November 28th 2021

The trauma of the last year has truly rocked the world. The friends of the Earth have rejoiced as our planet has steadily rejuvenated without the mass pollution.

The deaths and the heartache, the altruism of strangers. People isolated and the unwell, the reliance on Social Media and our devices. The pubs and clubs that were once so busy that suddenly overnight became silent. The families that found themselves thrown together, working from home and caring for their children, some trying to teach.

The effects on the economy and the Chancellor in the UK suddenly offering billions to support people at this crucial time. Businesses closing and torment to the self-employed.

Covid-19 swept the UK in March 2020. The fear that we all felt and then the tears as the schools closed on Friday 20th March. The efforts of the National Health Service, trying their best to make people better. The queues in the supermarkets. No longer could I race in at 16.00 for a bottle of milk. The shelves were empty due to all the panic buyers. No longer could I get a space for home delivery. Quite soon some places were rationing, and others were allocating times for the elderly, vulnerable and the National Health Service.

The advice to wash your hands for twenty seconds, whilst singing ‘Happy Birthday’ twice.  How many of us did this? Twenty seconds is a long time when you are in a hurry. At this time though very important.

People were told they could only have five guests to their wedding due to social distancing and holiday companies were busy with cancellations.

Then on the evening of the 23rd March the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, announced the lock down of the UK.  Weddings, christenings, all gatherings except funerals were cancelled and only food shops were left open.

Never before had I experienced anything like this. People arguing over toilet roll, people crying because they couldn’t do their weekly shop. The community spirit of people supporting others.

The day that I developed a cough I worried that I had caught the virus. As it got worse, I needed to self-isolate. Feeling unwell I checked my temperature. Reading thirty-eight degrees my fear started to grow. It was a day later that I woke struggling to breathe. My husband, Paul, was sleeping in another room with our son, but I needed help.

I was in a fugue state as I woke and saw a man in white staring at me. Paul had found me struggling to breathe and had dialled 999 telling the operator that he suspected Covid-19 as he could hear me struggling to breathe.  Finding myself attached to oxygen and hearing my temperature was now at forty degrees. I allowed the paramedics to take charge and help me out of my house, I cried at Paul, but I couldn’t do anything.

Castle hospital

Everything was a blur as I was taken to Castle hospital. There’s so much that I don’t remember but I am told that I was critical.

Approached by a man in white I wasn’t sure what he was asking me. Explaining it again to me, I realised he was wanting to use me to test a new vaccine. Was this wise? Do I trust that the nurses will save me? Or do I take the medication? I’m advised that it could have terrible side affects but I will be compensated with a sum of money. The best it could do is cure me and I will soon be home.

As I took the medication, I feared the worse. I imagined developing boils, severe diarrhoea or bleeding from my nose. Lying in an oxygen bubble, I prayed that this was going to help save us all.

The year 2020 will go down in history and so will Castle Hospital. It took a few weeks, but the drugs worked. I was soon walking out hoping that they would be able to market a vaccine.  I received my cheque and told that other tests needed to be done but my part was valuable and brave. Maybe It was the fear of dying that made me agree. The thought that I would never see my family again.

As the children returned to school in September 2020, progress was being made. We were now able to buy tests and check if we were positive for having antibodies against COVID-19. Many were able to continue working despite having colds and flu. Once again, a worker could sit at their desk with a box of tissues without everyone around them scared of catching COVID-19.

Christmas came and went, the virus was still out there and people were still advised to practice social distancing. It was February 2021 as the drug companies announced that after all the months of trials and tests, they had a safe vaccine. One that could finally be used on the population. It was a few months later that the whole world was vaccinated. Months of nurses in clinics and supermarkets. Everyone had to receive it or risk catching COVID-19, there was no excuses.

Planet Earth

Here I am today, November 2021. The environment has done well. Businesses have realised that staff can effectively work from home and do not need to commute every day to an office. The air is cleaner, and people appear more respectful of others and grateful for what they have.

It’s now that I look up at the sky and see the jet stream of a plane. Something I have not seen for months. I feel a little sad watching it. It’s almost as if the Earth had reset itself with COVID-19, bringing the world pollution to a stop. I now thought, how soon will the world be as polluted as it was back at the end of 2019 when this whole disaster started? What does man have to do to stop this from happening? What could I do? I owe my life to Castle hospital. COVID-19 has been beaten, we now need to focus on saving our planet.

Please note: This is fiction, we are in March 2020 at the beginning of this crisis.  Please everyone keep a distance of two metres apart in public and be respectful of others and remember to wash your hands.  Continue to follow the isolation guidelines. This is a nasty disease and we all need to work together to beat it.

Written for Blog Battle – Castle

For more see, The love and death of vivacious Sarah – written for Blog Battle Vivacious