Reset search
Covid-19 House Arrest
  • Philip Davies
  • Philip Davies

Covid-19 House Arrest

A blog about life under "social distancing" Read more
FollowInsightsInsightsCalendarCalendarPhotosPhotosShareShareBucket list
Newest first
  • Trip start
    March 19, 2020
    Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House Arrest - Day 1

    March 19, 2020 in England ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Last trip to Harwell for a while was on Wednesday 18th. Any work done from now until "who knows when" will be done at home - no need to go to Harwell as Deimos staff are all WFH and no physical meetings taking place in London - all meetings are now e-meetings for example using zoom. There are currently 3 occupants of 101 DPR - me, Lynette and Claire who returned from Myanmar on Tuesday morning. Photo is of Claire being collected on Tuesday.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 2

    March 20, 2020 in England ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    Not working today so we decided to visit the flat in Peckham - Claire had arrived home from her travels in Asia with no clothes for cold weather so that problem needed to be addressed. While we were there we popped into Peckham to buy some fruit and veg but there were no toilet rolls to be had. We met Fran (from Panama) who's staying at the flat for a while - she seemed very nice. Also, the plants are doing OK!

    Arrived back in the late afternoon - Claire spent the evening with her friends, on a laptop via the internet, doing a virtual "pub quiz".    Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 3

    March 21, 2020 in England ⋅ ☀️ 6 °C

    Weather now vastly improved - I decided to spend the morning doing a "detailing" of one of the cars. I like to do each car througly twice a year - once in the spring and once in the Autumn. This was the first spring clean and I chose the Merc E220 Coupe. This took the whole morning. Whilst doing this Lynette and Claire popped into West Byfleet and managed to get some toilet rolls from Waitrose - phew! In the afternoon we poppped out to pick up a new curtain pole for the recently decorated dining room. After that I went for a short bike ride around West Byfleet and Pyrford. Just after 5 pm we watched the Soyuz launch of 34 Oneweb satellites live on the internet.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 4

    March 22, 2020 in England ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    Weather is beautiful again so we decided to go for a walk around the lake at Virginia Water - photos to be uploaded later. No plans to be in proximity to anyone else and taking my homebrew disinfectant with us in case we touch anything. Incidentally my home brew is made up of 67% IPA (my IPA bottle is 99.9% alcohol) mixed with 33% pure Midlands soft water (from Joestte's tap). Anyone know a better formula? Back from the walk now - we did the full tour of the lake (7km) which was lovely especially given the nice weather. Lot's of people out walking and biking but we didn't get close to anyone else.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 5

    March 23, 2020 in England ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Lynette set off to work at Aqa in Guildford - yes, she can't yet WFH as her laptop isn't configured to access the network. Hopefully this will be sorted out this week. Phil WFH in the morning - mainly through a zoom videocon. Phil didn't work in the afternoon as he was due to collect Laura and Josh around 3pm from Heathrow. Claire popped into West Byfleet to the shops in the moring - the attached video show folk queueing for Boots. Claire has volunteered as a neighborhood helper for anyone in our part of Dartnell Park - she distributed the forms offering her support for anyone who is self isolating. She also hopes to set up a whatsapp group. Laura and Josh's flight from Vancouver was on -time and Phil collected them - getting back to West Byfleet just before 4pm. It's really nice to have the whole family back together in one place! Heathrow was very, very quiet.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 6

    March 24, 2020 in England ⋅ 🌙 7 °C

    Well today really is the 1st day of "house arrest" after PM BoJo's announcement yesterday that there are only 4 reasons to leave the house - well "sort of" anyway. As Lynette isn't set up to work at home she went to Guildford to Aqa but there weren't many people there which is good. Even better the IT department gave her the necessary software and smart id tag so she can connect to their network and WFH. So, no more trips to Guildford for the foreseeable. Quiet day here in Wessy-B. Phil worked most of the day as did Laura and Josh although they did find time for a lunchtime workout in the garden and they were joined by Claire for an after-work Yoga session. After that we treated ourselves to a cheese fondue - Phil's idea to welcome everyone back at the end of what should have been the ski season. Weather is still brilliant and pleased to see it continuing for a few days as Phil has no plans for full-time work for the rest of the week.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler
    1

    House arrest - day 7

    March 25, 2020 in England ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Another day with some folk WFH. Lynette is now set up with her work laptop and that seemed to go fine. I did a half day working (see later for afternoon activity). Laura and Josh worked from home all day in the dining room “office” but managed to do a garden workout at lunchtime and went out for a run in the evening (well actually Laura ran and Josh cycled). The weather continues to be absolutely gorgeous - blue skies, sunshine and relatively warm for March. In the morning Claire went to Waitrose for some groceries - with 5 people in the house we get through food and drink quite rapidly. Waitrose has now implemented a policy of maximum 35 people in the shop at any time then you have to queue at least 2m apart - Claire said most were keeping a distance of about 5m. In the end although the queue was quite long, being sparse it took about 20 minutes to get in.

