Why I'm not prepared to travel anymore during covid.

The pandemic is not over and whilst more people are getting their booster (3rd) shots of the vaccine, many more people around the world aren't. This isn't just because they're just anti vaxxers, but because the vaccine isn't available to them, such as living in rural townships in Southern Africa, in environments where people don't have access to running water or electricity, can't socially distance due to overcrowding, yet travel into the towns and cities for work in shops, restaurants and people's homes.

When covid was first identified the end of 2019, we were planning our gradual relocation from Dubai to the UK, it started with moving the cat and dog over in February 2020, with me returning to Dubai in March for a month to entertain a friend and her husband and Peter's sister and friend who had booked visits out to see us before we relocated, the plan then was for me to fly back and forth month to month and Peter to come to the UK when work permitted. 

Covid scuppered those plans and after rescheduling a couple of cancelled flights with BA, I finally managed to get back to the UK, the last BA flight out of Dubai, the first day of lockdown. Dubai closed its borders behind me, but not after they'd had me sign a form to declare if I wanted to come back in the foreseeable future, I'd be required to enter mandatory quarantine at my own expense.

My MIL had been house and pet sitting and had to return to her home, so I had to leave Dubai. I didn't see Peter again until the start of August, when he was finally given permission to leave and return and I was given permission to re enter Dubai a few weeks later.

On arrival in the UK for me, Day 1 of the first lockdown, I arrived at Terminal 5 Heathrow, the queue for passports was long, all being manually checked and a leaflet handed out to me about how to isolate and for how long. On my flight I had to wear a mask, the plane was full. Some passengers wore full PPE as did the airline staff. Food and drinks were served as usual. I had no way of getting home, so a friend collected me, we wore masks, socially distanced and I stayed in her spare room. The following morning, she drove me to Watford train station. The trains were running but there were no ticket or platform staff, so with my case, I worked out to get to Northampton, changed to Birmingham then down to Malvern and a short walk home, where I dropped my case, picked up a shopping trolley and walked to Lidl to shop for the next 10 days. My friend called in to collect Bob for a daily walk, but no one checked up on me.

When Peter arrived in the UK in August, I'd then managed to purchase a car online, brand new from a garage in Birmingham. The garage were able to deliver because the receptionist drove down and had her sister follow on in her own car, because they lived together. They were allowed to travel further a field by then and it was their first day out and they were quite excited about the Starbucks drive thru now being open.

I drove to Heathrow T3 to collect Peter, to discover it was closed and re parked at T2. It was such a relief to see him after so long. We both had to quarantine for 10 days. He had to have a PCR test prior to leaving Dubai. Peter had to fill in a passenger locator form prior to departure from Dubai.

During his stay they introduced PCR testing for flying. The PCR tests had to be conducted with a certain lab and due to the timing of Peter's flight his options were Manchester or Belfast. He ended up with a NHS drive thru, which was accepted, but I had to drive home from Heathrow when I dropped him off via a lab in Bristol, at a cost of £150, before I flew out 3 days later.

On arrival in Dubai I had to have a PCR test and isolate at home until our results came through within 72 hours and had to download an app on the phone.

Getting PCR test in Dubai before leaving home was easier, booked online, turned up within an hours window and you stayed in the car to be tested, results came to your phone within 24 hours. The tests were throat and both nostrils. On arrival back in the UK, I collected my car from valet parking at T2 and drove home to isolate again for 10 days.

I travelled to Northern Ireland to stay with my son and his wife as my house sitters had arrived early and the wife was shielding, so I ended up with no where to stay. Birmingham and Belfast airports were like ghost towns

Travelling out for Christmas 2020 required the same procedure as above, however when I arrived, Peter was in Saudi and the borders closed on him over night, meaning he spent Christmas over there while I stayed in a hotel on the beach for a couple of nights. He was home for New Years and we walked to view the fireworks at the Marina, from near our house.

