During lockdown many of my family members have had many different experiences during the pandemic. This is some of the things my family experienced and got up to during lockdown.
My cousin Matilda is 13 and lives in Combe St Nicholas. She is currently studying at Holyrood Academy as well. When the pandemic started, she was quite worried and anxious for the future as she had fallen ill at the start of the pandemic. Most of her friends were quite worried for her but luckily, she hadn’t got the virus.
Before the pandemic hit Matilda would go and play football with her friends and play for Ilminster’s football team but now she was unable to do that. Because of this she decided to try and discover new skills to improve her skills on football in her garden. She also learned how to cook different types of dishes for her next-door neighbour who had been struggling to make their meals and participating on her part to help others around them. She made spaghetti and other dishes and delivered them to her neighbour all by herself. She even made some meals for dinner and chipped in on chores around the house. To take her mind off of all this she decided to paint on some canvases to brighten her day. Matilda is now able to go back to school during the week and is looking forward to joining her football team again.
My grandad was affected quite badly during the pandemic. He runs a plumbing and heating business and employs 3 other members of staff. During the pandemic he had to furlough 2 members of staff with still a very busy work load. This made my grandad and the other staff have to work much longer hours sometimes and making sure they stayed safe as they worked through the day.
He used to be able to go shooting and meet up with his friends and family but lockdown put a wall in front of it all making him unable to go shooting and see his family. To get around this he would talk with friends and family over the phone sometimes and when he went to work, he had to be extra careful about being safe and making his customers safe. Ensuring all members of staff wore correct PPE. As you can see from the picture my grandad enjoys a nice meal out at his local pub. My grandad’s business is now back to normal with a full working team. This makes him very happy. Grandad is looking forward to be able to have a nice family meal at his local pub and to participate in country sports hopefully one day soon.
My younger cousin Georgie, who is 9 years old attends Swan Mead School faced some problems during the pandemic. Throughout lockdown because she lived on the outskirts of town, she was unable to have very good internet at home which caused her to have many power cuts throughout lockdown. Because of this she had to try and do as much of her school work as she could without using the internet at her house when this would occur.
During her free time, she would generally play with her friends sometimes or go down to the park, but now this wasn’t an option as she was unable to meet anyone. She would sometimes talk with them on the phone and then in her spare time she would read lots and lots of books. At the moment she is reading The Worst Witch as she finds it quite interesting.
Throughout this pandemic she has learned to make new DIY projects from materials she has at home. Whilst creating new DIY’s she discovered how to do some needle felting. She also discovered how to make some new dishes she hadn’t cooked before at home for her dinner as well. Although throughout the pandemic Georgie didn’t get worried about lockdown like some other people. She didn’t get worried as she was very determined and didn’t make anything block her path from doing things and always found a solution to doing it another way. She is now back in school this week and is very excited to finally be able to see her friends and teachers at school again.