Quarantine in 1996

I can’t stop thinking about how much I would have loved being in lockdown when I was a kid. I was a real homebody as a child, and still am. I miss my parents and three sisters a lot at the moment. I miss the dog. I miss having a garden. And I miss being a child. 

But I don’t miss all the aspects of childhood. I hated school from the moment I stepped in the door in 1995 to the moment I left in 2009. I despised the other children, I hated the teachers and homework was the bane of my life. 

The thing I loved about being a child was being with my family. I get emotional thinking about my old house (we moved in 2006). It was a very tall victorian house built on a slope with a long garden that went down the hill with loads of trees and amazing hiding places. When I was very small we still had this huge log in the dark bit of the garden (lots of trees covering it) that you could make bounce up and down. We had a room at the bottom of the house where we played on our Nintendo with the kids down the road. And we had a staircase that ran through the middle of the house, that spanned four floors – you could tie lots of scrunchies and scarves together and make a pulley system.

We swapped bedrooms a lot over the years. I started out sharing a room with Helen because we’d shared in the old house and didn’t want to be separated. I remember we had bunkbeds, but being the youngest I had to have the bottom one. Eventually, Helen graduated to the top floor bedroom and I was left in what was arguably the best bedroom in the house. Around 2000, I decided to move into the spare room (it had a bay window which was what tempted me) and Helen moved into my room. Worst decision I ever made. 

But in 1996, I had the best room. It was the biggest and looked over the garden. Plus all the toys were kept in there which was great. I remember my friend Laura coming over once and climbing up my bookcase (even though I told her not to) and it fell over onto her.

So why 1996? Well, I am the youngest of four. My oldest sister, Emily, would have been 12 or 13, so would have still wanted to spend time with her younger sisters. We all would have been on top form for a lock-in with the family.

Something I miss a lot from being a child is Saturday mornings. We all used to get into my parents bed, and bring all of our toys. Even Emily used to join us. And then we’d have breakfast together. Sometimes if we were lucky we’d have pancakes or waffles. 

My dad would have had to still work, he’d have spent most of his time on the phone, probably in the computer room which is also where the fax machine was. My mum was at university so she would have probably stopped her classes to look after us. And we would have just played in the garden all day with the dog.  

Obviously, I’m ignoring the fact that the economy would have completely collapsed and no-one would have been able to work from home. But I still think that I would have enjoyed it.