Lockdown #2

I started this morning with what I’ll call a bit of a rant over on my Instagram stories… which I promptly deleted before anyone saw them. Apparently 8.53am on a Thursday is the perfect time during lockdown to post stories, regret it, and then unpost them without anyone seeing. I’m not sure whether this will be the case tomorrow, so I’ll try next time to story and leave them up. Though I am prone to story regret. Especially when it’s me chatting to myself in the kitchen (and putting it all on camera).

This week has been… well frankly, it’s been like last week, but without the daily punctuation of a visit from the postman (not a euphamism, I’ve been waiting in for him and my deliveries with no success), or the daily battle to home school… they’ve settled in to it, and I’m just here on hand if they are really stuck - though if it’s maths or science, they wisely wait for their Dad. An unexpected side effect to the home schooling is that I’ve managed to ignite some sort of interest in history with the teenager. I tried to take the credit, but she informed me that she had a really good teacher this year. And brutally, she then let me know it wasn’t me.

We are well into lockdown. So much so, that last week it was eased a little in Jersey. Hooray for four hours of outdoors time. Honestly, I didn’t think it would make a lot of difference, but it is actually lovely to be able to go to the Post Office AND the beach, as opposed to having to choose between the two.

Candidly though - and I doubt that I am alone - the novelty of lockdown has worn off. I’m surprised it has taken this long. I think it wore off for the kids approximately four weeks ago.

(I will now add an immediate paragraph to ensure that it’s clear to you that just because I’ve had enough, it does not mean that I have any intention not to follow the rules. They are there for a reason, and they only work if we all pull together and stay at home. I fully intend to make the most of my daily walk, or trip to the shops (for food… turns out having four people living at home full time rather means the weekly shop is gone two days later… I have adjusted, and with some niche store cupboard finds, we’re still only shopping once a week). I’m a pedant for the rules, but it doesn’t mean that I’m loving following them. I’m not. The struggle is real, not least because we can’t be exactly sure when (if?) this will end. And whether - for the forseeable future - we’ll have the level of freedom and movement that we’ve become so accustommed to.)

Despite the fact I’m feeling a little bit at sea about the whole thing (to which, the perfect antidote is actually getting in the sea), I have also taken the time to have a think about the sort of business that I am, want to be - and perhaps more importantly - the businesses that I am going to shop with and support from now on. And I have to be frank… this crisis has defintely shifted my priorities, and has definitely made me confident there are now some businesses that I won’t ever shop with again. I’m not going to name names because that’s not what it’s about, but what I have done is realign what’s important to me, as a customer (and this feeds back into my business, because if it didn’t then what sort of business owner would I be?!).

First off, I will go to, and enjoy meals out with friends again. I’m still trying to support places I went to before that are opening (albeit in a greatly altered way). We popped to the Hungry Man on Sunday having called ahead our order, collected it from a distance, paid using contactless payments, and taking away to eat as we walked. I cannot wait to go to restaurants again, and hope that they are able to survive this time so that we all have somewhere to go together. If you can, keep ordering, buy vouchers, retweet to support. I can’t even begin to tell you how lovely it was to ‘order in’ from Number 10 via Fetch.je. An absolutely amazing meal, made all the more delicious by the fact I DIDN’T HAVE TO COOK IT! Oh, and you could add on wine (which we did, and was likewise delicious).

Aside from this…:

1) I want to shop with companies that look after their staff.