I worked for TV production with the European Tour in early December, we were required to mask wear and socially distance. As I went home at night, I was in a different bubble from everyone else. In January I joined the tour in Abu Dhabi where I had to PCR to cross the border and PCR on arrival and go to my hotel for 24 hours until the results came through. Then I had to stay in my bubble for 4 days on and off the course. I had to PCR test daily, which tied in with my flight to the UK 48 hours later. I left Peter in Dubai until my next trip and flew back to Birmingham, caught the train to Malvern and said goodbye to the house sitters who were waiting in their car, on the drive, for me to arrive. 

I had an exemption letter from isolating as I'd been in a bubble, filled in the passenger locator form and 2 days later my letter was revoked and I was told to isolate for 10 days, which I was doing anyway other than walking the dog. By this stage I'd had both vaccine does, 3 weeks apart.

I headed back out to Dubai in April, my son and his wife had travelled over from Northern Ireland to collect the dog and the neighbours looked after the cat. I flew 2 days after the last lockdown, via Terminal 2 and had to catch the train and spend the night before my flight in an airport hotel. I found a local testing lab to have my PCR done before flying. I also had to apply for permission to enter.

On arrival in Dubai another PCR on arrival and isolate until results came through. Then came the bad news. There were no flights between Dubai and the UK and Dubai was put on the red list. At this point, we'd moved out of our villa, had our furniture shipped and Peter had taken early retirement. We were homeless and stranded. We booked a hotel for 2 weeks in the Marina with the intention of having a couple of weeks fun time, but realised we were stuck there until June 14th at the earliest before the first flight out, which we were booked on. 

Then all of a sudden there was a flight to Birmingham via Amsterdam on June 3rd. So we booked, arranged PCR test, filled in passenger locator forms and booked and paid £2400 for mandatory hotel quarantine. 

We were concerned we might get stranded in Amsterdam, but it was costing us money to stay in Dubai anyway, so we either took this flight and risked not being allowed in or we stayed put for another 2 weeks minimum. It was 11th October before Dubai were removed from the red list.

At this point people were travelling via other countries before arrival in the UK and enjoying a 2 week holiday on a beach somewhere then just flying into the Uk for 10 days isolation from an amber country. In the meantime people were flying from the UK to the same destinations for their holidays and covid started spreading further, mutating more and more countries going on the red list and people started complaining about the extra costs that they hadn't factored into their trip. Dubai was on the red list due to it being a hub. At this point in time, Dubai had one of the highest vaccination rates in the world and lowest cases. We'd both been double vaccinated, my age group wasn't being offered the jab in the UK until June/July and Peter would've only had one vaccine by that point if we'd been in the UK and every trip we'd made to the UK was entering a country with the highest death rates from Covid in Europe and most of the world.

Our arrival at Birmingham airport was a traumatic experience. We identified ourselves in the red route with all our documents and were informed that we'd been identified as a risk to the UK, had to sign a form and agree to staying in the Crowne Plaza for the next 11 days or we would be arrested and fined.

Border control and Home Office staff acted despicably towards us, wouldn't answer questions, made a huge show of escorting us to the 'prison bus' wouldn't answer any questions, barked instructions at us and had me in tears even before I left the airport.

Hotel quarantine was depressing, 11 days in a small room. The food was good, but repetitive, hotel staff were kind. I spent every day in the room and managed 10.000 steps a day. Peter was collected daily by his handler for 15 mins in the exercise yard. Our security were dreadful and arrived for their shifts 5 in a car, no masks on, and took their fag and meal breaks in groups outside our window.

The irony was we were 4 hours unsupervised in Schipol airport, we flew with amber country passengers who only had to isolate on arrival. We received no support from track and trace, just a pile of paperwork to read through and eventually got through to someone from a volunteer group who was able to give me a listening ear because no one could answer any of our questions. We had mandatory PCR tests on day 2 and day 8.

We heard some horrendous stories of poor hotel accommodation and below standard food that was delivered cold, wasn't halal and just left outside hotel rooms and had to be eaten cold after sunset due to it being Ramadan. Also tests were going missing and people were being forced to stay in quarantine a further 11 days. Also people were stuck on buses for several hours and driven miles away from the airport then forced to find their own ways back to complete the rest of their journey.

