Covid-19 House Arrest

March 2020 - May 2024
A blog about life under "social distancing" Read more
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  • Day 1

    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

  • Day 2

    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".
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  • Day 3

    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

  • Day 4

    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

  • Day 5

    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

  • Day 6

    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

  • Day 7

    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.
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  • Day 8

    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

  • Day 9

    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

  • Day 10

    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