Paul Davy

It’s been four weeks of lockdown now. I have been working remotely from home. My wife has too. My two eldest kids have been performing their school work online. The three-year-old has been running riot around us.  To be honest, I have been stressed, frustrated, lethargic, grumpy, angry, sluggish, annoyed and more importantly, lacking energy. Physically I do not feel my usual self.  I am not walking 10-12 miles a day anymore. I am not practising martial arts. I am doing very little.  At the bank holiday weekend, I wasn’t working. I had the opportunity to do some work in the new house we moved in to. I spent most of the bank holiday Monday doing DIY. 3 hours pulling down fitted wardrobes, cupboards and drawers. 6 hours building new ones. 9 hours of DIY sounds a lot but to be honest I felt great. I had plenty of energy during and after the DIY marathon.  I realised that perhaps I had eliminated exercise from my lifestyle. My new lockdown lifestyle. My lifestyle had then taken a turn for t

COVD-19 hit and blew our normal daily lives out of the water. I have been battling this week with working from home. It has been frustrating and stressful. Not just getting myself up and running but also my wife. Then there are two school kids to get online and doing their school work. Then there is a three-year-old to entertain without letting him being plugged into an iPad all day.  I had never really given a thought to the difference between ‘home working’ and ‘remote working’.   The idea of working from home excited me. It meant setting yourself up for being able to work anywhere. The reality, however, is very different.  With COVID-19, ‘home working’ means ‘home working’. You can’t leave the house. You feel stuck in. Trapped.  I think in my ‘dream lifestyle’, I was actually thinking of ‘working remotely’. Being able to write on my phone whilst out for a walk. Being able to flip open a laptop and log in whilst drinking an Americano in a café. Being able to work and research from my