We did get a call from track and trace informing us we'd had close contact with a passenger on our flight from Amsterdam who had since tested positive for covid and we were to return to our home and isolate for a further 6 days. We explained we were in mandatory quarantine in a hotel and were prevented from leaving for a further 6 days, at which point we were informed that if we failed to isolate the police would be involved. My response was 'bring it on' 

I've yet to write about the mandatory quarantine because a lot of people claimed we were attention seeking, that if we chose to travel we deserved what we got and just plain tough luck. I did physically write a diary, I may type up one day but for now, I'm still struggling with what was an illegal imprisonment in my opinion.

It's also why I won't be travelling again anytime soon. I've written this at the end of November, as the Red List is reintroduced and travel is banned from South Africa due to the new variant and other countries are introducing new measures. I'd hate to have to be finding somewhere that carries out PCR tests in a country where I don't speak the language. Portugal have declared a State of Calamity.

It has cost us 1000's of pounds on top of flights to travel just to see one another over a 15 month period. We missed out on being with our children, watching our first grandchild grow. Now with another grandchild and Peter now being retired, we can't afford to risk getting locked out of our own country again.

I've recently been travelling back and forth to Northern Ireland visiting my new grandson. I LFT test before and after. I'm desperate for Australia to reopen its borders to tourists so we can see our son who lives there, it's been almost 3 years since I last saw him and I need to visit Germany sometime soon to visit close friends, but until more people get vaccinated and infection rates fall, I won't be going anywhere. I turned down work opportunities in Dubai in November and have cancelled plans for more work in January. We'd even considered combining it with a trip to South Africa, our former home.

I know a lot of people who have grabbed the chance of a foreign holiday when they've been able to, they've arranged PCR tests and lateral flows on their return. A lot of these people are now complaining about the additional costs as from today December 6th. How their holiday was ruined with the sudden changes, the panic and costs of getting a negative PCR test, the fear of being stuck abroad at their own cost, missing time off work and having to 'cancel Christmas plans' as they didn't think the new rules would effect them and had to stay longer to wait for PCR results. I have NO sympathy for them. They've knew our story, they didn't think it would apply to them.

I've friends who have been separated from loved ones for 2 years or more now, who have taken the risk for a long weekend and I have every bit of empathy for them as they've travelled. At least they've had somewhere to stay should they not be able to get home.

Have you travelled during covid? Was it for work? To see loved ones? Or just for a holiday?

I'm not bored, I'm lonely.

I'm thinking of leaving the curtains closed for a few days and see if any of my neighbours notice and knock on the door to see if I'm OK.

We're constantly being told through the media to check on those on their own, the vulnerable, the elderly. And yes, I'm doing that. I'm still doing mums online shopping for her and even sorted out her Christmas shopping and cards when I posted to her last week while they've been in lockdown in Wales and the presents are all with my DIL just over the border in England for her to drop off once England come out of lockdown in early December.

During Lockdown 1.0 I felt like I was in Groundhog day, but I had more than enough things to be getting on with renovating the house and garden and every Thursday for 9 weeks all the neighbours checked in on the street for Clap for Key workers, in between they seemed to be spending a lot of time at the front of their house, hanging around waiting for a door to open to grab a chance for a quick chat.

I then travelled to Dubai for 3 weeks, I let the neighbours know I was going, then I returned for two weeks to isolate and not one neighbour came round, asked if I needed anything, in fact some 4 weeks later I saw a neighbour who said 'oh you're back' and since then, not a peep from any of them.

Dealing with loneliness is something I've been doing now for 10 years, back home in Dubai, Peter is out at work everyday and although I get out the house most days for something to do, same as I'm doing here during covid, I'm on my own, filling up 10+ hours. There is only so much reading, drinking coffee, cleaning to do, writing letters, watching TV, but at least he would be home at the end of the day. In the UK there is even more time to fill. Thankfully I'm sleeping now for at least 8-10 hours a day. but if you take out prepping, cooking and meal times, a shower/bath, dog walk, coffee/tea, washing up, cleaning etc that still leaves 8+ hours a day to find something to do to relieve the boredom and loneliness.

I have been going out everyday for long walks with the dog, stopping for a coffee, sitting outside and I often find someone to chat with and once a week I've been going further afield to visit family and friends and my friend comes round every Friday night for chips and wine, but of course we're back in lockdown again so that all stops.

