Ben's Blog

Well, we didn’t see this coming at the start of the year!  

A global pandemic hit the UK towards the end of March which meant that the Government issued a mandatory lockdown throughout the country. This basically forced everything to close, including schools, clubs, shops, pubs, restaurants, leisure facilities and for people to work from home or not work at all and be put on a furlough scheme.  Since the start of the year, there had been rumblings that a virus was ripping through China and moving west throughout the World, and it eventually did unfortunately.  So on the 23rd March, the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, gave the lockdown order for the entire country which basically meant the country stopped.  Lots of people had started dying so there was really no choice in the matter.  Everyone had to stay in their homes and were only allowed out for a maximum of 1 hour of exercise per day or for essential food shopping.  This lockdown carried on until the 10th May when small changes were introduced such as allowing people out more but having to ensure social distancing of 2 metres between households and the phased reopening of schools, although it was left to the schools to decide when to open.  Everywhere also needed to be Covid secure, otherwise they weren’t allowed to open, so a lot of work had to be done at shops, workplaces and at schools.  On July 4th, most of the lockdown measures ended although people still had to practise social distancing and were told not to hug anybody, especially those people that were elderly.  At this point, over 30,000 people had died in the country and it was the most bizarre and scary thing that has ever happened to any of us!

The boys did really well throughout the lockdown, even though we all missed our usual Easter celebrations, our annual trip to Woodlands Camping, a proper birthday for Coby, Aaron and Kelly and we obviously couldn’t see any family for months.  The main issue was really the closure of schools though, as we were expected to home school the children, even though we were both able to work our usual hours from home.  So it was quite hard, especially as Bickleigh school were quite rubbish with it all really.  They eventually sent home work for them to do but it wasn’t really very planned out and it was quite stressful for us.  We tried to go for a walk after schooling and work every day and actually discovered loads of new places in Woolwell, including paths down to Drake’s Trail, a tramway line and a swamp.  We had lived here for years and didn’t even know all this was here!!

Bickleigh Down School decided that they could open again at the start of June, after the half term holiday, but only for certain years.  So it ended up that Ben and Coby were able to go back to school, as they were seen to be in the more crucial years for education, and Aaron had to stay home and be home schooled.  It was a relief that they could go back and they both wanted to but we had to have a good think first, as the virus was still bad and a lot of other parents kept their children home still.  But we decided to send them back and they both really enjoyed it.  Obviously, it was Ben’s last year at Bickleigh so him going back to school was a very big deal as it was the last few weeks that he would have at primary school.  It was all different though as they all had to take packed lunches, had their classrooms rearranged, on days they did PE they would have to go into school in their PE kit and not change all day as they weren’t allowed to change at school anymore.  There was also a one way system around the premises to drop off and pick up the children and only 1 adult was allowed to on the grounds, so both Kelly and I couldn’t go in and drop them off or pick them up, although we did once by accident and Mrs Conday ‘told us off’.  So it was all a bit surreal and Aaron ended up not going back to school for the rest of the school term, which meant that he had been home since the end of March – 4 months!

Here are a few of the normal events that took place during the lockdown period.

Easter

For Easter this year, the Easter bunny still came and hid lots of little chocolate eggs around the house but we were unable to go anywhere or visit anyone during the bank holiday weekend.  Instead, we held an Easter games day on Easter Sunday, which we all enjoyed, especially the boys.  The games were nice and simple but were all a bit of fun!

Coby’s 6th Birthday

It was a shame that Coby couldn’t have a birthday party this year but we still had a good day.  I had the day off and so did Kelly.  Coby was very excited in the morning and got up by 7am and we went down and he opened his pile of birthday presents.  His main present this year was a Mario Kart Hot Wheel Track, which he thought was amazing.  He also had some other bits and pieces as usual, which he was very happy with.  We got the track up and running and then went for a walk in the boiling hot, sunny weather.  We went for a long walk around the woods and back along the tramway which we had only recently discovered during mid morning.  We then got home and Kelly started cooking some party food for dinner, which was very nice, and we ate it outside.  We then had a quiet afternoon with Coby playing with his presents and had more party food for tea.  During the day, various people turned up to give cards and presents to Coby, socially distanced of course by them standing on the steps and us by the front door!  Coby had a nice day anyway, even though it was a very strange birthday!

Aaron’s 9th Birthday

Aaron was in the same boat as Coby as he couldn’t have a birthday party either.  We would normally have been at Woodlands camping for his birthday but that was obviously cancelled as well, so we had a similar day to Coby’s birthday.  Aaron was also up bright and early and Kelly and I had taken the day off again.  Aaron practically ran downstairs as he gets very excited when it is his birthday and Christmas!!  His main present this year was a digital motorised Hot Wheels track, which he was very happy with as well!!  He had some other bits as well, including the mandatory Lego set! haha We then went for a cycle up to the field as he wanted to ride his bike around for a bit before coming home and Kelly putting some party food on to cook for dinner.  We ate it outside again although the weather wasn’t as nice as it was for Coby’s, but it was still warm but quite windy!  He played with his presents for the day and we had more party food for tea.  Like with Coby, people popped over during the day to give him a card and present and we had to socially distance out the front.  He had a nice day but was a little sad that he couldn’t have had a proper party with his friends but he will have to have one next year, even though we said 9 years old is the last year to have a party.

Kelly’s Birthday

It was also Kelly’s 36th birthday after the easing of lockdown had started and typically it was on a Saturday!  We didn’t do too much during the day, just relaxed at home and watched a movie in the evening with some goodies as we were still very wary of going anywhere and not everything was open anyway, such as public toilets, etc.  Most places were still shut so it would have been a walk on the beach or up on Dartmoor that would have been our options, but we decided against it still, as there may have been lots of people doing the same.  We did get a takeaway for tea though – our first one for months!!

P.E. With Joe

The Body Coach, Joe Wicks, who has been doing fitness stuff for years, suddenly came into the spotlight when he started doing a live PE session each weekday morning at 9am, for the duration of lockdown.  It was an amazing idea and now the entire country (and World) love him!  It was basically a child friendly HIIT session for 20-30 mins each day where he also had a bit of fun and asked questions on various topics and mixed the sessions up with roulette wheels and dice to determine which exercises would be done when.  It was really good.  He also put together some PE With Joe T-Shirts whereby all donations would go straight to the NHS to help staff who were basically working 24 hours, trying to save people’s lives who had been infected with Covid.  Needless to say, we all got a T-Shirt although they were out of stock for several weeks and our only arrived towards the very end of lockdown.  He made absolutely loads of money, which was great!!  The boys did several of the exercises and it ended up being something to put on at 9am every week day, before they started their home schooling.  They had great enthusiasm to begin with but then it waned a little to the point where Aaron would rather get on with his actual schoolwork to get it done and finish early!  Ben and Coby still kept up with it on most days though.

BBQs

I think we ended up having a BBQ every week of lockdown as the weather was mostly glorious.  It was hot and sunny for weeks which gave us no option but to have a BBQ! haha

What a strange few months it was!!!