It has taken me a couple of hours (and a good night’s sleep will help too) to refocus on all the good things that have happened in the last few days as we all started to adjust to the new normal.
On Friday we did a long-put-off science experiment and investigated the difference between hard and soft woods by counting how many hits of the hammer it took each person to bang a nail through, and how far each of us could saw through in 60 seconds. That no one suffered any injuries at all with Ben participating so enthusiastically can only be down to divine intervention.
On Saturday I had a very productive Zoom meeting with the other Cheder teachers as we worked out how to do Cheder online. A plan was made, we all got to talk to other adults, and our children were able to wave to each other. Afterwards I managed to catch the last half of a live-streamed Shabbat service from a synagogue in London where we know the rabbi well. They have been live streaming services for years and it was seamless. We promised ourselves that we will make a point of joining this every Saturday from now on - and with that and Cheder, we suddenly have two weekly events to build our calendar round. Both the religious experience (and promise of a communal one, as kiddush after the service is via Zoom) and the anchor of a few fixed points in the week helped me feel much more settled.
Sunday, of course, was Mothers‘ Day. The boys made me cards and got me flowers (accompanied by an enthusiastic "Happy birthday, Mummy" from Benjamin, much to his brothers’ disapproval). I taught online for an hour (nothing new there) and then remote-taught my parents how to use Zoom for their jobs. My dad was most taken by the option to add a background and will henceforth be working from outer space rather than his slightly messy study.
Later, I drove to my parents’ house with a thermos of tea and sat on their drive at an appropriate distance while they drank their tea on the porch. I still have the tail end of a cough from whatever lurgy I had last week and simply wasn’t risking passing it to anyone. There is no escaping the fact that this was HARD. I so desperately wanted to give them a hug, bring their grandchildren to see them, just be normal. I am so glad I took the opportunity before the lockdown, even though I got back into the car and burst into tears for the first time since all this began.
A cream tea took the place of dinner. Under the circumstances, cake for a main meal felt suitably apocalyptic.
Today we started properly. The RT’s school have set an impressive (if, in my unsolicited view, both unnecessary and unrealistic) and non-negotiable amount of distance learning, mostly requiring the use of a computer. We worked out a rough schedule so the boys can get their computer work done early (the RT, like most teenagers, surfaces rather later than them) and then we can make do with just the iPad for the rest of the day.
While the RT got on with that, the boys and I joined Poco Drom for his live-streamed session on Facebook. If you haven’t met Poco Drom yet, go and look on Facebook and YouTube. You can thank me later. Half an hour of funny and energetic animal songs (interspersed with shout-outs which told us several of our friends were also taking part) left us breathless and laughing. Another one for the calendar.
Then lunch, an hour at the allotment cutting grass, digging over a bed (RT gets all the credit for that one) and trimming brambles, back home to finish off as much work as we were going to do today, and rounded off with a much-needed Zoom coffee date with several friends. We laughed and commiserated, waved knitting and cake around, swore a bit, and did our best Joyce Grenfell impressions as our kids wandered in and out and puppies did unspeakable things (or was it the other way round? No way to know...)
Tomorrow I will make jam with the fruit that has been evicted from the freezer to make room for the weekly shop. I have a coffee date with another friend. And I have a circuits kit ready to teach my children how to electrocute themselves in new and interesting ways.
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