I'm sure there are many others like myself, on their own but not falling into the elderly or vulnerable category. I know there are many others that are craving some alone time whilst juggling work from home and home education, I see it on social media daily. I'm grateful not to have finances to worry about, that I have a garden to sit and work in and a car to get out further a field. I have hobbies, things to do to entertain myself, but nothing replaces the emptiness of the house, the silence that I'm living in for the majority of the time and its hard work.

The longer I'm not around people the more my anxiety builds when I do go out and the less I want to actually be around people, the thought of sitting on a plane for 7 hours soon, is creeping in, there's no one to just talk to when I need to, I have to wait till people have finished work, sorted the kids out and had 5 mins to breathe and rest before we can speak and then I don't want to off load, I want to hear about their day, talk about anything and feel grateful they've made the time for me to remember I'm on my own and I'm struggling.

Why I'm writing to random strangers - Postcards of Kindness

Last year I'm came across this group Postcards of Kindness. The idea came about to write to people in care homes in the UK to combat loneliness and isolation and remind people there is always someone thinking of them. There are over 2000 care homes on the list and the group has over 40,000 members. T

As an expat of 9 years, I've also felt isolated and lonely on a daily basis.

I had my first penpal aged 10, I wrote to my best friend in York after we moved near South Wales, I've still got every letter she sent me up until our early 20's when family life got in the way and our letter writing fizzled out, we reconnected via facebook a few years ago.

I had a few occasional penpals and wrote regularly to older family members, always sending post cards to family and friends from holidays. I write to people around the world I've met online and have even travelled as far as Canada to meet one of my penpals.

In 2011 I started writing letters about our lives abroad, I also keep a copy of all my replies, to form a record for future generations to enjoy.

For me the writing of letters, strange as it may sound is about communication, it amazes me how many letters, cards I send that people don't even bother letting you know they've arrived. I don't expect everyone to write back, or even get an automatic response, but if I get post, I'll message the person on FB, we chat online for a little bit, I write back a week later with fresh news, they respond and we keep in touch.

Many people don't know what to write back, will say their life is boring and they've nothing to tell me, that's fine, they've messaged me with that and hey, we're now communicating.

The purpose of my letter writing to the care homes especially now during Covid-19 and restrictions on visiting, is to provide contact with the outside world and to let others know we're thinking of them. it also provides a great opportunity to open up discussions, share life stories and in some cases the activity of writing a reply. We also have a daughter in care, she's 25 miles from where I am, she can't read, doesn't verbally communicate, but I still write to her regularly, it gives the staff something to talk about, show her the picture on the card and pin on her wall as a reminder that she does have family that care, even if they can't visit or are abroad for most of the year.

These are 2 responses from homes I write to on a regular basis.

So what do I write?

Dear Residents

I hope everyone is well and keeping themselves busy during these strange times.

This week I've been making the most of the weather, doing some gardening and walking my dog up the Malvern Hills.

I've also got a cat, did you have pets? Do you prefer cats or dogs or have another favourite animal?

Do you have a garden where you live? Is gardening an activity you enjoy? 

Have you ever visited Malvern? Where's your favourite place in the UK and why?

Kind regards

Suzanne

Sometimes I'll write about living abroad and ask if they've visited the countries or lived abroad themselves, I'll ask about their travels, favourite foods, tv shows. I'll share my favourites and ask what theirs are.  

I've also started writing letters to our grandchild who is 9 months old. I have very few written words from my grandmother and realised after my fathers death a few years ago the only stuff he had written down were 'to do' lists that I cherish as they are in his hand writing, my mother signed cards and letters on his behalf. I no longer sign cards on behalf of my husband, I ask him to do it himself and will be encouraging him to make notes in a book we have called 'My Grandparents' for future generations to read.

My Sunday Photo - Learning something new in lockdown in isolation

During lockdown there's a lot of talk on Social Media about taking this time to learn a new skill and if you don't then it's discipline you lack, not time.

Well that works fine for me. I'm on my own during lockdown. I don't work, all my kids have flown the nest, so I have plenty of time on my hands to learn something new.

