1001 Stories
Back to All Stories

#34 Mike Life living with the threat of COVID 19

Photo of Mike

Mike

Life living with the threat of COVID 19. My morning exercises don’t change, nor does my breakfast. But the world has changed, my personal world has changed. I am cut off from so many people. It has been said that no man is an island but we must now act as one. We mustn’t invade other people’s space if/when we go out. Is it a yard’s distance or two yards? So much information changing – and changing every day. I can’t keep up. Now no pubs are open, or clubs, restaurants, beer festivals, churches – or anywhere that constitutes a gathering. It’s quiet out there, less traffic, more bird noise.

Precis

On 16 March 2020, one week before official government guidance, and just as Covid 19 was turning into a global epidemic, the Performance Ensemble went into lockdown. Our weekly company workshops came to an abrupt halt, and we disappeared behind our individual front doors. The easy ways of communicating, face to face, were no more. But we still needed to connect. Nine of the company started to keep diaries of their experiences, as a way of overcoming the isolation. Here they are: 31 days of lockdown, recorded during the months of March and April, beginning on 16 March and ending on 1 May, just as restrictions started to be eased. Edited by Barney Bardsley