We’ve never been in lockdown before, should we been excited, or anxious?
6 am – A is in her bed doing a maths lesson, having already completed a business and history test. School in the UK started 2 hours ago, so whilst she just woke up in Grand Cayman, she is already late for online school!
8am – Not a good start to the day, the fridge door handle has broken off. All our food purchased during several panic buying trips to the supermarket is now stuck inside of this built-in fridge.
9am- D has fixed the handle with power tools, and starvation is no longer on the horizon. Everyone eats leftovers from our closed coffee shop.
I plant sprouting beans, tomato seeds and a couple of baby coconuts.
B is doing online school with an air of disillusion – he still doesn’t even know if these last lessons count towards his final grade. Did he even graduate school this year? Will all this hard work towards A’level exams be for nothing? Will he go to university in September? I have no answers.
I decide to vacuum the house. Who knew that self-isolation causes so much more dust and dog hair than usual? The Dyson dies. Even D can’t fix this one with his power tools. I finish up with the broom.
I mop the floor, D suggest that now is not the time for organic plant-based detergents. Good bye JR Watkins Home Remedy all-purpose cleaner, hello Dettol. House now smells like antiseptic lavender.
1pm – Lunchtime, and it’s the teens’ turn to cook. 1.30pm – D gives up waiting, and makes us all wraps and salad. Kids apologize. Tomorrow, we are promised, we’ll get a delicious lunch, such as chocolate fondue with marshmallows 😳
I finish painting the sandwich boards for our community coffee shop. Will they ever get used? Can we open up again this year?
FaceTime chat with my 77-year-old dad in UK. He has been shopping for the “elderly ladies” in his neighborhood who are too scared to go out. He tells me how he divided his rationed dishwasher tablet packet so that everyone can have clean dishes. There’s an air of wartime cooperation in his cul-de-sac.
3pm- My brother Simon in UK sets up a family WhatsApp group; I cannot remember the last time he contacted me directly. D is pressure washing the pool deck, it’s no longer beige, it’s white! Meanwhile, A colours her hair red with Koolaid, whilst wearing a face mask.
4pm. D puts up our hammocks on the beach. He discovers the tree straps are rotten, when he climbs into a hammock and falls flat onto the sand.
6pm- family football match teens v adults.
6.15pm – Power. Cut. 😱
We keep playing football, as the sun sets. Adults are pretending everything is fine. Teens thrash adults. B is jubilant.
7pm – We clap and cheer loudly out to sea for front line workers against Covid 19. We can hear our neighbors #caymanstrong
7.15pm – dinner in the dark, by candle light. Thank god for the BBQ.
8pm – Hide-and-Seek in the dark, thank god for the cupboard in the spare room.
8.15pm – Power is back. 🙏 We can hear our neighbors whooping!
8.30pm – WiFi still down. Teens not happy.
9pm. – WiFi back up. We watch a family movie – Contagion. Good night. What a day.