Author's Note: I stopped blogging regularly in 2020, but now in 2023 I am using Google Photos and Google Maps to recreate a post about what we were up to each month!
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So, London in April of 2020. I had been so excited for a spring/summer in London - we were going to go to all of the museums, ride the London eye, do a river cruise on the Thames - basically do all of the touristy things possible. After all, we were only going to live in London once! Turns out we got to live in London once during a global pandemic.
So what did we get up to?
We spent a lot of time wandering our iconic Notting Hill neighborhood. Our flat was located only one block away from Portobello Road, the street famous for its outdoor markets that are held year-round. But not this year! It was interesting to see the way people decorated and communicated with the outside world, like this lovely window.
Also, signs like this were popping up everywhere outside of the shops that were still open. We very quickly had to learn what 2 meters looks like - it’s about six feet!
I wasn’t able to do much work at the church during lockdown, but the foodbank that runs out of their basement was still operating. In the before times, the foodbank operated by letting people come in and basically “shop” for what they wanted/ needed from what was available. They were also able to sit down for a cuppa and have a chat with volunteers. It sounded like it was very welcoming and warm. During lockdown, of course, all of that changed. Instead of interacting with anyone, volunteers spent time bagging up set items of groceries to be given to families based on family size. People would line up outside and we would hand them their bags and send them on their way - and everyone was full masked and gloved. So I did spend about 10 hours each week in the church basement bagging up groceries.
One day, we decided to try that dalgona coffee that was going viral everywhere on social media. We only had an immersion blender to mix it with and let’s just say that did not go well. The mess ended up all over our small white kitchen - but we had a good laugh about it!
In a successful attempt at trying something new, we figured out how to use the “Watch Party” setting on Netflix so we could watch a movie with someone else. The party function lets you stop and start the screens at the same time and gives you a chat function that follows along on the side. We invited Steve and the three of us decided that the first movie we watched this way just had to be Contagion. I mean, what else do you watch when there is a global pandemic going on other than a movie about a global pandemic!?
The rainbow became a symbol for hope and for supporting the NHS during this crisis, and if I remember correctly I believe this window belonged to a local council person.
On one of our wanders we found this digital sign that cycled through some hilarious posters. I made Joel stand around for a few minutes so I could take a picture of every single one. I’ll spare you them all but this one always made me giggle...
And I felt this one deep in my soul - when we arrived in the city there was no loo roll (toilet paper) to be found! Luckily someone brought us a stash from the church that managed to tide us over until we could find some in the shops again.
Easter arrived on the 12th of April and it looked very different than I had expected. I was so excited to be serving in a church again for this special time of year - except I didn’t get to be in church. My colleague, Mike and I pre-recorded worship and sent it out over WhatsApp to church members. (We had yet to discover Zoom!) I did go and decorate a window at the church with some rainbow paper cranes and a beautiful golden cross. With the sun shining it looked just absolutely beautiful and perfectly Easter-y.
Since I didn’t spend the morning in church - all the work happened in the days before - my one nod to celebrating the day was making homemade cinnamon rolls. I didn’t have a rolling pin so a wine bottle had to suffice in a pinch!
In addition to all of the touristy things I wanted to do in London, I had been looking forward to going to the cinema again. With everything closed that wasn’t going to happen, though I did enjoy this sign when we walked by a local cinema.
In the middle of the month, we happened upon the American Food Store! Good news - it was actually open since selling food was considered essential. Bad news - we could not afford a single thing in it! Those import prices are hella expensive.
In last month’s post, I mentioned that we were within walking distance of Kensington Palace, but apparently, I didn’t actually take any photos of the palace until April! So here it is in all its glory.
And please enjoy this statue of Queen Victoria with a crow on her head. It made me laugh!
At the start of lockdown, we were looking for a show to watch - we had plenty of time on our hands, after all. In honor of learning about our new country we decided to watch all of Doctor Who! It was the absolutely perfect distraction during these long, quiet days spent indoors. In one particular Matt Smith episode (Season 6, Episode 6, “The Rebel Flesh”) I was delighted to notice that we had actually been to the castle where it was filmed!
We visited Caerphilly Castle back in October of 2018, and I was even more delighted to find that Joel had a picture on his phone of us in basically the exact spot on the roof that was shown in the episode! (And credit to Steve for taking the photo!)
I then had a good laugh when, on my walk home from working at the food bank at the church one day, I came across this porta-potty called a Tardis! It’s even painted Tardis blue!!
In addition to watching Doctor Who we also binged watched all of the Tiger King series on Netflix because, well, who didn’t do that in 2020?!? And that concludes the month of April 2020 - an entire month spent under quarantine and lockdown.
XOXO, Bethany