    In the afternoon Phil and Claire went out for a bike ride – we passed Tescos Brooklands – no queues and Co-op Byfleet – no queues too. We also passed Mercedes Benz World which is completely closed down. The traffic was very light – see photos of the M25 – literally less cars than you’d get in the middle of the night. As we cycled we had to pass other people and we managed to keep the 2m separation. We also said “hi” to some old folk in their gardens as we passed – they seemed happy just to say “hi” back – it must be quite lonely for some of them so any human contact, even if 5m away and only for a few seconds is nice for them.    Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler
    1

    House arrest - day 8

    March 26, 2020 in England ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Like yesterday worked in the morning - no videocons today though - just stuff on the computer. In the afternoon went for a 20km bike ride with Claire - went over to Wisley airfield and cycled down the main (unused) runway. Crossed the A3 to get there - very quiet. Bizzarley some of the minor roads seemed busier. It was strange seeing a sunny day with the Anchor pub at Pyrford Lock closed - it would normally be abolutely rammed on a day like today. After the bike ride Phil & Lynette went to Tescos for a shop. When we got there we were informed that only one member of a family group was allowed inside to Phil waited in the car while Lynette did the shopping. In the evening Josh and Laura cooked us chicken wings which were absolutely delicious. Finished the day with a bit of TV. Just a final note on the weather - gorgeous again and the bulbs round the tree are now in full bloom.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 9

    March 27, 2020 in England ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Another sunny day which makes it somehow easier to bear although after months of rain we'd be now out and about finally had the situation not stopped everything in its tracks. Also another day of Laura and Josh woring in the living room. The IT department installed two monitors and also provided a new wifi router to keep everything running fast - you can now get over 70Mbps in the new office (165 Mbps in mine, he, he). Phil worked most of the morning plus a little in the afternoon. Deimos UK held an "all staff" meeting via zoom which was nice as we could all talk to each other. No cases of Covid-19 in the whole of Deimos across all the countries which was nice to hear. Did a couple of house jobs in the afternoon and also fixed a puncture from yesterdays ride - front tyre was completely flat. HAd a short bike ride - 4 laps of Dartnell park (1 mile per lap). Lovely evening meal courtsey of Laura and Josh - Chinese takeaway - preceded by G&T and a beer tasting of the craftybrewing 4 beers.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 10

    March 28, 2020 in England ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    Weekend has arrived so a slightly different profile to the day. Did the exterior "spring clean" of Lynette's SLK - looking very shiny for a car almost 23 years old (birthday on 1 August). A few odd jobs and a late bike ride with Josh - did the Brooklands/Weybridge/Addlestone loop on road bikes - just over 17km in around 50 mins. Took a "selfie" with the Concorde in the background. Lynette and Claire went to Waitrose - long queues, around 30 mins to get in shop. On the bike ride we noticed no queues at the two Tescos we passed. Laura went for a run. Still hasn't really rained all week although it was quite windy and much colder. We're told the warmer weather will arrive back this week. Had a fish meal in the evening and watched some TV. Claire did her 3 hour "zoom" call at her new online pub .... "The Cough & Splutter".Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 12

    March 30, 2020 in England ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    Work day - Phil spent large part of it in videocons. Very cold outside so no bike ride today. Lynette did a zoom yoga in the moring in the bedroom! We had a lovely eveing meal - pasta dish cooked by Lynette. Thank goodness for Netflix - one of the series we are watching at the moment is "Tiger King" - quite illuminating and not a good advert for US rednecks, but theTigers are lovely.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 13

    March 31, 2020 in England ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    Very cold today, consequently only did a short bike ride around the locality - just over 30 mins. Worked for most of the day including a couple of telecons/webinars. Lynette went out shopping to Waitrose - shelves were quite well stocked although still impossible to buy strong flour and yeast to make bread - we managed a bag of strong flour last week but still can't get the yeast. Had a lovely "Chicken Wings" meal in the evening - Josh is definitely the "sauce meister" - I especially liked th v.v.hot sauce (we had a choice of 3). Had a delivery of beer and another of fresh veg in the evening - very nice. Tomorrow is "Poison d'Avril" but I don't think many people or organisations are in the mood for pranks so don't expect much.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 14

