April Look Back | 2020

Considering that April was an entire month of lockdown, I had half considered not bothering with a look back at all, as I obviously haven’t really gone anywhere or done anything particularly interesting. I decided to do one in the end, as I like to think of my look backs almost like a kind of virtual diary, that I just so happen to also share with you guys. As much as Covid-19 and lockdown is pretty rubbish for everyone, we are living in history here, and so I feel like it’s important to document it and the changes and challenges that have come with it.


I did have some very good news in April as well which I feel is worth celebrating, and was that I hit the end of my first six months in my new job and have passed my probation! There were no worries in terms of my performance, but when a few staff were put on furlough the month prior I did get a little concerned that things like probations would be put on hold as well. Fortunately they weren’t and I’ve become a fully-fledged member of the full time staff which has eased a little pressure.




 Speaking of work, I’ve spent all of April working from my dining table, and as much as I do miss the office atmosphere sometimes I’m actually quite enjoying it. Working in insurance, all we need is access to a computer with our various systems on it and a phone, we can do our job from pretty much anywhere. Despite this our industry has typically been quite anti-working from home when it comes to doing so on a permanent basis. There’s never really been a reason for them to dislike it, whenever I’ve known of such requests in the past it’s been shrugged off as ‘doesn’t work’ with no real reason as to why – although I should mention that I’m referring here to companies I’ve previously worked for, not my current one.




Given that almost 100% of our workforce is currently working from home, very successfully I might add, I’m hoping this paves the way for a more flexible approach to home working in the future. In fact, it’s clearly made some changes already as when I formally submitted a request to work from home a few days a week, I was informed that this was something already being looked at across the group. Hopefully this will raise the chances of my request being successful.




Thanks to the glorious weather we had, I also got to spend a lot more time outside in April. We back onto a beautiful woodland, and with me being conscious to get outside for my daily exercise I’ve been able to explore it far more than I have before. Now that I know the layout fairly well now I’m starting to venture off the trails to find new routes, and I’m covering much more distance than I was a few weeks ago. This is certainly something I’d like to keep up as and when we return to normal, especially when I can freely go to new places.

On sunny days I also spent time in the garden working on my tan, and even brought Boots the housecat out with me to enjoy the sunshine. As you can tell, he enjoyed a spot of sunbathing too and was a very happy kitty!

We’ve also been very busy with wedding logistics, having decided that a wedding in the USA in June isn’t going to be safe or practical. Luckily, everyone involved has been absolutely fantastic. The venue waived all charges and admin fees and have literally moved everything as it is on a year. The photographer and our accommodation for the period we are there have done exactly the same as well. The only other large cost was the flights, the bulk of which has been refunded with just the odd payment for seat preference still to come back. The whole thing has just been picked up and moved to 2021, with absolutely no stress or fuss, which was exactly what we needed.

Planning a wedding can be pretty stressful, so the notion of having to start all that planning all over again, after losing a load of money wasn’t something I could bear the thought of, so I’m so thankful that it’s been so seamless and easy.

Other than that I’ve been just taking each day as it comes, which is all we can really do at the moment. How was your April?