Corona Diaries

Merna

“Today I’ve spent quite a time on the phone, speaking to others that are also alone.”

Background information

Female, aged 65-74, Retired, White British, Married with two adult children

30th March 2020

Stay at home stay at home

Sat around like a little fat gnome

Try to be happy and not to be sad

I imagine the symptoms would be very bad

So do your thing and eat good food

Anything fresh to help your mood

Learn new things or do a puzzle

I'm too much wine try not to guzzle

Missing your friends is a tricky one

But when it's all over you will have so much fun

Exercise Legally as much as you can

But avoid a fine or some sort of ban

None of us want to get COVID-19

So let's all keep our hands nice and clean

Soon we can start to live again and forget all this weirdness and this strain

1st April 2020

There will be no pranks in the press today. The subject of Fools has no part to play.

April is here but spring feels bleak

As we continue our distancing week after week.

The Ides of March, Shakespeares warning, Still impacting on this April morning.

April showers are battering Spain,

This gloom and doom needs to be on the wane!

Spring has sprung and the birds will sing, And we get over this terrible thing.

A joke and a laugh will make us feel cheery We all need to feel a lot less weary!

10th April 2020

Boris, so pleased you are now on the mend, And you’ll get over this virus in the end.

The daily briefings are not the same,

With you at the lecturn the reporters you name, the medical men give us much needed charts, With all of

the variables that they do impart.

With you there the briefings are so much more spunky, The info you give us is pointedly chunky.

I have watched the briefings given by Trumpy, Much of the time he’s exceedingly grumpy!

He points and he shouts and he makes his own rules, He must think he’s dealing with a room full of fools!

They’re not even distanced or speaking on screen, That’s the craziest set up I’ve currently seen.

So Boris get better and resume your address, While we help by protecting our NHS.

16th April 2020

Today I’ve spent quite a time on the phone, Speaking to others that are also alone.

Thank goodness for WhatsApp and video calling, If we didn’t have these it would be so appalling.

It’s so lovely to see much missed friends, To dream about what we will do when this ends!

To imagine a meal, a coffee, a drink,

Sooner than later do we dare to all think.

Social media has now come into its own, It’s not just selfies we can do on the phone.

When people just wanted to preen and cluck, These days none of us give one single f..k !

Not fussing or bothering what we will wear, As now we are natural with faces stripped bare!

So don’t looked too shocked when you answer my call, You may not recognise me at all.

16th Aril 2020

So twenty poems I have now penned,

And the 21st one is now ready to send!

I hope you are not bored of my tomes,

As you all sit on lockdown in your various homes.

Often subject matter is hard to find,

It’s good for my brain, I don’t find it a bind.

So twenty whole days we have had to endure, How many more days I’m really not sure.

Today we’ve been told another 3 weeks,

Is the curve dipping, have we reached the peak?

The long summer nights will soon be here, We can sit out late with a wine, or a beer.

But tonight I must not eat dinner too late, As we clap for the NHS promptly at eight.

21st April 2020

Another walk, go up a gear, so very lucky living here.

I see things that give me good cheer, perhaps a pony or some deer.

Some days I really don’t see a soul,

Just the bum of a rabbit going into his hole.

In no time at all I’m away from most folk, But occasionally it’s a little bit of a joke.

A couple ahead were so very annoying,

There was a good distance but I had to keep dodging.

Every few yards they would just keep stopping, Scrutinising a twig or perhaps a dropping.

They had a large bag that they kept on filling, Clearly gathering a whole load of kindling.

Perhaps their own supply is suddenly dwindling!

So I made the decision to veer off the track, But still able to find my own way back.

The car parks are closed to avoid those that merge, Then you see them all parking up on the verge.

Two cars are impounded behind the big gate.

They have fines on the windscreen, they will have a long wait!

22nd April 2020

Talking to myself is my newest habit,

Without even knowing I rabbit and rabbit.

Your family may well be driving you mad, But of human contact you ought to be glad.

Eating alone is also not fun,

Rather fed up with the meal for just one!

It’s an effort to bother to make some food But preparing freshly will help your mood.

My food shop arrives tonight at nine,

Forty-six items, some gin but not wine.

The wine has been ordered and I still have some left, If I ran out I’d weep, I’d be rather bereft!

The bottles piled up in the recycling bin, Mainly of wine and just one empty gin.

The bin men don’t take them, they go to the bank, But the queue was so long my heart rather sank So I’ll

take them tomorrow, they are still in my trunk.

Seems most people here must be getting blind drunk!

2nd May 2020

My house has never been quite so clean,

The windows, the floors, the mirrors they gleam.

Each room has been cleaned from the ceiling to floor, And I’ve dusted up above every door.

