Coronavirus: ‘Why I’m happy living under lockdown with my loved ones’

We’re all battling cabin fever under lockdown, binge watching box sets, perambulating the garden, doing odd jobs, maybe slobbing out in our PJs on furlough, forgetting even what day of the week it is, rediscovering board games, scrubbing the oven, or finally getting round to reading those classic works of literature we always meant to tackle.

But for some key workers, it’s pretty much business as usual, albeit working from living rooms and makeshift offices, communicating with colleagues virtually, cracking on with some kind of defiant spirit in doing what we do, hopeful that the status quo will be reinstated long before we all go finally and indefinitely bats.

One such is presenter and journalist Denise Watson, 48, who is continung to broadcast her popular breakfast radio show with Maurice Jay on U105. But from her living room. And sometimes in her pjyamas. With bedhead hair.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Last week all our presenters were told they had to work from home because of coronavirus, so yes I’ve been broadcasting from the comfort of my home in Lisburn. All of us are dotted across the province in our houses. And it’s great that all this technology we now have allows us to do this. So I took a picture of myself doing the show in my jammies and put it on our Facebook page and listeners seemed to like it.”

Denise is trying to stick to her regular routine, rising at half five to feed her dogs. getting ready for the show starting at six.

“We’ve been very lucky as a family dealing with lockdown because my husband David, who is a researcher at Queen’s, can also work remotely, and my daughter Samantha, 15, who is at Wallace was one of the first schools to close and she’s been working away doing her classes with her teachers online via Google Classroom. Then Beth, 11, is a pupil at Pond Park Primary in Lisburn who are also working remotely. The children have been doing pictures and sharing them online and there’s all this interactivity with teachers which is really lovely. So we’re all on our different computers around the house. The lounge is mine. So I’m there with the ipad and the microphone and everything while everyone else is asleep in bed praying the dog doesn’t start barking and waken the whole house! But really, where would all of us be without our wifi?”

Indeed we tend to take connectivity for granted now, but imagine if the coronavirus pandemic had occurred before the advent of smartphones and high speed bandwith. How would we stay in touch with each other in the midst of all this? The humble phonecall is not as intimate as a Google Hangout; never before have we been so reliant on technology to keep us together while we are apart.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Watson feels lockdown was an essential and proportionate response by government to tackle the spread of the pandemic, and is cheerfully adjusting to her new routine philosophically.

“We have never seen anything like this before, it’s unprecedented. Employers have been quick to react and get us all working remotely and I can’t fault that.

“I think there has been criticism of government and Boris for not acting quickly enough, but I think they were swift enough based on what their advisers were telling them to do.

“When Boris addressed the nation, I mean it was scary. It was clear we needed to act as one to tackle this. It was shocking. I think it was an empowering speech. And to know that he tested positive for COVID-19, I mean look this is scary and it can affect anybody.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As a freelance self-employed journalist Denise was worried about her income, though finally the government has since announced a package allowing those in this category to continue earning, but Denise does a lot of event work, presenting awards ceremonies, charity events, all of which are now impossible in the current climate.

“I mean I have lost thousands of pounds of work but you have to think about what really matters. My family and I are safe, together, and none of us are sick. My parents, who are now in their 70s are taking this very seriously. They live in Lisburn too. They’ve listened to all the advice and haven’t been through the door; they’re quite social people but they haven’t been taking any risks at all and I am proud of them for that.

“Being retired they had their hobbies. Mum would be at her pilates class or meeting friends for coffee, but for now all of that is gone. And it has to be that way for now.”

For Denise as for most of us at this time, our home is our sanctuary and enforced family time can be very enjoyable. “We’ve been doing things together as a family that we wouldn’t normally do. My eldest, she bakes quite a bit, and my youngest is doing a lot of artwork and schoolwork and we’ve just been staying inside. It’s not a difficult thing to do. This is temporary and we have to listen to the advice because the alternative is very frightening. It’s not the 1900s, thank goodness, we can even have virtual parties now! We’ve all seen the curve - showing how fatalities are expected to peak. And to flatten it out we need to do our bit. The British Government is taking this seriously.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Denise is planning a Monopoly night with her family and games of Cluedo. “I’ve not Netflix and Disney Plus will get us through. I’m reading a book about George Michael and am about to listen to an Audible one about Steve Tyler. Life under lockdown doesn’t have to be dull.”

U105 Breakfast Show, 6-9am, Monday to Friday.

Related topics: