I woke up a little emotional today.
Yesterday was a year to the day that the police came in to our bar, 60´s Bar and instructed us to close, due to the Covid lockdown. In all fairness they were lovely, there was three of them and they had been instructed by the government to go round and tell everyone that they had to close. Obviously we had no idea that the initial two week lockdown would still be in place one year on. The restrictions are not so strict, however, we are still under varying levels of rules that we have to abide by.
Little did we know that that Saturday evening this time last year was the last 'normal' Saturday night we would have until who knows when.
I remember it well, I was singing at the Wine bar and it was cold, so we were inside. Some people had absolutely no idea that the lockdown was imminent.
It was meant to start at 8am on Monday the 15th of march but it was brought forward to midnight on the 13th. I returned to the bar after saying goodbye to the staff and the customers, not knowing when we would see each other again. Many restaurants had obviously stocked up for Sunday meals and we had a very busy week ahead of us with St Patricks day along with a couple of birthdays including mine. We had taken delivery of a large amount of booze from the brewery and then suddenly boom, our bar along with every other bar and restaurant on the island fell empty, and stayed that way for around three months.
Eddie and I returned home on that evening and I phoned my mum. I told her that within a few days I thought tat the UK would be locked down and to inform my brother to go and fetch my niece from Manchester where she was at university.
The next few weeks became one of the most surreal times that I can remember. there were ups and downs, and a daily argument over who would go to the bins!!! that was the only place we could go apart from the supermarket, we couldn't even go out to exercise, it was that strict! Eddie did the big supermarket runs with the car and I would walk to our local Lidl store. I did do the big supermarket run once but when the car decided it wouldn't start when I returned to it with a trolley load of shopping, it was my first and last visit!
Lockdown for us was actually OK. At first it was a novelty being forced in to taking time off work. we both got stuck in to hobbies, the house was blitzed from top to bottom, it soon got messy again though as we were spending every waking hour there. We vlogged every day and did online quizzes, along with the 'Glam Up' Saturdays and the weekly Quaransing, we had a lot of fun. We had a strict food routine that meant whoever was going shopping knew what had to be bought and very little went to waste. I learnt how to bake bread, I had no idea it had to prove not once, but twice!
Here we are a year later and what has changed? well, not an awful lot if I'm honest. Our little bar remains open on limited hours and its been a whirlwind few months working under the new restrictions and the fact that they are forever changing, we really don't know whether we are coming or going, we do however feel very lucky that we can be open and that we are supported by a very loyal group of locals. We do our best to keep people entertained with our quizzes and games and we will continue to do so for as long as we can. There are very few tourists here at the moment and the last remaining British people that have been here for the winter are soon to all be gone due to the new 90 day brexit rule, that will leave a very small core of British residents until tourists from the UK can begin to return.
I woke up this morning and it is Mothers day, I opened Facebook and started looking at all the updates and everyone wishing their mums a wonderful mothers day along with photos, and one drawing from a family member that really made me well up. I had a gift from my son, a cup of tea in bed, however we are a family that don't really celebrate or embrace these occasions, we don't really need a special day to show our feelings, we can do that any day of the year. I was saddened to hear that there are no daffodils in the UK as there is no one available to pick them, somethings a miss if you ask me
Birthdays however are more important to me and yesterday I was lucky enough to receive a birthday gift, albeit a bit early. I now have an Alexa and I've had so much fun telling it what do and play, its fab, a big thank you to my parents in the UK.
One more thing I´d like to add is that this time last year we were all encouraging each other to show kindness. Caroline flack took her own life which was a shock to a lot of people, me included and I was always brought up to be kind and to never judge, if you've got nothing nice to say then say noting, that is my policy.
There was a royal interview on Sunday that the whole world practically watched and although I have my own opinions that I will not go into, It fuelled a media frenzy and the some of the reports were just awful. I like the royal family, I was lucky enough to meet the queen many years ago when she came to Worcester in the late Seventies, I even got my picture in the local paper. They have been around for 1200 years or so, and they are here to stay. They do a lot of great work and for that I have a lot of respect for them.
Until next time, stay safe
H xxx
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