UK Lockdown : Another Three Weeks: What now?

Going into week four felt really odd to me. We knew that the the initial three weeks was going due to end on Bank Holiday Monday and that an announcement was made prior to the Easter weekend that there would be no change and then on our ‘bonus’ days of lockdown things just carried on as normal to an extent. And then came the announcement – another three weeks to go.

Bank holiday weekends typically drag for me. I don’t know what it is about having a day less of office time usually but by the time Friday evening comes (when I’m most productive sometimes) I’m ready for the Saturday following the shorter week.

This time however, the shorter week flew by and I wonder if it is a measure of things to come.

The first three weeks, in my mind, formed no greater issue than simply being on a slightly longer holiday than normal. Whereby if I fly to a foreign country for three weeks I wouldn’t have regular face to face contact with people from back home anyway and I wouldn’t really feel guilty about it as I’d be living out my adventures. However, heading into another three weeks bringing us up to six (ad potentially beyond) the reality is that I’m not on holiday – quite the contrary I’ve been working from home and working on these writings over this period – the desire to want to do some of the old things and habits seemed to have said hello over the last 48 hours or so and now the lockdown is feeling more like a restriction.

I see this causing a shift among two different types of people who have been affected. Those who found the first three weeks torturous who may now start adapting and those who adapted quicker and who will now start feeling stifled. 

This lockdown is a short version of a long game and it will hit us all at different times and in different ways. The problem with playing this time as a game is that games often have rules and more importantly a time that calls the game to an end. Footballers know when they need peak performance in a match and how much energy to expand as the game goes from beginning, middle and end. They know what their bodies are capable of and can quite happily sprint and rest as needed because they know that during an ordinary league match normality resumes after 90 minutes… plus additional minutes to be played.

In this game we’re all playing we have our rules:

  1. Work if you’re essential, cannot work from home and are not furloughed
  2. Go outdoors only to walk once a day or to shop for essentials
  3. Stay home if neither 1 or 2 apply.

What we don’t have is time. Not properly. People hoping for that three weeks to result in a final whistle would have been supremely disappointed and I fear they may be disappointed again when this next batch of three weeks expires again.

So what can we do? What can I do?

  1. I’m going to stick to promises I’ve made myself. I’ve promised to do a daily week show on my Facebook Page, live, either at lunchtime or early evening.
  2. I’m going to at least one blog post a day.
  3. I’m going to be present for my sister and niece.

But most importantly:

  1. I’m not going to insist that I maintain high functionality throughout this process and I won’t get attached the dates and times that are being given to us.

My routine has kept me, and my sister able to function throughout the first three weeks. We have ALL made it through the first three weeks and if your physically fit and healthy there is no reason why you can’t make it through another three weeks or beyond.

I use this trick when running a half marathon – I’ve done one 10K, I’m just doing another. I don’t make a big deal out of it, I just know that I need to keep on moving, aches, pains and blisters until the end is in sight…

Ironically, what happens then is I try and speed up and start thinking back to periods of time I could have achieved more. As much as I’m not judging myself too harshly at this time I also don’t want to look back and think in those final days of whatever this is that I let myself down by not doing what I could with the resources I had.

This includes, walking while on a running race, or having a ‘nothing’ day(s) while locked down.

The Sunday Times Article: Boris Johnson and the government

If you haven’t read this article about the mystery that was the governments plan to tackle Corona Virus in the month of February you need to.

https://archive.is/20200418182037/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/coronavirus-38-days-when-britain-sleepwalked-into-disaster-hq3b9tlgh

The failings of the government during this time are ridiculous. Had there been a quicker response to what was unfolding around the globe the death toll in the UK may have been considerably reduced and yet here we stand, at the time of writing, 15,464 deaths into a crisis.

If only we had more warning and could take more pro-active steps to prevent this becoming a disaster. If only we had a prime minister who took something like a World Health Organisation warning seriously…

Instead we had a Prime Minister spending his holiday abroad and taking his weekends off focussing on how to market his secret engagement and baby news to the world. That is what he is, a marketeer. Someone who likes the sights and sound of the media. The places it can get him and the more cash to fill his pockets. He’s a professional influencer like many others you see on Instagram and a result doesn’t know a good judgement call if it hit him in the face when it involves the safety of others. In writing this I’m reminded of Logan Paul showing recordings of dead bodies in Japan.

Neither had any thought as to how their actions would impact a wider community. Logan Paul has since admitted that his actions and the company he kept soon after that interaction has changed his outlook on life and the impact he has a social media star.

The Prime Minister was only able to contract Coronavirus himself. 

Quite rightly he is now at home, his second home, recuperating after his ordeal and the timing of this article is probably deliberate to make him come out of his recovery or at least to give airtime while he is stranded away from the limelight.

