Coronavirus

Well, this is an article I never thought I’d be writing.

Facing a world-wide pandemic, whilst living in a foreign country on a visa of unknown length (whole different story there for another day), when flights are being dropped by the day is an experience I never thought we’d go through.

For starters, we’re fine, healthy, and have enough toilet paper to see us through. Our shops have not been bought out, and right now, we’re staying inside or going for drives, and generally avoiding people as much as possible. Church is cancelled. Toddlers groups are cancelled. I’m a homebody so it’s actually OK by me right now to stay in and avoid germs.

It’s an odd feeling overall. I feel that the Scottish, even more so than the English, have a stiff upper lip and there is a strong sense of “Keep calm and carry on.” To some, this is a big deal but it shouldn’t upset everyday lives, so they keep carrying on. But everywhere there is indicators of a threat, from notices in the doctor’s offices to the lack of toilet paper in the shops.

And what are we going to do? For the time being, we’re going to stay right here. We have food, a car, friends, and a general feeling of safety. The thought of flying internationally with two active toddlers, standing in insanely long lines just to get through the airport, all to face a 14 day quarantine really isn’t appealing. Unless there is an emergency (and I pray fervently there is not) we stay here.

It’s a scary time and a bit surreal. There is no definite answer on everything and orders keep changing everyday and it’s exhausting to keep up. I spent several weeks studying the news and tracking cases, countries closing, everything, but the difficulty is just how wearisome and negative it is. Finding myself discouraged and depressed didn’t help the overall problem, so I opted to only read one reliable news source, to shut out the nervously voiced extras, for my own sanity. Everyone handles this differently, but for me, the constant chatter was a distraction.

So now, we wait. I have a blog post coming up next if you want to spend some of your time “traveling” virtually to Scotland. And I may do one on all the things I’ve found to entertain two toddlers that don’t always involve tv. Although, let me be honest. Disney + comes out the 24th here, and I’m counting the days. :)

I hope you all stay safe and optimistic out there! Good luck!