Is this really happening?

As the Sun sets on the second day of confinement a strange feeling takes over me.

 Is this really happening?

I listen to all the news, I read about this country and what is going on in other places, how they count the dead, ho the streets are empty, how you can not hug the people you love because they have a cough...

 It feels like living in an apocalyptic comic book, but everything is so normal around me: the people I live with, the supermarket, the street, the sky...

This is just surreal.

Because when you look around everything seems OK There are small changes, but I am not in contact with the worst ugly face of this. Nothing seems to change but everything is changing. Elements of cotidianity, of our normal daily life mix with situations taken out of the most incredible distopian world.

In the end, I go on almost as normal, knowing I am in the middle of somwething awfully, and I am just here waiting for it to pass. Hoping for the time after this is over.

Hope is real., not surreal. It is the same hope, the same believe in others. We will get through this. We will deal with what is thrown to us, like we always do in our lives. Reach for your friends (online, on the phone), ask help in support groups, find others to keep the flame of hope burning.

Day 1 of Confinement: solidarity

Today I woke up really early just before the alarm-clock went off. As usual. I drew the curtains and saw the sun starting to raise. I was about to start my morning routine to get ready to go to work. And I remembered.

Today, I was not going to work, like thousands of Londoners, like hundreds of thousands of people all around the world. In what could have been a bad 80s TV film, today the world it is being taken over by a deadly virus that affects the most vulnerable people in our communities.

And there is nothing I can do to prevent it. I felt my blood bubble. I wanted to go out, like the heroes of those 80s movies to save the world. But there is no sword to brandish, there is no shield to wear, there is no plan to trace. Just wait for the unavoidable to start counting those who did not make it.

As I started feeling sorry for myself, the sun began to shine. Powerlessness is paralyzing and fearsome. But there is one thing we can still do: we can still have hope.

HOPE

And with that hope, we can protect ourselves , our loved ones, our friends, our community. We can turn to the neighbours and help them when they are sick. We can stay home to prevent the spread of the virus. We can buy only one packet of bread to make sure everybody gets some. There are no lonely heroes to save the day. We have to work together in order to save the vulnerable and weak so life can go on for the strong. We need each other to make it, and we will make it.

Hang in there. You are not alone. We are all in this together. We are all here to help you throughout.