Mavis

We can’t do what we normally do. I’m too afraid to even go to the park, I keep my son indoors all the time. We do the Joe Wicks exercise every day and read. That’s how we manage the lockdown.

It’s better to stay indoors than go outside and catch the virus, but I don’t know how long this can go on. I pray for it to be over soon.

We have lived here for one year. We have one room, we sleep together in the same single bed, there is a cooking area and a fridge. There is no window and no ventilation. There is a cooker hood but it doesn’t suck up the smoke and steam. We have our own bathroom at least. I do my best to make my home nice, but it’s not easy. There is damp and some things are broken. The landlady says she can’t fix things, it will cost too much money. 

There is no space for my son to play. If I cook, he is under my feet, I tread on his toys. We have to squeeze around each other. It’s not easy. Sometimes I tread on his feet or something, and he starts crying, and I say, ‘Mummy is so sorry, so sorry, I didn’t mean it.’

My son is three, so normally he goes to nursery. He misses his friends. He cries a lot at the moment. 

I don’t know how online shopping works, but I know a Sainsbury’s deliveryman from church and I tell him what I need and he buys it for me, delivers it, and I pay him. 

I pray that we will be released quickly from lockdown. Summer is coming and this room gets very hot with no ventilation.