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Was just thinking how #lockdown has some small comparisons with everyday life for a lot of women of my mother& #39;s generation & how so many of them were isolated, lonely, depressed & dependent on alcohol or medication to deal with all that loneliness & isolation entailed.
Many of them had jobs outside the home that they *had* to give up upon marriage, making their work until then, seem undervalued. For those who chose working at home, caring for & guiding children, they found out that it wasn& #39;t work that was valued enough either.
A lot of mothers spent most of their time cooking, cleaning, counselling, shopping, collecting kids, dropping off kids, nursing kids who were sick, collecting kids from discos or out looking for kids who came home too late.
Ironing, finding uniforms, sewing uniforms, food shopping, minding elderly parents, volunteering, budgeting, finding ways to make ends meet. Not going out. Yes, this applies to some men of that generation too. It was just that there were a lot more women it applied to.
They weren& #39;t out in pubs or having the carvery in the local hotel. A weekend trip to anywhere would be a rarity. People who moved into the rural areas of their spouses or into new housing estates where they knew no-one & were often only at the shops or the school gate.
Their husbands worked long hours & they didn& #39;t get the chance to be involved with their children as much as they& #39;d like. A lot of parents are stressed right now, but a lot of Dads are taking solace by getting to be around their kids more. Better ways for that to happen, I know.
At the moment we are naturally & rightly thinking about all the people who are isolated, lonely & finding things tough. I& #39;m thinking of a friend of who hasn& #39;t seen a single person (bar me in his driveway) in 10 weeks & he& #39;s only spoken to 2 people on the phone or online.
I& #39;m thinking of the people who don& #39;t have the money to shop online, who don& #39;t have zoom parties because there isn& #39;t anyone to have one with, who don& #39;t have a garden, who can& #39;t see their kids, who are trapped in homes with people they shouldn& #39;t be, who are in DP, who are homeless.
We& #39;re asking a lot of people who were isolated when they were younger, to do it all again as Grandads & Grandmothers. Asking others who need human contact more than most, to be even more isolated than usual. We& #39;re asking people who are suffering to suffer more, for all of us.
We& #39;ve talked a lot about what we& #39;ll do #WhenThisIsAllOver. Maybe - we& #39;ll pay people properly. We& #39;ll value all work, paid & unpaid. We& #39;ll fund our health services. We treat retail staff better. We& #39;ll question why billionaires ever got to have billions.
A lot of people now understand how isolation can mean a weekend tipple is turning into a nightly bottle of something, how painkillers become mainstays & how getting out of bed or getting dressed can seem pointless. How it& #39;s tough being isolated, even if we have friends & family.
We& #39;re also understanding that these levels of isolation were & are reality for a lot of the people we desperately want to protect now. From Nanas & Grandads to people in residential care & people who go weeks without a chat, even when there is no pandemic.
We& #39;re talking a lot about the "new normal". We& #39;re showing resilience & kindness to each other. It was always in us. When the new normal hits, let& #39;s treat tackling isolation in the same way we would if we thought a bank was going under in 2008. That& #39;s a bailout we could get behind
