Twenty Twenty
Oh 2020 what a year.
There’s no point me going into a monologue about the year because we all know how it’s been, what the biggest news story has been and how much we have all struggled. You can read my diary of the first 6 months of the pandemic here but no, in this - my last blog post of 2020/first post of 2021 - we’re just reviewing the year.
Let’s take a look at the weirdest year of our lives shall we?
January
2020 kicked off the same as most years do - at my Mum and Dad’s house playing board games with my family and driving them all home at some ungodly hour of the morning. And that’s pretty much where the similarities ended isn’t it? We started the year with a bang by buying ourselves a super king size bed as our wedding present to each other in the sales and it was the best idea given how much time we then spent at home. January was spent mainly wedding planning as we had just a month to go so most evenings were spent finishing plans, visiting the venue, packing and most weekends spent shopping. My first month back at work after Christmas flashed by and we went to see Jack Whitehall live in Cardiff with my husband’s sister and her boyfriend as a Christmas gift to us all from my in laws.
February
February was one thing and one thing only - the wedding. We got married on 7th February so the first week of the month was spent in a freaky state of bliss and organisation and I finished work the day before we got hitched and we spent 3 nights at our wedding venue. We got married on a Friday and then hosted a 3 day party with over 100 people (can you even believe that in 2020?). We had a pub quiz with fish and chips, watched the 6 nations and set up a bar, had a big meal and lots of cider and lots of dancing and then rounded off the weekend with a hella big breakfast and a birthday sing song for my Mum. We went to Cornwall for a few days after the wedding in a huge storm where we had a power cut, watched lots of tv and sat in front of the fire and then I went back to work with a stinking cold. Presumably a cold. The rest of February was kinda manky weather, I had my oldest niece at my house for our only sleepover of the year and covid starting appearing in the news a lot.
March
The beginning of March was probably the last normal time of the year and even that was interjected with daily updates on the covid stats and weird news. We made welsh cakes with my nieces for St Davids Day and celebrated my husband’s birthday with my family and then had a takeaway a few days later for my father in law. On March 15th I went into Cardiff with my old uni housemate and aside from shops recommending you use cash, nothing was odd, we hugged hello and goodbye and ate out in an actual restaurant and then a week later went into lockdown. I had my notice of redundancy mid month and then Rishi saved our bacon and gave us the furlough scheme and on March 23rd we left the office for the last time in what would be months and Boris announced lockdown that evening. I saw my niece’s for the last time and bawled my eyes out, worked my last week of work from home and tried to keep a bit of routine which worked for the one week before I was furloughed. We also missed my baby niece’s first birthday and celebrated over FaceTime instead - keeping her presents at our houses because ‘it won’t be too long before we can do it’. Pah.
April
April was hard. Work had gone, my family weren’t allowed to see each other and my entire usual support network and all coping mechanisms were off the table - just as we hit the time we needed all of those things. Luckily the weather was lovely and we, like most people, spent a lot of time outdoors. Throughout April I took on the role of family shopper as my parents, brother, husband and in laws stayed indoors and by the end of the month when I finally secured my first click and collect I was shopping for my household, in laws, brother, parents, brother’s in laws and my husbands grandmother. Easter was weird without the normal treasure hunt and family celebrations but we had eggs, bought more eggs in the sales, panicked about non essential goods and did up the garden. We did the usual zoom quizzes and caught up with my colleagues but tbh, I spent the majority of April upset, panicking and worrying.
May
May was meant to start a lot differently as we were meant to be setting off on our mega Scottish road trip honeymoon on the 1st. Of course that was cancelled and instead we spent our 10 year anniversary with a Scottish broth casserole, a long walk, tartan blanket and a movie and was lovely, if not the Isle of Skye. May saw some freelance work for me which was a welcome change, a lot of time in the garden both gardening and then enjoying it and celebrated my niece’s 5th birthday on FaceTime. The weather was banging and we did couch to 5K and went on lots of walks with the dog but honestly? Not got a fucking clue what I did day in day out.
June
June saw a relaxation in the rules that meant for the first time we were allowed to go for walks socially distanced with people outside our household so my Mum could finally break free after 2 and a half months at home. The weather was still lovely so we met up a lot and went for wanders round the forest in my village and the fields in her village and it made such a difference to do something seemingly so small. I was still going back and forth my parents house and my brother’s house weekly with their click and collect shopping and often me and my brother would be chatting for hours, once finding ourselves still there at 10pm dissecting our childhoods and entire lives. Father’s Day saw me and my brother overlap on our visit’s to my Dad for half an hour and it was SO joyous to be the 4 of us for that brief window.
July
In July flexi furlough was introduced and I went back to work for the odd day a week in an attempt to save it and I didn’t do too bad a job. There was a lot of personal problems and a lot of family drama in July and I often found one or more of my family at my gate asking to go for a walk to vent in that month. I felt a bit emotionally fraught I think in July and when my washing machine flooded the kitchen I near enough had a nervous breakdown and this time took myself off for a walk in the pissing rain. On July 12th I was able to see my niece’s in the flesh for the first time in 16 and a half weeks but at that point had to continue social distancing and I found it a lot harder than not seeing them all. My parents and brother were a bubble so were all able to interact with the kids and I cried behind my sunglasses for the majority of the day - luckily social distancing got easier as time went on. The summer was a much safer time and we were able to celebrate my mother' in law’s birthday and hosted my husband’s family for a bbq with the world’s longest table to keep everyone safe.