Under the sofas, and all of the lights, Nothing’s ever been so shiny and bright.

Under the beds, the furniture’s moved,

The standard of housekeeping greatly improved.

I’ve always been a prudent housekeeper, But these days my cleaning goes a bit deeper.

I’ve painted the gates with the use of a spray, They now look like new and the rust’s gone away.

The car has been washed both inside and out, Even though it’s not often I’m out and about.

I still have the patio to pressure wash

That’s a lot of water to spray and slosh.

It’s very important to keep everything clean, During the lockdown and with Covid 19.

8th May 2020

Today we will Celebrate VE Day,

Today on a sunny 8th of May.

Bank holiday was deferred for a long weekend, But the long, became lockdown, in the end.

There is bunting hung along my street,

Some people have tables and a few small seats.

There’s balloons and flags, there are quite a few, People being creative and just making do.

At 7:30 I will join in, and go outside, And the distancing rules, I will abide.

We will raise a glass and give good cheer, For the brave men and women that are no longer here.

For all those that fought in World War Two, Seventy five years on we all salute you.

Covid-19 might have dampened the celebration, But not the resolve of our very great nation.

And Covid-19 is also a war,

One we’ve never had to face before.

So tonight we will sing ‘We’ll meet again ‘, What a timely and relevant refrain.

10th May 2020

Today I have achieved an unusual peak,

Fifty poems I’ve written, up to now, as we speak.

What is the name for a half century of rhymes, I’ve been writing them daily through challenging times.

I can’t believe that I’ve reached this amount, So today I looked back, and I had a recount.

How many hours have I spent on my phone, Penning and scribing ..... now I’m here all alone.

How many more do I have to create,

How much longer will we have wait.

I started this thinking a few I might write, But now I’m penning most days and some nights.

I thought I might print them into a file, But it will now be a book, it might measure a mile.

At the start of this virus, I did make this pledge, To write one a day, until we’d got the edge.

But it seems I now need to carry on writing, Whilst this pesky old Covid-19 we have to keep fighting.

20th May 2020

Yesterday was indeed a very strange day,

My husbands birthday, and he’s so far away.

Did a call with the kids in the evening on Zoom,

All of us sitting in different places and rooms.

We sang Happy birthday and not very well,

We were all out of sync, not too easy to gel.

Friends and family responded with messages and love,

Thank you all so much as I gave you a shove.

We shouldn’t be spending our birthdays alone,

With just having to communicate over the phone.

This time last year we were having a ball,

We were in the Maldives, we fished and we snorkelled, we did it all.

So his birthday has just seemed to pass him by,

But we will celebrate later, we really will try.

It’s not about presents or stuff or things,

But being together and the joy that it brings.

21st May 2020

I have written sixty poems right up to yesterday, That’s eight point five each week, and I’ve written come

what may.

Indeed I can’t believe I’ve penned quite this amount, I didn’t imagine it would be such a massively high

count.

Until we finish lockdown, I’ve said I will go on, And I will, so I warn you, until it has all gone.

But even this milestone has given me content, For the hours deciding subjects, and the time that I have

spent.

I thought achieving forty, I would have done my share, But in no time it was fifty, so I then thought I was

there.

But ten more I have written and I’ve bored the pants off you, But each evening it’s my focus and it’s

something that I do.

I’m hoping that I won’t reach a centenary, That would be so crazy, for you and not just me.

21st May 2020

I have written sixty poems right up to yesterday, That’s eight point five each week, and I’ve written come

what may.

Indeed I can’t believe I’ve penned quite this amount, I didn’t imagine it would be such a massively high

count.

Until we finish lockdown, I’ve said I will go on, And I will, so I warn you, until it has all gone.

But even this milestone has given me content, For the hours deciding subjects, and the time that I have

spent.

I thought achieving forty, I would have done my share, But in no time it was fifty, so I then thought I was

there.

But ten more I have written and I’ve bored the pants off you, But each evening it’s my focus and it’s

something that I do.

I’m hoping that I won’t reach a centenary, That would be so crazy, for you and not just me.

1st June 2020

I really want to go out for a meal,

But just can’t imagine how it’s all going to feel.

Having to eat wearing protective stuff,

Will it be safe, will it all be enough.

I suppose it’s something we will all have to try, Better outside as long as it’s dry.

But I’m heartily sick of eating at home, And equally tired doing it, on my own.

To be in company again will such a treat, And not having to cook the food that I eat.

A takeaway meal really isn’t the same,

You still have to plate it, so there’s minimal gain.

To sit at the pub with a nice glass of wine, Not drinking at home again all of the time.

