving in with her on Friday. Nearly 1,000 deaths in the UK today. Still don't see how the 100,000 tests a

day can be achieved by the end of April if they don't have a working antibody test. BBC NI news referring

again to the 'expected surge in COVID-19 cases'. I'm still sceptical of this 'expected surge'.

9 Apr, seems another nice day outside. Bickering in the EU around countries sharing the economic debt of

CV. Italy wants it, Germany opposes. Harry and I take a walk to the post box to post a letter to Alice. After

lunch, Harry hits the big TV due to Tipping f*cking Point and nearly pushes it off the stand. He then starts

his usual trying to hit me in the face. He calms down after I let him play Tipping Point Blast on my phone. I

wish that programme was banned. It's a curse. Another episode about an hour later. So hacked off with

this. 881 deaths today in the UK. Lockdown being reviewed but won't be lifted anytime soon.

10 Apr, Good Friday, quiet day. I drive the car for the first time in 3 weeks. Health centre quiet, blood test

results are fine. I'm surprised though at the number of people out and about and who don't seem to be

maintaining social distancing. In the afternoon I clean a lot of shells, Sophie cleans the windows. After tea I

watch Vivarium on the phone. The UK has the biggest rise in deaths again. Stay up watching Ozark and

get to bed about 3am.

11 Apr, Matt Hancock angers front line workers by implying they're using too much PPE. Day for washing

cars. Sun is shining. We receive some brownies in the post from Anna. Very kind.

I wash the cars then sit out on the patio for a while drinking Tesco Cider! I speak to Jennifer on the phone.

Graham has moved in which is a relief but does unfortunately break lockdown rules. I hope there are no

complications. In the evening Harry and Sophie watch ‘super Saturday’ shows on ITV while I try out some

Richard Ashcroft and Jellyfish songs on acoustic guitar.

Another marathon Ozark session to end the day.

12 Apr, Easter Sunday. Cloudier today. Harry is in good form and starts the day with half an Easter egg!

Sophie sets about making the dinner so Harry and I give her room and retreat upstairs. Sad news that Tim

Brooke-Taylor has succumbed to CV. Death toll passes 10,000 in the UK. Dinner is lovely. Such a relaxing

day. Harry eats a lot of chocolate. We finish off the 3rd season of Ozark. Another year to wait

w/c 13 Apr 2020

A beautiful Easter Monday. Quiet (as is every day now). I do some paint touch-ups on the car. Afternoon is

spent in the company of gameshows. Dinner isn't particularly nice. I notice that one byproduct of lockdown

is I'm not spending money (as much). I get the odd pang to buy another guitar but what's the point? I clean

the bathrooms and try to get some guitar practice in but Harry puts an end to that. Spain is starting to relax

some measures but the UK expected to extend lockdown by another 3 weeks. Lots of care homes hit by

CV, many have multiple deaths. Fake news is starting to become more problematic.

14 Apr, back to work. Ugh! Fairly constant day, couple of calls. Harry stays downstairs watching his shows.

He makes no attempts to watch the big TV upstairs which is a relief. Sophie has a Zoom conference with

her class and tutors for her course. Another on Friday. News in the Guardian that people with Autism or

Learning Disabilities can exercise more than once a day and can travel further from home to do that, if

required. Good to see this change by the Government. Evening quiet, I get some guitar practice in, Harry is

bathed and we sit down to watch ‘Quiz’.

15 Apr, another bright, sunny day, if a bit cold. Harry complaining about sore gums, Sophie’s broken a

tooth. News about leaked Government proposals to re-use single-use PPE. This whole PPE thing is turning

into the scandal of this whole pandemic. Work busy. Sophie has a couple of counselling sessions, one by

phone, one by Zoom. We have tea out on the patio. Gorgeous evening. I call Daniel, Jennifer and Graham

to see how things are going. NI extends the lockdown here to 9th May. I expect they’ll extend it after that. I

get some guitar practice. We watch the last episode of ‘Quiz’. The ending is a bit of a damp squib to be

honest. 16 Apr, another bright day. The weather has been superb recently. Makes being home a bit more

tolerable. Waiting for the rescheduled dates of the cancelled Yes UK tour to be released.

I hope to just revise the hotel and flights. I get a few more reviews done and am on calls most of the day.

