Lockdown Wishlist: Things I can't wait to do

So unless you've been living under a rock, you'll have noticed the world has gone crazy the past few months. What started as something I watched on the news with mild interest rapidly turned my world on its head, and for the past god knows how long we've all had to get used to a completely different lifestyle.

As I work in a special needs school, we responded slightly differently to the lock down than other schools. Initially, we shut our school down even before lock down was announced, due to the vulnerability of out children. After a few weeks, the setting was reassessed on how we could open safely and since then we have been operating on a rota basis, meaning there are only a few members of staff in at a time. Since lock down began, I have only been to work for one week, and am currently furloughed from my other two jobs, so I've had a lot of time to think and reflect.

So here are the top things on my list I cant wait to do (when it is safe to do so of course).

• Go and visit my Mum and Nan (and the rest of my family). I haven't seen my family properly for ages. Before lockdown there were the floods, meaning it was impossible for me to cross the river and see them. My mum doesn't drive, so she is fully reliant on me being able to drive and get her, and due to our hours worked we never seem to have time together. They are both on the vulnerable list, so while I have dropped some essentials off for them it's not the same as actually being able to go inside the house for a cuppa, or even give them a hug. As soon as it is considered safe to meet with other people again, I'll be heading there.

• See my best friend. I'm fortunate enough that she only lives five minutes down the road, so we managed to have a very socially distanced chat a couple of weeks ago while she walked her dog (and her dog could meet our new puppy). While we message each other most days, it just isn't the same as being able to sit down and have a proper chat together and to give each other a hug (there's a theme here).

• Exercise properly. This ties in with the previous point- my friend and I go to a Muey Thai class together every week, and I also go to a Clubbersize class as well as the gym. I'm really missing being able to attend exercise classes and going to the gym as this was something I really enjoyed. The first couple of weeks after lock down was announced I had started to focus on home work outs and going for an hours walk every day, but then we got pup and everything changed again. When he is allowed on walks it will be better, but at the moment its very hard to exercise at home when you have a very curious puppy trying to bite your ankles every five seconds.

• This is a much less important thing to be worrying about, but I really can't wait to be able to get my eyebrows and nails done again. I've only ever had my nails done four times in my life, and the last time was when I was nineteen. I decided a couple of weeks ago that as soon as it was safe to do so, I would treat myself to a set of nails as I get really bored and impatient doing my own. I'm really looking forward to getting my eyebrows threading again, as I tried to get it done not long before lock down was announced but the lady wasn't working, so they are long overdue a thread. In comparison to everything else, these are small things just for myself but I'm sooooo looking forward to it. Except maybe the pain of threading.

• Work. I'm one of those people who really enjoys their job, and while this year has been hard work I absolutely love it and without work I'm never quite sure what to do with myself. I've tried to help out as much as possible from home but it's just not the same. This is the longest period of time I've had away from a job since I was fifteen, so it's taken a while to adjust.

As I'm writing this, the whole of England is waiting for BoJo's speech later on, about what is happening with the lock down. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the lock down being lifted (if it is) as while it means I may be able to return to some normality, it doesn't bode well that we will be the only country in the UK to have not extended their lock down. Unfortunately, I think that even with a lifting of restrictions it's going to take a very long time for life to return back to normal afterwards.