The coronavirus outbreak has changed our lives in many ways in the last few weeks.
Millions of people are now working at home and kids are being educated by parents at the kitchen table.
But lockdown means people have had to choose where they want to be and who they want to be holed up with.
Some people are choosing to go to their parents’ and some couples who don’t live together have had to make the decision to move in together so they can still see each other during lockdown.
For the latest in the My Quarantine Routine series, we’re with Joe Throup, 31, a commercial executive for an IT company.
The pandemic has meant he has had to make some difficult decisions about his living situation.
He has decided to move back in with his ex-girlfriend and their two-year-old son Ewan for the duration of the lockdown.
Although he was worried about arguments and awkwardness as they only broke up six months ago, he said he would rather have that than risk not being able to see Ewan for a long time.
The government has said that parents are able to go out during the lockdown to take a child to the other parent’s house but Joe is worried about what would happen if either household had to self-isolate due to symptoms, and he is also helping to look after his son while they are both working from home.
The lockdown means that he is unable to see his new partner Aime.
This is how he spent Thursday 28 March.
5 am
Woken up from my camp bed in the living room to the sing-song chorus of ‘Daaaaadddyyyy’ echoing through the house. It’s ridiculously early, but I have missed waking up to this every day.
Ten minutes later, Ewan and Rachel* are downstairs and I have a toddler asking me to tickle him and wanting to watch Cars 3. Thank god for Disney+.
6 am
It happens to be Rachel’s birthday today, and I’m sure spending it with me locked inside the house is not what she intended.
The evening before I went out for some ‘essential supplies’ and got a little cake to make it as pleasant as possible. I light the candle and ask Ewan to carefully take it to mummy.
He blows out the candle immediately and laughs, so I relight it and we take it together and give her a present and card that ‘he’ got her.
She opens her presents and Ewan has chocolate cake for breakfast whilst I go in the shower and get dressed upstairs.
7 am
Ready and dressed for the day, so I start working. I sit on the sofa with the first Cars movie now on, cuddling Ewan under one arm and replying to emails with the other.
It’s not an ideal place to be working, but I want to make sure that Ewan is happy as well as working.
I hate the idea of plonking him in front of a screen, so mentally plan our breaks for later.
8 am
My place of work has really embraced Microsoft Teams, so a new group is formed and people are sharing pictures of their morning runs. I secretly resent them for being so healthy and enjoying exercise.
Then I decide to be not-so-secret about it and add a sarcastic comment to the group.
Demands for juice and oranges are made clear, so I go off to get Ewan a snack and a coffee for myself. Rachel is upstairs working too, so we have a little distance between us.
9 am
Ewan is playing with his cars and a jigsaw puzzle, so I can keep working away. I don’t usually have breakfast, but today I treated myself to some toast.
We also use Skype for a video chat with my partner Amie and her daughter. The kids go nuts to see each other, so I can’t actually talk to Amie very much, but it makes me happy all the same to see them both.
10 am
Ewan does a horrendous poo and tells me he has a ‘stinky bum bum’ so it interrupts my work flow a bit.
A quick change and some calming verses of baby shark we are back up and running.
A quick play in the garden on the slide, and some fun with stickers on the wendy house. Ewan comes outside too.
11 am
Rachel is stuck on conference calls all day, but Ewan has other plans, so gets upset he can’t see her. It takes a little while to calm him down. I think someone is tired.
I prepare his lunch (lasagne from the previous evening). By the time I have warmed it through he has fallen asleep on the sofa. I wake him up, get him to eat his lunch while I keep working.
12 pm
Take Ewan up for a nap, but he is adamant that he doesn’t want to go to bed. He is right. He really doesn’t and refuses to go to bed.
I bring him back down with me and cover him in blankets. He’s asleep within seconds.
1 pm
All thoughts of health go out the window and I eat crisps for lunch. I was never a massive healthy eater but usually made salads for lunch, or food from scratch. I browse the internet for a while and catch up with my Whatsapp groups.
Animal Crossing for the Nintendo Switch came out last week, so I now not only have a Playstation group, but an Animal Crossing group. Four of us talking about bells and what items of furniture we have recently purchased makes me smile. We are all grown men.
2 pm
Ewan is still snoring away and I’m back into work. A few phone calls and quiet catch ups go well.
3 pm
Ewan is awake now and a little grumpy. I have made some good progress with work, so as 4 pm approaches, we go to the park for our government-mandated exercise.
4 pm
It’s a beautiful day as we go to the park. We see ducks and count them successfully (four), as well as boats (two) and the sky (one). I used to walk my dog here when she was a puppy, so it’s a lovely nostalgic walk round.
Ewan is obsessed with Disney’s cars, so red car (Lightning McQueen) and Cruz have to come with us. Every so often he will drop to the floor to give them some exercise too. We do another video call with Amie whilst sat in the middle of a field.
5 pm
Rachel has now finished her calls, so takes over looking after Ewan. I hear him causing trouble whilst I sign back onto my laptop and take some calls.
Ewan comes running in as I try to talk through some interfaces with a colleague, so she is treated to demands of ‘DRAGON’ (a game I invented earlier in which we roar at each other).
6 pm
I finish work and get down to being daddy again. We tickle, play cars again and run around a lot.
At 6.30, I tell Ewan it’s bath time. He disagrees but comes anyway. A big kiss and cuddle for mummy and off we go.
We brush teeth, whilst singing Moana (another favourite) then have the Moana soundtrack on whilst bathing.
7 pm
We read a story about giraffes that can’t dance, then say night night with a big fat kiss.
At the moment I only get to put Ewan to bed 2 or 3 times a week, so this is absolute heaven to me.
I was concerned that being in the same house with Rachel would cause issues, but so far we have stayed out of each other’s way and kept chit chat nice and pleasant.
I decided a trip to the shops is in order for dinner. At Tesco I discover I am still covered in dinosaur stickers.
8 pm
Get back into the house to find Ewan is awake and on the sofa stealing Rachel’s pizza.
He has done another massive poo, so I change his bum and back off up to bed we go. Another kiss and cuddle then he’s back tucked in. Dinner is pizza (I will be healthy tomorrow).
There is a pub quiz on Facebook live, which Amie and I intend to do together on video chat. I ask Rachel if she would prefer me to go in other room whilst doing it, but she is going for a long bath so I flop on the sofa.
Turns out we can’t get the video chat to work, so texting it is. We are terrible, but manage scrape over half marks.
9 pm
Bit of TV and more texting with Amie with stupid pictures, then I set up my makeshift ‘bedroom’ – a camp bed and blanket.
I message my mum some pictures of Ewan from throughout the day and look through social media (then immediately regret it). I had been staying with my Mum since we broke up, so it’s strange to not see her.
10 pm
Amie and I are fighting off the urge to go to sleep, but ultimately lose. We say our goodnights, then approaching 11pm I drift off to sleep, ready to be awoken at 5am again.
*Rachel’s name has been changed.
If you want to get involved with My Quarantine Routine, email laura.abernethy@metro.co.uk.
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