Today, March 23rd marks one year since the UK went into lock-down. My memory of that day last year is a bit hazy, it was expected but still quite unbelievable. I remember walking incredulously past long queues of cars waiting to get free food from the well know fast food outlet nearby. I remember the slightly surreal feeling of locking the door and wondering who/when would be able to cross over it again. I hoped that it would indeed “all be over by Easter”, but part of me knew that it wouldn’t. I didn’t expect to still be in lock down this Easter.
So much has changed, but so little has too. The most shocking aspect to this whole year is the tragic number of deaths. Over 126,000 in the UK – and it’s still increasing. I remember the shock I felt about a year ago when some scientists were saying 50,00 would be a good outcome for the UK. In retrospect it would have.
Almost a year earlier I had already made the move to home working so I was lucky to have my working space all sorted, and work to do. Seeing and hearing colleagues and friends struggle with home working, home schooling, lock-down life has at times been heartbreaking, at times heart warming.
Today, tho, I am drawn back to this quote I spotted last year. Over the past year I have worried about our obsession with “getting back to normal” – particularly in education. So today I am really considering what part of “normal’ I want to get back to, and what I will be forced to!
