“We’ll meet again”, Dame Vera Lynn’s war time classic song that’s been given a new sense of importance. People all over the UK and Europe commemorated the 75th anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe day) during lockdown, because of the coronavirus pandemic. I tried to mark the occasion as best I could, while staying at home. I even added to my baking repertoire with a batch of scones for an afternoon tea. How quintessentially British…

In my day job, I produced some items for BBC Radio Cumbria’s Bank Holiday programmes and news output this week. As ever, working from home, while sometimes challenging, is providing great structure to my days in self-isolation and offers a chance to immerse myself in the output.

Due to the wonders of technology, I was able to report live into the breakfast programme, for something we call an ‘illustrated two-way’ in radio. This is where the presenter asks the reporter questions about a news story and the answers are punctuated with audio clips. While these often sound like off the cuff chats, they actually require a great deal of research.

It was lovely to be back live on-air again, all from the comfort of my living room (while sitting as close to the router as possible) and connecting via a special app on my iPhone. The range of broadcast journalism work you can actually do while working from home is amazing. Something I’m very grateful for.

On a personal note, I was gutted to miss seeing my Dad on his birthday this week. It was a landmark one and, had circumstances been different, I expect my whole family would have been getting together for a celebration. Instead, it was subdued and I tried to make it as special as I could from afar. No delivery of a present can ever compensate for a hug though. The best way to think of it is that the celebrations are just being postponed, until life gets back to some sort of normality.

The weather’s been warm again this week and it’s been nice to spend time in the garden. I’ve planted some tomato plants in the greenhouse for the first time and they’re already springing into life. A reminder though, if you are spending time in gardens, there are ticks around. As a former ‘city girl’ I hadn’t much experience of this, until one latched onto my partner and I had to get it out. That saved a trip to the doctors, which would have been the first time either of us has been out of the house for more than 50 days.

Later today, (Sunday, 10 May) Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to address the nation. There’s all kinds of speculation about what this might be, perhaps relaxing of certain restrictions? We’ll find out shortly. Whatever it is I’m still going to be sticking with my precautionary self-isolation as best I can. As someone with two “underlying health conditions”, I don’t want to take any chances.

For many people, the lockdown has been difficult, I’m well aware of that. There are many facets to each individual situation. For me, the prospect of contracting Covid-19 and what may happen because of that is just as scary now, seven weeks on, as it was on day one when my self-isolation started.