Experiencing a lockdown in UK

A bit more than three weeks into covid-19 lockdown UK I would like to sum up my experiences with this challenging time. It all feels like a big social and mental experiment like almost all of 2020 has done. I can’t say it is easy but it is definitely character building.

Rules of the game

The 5th November 2020 UK started its second national lockdown. Before that day it was allowed to go out for a meal as well as do shopping and visit the gym. UK government simplified the rules to three points as below:

1. Stay at home, except for specific purposes.
2. Avoid meeting people you do not live with, except for specific purposes.
3. Close certain businesses and venues.

For me that basically meant I could still go to work here (what is also the reason why I am here in UK), but all food you eat needs to be take away food, no gym visits not even to hotel gyms and no outdoor sightseeing i.e walks. Sounds like a fun game or?

Lockdown week one

The weather was still warm, like 15 degrees and most of the days sunny. I decided that every lockdown day I would go for a morning walk for one hour to have a reason to get outside. It was rather quiet outside at 6 am when I start my walk but at 7 am you could barely notice a difference from a non lockdown day.

I was fine at this point. Went out running every day after work and some days I bought take away food to eat at my hotel room. But too much hassle to buy food. Every restaurant has their own app you need to download, then register, order and wait so after a few days I went to the grocery store to buy take away salads instead. I had a few but they all tasted disgusting so then that project was over.

During the weekend I had a calmer day at work so took the bus to a nearby beach and had a nice walk. Lockdown life was still survivable.

Lockdown week two

I said a morning walk every day, and I keep my promise. Mornings are getting darker and darker but it hasn’t been that cold. I am trying out new routes to see different places. It is a great start of the day. When I was a student I went for a morning walk every day but after that I have prioritized going to the gym or running in the mornings if I have other activities after work which almost always is the case when I am home in Stockholm.

At this point I am starting to get annoyed that shops are not open because some things you need to buy especially if you are living in a suitcase.

I am already minimizing my social contacts since I don’t know more people than my colleague and people from the project I am working in so those including the staff at the hotel are more or less the only people I met. Stockholm also started to lock down at this point and I spend way to much time chatting with friends from home. I am bored. I need some variation in my life. I miss working out and having challenging sessions and not just go running every day. I still cannot understand the reason behind this lockdown. It is sad to walk around in the city. More and more people are sleeping on the streets. Young people.

Lockdown week three

Morning walks are still on. It is cold now outside. Like 2 degrees in the morning but no reason to cancel. Christmas decorations starts coming up at peoples homes. I also wished I had a place to decorate. Feeling that I would like to do something. Every day is the same. Feels like Sundays in Västerås where I grew up. I remember I didn’t liked Sundays when I was a child. Every store were closed and it was all empty outside. This whole project starts to become very tearing. I am counting the days until it over. Missing the old world when you could travel, met friends and family and just do basic things like going to work or go for a drink at any place. Or playing sports.

Luckily I have a lot of work that keeps me busy otherwise I would honestly not know what I would have done. Thinking of all people who lost their jobs this year due this situation. I really been thinking way to much this week.

And every evening I go out running. My motivation to do the intense and heart-beating sessions has dropped. I have nothing to train for except myself. I miss competing.

Lockdown week four

Week four of UK national lockdown has just begun. I am still trying to find out the reason for this. Crashing the economy and well-fare of people all around the world since hospitals are running out of capacity? I cannot really get it together. Discussing the topic with friends over social media but can’t make any logic of all this madness. Can’t wait until at least some kind of normality will be the case again. I am counting down every day until this is over. Can’t take this anymore. Three days to go. Problem is just that it isn’t much better at any other place at the moment this darkest November in my 35 year life.

I keep on running, the proverb that “running is cheaper than therapy” is probably more true than ever right now.

Without being an expert, I cannot see any long-term benefit from lockdown. Well, time for a run now. No ?? since lockdown started. To sum up I can tell that I won’t participate if the UK government aims for a second round of this social distancing and isolation game. How are you surviving these difficult times?

/ Pernilla locked down in UK