But I haven't been learning anything new, I've been gardening, decorating, watching TV, reading, cooking, cleaning and mostly just staring into the abyss.

Whilst I spend a lot of time on my own living as an expat for the last 9 years, the last 5 years without kids, I don't really like being on my own, I'm just used to it.

I'm grateful I'm in the UK and back in our family home, even though I'm rattling around in it, with only the furniture from our one bed flat. I have a garden and a couple of camping chairs. I've ordered food online for my mum and I shop around every 7-10 days for myself. I walk the dog daily and I have a good friend and neighbour who picks up dog food for me as I don't have a car and we have regular door step (maintaining social distancing) chats.

Being on my own as I'm used to, is a very different experience to  being in isolation. When I'm in Dubai and my husband isn't working away, I only have to entertain myself during the day and I go out to malls, the dog park, for a walk, coffee and the opportunity to meet other people to chat with.

In the UK I'm usually running around visiting family, sorting out finances, bills, banking. I rarely stop and I get little chance to rest. It's always all or nothing in my life.

So in an effort to keep myself occupied and learn something new, I've investigated learning a new language, free online courses, returning to the OU to finish the final unit for my degree I had to give up 9 years ago when we moved abroad, but that's all I've done, look into it. I get distracted with searching for our dream home and cat videos on youtube.

So what have I been learning?

I've decided I'm a creature of habit, I miss my trips out for coffees, but I've learnt how to use the coffee machine we have at home, putting £3 in a pot every time I have one and so far saving £99. 

I've been learning how to occupy my time, all 16 hours of it, every single day. By pacing myself, setting a time limit to the decorating and gardening, ensuring I put everything away after each activity and keep up with the washing up after each meal, read 2 chapters of a book at a time, alternating activities from just sitting to moving around the house, ensuring I eat healthy and have regular meal times.

But what I'm not getting on with is this

I'm learning I don't have the patience for activities that serve no purpose.

Personal reaction to Covid-19

It's strange how family and friends around the world are experiencing the reactions to Covid-19 and how their governments and their neighbours how people are responding.

This isn't a post about government response or how the spread is being handled, the rights or the wrongs, it's about day to day living.

Dubai closed schools on March the 8th initially for 4 weeks. Within 2 weeks social distancing started, a week later attractions and meeting places were closed down and by week 4, Emirates stopped flying and the borders were closed. A week later a curfew was in place between 8pm and 6am and now you are only allowed to leave your house for essential work and supplies., you must apply for a permit online first.

I arrived in the UK on March 24th, the day before the UK went into lockdown, around the same time as Dubai did, but in a different way.

When I left Dubai on the 24th as a citizen I had to sign a mandatory agreement to go into 14 day isolation in a medical facility upon my return. The previous week, Dubai authorities had closed the E gates. On arrival in the UK, I walked through passport control as usual, through the electronic gates and out.

There was a woman meekly asking if people wanted a leaflet, it offered advice on self isolating if you'd recently visited the countries on the list. The UK, Heathrow T5 missed a valuable opportunity to check where people had travelled from prior to their arrival from Dubai, we were a full plane of passengers in close proximity to one another for 7 hours. No one checked which countries I'd travelled from.

I practised self distancing from my friend who collected me from the airport and kept me safe over night before I made a journey using 3 trains across the country to get home. I had a carriage to myself as the staff on the platforms were advising people to do this.

The second week in March I'd spoken to my son in Australia who made the decision to stay put as he has a job in transport, a car, a flat and a girlfriend. The PM advised no one was to leave the country and some airlines announced they would no longer be flying out of Australia from March till June 14th.

My husband and our 4 boys all are key workers, husband and youngest child can work from home, the other 3 are still going out to work each day. I made the decision to return to the UK as we have a disabled child in the UK, she's not at risk from the virus health wise but she does live in a care home and we were concerned as to what would happen to her should the staffing levels drop, at least with me being here, I could have her home. She requires 24/7 care and supervision, to the extent I would have to take her to the bathroom with me and she would be a risk in the kitchen when I was cooking, but I wouldn't be able to leave her in the front room unsupervised, but I'll manage if I have to. I also came back as the weather is heating up in Dubai and it won't be long before I wouldn't even be able to sit in the garden, also my MIL was house and pet sitting and wanted to get back to her own home.

