The trials and tribulations of being in a lockdown in the UK.

As many here know, my home is in the Philippines, sadly, due to the pandemic, and being British, I was forced to return to the UK when flying back to The Philippines from Sri Lanka, where I was working.
I arrived in the UK at the end of March 2020 and had assumed (stupidly) that I would be flying home in maybe a month or two.
So I asked one of my sons if I could stay in his granny flat, he agreed thankfully. I have remained in said granny flat for 10 months now, self-isolating for the first month was not so hard, I had time to catch up on paperwork, refine some of my lecture materials and create/modify PPT’s used in my lectures.

Then around May it slowly dawned on me that this pandemic was not going to disappear as fast as I had initially thought, I considered buying a car to gain some independence as until that time was using my son's car when available.
So I searched around and decided a hybrid was the way to go and would give me an idea of what owning a duel fuel car would be like.
As is my usual wont, I spent hours researching and comparing vehicles, eventually ending up with a choice of two, after test driving them both for a couple of days, bought the one with a buyback scheme attached.
The freedom and independence this car gives is indescribable, I could go out into the countryside, other towns and visit family and friends, even going to a pub or restaurant when they reopened was an adventure. It was truly heartwarming to visit my children who are all over the country, and meeting up with old friends was a delight.

But, as much as I enjoyed this new found freedom, there was always this constant nagging in my head, that I missed my true home, missed my Pinoy friends and the ex-pats who descended on my home most weekends with their families to make use of the swimming pool.
As the weather started to get colder things rapidly changed my outlook on life, I found myself missing things that had not appeared important previously. I missed the warmth of sitting on the porch in the evenings with an icy beer chatting to my neighbour and as always, putting the world to rights. I missed my early morning swim and my walks along the beach, idly looking at the flotsam washed up the previous night, I often took a large bag and collected plastic that I found there, not for any environmental reason but because I just hated to see the beach looking so dirty. I miss so much regarding my home and way of life in the Philippines, it is a truly glorious country with wonderful and amazing people, I have definitely found my paradise here in The Philippines.

Now some may question why I chose the Philippines and not somewhere closer to the UK like Spain or Greece. The answer is simple, I love Asia, love Asian people, and the Philippines is an ideal location to use as a stepping stone to visit all over Asia and Oceania, it has always been my desire to spend time in Australia and New Zealand exploring these outstanding countries, There are (were) regular flights to these countries from my local airport.

Now, we are under a stronger lockdown, I rarely go anywhere other than one large supermarket to buy food. My days are spent giving online lectures to groups of students in universities all over the world, usually in anti-social hours due to time differences, but at my age sleep is not a problem and I don’t require much more than 4-5 hours a day.

I smoke so have limited myself to just 6 a day at this time, it gives me a chance to get some fresh air and have a short walk on a regular basis. I am also slowly trying to reduce that 6, as my intention is to have stopped by the time I book a flight home
All in all, I suppose I’m lucky, as I’m healthy and I am alive, as and when this lockdown decreases in its strictness, I can hopefully, reclaim my independence again. But returning to my paradise will always be first in my mind. I can't wait, the first thing I will do is have a swim, I miss that more than pretty much anything else