August
August felt like the most normal month of the pandemic with cases in Wales minimal and zero deaths for weeks and I was able to see my family a lot more - the weather making it easier to stay outside. By mid August we were able to form an extended household and I was finally, after 21.5 weeks, able to get my first hug from my niece’s and it was an incredibly special few days before I had to do my first out of what would become several isolations. We still had a tough time but everything seemed easier to deal with in the sunshine and I was back in the office a few days a week by this point, managing to wangle Friday’s off most of the time. I also met up with friends for the only time since the pandemic started, meeting 3 school pals in the local park and loved a little sense of normality even though we couldn’t hug.
September
September kicked off to a decent start with more sunny days and time with my family and my last day of furlough was on the 15th, meaning since then I have been back in work full time in a job I didn’t expect to survive. I had to move in with my brother and parents for a little while and isolate with them which meant social distancing from Jos when we met up for walks or I went to collect my clothes. We had a really fun week as a family of 4 again, we had a movie night, my Mum cooked for us, my brother made all my cups of tea and we had a takeaway (our first since March) and a games night like we do on NYE and had a right ball. It also meant I was able to see my niece’s a lot which was helpful because when I moved back to my own house I had to isolate from them again. We celebrated Easter on a sunny September Sunday complete with treasure hunt, decor and biscuits but no eggs and then at the end of the month my county went into local lockdown and we were back to 2m apart in the garden again.
October
Local lockdown meant we could meet up for walks and meet in the garden but soon enough we had a run in with a potential positive test and had to isolate apart again. I last saw my niece’s on October 11th not knowing it would be December by the time I saw them again. I had a lockdown birthday mid month which aside from seeing the kids on camera only, was actually really nice as my parents and brother came round to our farm and we went on a big long autumnal walk and they gave me presents, flowers from the garden and a cake and my husband and I had a chippy to celebrate. Deliveries kept coming in the weeks that followed with delayed parcels, birthday present surprises left at work and cards in the post and then we put up our Halloween decor. We carved pumpkins, watched Nightmare Before Christmas and Beetlejuice with party food and I carved the pumpkins for my niece’s via FaceTime with strict instructions to my Mum on how to do it. At the end of the month Wales went into a firebreak 2 week lockdown and I worked from the office on my own.
November
November saw Wales leave our lockdown and England head into one of their own for a month but for me nothing really changed. I worked a lot in the autumn months, racking up a lot of overtime and felt incredibly stressed but also thankful work gave me a distraction from not being able to form a support bubble with my family. I found it really hard being the person outside the bubble to enable my parents to see my brother and his children but we mixed the christmas cake on FaceTime instead of in person and I cracked on with Christmas present shopping in earnest. My car decided it was a good time financially for the clutch to go so I spent about 3 weeks without it and got a lil beast of a red Skoda for a few days which I couldn’t drive to save my life. At the end of the month just as I was given the opportunity to finally bubble with my nieces, there was a case in the school and low and behold - isolation number 4.
December
And finally, December. Christmas plans were announced and then changed and then changed again and I am sure like most families this year, it provided a lot of hard questions and a lot of tough choices and drama was alas not missing from my life. I was able to finally bubble with my nieces’s for one blissful weekend where we did our Halloween treasure hunt and my oldest niece jumped into my arms and stayed there for an entire day and then whadda ya know? Lockdown. Again. I finished work on the 18th with my festive jumper on and sparkles on my eyes and nails and a day later watched as Boris put London into tier 4 thinking oh how awful only for a Wales wide lockdown to be announced with 6 hours warning. I had two weeks off work for Christmas to use up my annual leave and it was actually the best decision as I have been the most chilled, most lazy, most relaxed, most well slept version of myself and I didn’t realise how much I truly needed that break until it came. Christmas was of course weird without the normal traditions but I was able to see my family, something I wasn’t easy about but was thankful I did in the end as we head into what’s likely to be a long Winter apart.
So what reflections can be made from 2020? Undoubtedly one of the worst on record and a real test on my mental health, my family relationships and my job but also the year we got married and one that certainly won’t be forgotten in a hurry.
But some good bits too as there always is. The chance to spend some (a lot) of quality time with my husband - the one relationship that hasn’t been tested. The weather. The spirit and togetherness we all felt at the start. The rainbows. The tv. Tiger King. Saving my job. Seeing my family being all the more special in those moments I could. Where I live. Furlough. My garden. My insta feed when the weather was nice.
I am going into 2021 with cautious optimism knowing full well the first few months are going to be hard, scary, upsetting and worrying but just holding onto the hope, the glimmer of better things to come, the chance to resemble something more normal, the knowledge that this will not be forever it just won’t be and a plea for a happier, healthier year for all the people I hold dear. And if I could go on my honeymoon that would be fab too.