Coronavirus Special

So, it's here - coronavirus has hit us all like a stack of hammers (I've mixed metaphors, I know) and so we're all hunkering down and waiting for the storm to pass. In the spirit of being hunkered down at my parents' house (and really hoping that my mother and I don't end up killing each other), and having recently watched John Oliver's excellent update on the coronavirus pandemic yesterday, I am going to take him up on his advice to take some space to evacuate the things about going on lockdown that are annoying me so that they don't stay in my system when I should be focusing on other things.

Here they are:

• Not knowing when I'm going to be able to get home;

• The pile of books that I was really looking forward to reading after my holiday that are sitting on my nightstand NOT BEING READ BY ME;

• Wasting 5 days of my limited annual leave allowance on sitting in my parents' house by myself eating their food;

• Knowing that it's going to be weeks, if not longer, before I see the guy I've been dating again and knowing that he'll probably stop liking me while I'm gone;

• NO MORE FOOTBALL (including postponing the Euros this summer to WHO KNOWS WHEN);

• No more late-night comedy;

• Having to cancel my trips to Atlanta and New York this week to see family and friends;

• No more Girl Scout cookies.

Now is also a good time for me to get all my PhD applications in, too, as I haven't got much else to do; catch up on season 7 of Brooklyn Nine-Nine; and read down some of the books that have been stacking up in my childhood bedroom over the years.

Good luck to everyone out there - make sure you follow the recommendations from the medical experts. Stay home from work (if you can afford to and your work allows for flexible working); talk to your landlord about adjusting rent payments if necessary; go grocery shopping and to the pharmacy at off-peak hours; stay away from large groups of people and public transport; avoid touching people in the high-risk pool, especially if you think you might have been exposed; and wash your damn hands several times a day, for 20 seconds every time.

Also, don't fucking buy out all the toilet paper and hand sanitizer. And, when all this is over, let's all start vaccinating our kids regularly again.

Enjoy the forced time with the people you're isolating with - and all the reading we can get done now! And, most importantly, stay safe and healthy.

Happy reading,

Amélie xx