Sitting at this desk, my feet are swelling up again. Not a pretty sight. It takes a night’s sleep for them to go

down. The UK government confirms the lockdown will continue for another 3 weeks at least. No surprise

there and to be honest, I don’t envy them coming up with a plan to get out of this without another surge of

the virus. Tea on the patio, a bit chilly but a lovely evening. We do the customary 8pm clap for the NHS. I

order some new patio furniture.

This whole thing about that 99 year old guy raising 17m for the NHS by walking around his garden. Whilst I

applaud his efforts, isn’t the government the ones who are supposed to be adequately funding the NHS

through my national insurance? This just lets them off the hook.

We start watching the 2nd season of ‘Loudermilk’ on Amazon. Such a good show.

17 Apr, I use my new shower head for the first time this morning. So relaxing and I’m pleased I bought it.

TFI Friday again. Another day of meetings. Three astronauts return from the ISS today having been up

there since the middle of last year. What a different world they’ve returned to. Patio furniture arrives! That

was quick. Sophie and Harry bake a lovely chocolate sponge. It’s Mary’s 50th birthday today. There’d have

been a big party but I guess we’ll all get together once this is over. God knows when. Sophie has another

course session over Zoom this afternoon. I put up the furniture. It looks good. More bad news about PPE

for health workers. Deaths in NI revised up by a third due to counting differences. Apparently one of the

local councils has reopened a recycling centre, 2 more to open on Monday. They’ve done this without

consulting the NI Executive, their reason? “The public wants it”! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised but Trump

has appeared to endorse protests against lockdown measures in several states. He tweets “Liberate

Minnesota” and other nonsense. I’m guessing these people protesting wear MAG caps, are 100% white

and vote Trump. Sure maybe they could just shoot the virus with their assault rifles.

18 Apr, woken early by Harry. We swap beds and I go back to sleep. Chillier and cloudy today.

I don't venture on to the patio. Harry content with my iPad. Sophie works on her assignments.

She puts together a capital cities quiz for Harry which he enjoys. I need to get him back into some sort of

home school work. I carry on cleaning. Polishing then the bathrooms. It's Super Saturday again so Harry is

camped in front of the TV from 18:30 for his programmes. Death toll passes 15,000 in the UK. I remember

them saying weeks back that keeping it under 20,000 would be a good result. They're going to pass that

milestone no bother, probably already have as they're not including Care Home deaths in the figures. We

do a Zoom session with various households in Coleraine. I get roped into playing guitar and singing which

annoys me. I drink too much beer and will have a head in the morning.

19 Apr, an interesting article in the Guardian this morning. I lie in bed and read it through.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/18/how-did-britain-get-its-response-to-coronavirusso-

wrong?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Keep_notes

Michael Gove is on with Andrew Marr. Much squirming and finding ways to cover. On testing, he says

they'll be able to do 100,000 tests by the end of April rather than actually doing 100,000 tests. Talk of

vaccines. I just feel they're miles away from that. I help Harry get dressed and then he has another blow-up.

Hitting me in the face and eyes. He throws a glass of water over me then finally calms down. This whole

ongoing behaviour is really stressing me out. In the afternoon I sit on the patio and read a book. I get some

guitar practice in the evening. I’m still smarting from the night before. I wonder given the changes that

appear to be happening in work, I’d be offered voluntary redundancy and if I'd take it. After Harry goes to

bed, we watch some more ‘Loudermilk’.

w/c 20 Apr 2020

A broken night’s sleep. A day of calls and reading wordy documents on screen. I don’t feel like I achieve

much. Sophie gets her tooth at least temporarily fixed. Tea is lovely, we sit on the patio. Later Sophie and I

rearrange the plants and it looks much better. I get some practice time in but am frustrated with my playing.

Feel like I’m going backwards again. I don’t want to slack off and retreat into the easy stuff. Got to stick at it.

I don’t pay much attention to the news today.

21 Apr, my mood is low again today. Frustrations with work. I might start looking again for a new post within

the company but in the current climate there’d be zero chance or point in a move. That doesn’t help though

the lack of motivation in the current role. This feeling of separation definitely doesn’t help. Still sunny today

and more rearranging and tidying going on in the house. In the evening I get some practice in but is

interrupted by Harry screaming and hitting as the phone is ringing and I can’t hear it as I’ve the headphones

on. He finally calms down. It’s Jennifer. I call her back and find that Graham has returned home. Due to the

noise Harry’s making I can’t really hear her so I have to give up.

