Retirement Rebel by Siobhan Daniels

Author:Siobhan Daniels
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vertebrate Publishing
Published: 2022-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Stopped in My Tracks

Just as I was beginning to make sense of things logistically with the motorhome and life on the road, as well as mentally after my life-changing experience by the loch, I started to read in the news about something called Covid. It apparently originated in China, and was now spreading across the world. There had been cases reported in Great Britain and they were rising at an alarming rate. It was a pandemic. People were afraid, including me. I didn’t know what to do. I suddenly felt very alone and somehow vulnerable. I didn’t know where to go as I no longer had a home. My daughter lived in a tiny flat in London with her boyfriend, so staying with her was not an option. What would I do with my motorhome? Besides, Dora the Explora was my home. I wanted to stay in her, wherever that would be. I had to find some place to base myself.

Heading down from Scotland I booked into a wonderful campsite in Moffat. I do some of my best thinking on walks, so I packed a snack and headed off into the beautiful Moffat Hills to decide my next course of action.

I have constantly said that I want to go with the flow and to have no plans. Sometimes life just gets in the way and you have to have a plan. This was one of those times. I decided to head to a site near my sister Liz, who lives near Lancaster. I had previously stayed there, so called the owner, Roger, and booked in.

When I heard about the first coronavirus fatality in the UK, I became increasingly anxious, especially as many people with whom I had come into contact were not taking the situation seriously. They seemed to think we would be okay and it was just some kind of flu that was only a danger to older people with underlying illnesses. My anxiety levels increased even more as I thought, ‘Am I just being a drama queen? How can I see so clearly what’s coming our way and yet so many other people can’t?’ I could not focus.

I got to the campsite in Lancaster just as there was talk of a lockdown to contain the spread of the virus. I felt very shaken up. At the same time I was dealing with the death of a niece at only thirty-two. The family were devastated. Sitting in my motorhome alone it was very hard to cope with my emotions. It made me feel so angry and powerless. I wanted to be there for my brother and his wife but wasn’t able to go to them.

Roger was happy for me to stay on his site and spend lockdown there. I experienced the prejudice of some locals, though. They were not happy to see a motorhome in his field and presumed I was on holiday and not going back home. They called the police because they thought Roger hadn’t closed his site, but when the police came to check, they agreed that I was alright to base myself there.

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