Dr Kristopher Lovell

March 30th, I’m sat stunned in my living room with a premature baby who came home after 3.5 months in hospital only to be straight into lockdown with him. We’re shielded because he’s on oxygen with COPD and I am genuinely frozen in shock because I don’t know how to process what this means for everyday life. From relaying on everyone for shopping to hilarious handouts from the council. It’s all just surreal. One of our food boxes seems to be a donation from TKMaxx. Beggars can’t be choosers but the cuttlefish ink pasta is a bit ‘extra’.

Unfortunately I’ve sunk into the banana bread craze and my small home has no garden, with no access to the outdoors and only baked goods to keep me comfort I’ll be lucky to come out of this without rickets. Humour though, has always kept me company.

My neighbours communicate from the window, they tap and I instantly hold the baby up to the window. They mouth ‘do I need anything’ and I always say ‘I’m fine’. This is my routine. But oddly it’s a lovely one. And I’m 100% sure the baby is their ray of light too. Before covid how many neighbours did this. Like everyone else, I hope the community spirit prevails. Though the antisocial part of me hopes a 2m distance is a permanent feature. At this point, I’ve no idea how I’ll ever return to ‘normal’.