22 Apr, all up early as Sophie has a Zoom conference with a client. Weather is apparently going to break at

the weekend. A morning of trying to progress reviews in work and pushing for responses from people. I do

find this constant work from home a chore now and look forward to getting back into an office with a team

and a decent set up. The delineation between home and work becomes less clear and I’m starting to

associate home with work. Evening, tea on the patio. I get some reading done and practice in. More talk of

how lockdown might be relaxed in stages but we should expect it, in some form, to last into next year!

23 Apr, work is almost totally conference calls all day. Harry has another blow-up in the morning, lashes out

and takes some time to calm down. Sophie goes to Tescos in the afternoon for supplies so I have to wash

down the groceries when she returns. The death toll is now reported as over 18,000 but as that doesn’t

include care home deaths, we’ve definitely passed that 20,000 deaths milestone they were touting a few

weeks back as a ‘good result’. The government also reports that tests can now be booked online and they’ll

have hit their 100,000 tests a day target by the end of April as they promised. I still don’t see how unless

they spin it as all along they meant they’d have the capacity to do 100,000 tests rather than actually doing

100,000. We shall see. Whatever way this goes, when the dust settles (God knows when) there’s going to

be some major questions asked of how all this has been handled. It’ll make the Chilcot Inquiry look like

peanuts. After Harry goes to bed, Sophie and I talk about how things are going with him, our lack of home-

schooling (which we know we need to do something about), his mood and temper, both of us ensconced in

work during the day. We know he’ll not be back to school before September, if even that. The NI Executive

hints that cemeteries will be reopened to the public. I think that’s a wise move.

24 Apr, Friday again. An overcast morning as I settle down to login once more. It does brighten up though.

Sunny and hot by lunchtime. Another cracker from Trump. Someone at his latest conference says the virus

is killed by disinfectant (who knew). Trump asks can disinfectants be injected into people to kill the virus.

Jesus wept! Some idiot will probably do this now. Another bombshell in the Guardian that the government

was warned about the potential of a Coronavirus pandemic last year. In the evening we have a Zoom quiz

on the patio with the family. Sophie and I win! The zooming chats are still going on at 1am when I sneak off

to bed.

25 Apr, another beautiful day but a grim milestone finally acknowledged. Officially the hospital death toll

passes 20,000. What does that mean though? Is the handling of the pandemic in the UK a failure? I guess

we’ll find out some day. Sophie and I spend the afternoon on the patio. I read while she gets some rays. I

order some old magazines I had in the 70s off of eBay. I wonder if that is another signpost for these times?

Reaching back to good memories from when I was a kid? In the evening, we watch ‘Official Secrets’ on

Amazon. Gets me thinking again of what sort of inquiry will be coming down the line after all this is over.

26 Apr, I do some work outside - fix a light, treat the patio with weedkiller. It’s a bit chillier so we don’t eat

outside. News out of New Zealand is hopeful. They’re loosening their lockdown although they were much

tougher to begin with than the UK and have had very few deaths as a result. Boris back at work tomorrow. I

wonder if his attitude will have changed at all? Another article in the Guardian talks of social distancing

continuing into next year. I get some more practice done in the evening and we watch the first episode of

season two of ‘Afterlife’.

w/c 27 Apr 2020

I’m up in the night and find it difficult to get back to sleep. I can hear sounds outside, I can’t quite make out

what they are. Harry up at 06:30, gets angry when he can’t get his radio to work and hits me in the face.

Boris gives a news conference from Downing St at 09:15, basically to say no change to lockdown. I’m

guessing that with other countries starting to ease restrictions, the pressure on the UK to do the same is

going to grow. A busy work day. Sophie braves Tesco again. Some argie bargie again up at Stormont when

Mary-Lou McDonald says that thepandemic has brought a United Ireland closer. What a f*cking stupid thing

to say. Insensitive ifnothing else. Of course, Arleen’s response is predictable but measured. I wish they’d

just park the orange and green shit for once. Now is not the time. The feeling that this lockdown is going to

drag on is palpable. People are really starting to get hacked off. Sophie and I are ok but I think Harry will

get more and more edgy the longer this goes on. BBC reports that the government didn’t stockpile PPE as

requested in preparation for a pandemic and some things, like ventilators, are unaccounted for. FFS.