    April 1, 2020 in England ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    April 1st today but not much appetite for pranks so none done in this house. Still quite cold so only a short bike ride - 35 minutes on the MTB around West Byfleet. Worked for half the day. Claire popped out for a small shopping trip to Waitorse and Laura and Josh made a lovely Lasagne for evening meal with Claire's baguette being converted into a garlic bread. After eating we watched episode 6 of the Tiger King - final episode probably to be watched tomorrow. We also watched a quite amusing documentary - "Waitrose: Britain's Poshest Supermarket". Earlier in the day we got the awful but not un-expected news that there will be no Wimbledon 2020 - Lynette will find that one very tough.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 15

    April 2, 2020 in England ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    No work today so decided to polish and wax the Audi - that's all 4 cars waxed in the last fortnight. That took most of the morning so in the afternoon went for a reasonably long bike ride - just over 20km. I did this ride on the road bike and it really is quite a pleasure riding down country lanes with almost no cars. For evening meal Josh cooked us fajitas which were lovely and washed down with Margaritas made from our best Mexican Tequila which we brought back ourselves from Mexico after the Guadalajara IAC conference. After eating we went outside for the 8pm "clap for the NHS" which was quite nice - lots of houses did it. After that we watched the final episode of Tiger King, actually felt a bit sorry for Joe Exotic in the end - yes he was a complete nutjob but he was well and truly shafted by some of those around him.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 16

    April 3, 2020 in England ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    Weather improved a lot today - lovely blue skies and a fair bit warmer. Last working day of the week. Josh decided that he wants to go back to his flat for the rest of the lockdown so I will drive him there tomorrow - should be interesting to see how much traffic there is in London - we can also drive right through the centre if we wish - normally avoid due to traffic. Lynette and Josh went to do the shopping in the afternoon - as it was warm they went in the SLK. Incidentally they both went as they were effectively independently shopping for two different houses. In the evening we had an Indian takeaway and some Cava as a thank you from Josh. Friday TV is always the best so we watched HIGNFY, Gogglebox and Mash report. Strange seeing panel programmes being done by videocon.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 17

    April 4, 2020 in England ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    Josh had decided that after almost 2 weeks in Surrey it was time to return to his flat in Hackney Wick. As such, and not sure how long it would take I got up early to get my daily bike ride in. In the end we set off just after 11 am - Laura also came along as she wanted to pop into her flat to collects some clothes etc.. - she hadn't been there for 4 weeks and on return from Canada only really had stuff for a winter holiday. We drove and the roads were very quiet - basically not a single traffic problem - as the roads were quiet we took the shorter route through central London that you would never normally consider. After crossing the Thames at Vauxhall we drove up Millbank, around Parliament Square, up a practically empty Whitehall and round a completely empty Trafalgar Square. We then drove down the Strand eventually reaching Old St roundabout (Inmarsat, whoa) and taking the final part of the route through Shoreditch. After emptying the car we then took the Tower Bridge route to Peckham. We arrived back just after 15:00 so around a four hour trip. While all this was going on Lynette had her annual day in Oxford with Joyce, Julie and Angela – her schoolfriends. This time it was done “virtually” via the Zoom videoconferencing software. After a lovely fish pie for tea the girls did a Zoom pub quiz with their friends.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 18

    April 5, 2020 in England ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Started the day with a family zoom telecon – 4 locations connected with Neil & Kate, Jan & Phil, Josette and us all logged in – lovely get together! It was an absolutely gorgeous day – temperatures in the low 20s and blue sky all day. Spent a lot of time in the garden. Phil gave the BBQ its annual deep clean and we used it in the evening to cook chicken skewers and burgers. In the evening we watched a very relevant film on Netflix – “Contagion” interrupted in the middle for 5 mins to watch the queen’s broadcast.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 19

    April 6, 2020 in England ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    After a slightly rainy start the weather was quite nice for most of the day. Phil worked for most of the day but did manage a short bike ride – M25 still very quiet but slightly busier than the weekend. Had lunch in the garden but in the evening was too cool to sit out so did a BBQ (Lamb Steaks) but ate inside. In the evening we started watching a new Netflix mini-series “Unorthodox” – quite intriguing and will be interesting to see how it develops. Late evening we were quite shocked to see our PM, Boris Johnson (pictured with me 11 years ago) was moved to the intensive care unit. Earlier in the day Claire and Laura finished making a delicious treat based around cream eggs.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 20

    April 7, 2020 in England ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    Weather really nice today, did a bike ride in the late afternoon with Claire. We cycled down to Send Marsh and followed the River Wey along to the Tannery Lane business park. All very quiet. Claire’s new laptop which she’d ordered on Friday arrived – a very nice HP laptop from John Lewis. She spent a bit of time setting it up but it was all very straightforward. The evening meal was cooked by Laura – an absolutely delicious veggie shepherd’s pie with black beans in place of meat. Lots of virtual activities took place today – Claire did a virtual tap dance session and even did a virtual visit to the pub afterwards. Lynette did a virtual Yoga session. In the evening it was a "pink supermoon" and Phil wentout with the SLR and photo'd it.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 21