So let’s hope the lockdown goes in to stage three, And quite a few changes I hope, we will see.

Little things will become such a very big deal, And how I can’t wait to go out for that meal!

12th June 2020

My husband has noticed, that most of my rhymes, Mention the inclusion of gin, and of wine.

Frankly they’ve both been a godsend to me, To look forward to a nice big cold G and T.

I better not tot up the bottles of gin,

But lockdown’s restricted opportunity to sin.

So it’s been my pleasure, each evening time, My G and T first, and with dinner, some wine.

It’s become very easy to have it sent here, Waitrose or Tesco or Sainsbury’s are near.

Waitrose deliver within just three days, Or click and collect, there are so many ways.

We’re drinking at home, as the pubs are still closed, As to the virus, they still think, we’re exposed.

I make no apology for enjoying my drinks, As lockdown frankly, totally stinks.

But we have to be mindful and not go too mad, Or we could have a problem, which would be quite bad.

We are still being cautious about what we can do, The virus still ready to get me or you.

Once we are ready to go out about,

I’ll enjoy a pub garden, of that I don’t doubt.

14th June 2020

I’ve penned eight eight poems right up to this day, That is totally crazy, I do have to say.

So this one is now number eighty nine,

And I’ve sat and I’ve penned them, a line at a time.

The first one I wrote on the thirtieth of March, And I said one a day, til the end of this lark.

But it’s gone on much longer than one would have thought, But I hope some amusement, or interest

they’ve brought.

Some people seem to read them each day,

And some also have something positive to say.

Some people don’t seem to take a look, Others tell me to put them into a book.

But hey I’m a woman of my word,

And I wanted my feelings to be heard.

To me it’s a part of our history,

And may seem in the future, a mystery.

So I’ll keep them in some way shape or form, To have for posterity, this wasn’t the norm.

So as from today, I will pen one each week, The subject matter’s becoming quite tricky to seek.

As the lockdown is easing and we get back on track, And we try to get some sort of normality back.

But we are still quite a way from life before this, So I’ve made it my promise that I’m not going to miss.

So bear with me people, until lockdown has gone, Which I think we’re all hoping, will not be too long

15th June 2020

The shops are preparing to open their doors, Not just the essential ones anymore.

I walked through my little village today, Shops are changing their windows to make a display.

The same things have sat in the windows for weeks, Nothing new to look at or press our beaks.

But now people are painting and opening doors, And putting the distance markers on all the floors.

Shopping will not seem like it used to be, When you wandered and browsed, and it felt free.

But now you must to queue to enter the store, Or in small shops it’s one in, one out, and no more.

I’m not that desperate to wait in a line, I can do all my shopping for anything, on line.

So right now I don’t want to go all that much, I’ll wait until we can browse and touch.

The public’s been told, only touch if you buy, Difficult to decide by just using your eye.

But it’s good for the shops and the economy, For the young who want new stuff, but not now for me

29th June 2020

I’ve been watching the Downing Street briefings for some months now, But they’ve come to an end and I’ll

miss them somehow.

It gave me a focus on the daily news, And the virus update, and the regular reviews.

The two metre rule is changing this week.

As we go down to one, and some normalcy we seek So the pubs will soon open, which will seem really to

odd, Table service only and no queuing thank god.

Hairdressers finally, will be doing our hair It’s been four months now since I sat in that chair.

You can now book a flight, you can now go away, A trip close to home, or perhaps not far away.

My sons come to see me and he staying the night, He’s my support bubble, he’s made my day bright.

But we must all be mindful as Covid’s not gone, Staying alert and safe so it doesn’t get us later on.

6th June 2020

I have reached my final day now to write, Lockdown is easing, we are winning the fight.

You can start seeing family, and they now come inside, But there are still rules, that we must all abide.

You can go to a movie, and see more of your friends, It’s all getting easier, as this lockdown ends.

You can’t get your nails done, or go for a swim, But you can get your hair done, and have a nice trim.

You can now choose to take a holiday away, You can fly to some places or just book here and stay.

But life is still different, and for some its berserk, Many jobs being lost, and people out of work.

Some places are shutting and some remain closed, And to this pesky virus we are all still exposed.

So I’ve written ninety one of these poems during this time, Sitting penning and thinking, as I wrote line by

line.

It’s been the strangest few months for us all I am sure, And we really don’t want to do this thing any more.

So let’s still be wary of what we all do, We don’t want more cases, not even a few.

We must hope for a vaccine, and then all get a jab, To all get protected, would be totally fab.

Let’s now enjoy summer, as we live life again, As we all get through Covid, may our wellness remain.

Thank you for reading, and enjoying my rhymes, In these truly difficult, bizarre, unprecedented times.