28 Apr, another night of broken sleep. The day is busy work-wise. News of the scale of deaths in care

homes is another grim toll. I get the sense that people are becoming angrier with the government now,

whether it’s lack of PPE, lack of planning, poor handling of testing. David Cameron resigned after losing the

Brexit vote. Surely the scale of failures here merits someone/some people to throw in the towel? Harry and

Sophie draw a lovely picture about ‘What I Love’. Everything seems fine until that blasted gameshow. Harry

completely loses it at the end and hits the TV a whack, breaking the screen in the top left corner. He takes

an hour to come down. We have to end up sitting on him to restrain him. Later we watch ‘Beat the

Chasers’. I order a perspex screen protector from Amazon. It’s just a matter of time now till this TV goes to

the skip like the other one he broke.

29 Apr, weather looks like it’ll finally break today. An interesting piece in the Guardian about the dystopian

nature of lockdown and the effect it has on places when those places are near deserted:

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/apr/29/apocalyptic-vision-the-unsettling-beauty -of-

lockdown-britain-is-pure-sci-fi-coronavirus

Another in-depth Guardian article about how we’ve reached this place:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/29/revealed-the-inside-story-of-uk-covid-19-coronavirus-crisis

Fairly busy work day. Recent policy changes are having an impact on my main area of responsibility so

now I’m left wondering where I’ll end up. Thoughts go again to looking for another position within the

company. No major issues with Harry today. I start a concerted effort to get the recordings off my Sky+ box

and onto the PC, so I can finally cancel Sky. News reports that the death toll including care homes is now

over 26,000! Hospices being flagged as another area that’s been forgotten about. All this talk about exiting

the lockdown but given where we are, I’d prefer if it stayed in place for a much longer time. I guess we’ll

hear more next week.

30 Apr, in work we have a ‘town hall’ conference call with our main group (~200 people). Our Belfast site

manager goes through what global plans there are for exiting the Work From Home (WFH) strategy. All

seems tentative at the moment given they don’t know when restrictions will be lifted in the UK but it looks

like ‘hot desking’ will be no more and due to social distancing and building capacity, there’ll be people WFH

for a long time to come. Still, no change as of now and I’m not expecting any change for a while to come. I

spend the day working on a large data set that while I hadn’t been looking forward to going through, is

actually turning out not too bad. I continue with copying the recordings off my Sky+ box and onto PC. Slow

going as everything has to be copied in real time. Sophie goes to Tesco to get shopping and also get her

sister (who’s in hospital) some fresh clothes. Boris says we’re through the peak of the pandemic and of

course, more stories in the media about how we’re going to get out of the lockdown. ITV bosses say

they’ve “had enough” of programmes recorded via Zoom etc. and want to go back to studios. I just hope in

the rush to get out of lockdown, we don’t end up back where we started with hospital staff overwhelmed.

May 2020

01 May, grey and overcast. It rains through the day. Work is less hectic today as the data files I was waiting

for still haven’t been provided. The government apparently hits their 100,000 tests per day target. Hmmm…

they've counted tests sent out but not sent back yet. More arguing in the Executive, this time about

churches and garden centres opening. They should be speaking with a single voice but some ministers

can’t help mouthing off as if they run the place. Continue copying programmes off the Sky+ onto the PC.

The screen protector for the TV that Harry broke arrives. We watch the end of the 2nd season of 'After Life'

on Netflix. I really enjoyed it,

Sophie was less than impressed with the therapist character, for obvious reasons.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-52356136

2 May, I put the screen protector on the TV before Harry comes down. Looks ok, proof will obviously be

when Harry whacks it, which I'm sure he'll do at some point. The Irish Government publishes their plan for

exiting lockdown. It's slow and gradual. The UK will probably start to release theirs this week. Harry has

another blow-up. I speak to Daniel on the phone. Can't reach Jennifer or Matthew. Sophie and I have a

long talk after Harry goes to bed. She says he's becoming institutionalised which is probably true. We feel

like we're failing him, me especially.

She suggests engaging him more in music activities. We watch a few episodes of 'Normal People' on

iPlayer. We're both impressed.

3 May, nearly 28,500 dead. More speculation on how the UK government will start to relax the measures. I

just hope they do it slowly and actually put thought into it. I feel a lot of actions they've taken up till now

have been too hasty and not thought out. In the afternoon in an attempt to get Harry out of the house, we

go for a drive. The car hasn't been started in weeks and reports that the battery is very low. I need to drive

it more often. I drive it around for about an hour then Sophie does some grocery shopping at the Spar. I

cook tea and do some guitar practice. Sophie finishes another of her assignment essays. Jennifer phones

and says Graham has been off all week showing some CV symptoms. I wonder if it’ll end up with him in

hospital?

