Corrina’s Corona Tale
Following the main lockdown and confusion which affected us all early in 2020, we all learned to adapt and cope with this “new normal”. In those initial challenging times, it was easy to list the negatives and be overcome with a feeling of hopelessness. Each day brought more unexpected news of what our lives were being molded into. I personally enjoyed the period from March when we all had to stay at home, for me with a child who did not enjoy school it was a reprieve from the daily ordeal of convincing her today was going to be better than yesterday. Suddenly we were all home, for five weeks (most of them with lovely sunny days) our whole family of three plus pets were together, enjoying the sun, crafts, and lazy days (and beers at 2 p.m.).
I feel lucky that for me this was a positive time and my work became valued and helped make a difference to vulnerable local pensioners. There was an influx of amazing volunteers who gave their time to help those in need. It was an amazing feeling of community when as a team our volunteers delivered around 300 hot meals and food parcels every week during the first lockdown.
We had volunteers from all walks of life, a gourmet chef, an executive sales manager for a chain of hotels, a local councilor, a mortgage advisor, and many more who selflessly gave their time and energy to others.
As time passed and the restrictions relaxed the work behind the scenes began with restructuring the organization, we knew it was time to move away from only using food as our main method of connecting with the community.
Leading up to Christmas we were all feeling positive about the new year approaching and leaving behind the dreaded 2020, little did we know that instead of our local lockdown lifting the whole nation would be plunged back into restrictions similar to the first apocalyptical weirdness! Was it better or worse that we knew what to expect this time around? One huge factor was the weather and the fact that January is a tough month for many already without the dreaded shadow of restrictions keeping us away from loved ones and hobbies and gyms and swimming and hugs and all those other things we missed.
Now we have been given a beaming glimmer of hope which we have all longed for looking out for the first snowdrops and joking about our new dog, staying hairy, lockdown pounds (on or off?), lockdown hair cuts, and drinking too much. There is a light shining bright around the corner, beautiful sunrises, longer days, and warmer days enticing us all out to exchange smiles of understanding.
It was exactly a year ago when the first reports of COVID-19 started to become more relevant to us and not just something that was happening in a far-flung corner of the world. Talk of being ”in the same boat” evoked reactions and started discussions, yes we were all in a challenging sea of change however some of us were in safe yachts, and some of us were in rowing boats. That’s not to say that those in the safe vessels weathered the storm any easier. One thing that is for sure is that people pulled together, and communities looked out for and after each other, it was a fantastically moving time to see and feel the human connection which in the old normal had all but disappeared.
Now we have our ticket here- the “road map” to better brighter days, let us all take with us that human connection of living through this shared experience together. Gateshead Community Organisation has started a collection of stories, your stories of COVID-19, how you coped (or didn’t), what it was like to lose a loved one, have a baby, visit a relative in a care home, self-isolate, get divorced, lose a job, get a job and all the other life events which happened over the last 12 months. Please get in touch or fill out this form to share your story.