LOCKDOWN followed the arrival of COVID-19, and we were all advised to stay home. If we had to venture out, it was mask on face and supermarkets limited shoppers allowed inside, one in for one out. Schools closed to protect the young, the elderly in care gave cause for concern. Covid jabs for our protection were developed and offered in age priority.
Shopping centres were quiet, many small shops closed, a ghostly environment should you venture out. On-line shopping delivered to your door has expanded, the demise of many nation-wide stores too slow to react.
We ‘conference called’ and gathered around our computer screens for weekly family chats; pupils and many employed worked from home. Mini home studios revealed personal décor, wallpaper and bric-a-brac distracting many a viewer.
New strains of the virus are still around, and life and living has changed for ever.
The author has twenty-two poems on LOCKDOWN and COVID-19 scattered within his six books POEMS BY AN OLD CODGER, and these have been gathered into a seventh book when the Government declared: –
9 March 2025 NATIONAL COVID-19 DAY OF REFLECTION.
Here is one light-hearted observation on working from home.
WORKING FROM HOME
‘Working from home’ is the new office dimension,
‘Working at home’ is to avoid any office tension,
‘Working in the home’ is a job with no pension,
Working at all is the new level of apprehension.
Attics have been cleared of forgotten gear,
That’s hung around up there for many a year.
Flooring laid and stud walls constructed,
Ladders dropped down and wiring extended.
Garages emptied, no longer take the car,
Desk and chair installed, internet to talk near and far.
Zooming reveals many telling background scenes,
Distracting viewers with their ‘office’ décor themes.
Garden offices for those who can pay,
Or Dad’s shed has had to make way.
Wrapped in blankets and finger mitts too,
It’s fingers, not language, which turning blue.
That morning and evening traffic nightmare,
A thing of the past commuters had to share.
No need for tie and shirt, blouse, and skirt,
Set the alarm, you can’t be late for the office date.
Just slip out of bed and toast some bread,
They will only see the top of your head.
Don’t worry what’s lying down below,
Stand up, and promotion you’ll never know.
Know the code of Conference Zooming,
Meetings on-line are really booming.
To speak, raise your hand up like a post,
But beware, not with it full of toast.
Do not lean in and get too close,
To show the hairs growing in your nose.
One would never stand so near,
Except that office guy who likes to leer.
Do not reveal your mug of coffee,
Or latest gin for all to see.
The dog or cat sitting on your knee,
It’s Zooming etiquette you see.
Office life is a thing of the past,
No corridor chats, no gossip cast.
A devious stroll, empty file in hand,
No gathering together of your lunchtime band.
Your office block now stands empty and alone,
With other shops and stores all forlorn.
Amazon will rent the building stock,
I guess we’re all in for a commercial shock.
Copyright 2023 Neil Davies
I hope you enjoyed this poem. If so, tell your friends and family, or better still buy a copy of my books and support my charity.
THE BRITISH RED CROSS UKRAINE APPEAL