Another few episodes of ‘Normal People’ watched.

w/c 04 May 2020 That stupid Star Wars day. Who gives a toss? Relatively quiet day in work. Start thinking

about an automation solution for one of our still-too-manual processes. I exchange a few messages with

Adam about recording. Once again, I have to say no movement on my side. I’m reaching the end of the

programme transfers off the Sky+ box. I might call Sky later to cancel my subscription. Harry is in relatively

good form today although he now interrupts all calls that I’m on without fail. After tea we go out for a drive

again, not leaving the car. It’s good just to get him outside. Some guitar practice later.

5 May, in work, I start trawling through data to produce the final total cost of ownership scoring. I spot

anomalies in the data supplied by one sector compared with the data we’ve pulled for our sector. Ugh.. this

is now taking me down a rabbit hole. ITV News reports over 32,000 deaths now in the UK, the highest toll

in Europe, even higher than Italy. For some reason, no story for this on the BBC News website. I carry on

working on the automation solution. The magazines I ordered on eBay arrive. It seems the screen protector

will get its first chance as that trigger from Tipping Point pops up. Even though I try to explain to Harry that

hitting the TV is bad and he’ll lose iPad time etc. when it comes to the trigger event, he whacks the screen

protector. When he realises it isn’t the TV screen he’s hit, he tries to pull it off to get at the TV. Sophie

restrains him, then he starts hitting me when he gets up again. I bundle him into the garage where he hits

me in the face a few more times. I then take him out for a short drive but he doesn’t seem interested in that

any more. Screen protector worked though. When I get back, Sophie and I watch a Zoom webinar about

child autism during the CV lockdown. Harry may exhibit characteristics of the spectrum he’s not ASD. I

don’t know what to do. This could go on for years. The evening is subdued, Sophie obviously upset.

6 May, we’re all up around 8am as Sophie has to leave the car to a local garage. I forget to put shopping

bags in the car so we wind up at M&S at the airport with no bags so have to come back home to pick up

and head back to M&S. I finally get logged into work about 10:30. Harry is back to relative normal but

Sophie is clearly not in good form. There’s going to have to be some serious penalties for yesterday’s

behaviour. Harry has a few more blow-ups and Sophie helps him write a story about him being sorry and

making good choices in future. He still hits me in the face again a few times after that. Work is very busy

today. Under the cosh to get this data analysis done. After tea, more hitting from Harry. He pushes me from

behind when I’m not looking and I bang my head off one of the kitchen shelves. Official 30,000 deaths

barrier passed today. It's way more than 30,000 now. Shocking. I call Graham and he’s getting over his

illness. He’s not sure if it was CV but he sounds better and quite upbeat so that’s good.

7 May, news story on ITV News about the disproportionate impact of CV on ethnic minorities, especially in

the NHS. Sophie thinks this is all related to socio-economic factors like their home environment,

overcrowding etc. Another question that needs answered. Too much talk though about what Boris is going

to say on Sunday regarding relaxing the lockdown. I think people are getting carried away. Good day in

work, get stuff done and off Friday and Monday. NI Executive says it’s not lifting any lockdown restrictions

which I think is a good move. In the evening Harry gets distressed when he realises his Now 105 CD won’t

be delivered tomorrow.

Next few days will be a bit fraught due to this. Sophie and I watch the remaining episodes of ‘Normal

People’. I loved it, sad that they didn’t end up together.

8 May, 75th anniversary of VE day. I spend the morning with Harry doing some exercises from his school

website. He stays fairly well focussed but as soon as his afternoon programmes start, forget it. I do some

cleaning. I finally get through to Sky and after much to-ing and fro-ing, cancel my subscription. Apparently I

was a ‘Diamond VIP Sky Customer’. First I heard of that.

Daniel drops a pizza kit that Martha sent down from Coleraine. In the evening I do some guitar practice and

take part in FB quiz - ‘Name the riff’. I get 15/20 and am an early leader but miss out on the prize

eventually. Harry slaps me hard in the face when I’m putting him to bed. Nose bleed. Really sick of this.

9 May, after the trouble earlier in the week, Harry gets a 30 minute penalty to getting my iPad. Seems to

take it ok. Weather is warm and we sit out on the patio in the afternoon. I read and then we cook the pizza

for tea. Harry watches super Saturday, I get some guitar practise in.