This might seem obvious, but actually, it’s quite profound. Being as I am Harriet and Rose, I don’t have staff (yet), so this is an easy one for me to get high and mighty about. But there are big businesses who have played this right, and there are big businesses that have played this wrong. And if you are a large, profitable business who can support staff, you should. It’s that simple. I might have had a habit for fast fashion (it’s diminishing quickly, and I can’t tell whether that’s age, wisdom, or the fact I like to have my knees covered these days). It’s not ALL about the money. I know, I know, I know. But it’s not. It’s about working with and supporting businesses that realise their true value lies in who works for and with them. And if that means shopping from smaller businesses, and - if you can afford to - paying slightly more, because you know that the guys at the top took the hit so that their staff were kept in a job, then so be it. Brewdog (whose PR is obviously a huge asset) brushed aside their salaries to keep their staff on. Yesterday AirB&B announced huge redundancies, but they are covering healthcare for a year, and paying really decent redundacy packages, so even in a very difficult time for the business, they are thinking of their staff. And all of a sudden that beer became a little more delicious, when we’re allowed to travel again, I will book accommodation with AirB&B. Whereas a curry and a pint in a well know chain of UK pubs has become singularly unappetising…. not that I think I’ve been in a Wetherspoon’s for nigh on twenty years. One bad night of drinking Aftershock at the Baron Cadogan in Caversham left me scarred for life, and that was in 2001. Ooops, I just did name didn’t I? I guess I mean, do your research. Think about who you are spending your money with. Spend it, goodness me, the economy needs you to, but spend it well.

2) Shopping local (with the aforementioned good guys).

Don’t get me wrong, a supermarket shop is a lovely thing. Everything you need in one place, simple and easy. But I have been to one once in the last month. This is not a moral stand, I love my local Waitrose and my even localler small co-op, but I do not love queuing (though fully respect and would adhere to the queues), and so I’ve been shopping super small. With our local butcher (where you can go and ask for a butterflied leg of lamb and he doesn’t just look at you a little blankly); with our greengrocer, who won’t let you in at the moment, you just ask them to fill your bag with this and that; with the local organic veg box delivery; with local fishermen (who can even be persuaded on occasion to kill the lobsters for you); at the honesty box at the end of our road, filled with Jersey Royals.

I accept, this is not the cheapest way to shop, but then neither is the supermarket, so when all this is over, I hope to continue shopping small most of the time, with one big shop once a month. It’s been great to watch wholesalers who ususally supply restaurants and the hospitality industry shift to retail. My Mum - lockdowned in greater London - has had deliveries from Borough Market speciality sellers and while she’d rather be eating it in the market, glass of wine in hand at a bar, she’s eating well at home, and supporting small.

3) Accept that my kids need their friends (probably) more than me

This is a particularly difficult one to handle as a parent, but it’s never been more apparent that school is so much more than learning. Home schooling as an option was never a discussion in our house. On the whole both me and my husband had a good school experience, and the thought of our kids not going was not even a consideration. As we said when they both started Reception, the first four years is really about getting to understand how people and the world works. It’s all about social interaction. Zoom and WhatsApp is great, but it’s just not the same. The nuances of body language, of being able to see that almost inperceptible lip wobble as someone needs a hug… those things that we - as humans - pick up on, are lacking. We are lucky enough that as a family we are a pretty tight unit. But a thirteen year old and an eleven year old need peer company. They need it because it’s safe, because they are all experiencing the same emotional changes together… and because frankly, they need to talk about stuff that they don’t want to talk about with me. My kids missing their friends has been one of the most difficult things to watch, and yesterday and Tuesday for the first time in a very long for a time I relished them being able to catch up in the sea and on the beach (albeit without the hugs).

This epidemic and crisis has without a doubt changed me, and it’s changed Harriet and Rose. I’ve had to change the way I deliver (gloves or post), I’ve had to move quickly to reflect your rapidly changing shopping habits. I’ve been quick to look IN the island for businesses to work with on my care packages (Sue’s Fudge and Kota candles have turned around my orders in incredibly quick times). Whilst they talk about further relaxing the rules next week, this isn’t going away any time soon. We still don’t know what will happen, or when we’ll be able to travel and socialise (properly, with hugs) again. But from difficulty we grow. Not always in the direction that we expect to, but in a direction… and you always end up learning a lot along the way.

I’m sure they’ll be a Lockdown #3 post in the coming days, as things change again, but for now, I’m trying to take from this what I’ve learned and not think about it as things that I’ve missed out on.

For now though, thanks again for all your continued support… and another silver lining from this is that I can sit typing in my garden whilst on egg/crow watch. Turns out the chickens HADN’T stopped laying, but that we are having our eggs stolen by two clever crows. Who’d better prepare for me to run at them if they even think about rocking up in this garden again…