I've managed to get an online shop for my mother, my niece and her family live in the same town so have been able to pop up with additional supplies when needed, but they're not wanting to go out with 4 small children unless they have to.

I've been to the shops 3 times now for essentials, thankfully I'd stockpiled back in February before I returned to the UK, not because of the virus, but because I knew I wouldn't have a car on my return. All I needed to do was stock up with meat and fruit and veg. I'm also walking the dog on a daily basis but only for a short walk, incase we go into further lockdown like Dubai and I won't be able to take him out.

I've noticed neighbours walking their dog twice a day or taking the dog out in the car to go for a walk, people are going out everyday to pick up food for that evening, rather than just shopping in one go when needed. whilst I appreciate there maybe reasons for this, I'm seeing similar comments being made on social media and in local fb groups. I'm not intending to shame, but I don't think a lot of people have really grasped the size of this pandemic and that it's worldwide and affecting people of all ages.

There seems to be an assumption that as the stores are open people can go in them. I've heard people moan the queues are too long and they're not prepared to wait, people who have visited 3 stores in one day to get a particular brand of food, people over 70 going to the shops daily as it's 'their slot time for shopping' despite having relatives that could shop for them.

It also amazes me how many people seem to think this lock down is personal, that it is only happening like this in the UK and that other countries are managing it better, that the government is at fault for it's spread, that they SHOULD have been told earlier to stay indoors. People were acting with anger at the train station because their train was delayed or cancelled, people are acting in disbelief that this is actually happening but following the guidelines, some blatantly ignoring them, some say it's a government conspiracy.

I appreciate I am fortunate that I don't have to worry about my income, I don't have children to home school, I'm healthy, have a garden and I have more than enough things to do to keep myself occupied with renovating our family home after 9 years of tenants.

I'm following all the guidelines, washing my hands after handling the post, wiping down the bin and door handles for the refuse collectors and the people who deliver the post. I'm using only one pair of shoes and one coat when I go outside and keeping them separate. I'm washing everything that comes into the house and carry wipes, gloves and hand gel with me where ever I go and using it.

My positives:

Getting more work done than I anticipated
Saving money by not going out for coffee everyday
Learning new skills such as tackling a plumbing job and making repairs
Reconnecting with old friends
Grateful for the video online calling services that are blocked in Dubai

My negatives:
Missing my husband and no idea when we'll see each other again
Whole days go by without a real life person to talk to
No one to make me a cup of tea in the morning
No one to cuddle other than the cat and dog
The silence is deafening

One Daily Positive - Week 14 Getting out in the garden

This isolation is no different from when I'm in Dubai other than the fact I can't go out for coffee whenever I want, usually once a day. With the weather hotting up in Dubai, it won't be long before it's too hot to sit out in the garden and I'd be stuck indoors all day. Peter is busy working from home and it's not slowing up as he his job is to provide chemicals to the the food and beverage industry. We both think I've made the right decision to return to the UK, despite not knowing how long it'll be before we will see one another again.

I've got plenty to do here with the house renovations and the garden as well as writing letters to various care homes for Postcards of Kindness and to family and friends.

However there are some noticeable differences, I can still walk Bob daily here in the UK, people are friendlier than ever, although I do feel like a social pariah when we leap out of each others way. My neighbours are chatting through windows, over fences, people are stopping to look at the rainbows in my windows and we're asking one another if everything is OK. The phone doesn't stop ringing, post is coming through the door and voice over internet isn't blocked here so I'm chatting more with my friends than ever before.

On Tuesday whilst out walking Bob, there was an old lady at her window, waving frantically to me, she managed to open the door, I asked if she was ok, she said she hadn't seen or spoken to anyone since her food was delivered last week and she thought I looked friendly. She lives in a retirement block, but the communal areas are out of action, they're organising food and prescriptions to be delivered but there is no one on site. I've said I'll walk past the same time every evening.