After he's gone to bed, we start watching 'Unorthodox' on Netflix. It's ok.

10 May, so Boris is making some address this evening at 19:00. Media has leaked some details. It'll only

affect England though as 'the devolved administrations' are going to stick with lockdown for another 3

weeks (at least NI and Scotland). Of course, the London-based England-centric media reports as if it'll

affect the whole UK. I've felt detached from the UK since the Brexit referendum. It feels even more so now.

The London media rarely even mentions NI regarding CV, Scotland and Wales only majority of the time. I

think The Guardian are particularly guilty of this which annoys me as a left-leaning person. I don’t even

watch Boris’s broadcast, seems little point.

w/c 11 May 2020

Day off today. Another beautiful day. I sit with Harry in the morning and do some exercises from his

school’s website. After lunch some reading and sun on the patio. Sophie has a call with a child support

person regarding Harry. After tea we go to Tesco. I pump a lot of bottles into the bottle bank. News is

dominated by yesterday's announcement. Vague, confusing are just two of the words used. The UK

government even publishes a story on their own website 'Guidance to… get Brits safely back to work'

. Who writes this shit? I'm not a Brit for a start. Woeful. We finish watching ‘Unorthodox’. Very short.

12 May, back to work. I answer a few mails where the sender is clearly trying to pass off some work they

should have done onto our team. Hmmm. More press about the lack of clarity in Johnson’s plan. So many

strange contradictions, for example, someone can meet one of their parents in a park but not two. The UK

government looks like a fool. Harry’s Now! 105 CD finally arrives and that puts a smile on his face. The NI

Executive publishes their 5-point exit lockdown plan which doesn’t contain dates. It sounds like some things

will be in-place until the end of the year. Sophie and I work on her revised contract for counselling, including

details on online counselling. I get some guitar practice in.

13 May, the Yes date for London is rescheduled to May 2021. I cancel my hotel booking for June and need

to convert my Easyjet flights into vouchers or I might just rebook. Need to check with Sophie. I attend a

training course in the morning about working from home with children. I sit on the phone to Easyjet for 30

mins waiting in a queue before giving up. Rest of the work day spent doing the TCO data scoring. In the

evening, Sophie and I clear the patio for tomorrow’s work. I get some practice in.

14 May, Mum’s birthday. The key to the garage inside door doesn’t work again and then the one to the

garage also doesn’t work. Arghhhhhh. Finally, I get back into the garage and open the inner door after

shoulder charging it again. The guy is coming today to start putting up a big fence between us and next

door. He starts work around 11am. Be good when it’s done. There’s a note through the door asking us to

raise a noise complaint about the dog barking at no.19. After discussing with Sophie, we decide not to as

it’s not really causing us any nuisance. The issue is more the people at no.16 so Sophie thinks this might

be an opportunity to address that. We’ll see. Fence looks good, Sophie had to ask them to make sections

of it higher. Later we watch the 1st episode of an awful show on Netflix, ‘Virgin River’, jeez it’s shite. The

CV news of the day still surrounds the confusion of the message from the UK government. We watch

‘Question Time’ and I get annoyed. The real death toll is much higher than 33,000. That figure is bollocks.

15 May, cool today and cloudy but I’m sticking to shorts now. Haven’t worn a pair of jeans in weeks now. I

wonder will I be able to stick it out through the summer? Work is ok, not many calls today. I go to the ATM

before lunch to pay these guys doing the fencing. I make sure not to touch the ATM or the notes. The last

time I used an ATM was before lockdown. Welsh government publicising their lockdown changes. No

massive changes as yet. It’s good to see them flexing their muscles though in criticising Westminster. I

order us 3 face masks from a place in Huddersfield.

16 May, we rearrange the pots on the patio with the new fencing. Looks good. Harry is good up until bloody

Tipping Point which sends him off and he hits the TV again. He eventually calms down. Sophie and I work

on some final pieces for her course. More criticism of the government about the return to work in England.

Andy Burnham accuses them of having a London-centric attitude and giving large northern cities basically

no advance warning of their message that people should have started returning to work last Monday. After

Harry goes to bed we watch 'Now You See Me'. A waste of 2 hours and £3.29. We go to bed after 2am.

