QUARANTINE

 QUARNTINE - so you do everything that is required of one to travel in these pandemic times.  You have a hard copy of your most recent (within 96 hours) PCR NEGATIVE COVID-19 TEST, you have a valid reason to travel (I'm going to work), you have the correct status for the country you are traveling to and off you go.  Once you get there though, despite all this negative information, you are told that you have to quarantine for 14 days.  But how do you actually do that?

For most of us the thought of 14 days in bed with endless movies seems like a dream.  Lounging around with a coffee or drink in your hand depending on the time of day.  Never getting out of you PJ's.  Time to talk over VPN to family and friends that you should keep better contact with etc, etc.  Have you ever tried it though?  This is the 2nd time I am doing a 14 day quarantine and I thought that I had it down pat but this time is even harder than the first time.  

Firstly, I should remind you that I am not doing this in my own home.  I am staying in staff accommodation at a resort - 5 star though it might be, it is still just a nice room with an en-suite shower room and a small fridge.  Space is limited, time is endless, contact with another human in the flesh is non-existent. 

Day one starts with great gusto. I make a list of things to keep me busy.  These include 2 rounds of exercise daily with my favorite online super coach Lucy Wyndham-Reed.  If you have not met up with, her I suggest that you look her up on You Tube.  She is a one-woman tornado of exercise videos and advice for healthy living.  Her mission is to get the world healthy FOR FREE - her words, not mine.  Ok, so I have 2 rounds of exercise with her.  I choose several different options and put them in a special folder on the laptop.  Then I need to get some online training done so I add that to the list.  Personal things like painting my nails and trying new make-up get added.  Catch up on correspondence and listen to those books that have been piling up on Audible are added.  I have some great reads I am saving in Kindle for some reason.  (Not that I don't read, I just still like holding a real book!) Meals are ordered and arrive like clockwork - great food but you still don't have the pleasure of picking out the exact bit of salad that you wanted or choosing the exact apple that suits your taste.  Luckily day 1 rolls over.

Still full of vigor on day 2 you are up and do the first set of exercises.  Breakfast, correspondence, do the online study, check the nails, look out the window and its still only 10h00!!  What now.  So you slow things down a bit. Make yet another call home - everyone is busy with things to do except me.... Lets take some more time over this next online course.  Going as slow as I can it still only takes 2 days.  I am at a loss.  I know from a professional point of view how to handle isolation but actually doing it, AGAIN, is just wrong.....  I read the whole of the CDC website regarding COVID-19 and all the advice and I think these guys just aren't attached to reality.  Or just not keeping up.  I mean I read a study posted TODAY in a foreign magazine that says I don't have to actually quarantine for 14 days, they are just doing it for 10 days without a test, 5 days with a test.  What is going on.  The mind starts loosing track of time - Day 4 lunch arrives and I am still in my PJ's cause its dark and cloudy outside and I haven't got up yet....... AND I forgot to order breakfast!!   Oh shit, what's happening?  I get back into bed and promise myself that tomorrow I will jump back into the 'habit' of the routine I wrote down.  Day 5 brings yet another COVID-19 antigen test.  When did sticking a long Q-tip up your nose get to be "excitement"?  The rest of day 5 passes, day 6 passes, day 7 and although I get up and work out and talk with family on VPN I spend the day in the chair listening to a morbid book that matches my feelings.  The weather is not helping and it is dark and cloudy and there are big heavy raindrops.  Actually it is a bit cold.  I know that I should be doing other things and I try to motivate myself but all forms of motivation are gone.  I decide that I am allowed 1 'blue' day.    

Day 8 starts to bring the end in sight.  I actually talk to someone outside and the tiny bit of human contact, through a mask and more than 6 meters is enough to make me feel good again.  Back to the list and as a reward I do several "Lucys".  Its all downhill from here.  Day 9 and I am back in the grove - exercise, reading, mediation, standing up and listening to a good book is better than sitting down.  Day 10 and 11 merge into one but I am doing it and getting on.  Day 12 and I start to wonder if I should start packing up now or leave it until tomorrow.  The thought passes through my head that I should cut my bangs - currently tied into the ponytail they have become so long.  I find my nail scissors and manage to get a fairly good result but I do not recommend this to anyone to try.  As a surprise I am presented with a cheese platter!!  Small things make your mood bounce off the walls.  Day 13 and I am up and packing like a demon. Everything is done, its 6h45 and I wait for breakfast.  Lucy can wait for my company today I have dreams to dream.  I make a list of all the things I am going to FIRST when I am eventually sprung from this small room.  I check my 'end' time and am told that it is 17h00 - how can that be?  I arrived just after lunch I remember, they have the time wrong.  I check the data on a photograph.  Low and behold they are correct, time of image is 16h57 and its the front door of my unit just before I stepped in.   Someone calls around and chats about release procedure.  During this conversation I am told that I shouldn't keep my door open as due to this being a small island there are rats around and they might come into the rooms.  They try and keep them under control but the rats were on the island first, people are an addition.  This does not make my last night in this room comfortable as I have had that bloody door open for the past 12.5 days!!!  I sleep with my eyes open.  

Day 14 and at last I have come to the final day.  Just have to make it through the last 12 hours before I am out of here.  I decide to chance it and I open the door .  What a wonderful sight.  Bright sunshine, gorgeous blue sky, no clouds, no wind, no rain.  What a day.  5pm arrives and I am collected from the quarantine area and moved to my new accommodation.  What a relief, I feel like a new person.  I'm so excited.  So many things to do.  I go into the new place and close the door............