89 Sunday Day spent in pjs, watching TV, sorting some paperwork, reading and eating junk food, big mistake, felt miserable and bloated and didn't sleep well that night, won't be doing that again. Walked Bob out to post some Easter goodies to family and friends. I'd bought everything back in February and already had the stamps. I only posted what would fit in the letter box to save a none essential trip to the post office and I now have 4 easter eggs, seeds, bird feeders and bath bombs to use for myself. Did mums food order over the phone. I'd booked a slot for her over 2 weeks ago and had just added the minimum spend to secure the slot.

90 Monday Spent the morning sorting through what I actually have in the house for things for me to do over the coming weeks/months. Wrote some letters and decided to make the trip to Waitrose to purchase Gluten Free foods, fresh fruit and veg. There was a 45 min polite queue. I was surprised at how many people were just popping in to pick up food for tonights dinner. I had my 'old lady' shopping trolley and a large bag to carry home with me, some 2 miles. I was out for 4 hours in total. We celebrated Pushkins 11th birthday with cake, cards, decorations and gifts.

91 Tuesday I spent the day writing letters to family, friends and Postcards of Kindness, picking a home from the website for each letter of the alphabet and I've enclosed a Stamped addressed envelope so they can write back without the need to visit the post office. Walked Bob in the evening and had GF pizza, sweet potato fries and beans for dinner and a glass of wine, finishing the bottle I started last week. Mum called in the morning and a friend in the afternoon and I spoke to MIL and child 5, both doing well.

92 Wednesday Started the day hoovering and did the ironing. I'd been saving it for best.  Then I went out into the shed to pot up some seeds, using the one bag of compost I'd bought in February and repurposing the recycling as seeds trays. I then spent the afternoon/evening in the dining room or cat cafe as it's been renamed and caught up with blog comments and scheduled some posts.

93 Thursday Had breakfast and then spent the morning blogging, commenting and sorting through photos on the laptop. Took Bob out for a walk before lunch time and found somewhere I could let him off the lead. More time in the garden, edging the borders with house bricks I collected from around the house. Joined in with the clapping and felt emotional again.

94 Friday Planned my meals for the day based on use by dates, did some blogging, opened and ate half an easter egg. Took Bob back to the field with his ball, he found some fox shit to roll in and eat and wouldn't come out of a stream he found also. I placed some teddy bears in the windows and finished off a pair of giraffes I made with RedTedArt that have also gone in the window.

This used to be a border, I removed all the shrubs back in February and have levelled it our ready to seed.

95 Saturday Finally enough clothes to put a wash on, also washed the towels, highlight of my week so far. Wrote thank you notes for the postman and rubbish collectors and did some blogging/commenting. Phone and skype calls planned this evening. The rest of the day involves a dog walk and hopefully it'll warm up enough to finish the last bits in the garden.

I'm shattered but pleased with the work in the garden so far.

On the blog this week:

Why I don't like hearing news on Social Media

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One Daily Positive - Week 13 Covid-19 and travel to the UK

I spent my last few days in Dubai sorting the furniture and our personal belongings out into 3 piles. What's staying in Dubai, moving to the UK and being disposed of/donated.

It's been a harder job done in a short space of time, due to the uncertainty of when I'll next be allowed back in Dubai. At the moment it is closed to everyone, my next flight  27th April till 27th May has been cancelled.

Peter will be out in Dubai until I can get back or he can leave to visit me. We have a wedding to attend in June, which has now been cancelled, we're not disappointed, we understand the seriousness of this virus, we just have plan a, b, c waiting to be implemented.

If I'm honest I'd rather have stayed in Dubai, where I'm at less risk of catching the virus, but my MIL has been house and pet sitting for the past 3 weeks, she is 82 and would rather be isolated in her own home. Also our eldest child is in care in the UK, she's not at risk physically, but requires 24/7 care and if the staff levels drop, then so does her care and there's always a slim chance I might need to have her home.

There's not much difference to my usual week, being in isolation. I guess I'm more likely to catch the virus from the travel and being back in the UK than I was in Dubai. I don't miss the going out, I miss the ability to just spend a couple of hours out walking Bob, I'm still walking him once a day, but varying the route and making them shorter in case we have to go into full lockdown at some point.