I am intrigued to see what this article does in terms of him coming clean and also how his brush with the disease has potentially altered his mindset to what has unfolded and how will aim to make good the errors his government has made.

However, the person most in the frame who should not get away lightly is Matt Hancock. The man in charge of health in this country and the man who I think has chaired more COBRA meetings than anyone else knew firsthand what was coming and did nothing. Unable or unwilling to take a stand or break away from the Brexit that was order of the day back in the early days holds him most culpable particularly in light of events over the weekend where health professionals are now donning their PPE more than once.

This is a tragedy.

The spend on Brexit, austerity measures and arrogance led to a complete under-equipped NHS and completely out of practice on how to respond to these kind of disasters. And indeed, it wasn’t even a natural virus they were concerned for, but a terrorist biological threat. We wouldn’t have even been prepared for this.

Matt Hancock takes to that podium knowing he should have done more sooner and now he sends badges to staff. 

And yet, public sentiment is that Boris is doing a good job. How has this happened? I can’t help but think that efforts to create a problem to solve the problem have been employed. Apple have been doing it for years ‘here’s our brand new phone! Oh, but by the way your existing charger cable won’t work’ type of thing.

I’d hate to think that this was the ploy with the government to highlight what good he was doing in running this, despite our deaths being second only to the USA as it stands, and where you have countries who have only now gotten into double figures as they took action immediately. New Zealand being high on that list.

But with Dominic Cummings running a marketing show and showing Boris as this wonderful influencer, is it so hard to fathom that this did put an end to Brexit ‘moaners’, and that it gave Boris the opportunity to come back from holiday and sort this yucky mess out, including the flooding that he had very little to do with, and that he contracted it himself and rose on Easter Sunday as he is the almighty defeater of this horrible beast yada yada yada. It’s all story book stuff and they love that because they’ve never really wanted to be in the business of politics of looking after people, the normal everyday citizens. It reminds me of the Eddie Murphy film, Trading Places. Let’s see what can be done over a gentleman’s bet. How many people will die? Not enough to cause major catastrophe to the economy, let’s do it!

It’s gross and sick.

Reading of deaths on Facebook from people who I know, knowing that action could have been taken sooner is such a stomach punch to everyone who has lost someone needlessly.

Absolute shame and shambles.

Why I love Facebook Lives

Over this pandemic you will find me on Facebook Live a lot. Look back over the HelloTomDyer page and you’ll see that I’ve gone live near enough every day.

More and more frequently joined by my sister we talk about life in general and I try and bring everything back to ACT principles and also throw in some solution focus from time to time.

Facebook live has been a game changer.

I never really knew how I would fair with going live. I do my ten minute recaps every Tuesday but they’re semi though out and have a definite beginning middle and end, however the Live’s have a beginning, sort of, maybe a theme that we can gravitate toward and not really an end.

Why is this? 

The comments, people engaging! My numbers are still very small but I love going Live either at 1pm or 6pm. I haven’t missed a work day since I made the decision to do this, which I think is now over three weeks ago!

We’ve managed to build up a lovely little community of dedicated watchers who tune in every session and contribute with their comments and in the last week we’ve seen people start commenting on other posts that are posted to.

It really is a thrill and can take some unexpected turns depending on someones point of view and comment but what is great about having that loose theme to follow is that there is always something to come back to should you be going wayward.

Should you try Facebook Live? Or any live for that matter. The answer from me is a resounding yes.

Some things that may help you on your way:

  1. Have a loose theme and something to talk about. The first few times you go live you may not get the numbers you want and they might not engage without someone else leaving the first comment. If you have something to say from beginning to end at least you’ve given something to the viewers you do have
  2. Ask plenty of questions anyway and provide prompts for people to leave comments.
  3. Relax! If you’re a seasoned pro at making wonderful little videos with heavy impact or just like taking selfies, your live show doesn’t have to look the greatest. People are watching because of you and they want to see you in real life, not just acting for a particular skit. Yes, I’ve seen some lives with fancy studios but I can assure you I’m not watching the wall behind the presenter, I’m interested in what is being said. So have what you want to say and go for it.
  4. Be consistent. My numbers over the last 28 days are numbers I’ve never seen before, which is great for such a small channel but I’m not going to belittle my 300% increase in numbers. I’m proud. I also won’t be too sad when that number plateaus either.
  5. Just press the button. I’m really proud of myself for committing to Live’s over the lockdown period and having a clear mission, similar to Joe Wicks, to provide at least a distraction every day. This has meant that even on days when I don’t feel like I’ve had much to say I’ve still pressed that Go Live button. This was particularly hard after the Easter break but we did it and it was just a short video introducing what was coming up and talking about what had happened over Easter.
  6. Have fun! Why else would you be doing it?!

I’ve missed anything out let me know!