Life…

• Posted in Blog
• On April 7, 2020
• 6 Comments.

Isn’t it weird that pretty much everyone you have ever encountered; every human you have come into contact with, whether intimately or just passing in the street; every person you have had even the most tenuous link with…. is probably, at this moment, doing the same thing as you. I find that totally mind blowing.

So here we are, doing the same thing as you. Day 3 of the second shutdown (this time for two weeks) in the beautiful BVIs. We have done a week in lockdown already before being allowed out for a smash and grab at the supermarkets. Lots of queuing not always with the best social distancing but the BVIs are doing all they can to stamp out covid19 and it’s great to see.

Our days are filled with chunks of routine. Yoga, breakfast, home school, lunch, free play, exercise, sundowner, dinner (can you guess my favourite part?). We try to differentiate between weekdays and weekends, we try to be kind to each other not always successfully!

We are allowed to swim off the boat which would be ideal if there wasn’t a massive, scary, ugly looking barracuda living under our hulls. Are barracudas as dangerous as they look? Well after much googling I ascertained that ‘Barry’ is really not interested in eating me and is simply curious. With this rationale, I boldly stuck my foot in the water, donning goggles to ensure I could keep one eye on the lovely ‘just-curious’ fish. Within seconds it was circling the back of the boat. Needless to say my knees did not get wet and nor did the rest of me. For the past few days we have gone all out to try to shake ‘Barry’. Ryan has come at him with a makeshift spear. Isla has got her fishing rod out. We have lured him with salami and egg shells. We baited him with Sophie on a paddle board. We even hooked him on a line but he got loose and disappeared, only to reappear 10 minutes later! Eventually we cut our losses and moved the boat to another anchorage. Oh the joy, a lovely unthreatening swim in nice, safe, clear waters… but it was not to be. I swear he was smiling, that pesky fish as he took his position under our boat again! Grrr.

Luckily we have good internet for the most part and the girls are being highly resourceful playing together. Right now they are playing ‘spies’ which consists of dressing in gloves, socks and swimsuits with snorkel masks and American accents. Highly entertaining to listen to. We’ve been roped into dressing up, much to Ryan’s irritation, Sophie won the best dressed prize with her uncanny resemblance of a weetabix!

The other day they were role-playing boats docking at the marina, we’re just waiting for lockdowns and Coronavirus to enter their play language, it’s interesting to see what sneaks into their play and how much play is used to make sense of situations. An observation of Jocie’s really tickled me the other day when she pointed at the stones on a nearby beach, “Well, those stones aren’t socially distancing very well, Mum!”

Water is a little tricky. We have a 1000 litre tank which sounds ample unless you have to divvy it between thirsty, dirty family for two weeks. So I vowed to conserve to the nth degree. Washing hair would have to be a luxury I would sacrifice for the greater good. And sacrifice I did, I was going for 6 weeks, you know when you hair supposedly starts to wash itself….Day 16 came yesterday and I have to say I broke, I washed in saltwater and rinsed in fresh, oh my, I have never felt so clean. Shampoo and clean hair is extremely underrated. Never take it for granted!!

So we’ll continue our self-isolation, I will triumph over the fish, either physically or mentally. We will bino watch other boats and try to homeschool and hammock swing and check the news and shout at the kids and drink sundowners. The view is good. The beer is cold – and as a friend of Ryan’s said, ’if Carlsberg did self isolation this would probably be the best self isolation in the world!’

We hope you are all staying healthy and positive. Lots of love from all of us xxx

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