A few weeks ago, a colleague said in-passing that if, "You have gone two years without getting Covid 19, you must have been living the life of a hermit."
We had been very careful, and avoided it for nearly two years. Finally, last week 'The Rona' caught up with us. It was inevitable really.
Even though I could feel that it was coming, my heart sank when I saw the double line on the lateral flow test.
The longest game of tig I have ever played had come to an end. I had been caught. All the precautions - vaccines, handwashing, sanitising, mask wearing, social distancing, the lateral flow testing - had helped me avoid it.
I was beginning to think that I was slightly immune to it. When I saw the second line develop, I became a statistic, and knew that at least seven days in the house with an over-exuberant two-year-old beckoned.
I was very grateful that she wasn't this age and that she didn't have this much energy to use up during the height of the lockdowns.
We had been isolated for longer during the various lockdowns - albeit we had the saving grace of going for a walk or a run during that time. This time, it felt a lot longer.
Everyone wasn't in the same boat, and that made a difference. I had FOMO - the fear of missing out - and I had to look away from the social media updates from others who were living their best lives.
The last two years have at times felt like 10. None of us knew what was coming. I read a Tweet from someone who said that two years on, they were still working from home, and still haven't bought a desk, so their back is now the shape of a prawn. Some people might still be working from the bedroom or the kitchen table, depending on their circumstances.
I wonder is anyone still making their way through the kitchen roll and pasta they bought in the pre-lockdown panic, or making full use of the baking utensils they panic-bought online? I found a small bag of yeast someone gave me during one lockdown or other. It has never been opened. If I didn't make bread then, I doubt I will now.
Testing positive for Covid-19 meant that I broadcast live from home for the first time. It was different, but I'm sure it would have felt a lot more alien had circumstances dictated that I do so this week two years ago.
As life seems to be getting back to what it was pre-pandemic, I thought that much more would have changed for good. That said, I don't think that I will ever do a 'big shop' in person in the supermarket ever again now that I have discovered click and collect and I don't think that I will be just as tactile as I used be.
Free hugs and handshakes are off the menu. Fist pumps are much trendier.
I somehow managed to escape Zoom quizzes, and I am delighted that live music is back where it belongs - on a stage in front of a grateful audience.
Going forward, I would personally love it if people kept their distance in shops and public places. I was never a fan of others invading my dance space.
I will have to re-train myself to contact friends and to arrange to meet up with them. I have completely got out of the habit of doing this.
Any free time I get, I have to remind myself that it's OK to contact my friends and catch up. One of my close friends told me recently that she worries that she has become very introverted due to the pandemic, and wonders if she will ever be able to reverse it.
Some people jumped at every opportunity to go out, to travel the minute restrictions were eased. Others preferred to remain cautious and with this latest spike in Covid 19 cases we are experiencing, they might well remain so for the foreseeable future.
After the two weeks I have put in, I will happily exercise caution all the way.
