I thought that the Prime Minister had told Pubs, Clubs and Theatres to close last Friday night but then everywhere was packed all weekend with people going to parks in London and tourist places around London. On Monday, Boris Johnson came back and said that we should all stop going out. He told us that we are not following his instructions and we need to save lives by staying at home. So did we start lock down on Friday or on Monday?

 

For most young people, school stopped at the end of last week so, for me and others, the Lock Down is a week old. It's no big deal yet but you will get another answer from me in two weeks time. I can say it isn’t a big deal but not for those people whose happy place was at school rather than at home...

 

For now, I can still chat with friends by messaging them and gaming with them. Not much has changed yet. I can already see the advantage of not going to school everyday, but the vast disadvantage of not seeing my mates when I want, is about equal. That will change. I don't know how yet. 

 

There are lots of jokes flying around on Social Media showing people with Lock Down fever and I am thinking about trying to do some of their tricks now to avoid boredom. These are all funny jokes until my grandparents catch it. I try to avoid boredom everyday but the safety of my grandparents always lies at the back of my mind.

 

It feels a bit like the start of the school holidays and this time last year I was getting down to GCSE revision. Many year 11’s are celebrating that their exams may be cancelled, but the ones that actually work hard might not be recognised for it.


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It's easy for me to remember last year's routine and work out a timetable for different subjects everyday and add in exercise and leisure time as well. My desk is just how I want it. I even have my own toilet roll! I have homework which is the same as revision time now we are at home. A big part of my life is football. I play and train everyday and I go to the gym most days as well. But now I can't do this anymore. I can't play with people or watch matches anymore and it’s very frustrating. Being an active person in this period is tough,physically and mentally as I unintentionally  find myself caught up in my thoughts. I find it important to check in with people who may be feeling the same way as I do.

 

The news about the virus is everywhere and it's as confusing as it is annoying. The government has rules, the news channels analyse the rules and make new stories about the rules, people make up more memes and jokes because they don't like the rules and all the news stories. There is no end. If anything is going to make us go mad, it's too much news. And yet there is no news for young people. How are children supposed to play? There is no rule about that. How are young adults supposed to get their exam results? They will tell us later. We are forgotten people; it's all about business, workers (essential and non essential). I realise why the news is how it is at the moment but some incitement on our news wouldn’t hurt.

 

They say that the under 18's will not suffer from the virus but they are wrong. They mean that we will have mild symptoms. That's good news but we will suffer with the rest of the world as it gets this whole thing wrong. We are collateral damage and, for some, our futures are very much in the balance. I understand that in 2002, when I was born, there was another Coronavirus outbreak in China called SARS and then there was MERS and then H1N1 in 2009 and Ebola in 2018. This is just in my lifetime. If we go back further there was HIV and AIDS which has killed about 32 million people and before that there were three more cases of avian flu in 1968, 1957 and the most famous Spanish Flu that killed about 50 million people in 1918. It seems that every time this happens we learn more about what to do to deal with the problem but we never apply that knowledge to be ready next time.

 

It seems that there is nothing we can do but wait now. It's not easy to help people that are worse off than you in case this creates more problems. It's too late to take action to stop the Pandemic because it has already spread on aeroplanes, cruise ships, cars, buses and trains around the world. We watched China struggle through January and February and no one made plans to keep it from spreading. No one believed it would be here now while they went to work, to the park and to the pub. There ought to be a better plan than doing nothing and then stay at home!

George Thompson