Fiona’s Corona Diaries (22nd April)

On the topic of lockdown health

A recent survey by the Institute of Employment Studies suggested that during the initial fortnight of lockdown a third of people in the UK were eating more and exercising less than they usually do. This does not appear to have been the case in our house. Despite regular biscuit bakes and outdoor sausage sizzles, we have been suffering from mysterious (but welcome) weight loss.

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Fiona’s Corona Diaries (20th April)

The thief of days

Benjamin Franklin once said that time was money. He was so wrong…

Has anyone else just lost ten whole days?

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Fiona’s Corona Diaries (10th April)

Is it still okay to laugh?

Is anyone else slipping between hysterical laughter and deep concern with as much disconcerting ease as I am? Never before have I experienced such a wide variety of emotions, and so often in one day. Yesterday was a key example. I had an enormous amount of fun promoting and joining in with the GetOutside Inside Step Up Challenge, recording videos and getting soaked with a hosepipe by my son. But I also had some worrying news about a loved one.

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Fiona’s Corona Diaries (7th April)

Do writers dream in couplets?

My work today has demonstrated the eclectic nature of my freelance life. I made a video of myself walking up and down a single step (three takes because I kept falling over), I filmed a piece to camera (wrong bra but the tripod stood up nicely in the compost) and I have started some technical writing. I didn’t finish the technical writing because I had to make sure I understood it first. This happens to me a lot. Just like it did when I was a teacher. I was once informed by a good teacher friend that all I needed to do was stay one page ahead in the text-book. Great advice except for the fact that, by the time I started teaching, we didn’t have textbooks anymore.

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Fiona’s Corona Diaries (5th April)

Anyone else missing hugging?

My name is Fiona and I am a hugger. In fact I have at tendency to hug, without invitation, at entirely inappropriate moments. I once, at the end of a holiday in Turkey, mistakenly hugged the taxi driver as well as the family to whom I was bidding farewell.

It seems very sad (but very sensible) to not be able to hug people just when they all need it most and (let’s be honest here) when I need it most. Still, here in Devon we seem to be developing a whole new set of social norms. Read on to find out more…

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The Corona Diaries (3rd April)

On the topic of hair

I shaved my legs today. A momentous occasion brought about by the realisation that the hair on them had finally become long enough to view from outside my 2-metre exclusion zone. Not that I am likely to see anyone but I once got caught out by breaking an unshaven leg. The resulting sight, after six weeks in plaster, was not pleasing. I wonder if you could grow your leg hair to exactly two metres, it might help with social distance measuring.

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Fiona’s Corona Diaries (2nd April)

Christmas housework

Paradise lost? Well perhaps not quite yet but I have today noticed a few hairline cracks in my temper. Unplugging the kettle and ordering the rest of the family out of the kitchen whilst I baked to Woman’s Hour was supposed to restore my matriarchal sanity. In reality it just caused a row. Apparently thirty-year old children want strong coffee at 10 o’clock in the morning, not Shrewsbury biscuits.

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