DITCHING THE OVEN GLOVES FOR RUNNING SHOES – MY LOCKDOWN ONE YEAR ON
It’s been exactly a year since the team at Property Personnel and I packed up our desks and set up at home. I don’t think any of us thought that 12 months later the desks in our office would still be left unoccupied. It’s been a year of ups and downs for us all, there have been moments of difficulty and isolation from the world but regardless of this I have certainly learnt to enjoy the little things in life, and I feel very lucky to have such great family and friends.
Like most businesses, we noticed that towards the end of March things started to get very quiet and shortly afterwards the first national lockdown was announced. The team and I were furloughed with our MD Anthony left holding the fort until further notice! This was a very strange time for me, I found being furloughed really difficult to start with and I actually felt very guilty being sat at home doing a whole lot of nothing. At the same time, I knew there was nothing I could do about this, so I started making the most of the extra time I had.
I probably started off lockdown like most people, I thought there has never been a better time to bake banana bread. I spent a LOT of my time in Lockdown 1.0 in the kitchen. This will come as no surprise to anyone that knows me, as the only thing I like more than making food is eating it. I made anything and everything I could think of. Every weekend I tried my best to perfect my pizza bases, but unfortunately this is still a work in progress. Spending so much time in the kitchen kept me occupied and pleased the rest of my hungry family.
Whilst furloughed, I had the opportunity to take part in a training course that I was able to do remotely from home. The course covered lots of different things but ultimately it was about refining our recruitment processes to ensure that more of them result in a successful placement. It was great to get back to some degree of normality with the training and regularly speaking to the team on zoom calls, but still, nothing beats a good old fashioned morning meeting all together in the office!
With summer just around the corner it quickly became apparent that our holidays wouldn’t be going ahead which was a shame as I had quite a few exiting ones planned! I missed out on Las Vegas, Ibiza and Lake Como – these would have to be rearranged for the following summer and it was time to look inwards at what options England had to offer. We were lucky to have such lovely weather to enjoy a few beers in the garden and get out on some lovely walks. As restrictions eased in August, my boyfriend and I were able to get away for a few days in Bath which was a rearranged birthday trip from April. When there, we made it our mission to get the most out of the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme. We also managed to squeeze in a camping trip in Weymouth with friends which was a very windy but a fun trip.
As we have moved in and out of freedom, this 3rd (and hopefully final) lockdown has a very different feel. It was time to ditch the oven gloves and replace them for running shoes with the hope that I could run off the previous lockdown’s bad habits. I have really missed spending time with my family and friends, but I am hopeful that we will be able to make up for the lost time later this year. I am really looking forward to getting back in the office with everyone and resume some degree of normality once again.
