An Update - Life In Isolation
Never did I ever think I’d be writing an article for Adventure Wheels about staying home, but like the rest of life at the moment- nothing is “normal”.
Unless you have been living under a rock (and even if you have, you’d probably have noticed the huge reduction of people walking by), you will be well aware of the Covid-19 pandemic that is currently running its course across the world. I won’t dwell on this as there’s already hoards of information about the virus floating around online and in the news, and this blog post is meant as more of a personal update.
The UK has been in lockdown for almost 3 weeks now, and due to us both being on the “high risk” list, we started practicing social distancing a couple of weeks prior to that. This means that the last time we were away in the caravan was mid February, making this is the longest time we’ve spent at home in the 2+ years that we’ve owned it!
Although it’s difficult not being able to pack up and leave whenever we want, and we’ve had to postpone some super-duper exciting plans we had coming up this spring, we are both safe and well, and by staying home we’re doing our bit to help slow the spread of this nasty bug- which is the most important thing right now.
We are settling in well to life in isolation. When forcefully put into a situation like this you realise how much there actually is to do within your own four walls of bricks and mortar. Our lives are usually so busy, between our trips away, gathering content for magazine articles and writing said articles, we barely have time for much else. So if we’re going to take any positives out of this situation it will be that we’ve had more time on our hands than ever before. We’ve had cupboard clear-outs, have taken online courses, been home-cooking and baking, developing skills and hobbies we didn’t even know we had and have had spare downtime to indulge in things we don’t often get time for, like reading books, playing games, and ticking things off our Netflix watch list.
One of my newfound hobbies- Digital art!
Of course we are missing our family and friends hugely, but we are thankful for the technology that allows us to stay connected even when miles apart. Our virtual quiz nights, bingo nights, phone calls and video chats have been great fun, and really bring us together in this time of social distancing.
One of our competitive quiz nights.
Times like this make you appreciate every little thing in life that bit more.
I’d like to thank all of our family and friends who have got in contact to check up on us, the online caravanning community for keeping everyone looking forward, my wonderful PA who has braved the shops and pharmacies to keep our supplies stocked up, the key workers who are keeping the country running as smoothly as possible, and of course Stephen- my isolation buddy. Spending 24 hours a day together, it’s a good job we get along well!
I joke, but I am definitely grateful to be isolating with someone I love. Whether it’s my dramatic singing and terrible puns, or his hilarious dancing and silly walks, we make each other laugh every single day and keep each other’s spirits up without even trying (Let’s see if I still say the same in a few weeks time!).
For now, we’ll keep tight in our home, surrounded by the things we’ve gathered on our travels to far-away places, knowing that when we are able to get away again it will be even sweeter! It may feel like it right now, but this won't last forever. It will all be over soon and our new normal will go back to the old normal, we will see the world once again, hug our loved ones again, feel a sea breeze on our faces again and experience new and exciting things- and it'll all feel that much sweeter than before.
Until then- I hope you all stay safe, stay well, stay home and save lives.
Take care,
Karla
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Hebridean memories.