I've had more contact with friends this week than usual, because I'm back in the UK where I can access voice over internet, such as Skype, facebook and whatsapp calling.

82 Sunday More arranging and sorting ready for our move in May, however we will just extend the rental contract here for a few more months if necessary. Emirates have cancelled all flights and the border will close on Wednesday. Was called in for another blood test as white blood cell count had shot through the roof again.

To top it all off, we had more rain and some localised flooding.

83 Monday As above, all done. Did a food shop for Peter before I leave, as check in was open and my flight is still scheduled. Finished organising the house. WBC back inside the normal range, no idea why it went so high.

84 Tuesday Flight to Heathrow, the last British Airways flight out of Dubai. Both Dubai and Heathrow T5 were empty. I was collected by friend due to my time of arrival and stayed at her house over night, we maintained a safe distance. Who knows when we'll see one another again?

85 Wednesday A lift to Watford then 3 trains and a short walk home. MIL had left by the time I got back and had left milk in the fridge, after unpacking I took my shopping trolley to Lidl and stocked up on fresh fruit, vegetables and meat. The toilet overflow is broken so I had a go at fixing it, it'll do for now but the downstairs loo is now out of action until I can get a plumber in or purchase a new ball valve. My oldest twitter buddy to the rescue.

86 Thursday The weather was glorious so I spent the day in the garden after taking Bob out for a walk. I then cleaned out and tidied both the sheds, borrowed the neighbours mower and cut the lawn, reclaiming back the patio and a path. Dug out all the Ivy growing over from next doors garden that had caused my fence to collapse back in December.

87 Friday Another day spent in the garden, more digging, weeding and tidying up. I have 4 large concrete pots I'd like to move, but even if I empty them of the soil, I still won't be able to shift them. Managed to move them just enough to get them off the edge of the lawn. Dialled in to a zoom call with my friends in South Africa to keep up to date with what is going on in their part of the world,  only allowed out with a permit if you are essential staff. My very own cat cafe.

88 Saturday Attempted to dig a new border, but it was cold and windy out, so I collected up all the bricks and laid them out, marking the new border. I fixed some loose panels on the shed. Sorted out the parcels I intended to post to family for Easter and birthdays. I condensed the contents to letter box style as I don't believe a trip to the post office is essential and I have enough stamps for the postage. Afternoon spent baking, watching TV and blogging. Found a new route to walk. In the 8 years we lived here I never knew there were allotments 200ms from our house.

On the blog this week:

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I guess we're just not that important

Now before you go getting all indigent with me and start saying 'what about......? what I'm trying to say here, is that life moves on. Moves on for those who leave and start new lives and moves on for those that have stayed behind.

Yet you haven't choosen to stay behind in the same sense we've chosen to move on. We haven't moved on because our lives were boring and going no where, we moved on because we were given an opportunity, we didn't seek it, we weren't being brave taking such a big step, someoone called us and said 'hey do you fancy living and working in South Africa?'

So we set off 4 months later on a new advventure, no expectations, some big disappointments, a lot of upheavel and many, many tears.

At first contact with home was vitle, post, internett, phone calls, we craved it, we encouraged people to write, we sent gifts as an incentive to get replies and we just plain gave up on some people. We have been pleasantly surprised by others with the time, effort and finance to make us feel like we are still part of their lives and still of importance and value in their lives and you just don't realise how much we appreciate and love you all.

It only neeeds too be a post card, a tweet out of the blue to say 'how you doing?' a messaage on facebook where you've contacted me first, rather than me having to say 'hi' all the time or a box of pg tips for that little touch of home.

I know many more of you have written and I have no idea where this post has got to and I discovered in December back in the UK that a lot of you thought I couldn't be arsed to reply and made an effort to contact me via email.

But it's all died down now, everyone has moved on, the excitement having family and friends in Africa has worn off. I'm sure you can find 5 minutes out of your day to reply to my emails at the very least and it only takes a few seconds to click 'like' on a facebook posting.

Our lives have changed beyond recognition now and I know it would be hard for us just to slip back into your life again, but please don't forget about us, we are a little isolated here and I know it was our choice to move but we didn't intend on forgeting about you all, so don't forget us, after all we do make an excellent holiday destination.