Diary of dislocation, day three…

Dear diary…

I want to document something of this strange and dislocating period we’re living through, this post-Brexit, new-Pandemic, stay at home moment. We’re now two days from the ‘Lockdown’ announcement and five days since Dylan returned from University, pretty much a week since A-levels were cancelled for Joel and over a week since I last took some shopping for my Mum. It’s Joel’s 18th.

We’ve been mostly disciplined in our isolation, although we’ve entertained other family members at a suitable distance in the garden, no-one hugged or kissed, we sat apart. But we live in place where space is easy to find and the sea is a short walk away but disappears on the tide. A tidal bay which ebbs and flows around iron ore spoil from a hundred years ago, over salt marsh and flood plane and the most scenic stock car circuit in Britain.

So for the most part this is easy, we’re not on the frontline and thankfully we’re not ill, this isn’t a war, other than in the metaphors of politicians. This is a health emergency and we’re grateful for those who risk themselves to care for us and others, perhaps we might care for them and their work a little more. As well as the ‘key’ work of many who might otherwise fall within the category of the ‘unskilled’, their skills revealed as more essential to the economy than all the fund managers and bonus bankers. Friends around the world remind me of how this dislocation is temporary for those of us fortunate to have been born on the right side of imaginary lines, and how this virus is one more thing to add to the daily suffering undertaken by others, including those fleeing conflict and trying to find refuge in a safe place.

Gwyn is in the most vulnerable category and has had a text telling her to sit by an open window. Mostly she’s in the garden, the same place that helped her recover from cancer when vulnerability was all there was. I am working from home, have online teaching to prepare, student’s work to read and errands to run. I’ve been reading about coronavirus for weeks and watching a gathering storm, but the sun and spring are creating a space in the anxiety, and I’m using my camera to return to the everyday, as my everyday is now where everyone else is…