    April 8, 2020 in England ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Day started off a bit cloudy but warm and sunny in the afternoon. Phil quite busy with telecons – 3 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. Laura & Lynette working all day too. We’re all managing a daily exercise outing – me on the bike, Laura for a run and Lynette & Claire for walks with Claire also doing exercise sessions “virtually” in the garden. In the evening we watched episode 2 of the Netflix drama mini-series “Unorthodox”. We’re all looking forward to Sunday for series 3 of “Killing Eve” on the BBC.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 22

    April 9, 2020 in England ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Last day before a long weekend with Easter starting tomorrow. Seems strange, normally look forward to doing a lot of things over the Easter break as it’s a good chance to travel or go out locally. This one will seem very strange in that it won’t be very different from normal days – the only change being that there is no need to WFH. Thankfully the weather is perfect and it was mid 20s in the afternoon. Mid afternoon Lynette did the big shop in Sainsburys at Cobham – quite a long queue but the queue at Tescos was also long. We went for a bike ride and Laura joined us today – we did the Brooklands route passing the Concorde on the way at the Museum. Evening meal was a lovely pasta bake and after that we went out to #ClapForTheNHS – really good turnout in Dartnell Park with most houses out on the street. Evening TV was episodes 3 and 4 of “Unorthodox” plus the “making of-“ programme.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 23

    April 10, 2020 in England ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    What a beautiful day it was today, warmest day of the year – got into the mid 20s in the afternoon. Strange Good Friday being under house arrest. The morning activity for Phil was doing the lawn – it’s starting to green nicely now after a treatment of “feed” i.e. Nitrogen. Spent most of the day outdoors as did Lynette and the girls. Afternoon exercise for me was a blast on the road bike – fastest average speed for 3.5 years, over 25km/h. Lynette and the girls went for a canal walk around West Byfleet. A few days ago Laura ordered a 12kg dumbbell and this arrived so we drove out to Argos in Cobham to collect it – nice drive with the roof down on Phil’s SLK. Evening meal was a Pizza delivery from San Marco in Addlestone – very nice, will do again. Good TV on Friday night so we watched HIGNFY, Gogglebox and Mash Report.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 24

    April 11, 2020 in England ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Another gorgeous day – nature really is torturing us with this lovely summer weather that we can’t make best use of. Cleaned interior of Audi this morning – will soon be running out of car jobs once they’ve all been spring cleaned inside and out. In the afternoon we all decided to go on a long walk – in the end it was 9.5km. We went down the canal to the Anchor pub (closed of course!) at Pyrford Lock and then cut through to Wisley on the path at the edge of the golf course. From there we went into Byfleet along “Muddy Lane”. Quite by chance we met David Riley (ex-Deimos UK) who was out for a walk with his parents who live in Weybridge. We returned via the Murray’s Lane bridge over the M25 and back along the canal. Altogether the walk was a little over two hours. Whilst on the M25 Phil managed to capture a photo of the M25 with no cars on any of the 8 lanes. He posted this on Facebook and it “sort of” went viral – by the end of the day it had over 900 “likes” and 180 “shares” – the most he’s ever managed. In the evening we had a lovely barbecue of steak, sausages and kebabs. Finished the day off with a film on Netflix – “The Equalizer” which was quite action packed.Read more

  • Philip DaviesCovid-19 House ArrestTraveler

    House arrest - day 25

    April 12, 2020 in England ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Final hot & sunny day for a while so better make the most of it. Spent a lot of the day outdoors which included a lovely bike ride for Phil around Horsell common which was very quiet due to its car parks being closed off. The roads were incredibly quiet, even the local roads as being Easter Sunday the shops were shut. In the morning Phil waxed both Laura and Josh’s skis so that they’re ready to go as soon as we are allowed to ski again. Claire cut Laura's hair and she was quite pleased with the result. We had an early evening meal due to the “pub quiz” starting at 1930. The meal was an absolutely fabulous roast based around a roast chicken, cooked by the ace chefs Lynette and Laura. The main event in the evening was the virtual pub quiz organised by Laura and Josh who did it brilliantly. There were 6 teams located in different parts of the UK and Spain. Our team was called “Pandemic at the Disco” and we just about won although to be fair we had 3 people in our team and all the other teams were just 2.Read more

  • 2026© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Help Center
  • Legal notice