Judith Proctor's Journal

 VE day was a surprisingly relaxing day.

No one planned it, but a couple of people on our road (which is a cul de sac) put up bunting and flags.  They put chairs out in the front garden and chilled out.

More people put chairs in their gardens, some settled down with a pot of tea or a glass of wine.  Gradually it spread down the street until about ten families were sitting in their front gardens.

I spent a couple of hours, just wandering down the street and chatting to people I barely knew, while sitting in the middle of the road, sometimes chatting to two households at once.

It was a lovely way for people to interact, without ever coming closer than about 10ft.  Very peaceful, very gently, and I really really enjoyed it.

I don't think any of us discussed the war, we just chatted about life in general and things we'd like to do post-lockdown.

Maybe well arrange a proper street party when lockdown is over!  (If we do, I'll bring the maypole and set it up for all the kids)

 It's quite disconcerting watching a six year old's first steps into fandom. In her case, 'Paw Patrol'.  (think Thunderbirds, in a small Canadian town, with all the vehicles and gadgets operated by talking puppies)(a very abridged epiosde is here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2xJHGAwEIQ )

She absolutely loves the show. The rescues are gentle, never scary, and tend to involve things like needing to repair a barn in time for a wedding, or helping a baby dolphin find its family.  It's funny, has lots of set sequences, and, hey, puppies!

She's made her own tiny puppies, and a drawing of the Lookout Tower with little pouches to put each individual in.  She plays Paw Patrol games in which the puppies have to rescue owls from falling trees, and find food for Errol (Her knitted dragon that AuntyGillian made), and has great fun.

Grandad and I have to keep making up new tasks for the puppies to do, but they're always very helpful!

While Mummy was out on her postie rounds a few days ago, she found a Paw Patrol tin outside a house, with a sign saying 'Help yourself". So she did, and dropped it off at our place - got to wave to Oswin through the window and chat from 3 metres for a couple of minutes.  

We asked Oswin beforehand how she'd feel about being able to see Mummy and talk to her, but not being allowed to go outside and touch her.  She thought about it and decided it would make her more happy than sad, and she was right. She coped fine, and pulled funny faces at Mummy, and they had a good laugh and then she waved Mummy Goodbye and there were no tears.

It helps that they have video contact every evening for half an hour or so, and play Minecraft together while they are chatting.

Mummy is very busy and working a lot of overtime.  Social distancing for postal workers means you can only have one person per van, and the system is set up to work with two posties per van.  Add in workers off sick, and a massive volume of extra parcels, and Mummy is much in demand.  

She's go the kind of brain that learns new routes very quickly, so they tend to use her as a floating worker between postal depots to replace anyone who's sick or on holiday.  New route virtually every day. She enjoys the variety, so it isn't a problem.

The tin turned out to contain an unused set of 3D cardboard puppies, which have been played with every day since. (I rather miss her little hand drawn ones, but still has them - and the carboard ones are bigger and don't get lost as easily...)

She's cheerfully resistant to commercial merchandise, without even being aware that she is.  Her Lookout Tower was drawn by copying a picture of a rather expensive children's toy, but it never occurred to her to ask us to buy her the actual toy.  This is a good thing.  Paw Patrol was designed from the start to have masses of merchandise.  Each puppy has a distinctive hat, a unique vehicle, an individual badge, and  a backpack with gadgets in it, not forgetting the actual puppy!

The show has made around 7 billion in retail sales!

 We're now full time substitute parents for Oswin and home schooling her.  (Basically, one parent in key job and one with serious mental health issues.  Other grandparent vulnerable due to age and medical issues, so all efforts to reduce virus risk and ease strain on parents.)

We're home-schooling her for the duration, which is rewarding, but knackering.  She's a bright kid and many of the sheets the school gave out are too easy.  So, we're working a bit sideways from the worksheets.  We're playing with measuring stuff, doing number work with seeds, emailing family members to work on English, and learning to touch type. We're also learning about the Romans, cooking Roman food, walking the local Roman road and looking at Roman roads on maps, learning how to use a compass on the walks, practicing tables.  

I'll start introducing her to fractions soon, but I don't want  her to get too far ahead of school or she'll get bored when she gets back.  So probably more science (Grandad loves astronomy) and history (the library loaned us loads of books) and natural history.

We're going for a long walk every day, which is good for everyone's stamina (and virus resistance).

Missing contact with other people, but at least with three in the house we don't get too lonely.

 I personally  know three people in my town who are self isolating as they believe they've caught it.  Given my relatively small social circle, that's fairly high.

Oswin's friend Sam's dad has it, so she won't be able to play with him for a couple of weeks.

We haven't done any panic shopping.  We don't eat much in the way of ready meals (can't remember when we last had one, if we ever have...) so just relaying on our weekly veg box delivery and our usual supply of tinned beans.   Have not bought any toilet paper...

Our main response to the virus has been to update our wills. Saw the solicitor this morning - probably her last face to face appointment -and gave her all the details. She'll email us a draft and we'll work from there.

My morris team has stopped practice for the duration, but my sword dance team is a much smaller group - max of six dancers (three of whom are living in the same house) - so we've decided to carry on for now as the risk in such a small group is low - and exercise is important for maintaining health.

Next week will be a big change in our lives, as Oswin will no longer be able to go to school, so she'll be with us much of the time.  That means thinking about teaching her as well as playing games and going out for walks.  Luckily, she's already a fluent reader and enjoys learning about things. How many kids can be bribed to eat their tea with - "Eat that bit and I'll talk about anything you ask me" and it can be anything from owls to canals, with many interesting digressions to all kinds of things.

Lack of contact with other children is concerning me - not sure what to do there, but she's certain going to miss her friends.