I woke in the middle of the night last night and this kept running through my mind, so I thought what the hell. I got up wrote a load of barely legible notes down and here I am basking in the English sun in my garden taking my virtual pen to paper.

Now for those who do NOT do social media and follow my blog online I am still very much alive and well. For those who are wondering what this means let me explain. They simply follow my blog through my website (oooohhh yes, I did it all myself!!) and as and when I write a blog, they get an email which allows to them read it that way; simples. I still have to do a little inside giggle when I see where in the world my blogs are read. So far every continent has had a little bit of MummyHolder in it!  I did wonder if anyone would read it and then I thought what else have you fuckers got to do other than Netflix, cook, clean, educate and repeat? So stick we me readers. Grab a gin or something equally wonderful and read on.

Now on the 23^rd of March things changed and if you had not noticed I would love to know which rock you have been living under in the UK. The shit storm that was to ensue what not expected by anyone. It changed all over the world for sure, but here in the UK that was the date when things really changed. I have watched, with interest, as people go about their daily lives and routines or lack thereof. I watched friends struggle to work from home. I have watched others frantically work out at home. I watched others continue to work due to their occupations on the front line. I have also witnessed some of the emotional and mental struggles that some are having, and I feel for them I truly do. I watched some bake some amazing creations and I have been bemused to see the world of TikTok surge during the lockdown. In fairness watching some of the things online have made me see that we have some great entertainers, cooks and comedians out there.

When the 23^rd of March came knocking, I was furloughed. I won’t lie. I was at home for 10 years. I don’t do lazy. I mean I equally don’t get up at the crack of dawn either! Let’s be under no illusion that I am a night owl. I have worked out 3 times since lockdown. I embraced the enforced home stay with an alcoholic glee; treat this as if we were on holiday. When will ever get to spend this much time together again? Never. Sure, I could have got up at 07:00 and done a HIIT class, followed by a smoothie before walking the dogs but I am a realist. So, with my gin in my realist hand I embraced lock down.  I have cooked as I always do when we are all together. I have made drinks for everyone and on one particular family games night I was so unwell on drinks that my daughter (God has forgiven me already) had to put me to bed complete with a ‘bowl’. I have, bar 2 days, worn mascara and got myself showered and dressed because who cares if you’re not going anywhere. You are in this life for yourself and those that you hold dear so for me other than some part time work, some dementia dad (saved for another blog) and the gym my life has not changed other than that I am getting to spend a huge amount of time with my family and for that I truly thank Corona and will not apologise for saying it.

So back to the blog and the meaning of its’ content.

There are 3 things that people use to hashtag when using social media and for the purpose of this blog when using the hashtag, I will simply use the symbol #. The 3 that I thought of around 04:00, and for the benefit of doubt I will state that I keep a pad and pen next to my bed for this bizarre reason, were FOMO, FML and YOLO. These acronyms appear quite often in the world of social media.

For those out of the social media loop I will explain what they mean according to the dictionary.

#FOMO

An anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on social media.

#FML

An acronym meaning “fuck my life,” usually said at the conclusion of a negative story.

#YOLO

The phrase “you only live once”. Along the same lines as the Latin “carpe diem” (“seize the day”), it is a call to live life to its fullest extent, even embracing behaviour which carries inherent risk.

So, there you have it and why am I looking to discuss these you may be wondering.

CORONA.

For many people who are gripped by the narcissistic world of social media these can all apply. Yet it has had me thinking during the surge of banana bread making to the lack of flour on the supermarket shelves that we are all in the same boat. #FOMO no longer applies because let’s face it no one but no one is doing anything other than what you are all doing reading this, because we are all stuck at home in the same way. Sure, some people are in mansions with pools, some in flats, some in care homes but ultimately, we are all stuck at home with, as yet, no end game in sight. Sure, we know there will be but when. You only have to look at the acting world for one example. They are all at home (well most of them) equally wondering what will happen to their jobs. They too are at home baking the arse out of anything that moves and trying to remain calm around their kids. They too are like us normal folk. No one can relate to their #FOMO because they are not doing anything either! Yes, some of them will not have the financial worry at present but they too cannot see their families and friends and life is not what it once was. Question is will it ever be…..

Yes, #YOLO as much as we like but we, as homosapiens, believed that we had the run of the place. We thought we knew it all. We were in charge. We could fly where we wanted, eat what we wanted, shop when we want but not at the moment. In fact, since the 23^rd of March we have all been in the same boat. We are no longer the ‘Billy Big Balls’ of the food chain. We have been taken over by a virus. A virus that everyone all over the world is struggling to contain and is killing as it goes. A virus that infects the cell membrane and takes over. For some it barely registers and yet for others it is life threating or worse.

Yes, you can shop online but it takes time as do returns. Not only that but where are you really going to wear those new clothes to? The days of next day delivery for many companies is not what it was. Only last week a courier told me that since the pandemic his workload has been worse than Christmas!

Yes, you can eat what you want but as we have seen in the shops, especially at the beginning of the lock down, that was no longer the case and as such flour is still an issue. Only yesterday I saw that you could only buy 3 of any one item albeit even with my mathematical skills I could not help to wonder who had worked out that I could have 3 x 12 boxed eggs (they were not the ones I wanted) or 3 x 6 eggs of the ones I did?

Yes, you could fly/visit anywhere you wanted but as I saw the other day even the rich private planes of the world are having issues as one plane touched down in Paris only to be told to go back to where it came from. None of us are exempt during the pandemic and as my husband did the lottery the other day, I had to ask the question that even if we were to win #WTF (what the fuck) would we do with it right now? Sure, the housing market has come back online but is there the choice that there was before? Would it take months into years unlike before? Would the chain not complete due to people’s finances changing? So many questions to ask that right now apart from being able to supermarket shop without a care in the world, because I don’t know about you but I feel like all my food bills have gone through the proverbial roof, having a superfluous amount of cashish right now would not do much for me and it certainly won’t buy you your health.

This then brings me on to #FML. For those who have small children at home I totally get the FML attitude at the moment. Imagine having to try and home school your kids. Even with the wonders of the internet I can honestly say that I am truly grateful that my 18 and 20-year-old do not need my academic assistance, which is useful because they are both studying subjects that I have little or no knowledge of whatsoever. But seriously can you imagine a hyper 6-year-old running a mock whilst one of you is trying to work from home. I would be on the gin far earlier than 18:00!

So, my thought of the day is this. Never did any of us see that 2020 would be like this. So  today for the #FOMO I am going to play golf. For those who are literally #LOL (laughing out loud) right now I will state that I used to play. I mean I used to play the piano, clarinet and compete in swimming but hey #YOLO so I am in but by about 21:00 tonight my husband may be muttering #FML.