I tested negative. That’s a relief, because there is too much to do to stay home for another 14 days, and our business opens tomorrow.
D, B and I are back at work before the day starts. B is piling the sargassum seaweed – that has collected in large clumps along the shore since we closed – into an oversized wheelbarrow. He is sweating and his face has turned red within the first 5 minutes. I am painting; everything. Touch up painting is an impossibility I have decided. Any small dab of paint to cover up a scuff or a knock will immediately look brighter, whiter and scream Look at me! So I am painting everything now. That wasn’t the plan, but here I am.
Some of the team have turned up today to help set up. Everyone is wearing masks. Greeting each other with air hugs. Trying hard not to comment on who has gained a stone or two since we last saw each other.
The day is long, and we return home exhausted. A has had a long day of online school also. She and I still manage to catch the sunset, and she shares her drawings for her new bedroom design. “This is where the tapestry goes, the mirror will hang here, my photos on this wall, and my maths and physics equations on this shower glass, so that I can revise while I’m on the toilet.”
We are both staring out to sea, as the sun drops behind a uniquely shaped cloud, and the sky lights up orange and violet. Before Covid, I would have said I don’t have time to stop and enjoy this moment. Now, I am determined more than ever not to lose some of the positive habits that we have adopted during lockdown.
