Site header

My 2020 Covid Story so far

In the beginning

2020 was going to be my year. I'd not long started a new Job, that I was loving. I'd saved a load of holiday entitlement from 2019, and was planning on a decent trip abroad. It wasn't 2019. I really hated 2019. The tail end of 2018 and the start of 2019 was bad, in the worst way possible. My 32nd birthday was the turning point, everything was looking up. More money, into a career that was more of a mental challenge than I was used to. I literally couldn't be happier. Then the virus started.

Bah, it's just SARS 2.0

At first (Like most) I shrugged it off as nothing more than a flu, it was on the other side of the world. I was planning on a holiday to either the USA or northern Europe, as far away from China than you could get.
I was completely unware of the global disaster rumbling on behind the scenes, Sure I was a little distracted by the time northern Italy was in full disaster. Suddenly the Coronavirus or Covid-19 was in the news 24/7, like when a terrorist attack happens, but it was news that felt distant.
Then Arrow park was announced as a quarantine centre, I'd never heard of a site being used just for quarantine air passengers before. Still, the government seemed to have a lid on things. Then work started to make moves about working from home if things got really bad. I was actually excited, I could save 3 hours per day commuting in.

Disaster measures

After 3 weeks of hearing nothing from work about switching to WFH, there were a series of meetings. It didn't look good for the nation, we'd be likely to force one office to WFH at a time and within 4 week's it'd be over. Still, traffic was getting lighter on my way to work, I was saving about an hour of commuting every day. I just thought I was beating the traffic by getting up earlier.
Finally after what felt like months of "It'll be fine" from the government, the advice changed. Work from home where you can. I could work from home, This was now government advice. Within 24 hours we'd been told, unless you want to come in, do your work at home.

And I did.
For 2 Days.

The change.

After the second day of working from home, the Thursday, about 5:30PM I got a call from a 0161 phone number. Normally I'd just ignore it, I don't recognise it. But I got what was, looking back at it now, the inevitable. I was told that they could no longer afford to keep me on, well not just me, but me and (at least) eleven others. I had no idea whether I was number 1 or number 12 on his list. I'd get paid a further week's wages, in leu of notice, my remaining holiday pay and that was it. I couldn't logon to my work machine to get phone numbers of any of the other 11 I'd started at the same time with. Those 7 minutes would devastate me and force me into a depressive state. I Fucking loved doing what I was doing there for those six months.
Almost as soon as I'd finished on the phone, I'd logged onto my indeed account and applied for something like 12 jobs. I felt confident, I'd been doing what the adverts wanted as a "It'd be nice to have".
I had one phone call back.

The communist Tories

The next day, unusually so for a Conservative government, There was an announcement that the "Jobs retention scheme", or the Furlough scheme, was announced. This was extremely unusual. The Tories were basically going to give money away to keep people in work (but not allowing them to work while doing so). This sounded too good to be true, there would be a catch. But as far as I understand(just over two months later) there isn't one. I've been getting paid, on the same date - albeit at a slightly reduced rate - as I had been doing.
Sure there was a nerve wracking couple of weeks getting this setup, but it'd worked. I am technically still employed, earning money and not working.

The boredom

If I could tell myself 12 months ago, the sentence "You will be earning money, no catches, no need to do any work, you can just lie in bed or play games all day." I wouldn't believe it. It would be a dream come true. The trouble is there was an indirect catch. Everywhere is closed or banned.
In the past when I've had a free day or week off I'd go for a couple hour drive, maybe go to a shopping centre, do some people watching. Just chill basically. But leaving the house was (and to a certain extent in June 2020 still is) only for essential reasons.

That was it. No going to the Trafford centre, no driving to the beach, no going to see friends / family, not even able to get rid of rubbish at the tip.
I . am. so. bored.
The only excitement I have is going shopping for food, walking the dog, or watching the binmen(The highlight of the week). Sure I've found a few jobs/ software projects to work on, but this is a classic case now of depression. I don't even log onto games every day. I need something to keep me sane, work did set me free, I just never knew it.

The future is, uncertain

We now seem to be coming out of this awful time, numbers wise the health of the country is getting better. Things are starting to open up. My wage is confirmed until the end of July.
And that's the scary part, things are opening up too slowly for me to be confident about the future. To make matters worse the Facebook police want everything to stay as it is until we have a vaccine. But that's at least 2 months after my money stops. It could be another 12 months, we might never have a vaccine, and we might have to live with this.

This gives me a Dilemma, Do I hope that the economy has improved enough in the next 45 days that I can start work and not lose my job again? Will work be able to take me back part time between July and October? Do I look for another job? Some people would like me to go back to my old old job, is that a good idea?
The trouble is, I've now lost that confidence when applying for jobs, I just don't want to think about it. But I know it took me about 6 months to get this job.

And that's all if I don't get this virus. This year, while personally has been a good one, has certainly got lots of surprises.