17 May, raining today and quite cool. We don’t do much. Some cleaning then we all sit down to watch

‘Paddington 2’ which is a great laugh. I do the tea. Later I get some practice in and order another late 70s

magazine off eBay. After Harry’s in bed we start watching the 2nd season of ‘Top of the Lake’ on Netflix.

w/c 18 May 2020

I sleep through the alarm and get up just after 8. I’m wrecked. Work is subdued. The team meeting doesn't

reveal much but I've suspicion that something is moving behind the scenes. Harry manages to find the

remote control for the TV in the living room so insists on watching TV there all day. He does hit me in the

face a few times when I sit next to him. At least Tipping Point didn't tip him over the edge again. Later I

resort to hiding the remote so he can’t switch on any of the devices. The NI Executive announces some

relaxation to the lockdown. People can meet up to 6 people outdoors from tomorrow. Golf can restart. Harry

and I go out for a run in the car after tea.

19 May, the BBC reports the excess deaths over and above what would be expected this time of year is

54,500. Quite a bit higher than the 34,000 figure they reported yesterday. Pretty shocking. Deaths per

100,000 in the UK is 51.8. Not the highest in Europe but still very high. Strangely Belgium is 79.1. Had 1-2-

1 with my manager. I voiced concerns about the viability of our jobs continuing in Belfast, i.e. being moved

to lower cost locations. I just think that if I was a director looking to save money somewhere, I’d move them.

Sophie gives me a roasting about still not sorting the garage and other stuff. I feel suitably ashamed. Trump

comes out with more nonsense about taking anti-malarial drugs for CV. Even Fox News says if you have

specific underlying conditions, this drug will kill you. Definite blame game ramping up over UK government

response to CV, lack of attention to care homes, testing strategy changed to hospital admissions as they

didn’t have the capacity. Shambolic. I do hope when this is all over, heads roll.

20 May, the CEO of the company I work for announces that he’s giving us all another day off (this Friday)

so another long weekend. Very nice but all a bit sudden. Not that I’m complaining, just odd.

Weather is a bit better today but nowhere near the temperatures they’re getting in SE England. After tea,

Harry and I go to the Spar to get some essentials and then drive about for a while. I notice a few extra cars

around our development, people visiting others. Isn’t that against the lockdown advice? The Nolan show on

BBC talks about education in lockdown. Sophie is particularly vexed about this due to the lack of any real

contact from Harry’s school since the school closed in March. Our neighbour, a teacher, is volunteering to

look after kids at a school in town but this doesn’t seem to be a consistent story. Other teachers are

encouraged not to volunteer for example.

21 May, strangely, Harry receives an email from his class teacher. Hmmm… It’s becoming increasingly

clear in work that our software release in June is now in jeopardy - not my team’s fault but I’m sure they’ll

try to pin it on us. I get a fevered message at 16:30 from one of the US guys saying I need to help them out

urgently. Where was the planning, why did they sit on this until now? A shambles although we had an

inkling it was coming. It leaves me in a bad mood for the rest of the evening, knowing I’ve got this to come

back to on Tuesday. I get some practice in and at the 8pm NHS applause, there’s only us and the next door

neighbours out. We watch some more of ‘Top of the Lake : China Girl’. Some of the writing in it is truly

bizarre.

Gwendoline Christie’s character is very strange.

22 May, the impromptu day off. Despite Harry coming into our room regularly from 7am, I manage to sleep

on (broken albeit) till nearly 10am. The health centre calls to tell me the procedure I need to follow when I

come in for my blood test at 1pm. Harry loses it looking for the TV remote again and it descends into hitting,

shouting and slamming doors. Sophie and I have another argument as a result. Eventually things calm

down and I go for my blood test.

Harry and Sophie have a Zoom conference with Harry’s classmates in the afternoon. After, we drive for

Sophie to leave her course work with her tutor for marking. Tipping Point has one of those triggers that

causes Harry to have a meltdown. As he watches on +1, just a matter of time for him to go off again. He

does indeed. Hits the TV and takes nearly an hour to come down. The rest of the evening is subdued.

News that Dominic Cummings travelled 250 miles to Durham, breaking lockdown rules.

23 May, Harry is still a bit upset today. He gets his magazine at 2pm. Rest of the day is spent drawing,

watching the iPad or watching Super Saturday until about 8pm when he wants to watch the TV in the big

room. I ask him not to but he won't listen to me and starts hitting me about the face again. Things calm

down again. We do a Zoom with family and then watch the end of ‘Top of the Lake’. Bit of a damp squib.

24 May, the whole Dominic Cummings thing is starting to gain momentum but I can’t see him resigning.

He’ll front it out. Seems he went up to Durham at least twice. We go into town in the afternoon to get some

wood stain for the patio furniture. Roast chicken for dinner and then I spend 3 hours staining the furniture.

I’m thinking of selling those 70s magazines I just bought.

Going to scan them first. Still one more to try to get. Hopefully make some money on them. We watch

‘Good Vibrations’ about Terri Hooley. A lame caricature of Belfast if I’m honest.

w/c 25 May 2020

Another bank holiday. I get another coat of oil on the furniture but the weather is mostly overcast all day.

We head to the garden centre. Sophie goes in to have a look around, Harry and I go for an ice cream, or

rather he sits in the car and I stand in a queue. The Dominic Cummings thing is trying to gain momentum

but he/Tories are sticking it out. He’s bullish in a press conference and Boris seems to have no intention of

sacking him. I guess they’re waiting for it all to blow over. Meanwhile, people who did/do follow the rules

around lockdown are left feeling like mugs.

26 May, back to work. Testing for the next code release is delayed due to some showstopper bugs. Day is

spent either running my usual data updates, testing or waiting to test. No sign of architecture folks wanting

more in-depth explanation of my ‘total cost of ownership’ calculations.

A junior Tory minister resigns in protest at Dominic Cummings but no sign that there’s any change at

No.10. Sophie gets more stuff from the garden centre. More Dr Who gifts arrive for Harry, I’m guessing

from Jennifer again. No CV deaths in NI in the last 24 hours, same as yesterday in the Republic. Harry and

I go out for evening drive again.

27 May, another fine day. I spot another internal job opportunity. This one does look more up my street so

him-ing and haa-ing over whether to apply for it. Aside from that, testing proceeds on our big release.

Sophie has some morning calls and then her and Harry go out for some ice cream in the afternoon. I think

Harry is increasingly getting cabin fever and it's hard to get him to engage with anything other than the TV.

Tipping Point has another of their trigger endings for Harry. Let’s see how this plays out. It plays out as

expected. He hits the TV a whack a couple of times and then is agitated for another 30 mins or so.

Eventually he calms down. Sophie gives me another pep-talk on the whole thing. This is going to continue

unless I can find ways to mitigate it. Later on ‘Nolan’, the whole Cummings thing is discussed, with these

typical right-wing public school types defending him and urging us to ‘move on’. One law for the elite

obviously. The rest of us can go and sh*te.

28 May, this says it all:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/28/dominic-cummings-democracy-laws-truth-

consequences

A lovely sunny day. Work busy. We have a townhall in the morning. Nothing concrete on a return to office

work which is fine by me. We sit out on the patio in the afternoon. Harry even does too, paddles his feet in

a tub Sophie filled for him. In the evening, subdued. The last clap for the NHS.

29 May, another beautiful day. Still working on the TCO scoring figures. One of Harry’s teachers calls

Sophie but really nothing to report. Harry and Sophie do another Zoom call in the afternoon with Harry’s

school friends. Listening in, Harry is really engaging with it which is great to hear. When 16:30 comes, log

off for the weekend, yippee!! A quiet evening. Very warm in the house. We watch 'Broken' on Netflix. Bit

depressing.

30 May, another great day. We've been spoilt with weather pretty much the whole lockdown so far. We sit

out the front of the house in the morning and have coffee, scones and biscuits with the neighbours, taking

advantage of the 6 people meeting outside. We have a really nice chat. Afternoon is spent on the patio

getting the sun. Harry stays indoors watching his programmes.

We put up some hooks on the fence for lighting. Home made pizza this evening. Later Sophie and I sit out

on the patio with blankets as the night gets chilly.

31 May, a beautiful day again. We go over to Jennifer’s in the afternoon. First visit since start of lockdown.

We sit out in the sun and enjoy ice creams. Harry sits in his pop-up tent and plays with more Dr Who toys

that Jennifer sent him. Back home, I connect up an external hard drive I’ve bought for the TV downstairs.

With my Sky subscription ending next week, I want to still have the ability to record, pause, rewind TV and

the drive lets us do that. In the evening, I do some cleaning. It’s very warm. Schools due to open in England

tomorrow but I’m guessing many parents will keep their kids home.