You might have noticed a lack of noise from my direction lately. The previous post was pre-scheduled, and I can't remember the last time I wrote a new one. I've released The Time Before, the sequel and prequel to The Changeling Tree, but I've barely put any effort into promoting it. To be honest, it hasn't seemed all that important.

When all of this started, my first concern was about my mum and how we were going to keep her safe. In the end, she began self-isolating about a week before the lockdown began, because it was the only way we could protect her from a virus that she couldn't risk contracting. The next obvious concern was how she was going to cope with being on her own all day, every day. Fortunately, she's a resourceful woman who's comfortable in her own company and has lots of grandchildren who adore her and are more than happy to ring for a chat. So far, she's coping with it remarkably well.

But that got me thinking about how an older person who didn't have family nearby and wasn't IT-savvy would manage. In a moment of madness, I set up a Facebook group for local volunteers. Four weeks on, there are over 2200 members and, fortunately, between us we've had the skills and the energy to put together a community group that's robust enough to cope without whatever might happen in the coming months. We've leafleted, been all over the local media and are networking with all the local groups and official bodies we can think of. A team of volunteers are staffing the phone line, another team are moderating the Facebook page, and another group are fetching and delivering medicine (which is considerably more complicated than it sounds). Volunteers are shopping for people, walking their dogs, tidying their gardens and phoning for a chat. The whole thing is amazing and lovely and heartening and I feel very fortunate to have been able to witness how generous people are and how grateful for the offers of help.

There's another side to it, of course. There have been public fallings out about a selection of trigger issues, and the admins have been expected to wade in and pronounce authoritative judgements that we're not qualified to make. Early on, the group voted to restrict postings to reliable sources of news and advice, and that seems to have worked well to ensure that we're not contributing to the spread of misinformation. But because I'm now connected on social media with a much wider range of people, I'm being exposed to all kinds of political views that I profoundly disagree with but don't challenge because I don't want to politicise the good thing that we're trying to do. Decent people can, it seems, applaud the NHS but still vilify immigrants. They can haul local government and businesses over the coals for the tiniest thing, but insist that central government absolutely shouldn't be asked any difficult questions in a time of crisis.

On a smaller scale, it's also interesting to observe how the people closest to me are reacting to it all -- and how I'm reacting myself. This is a global pandemic. Only a tiny proportion of the population has had it so far, and exposure to it may provide only temporary immunity. There's no cure and there's little comfort in the reassurance that it's largely people with underlying health conditions who're dying. Even the most optimistic projections are saying it'll take at least 5 months before there's a vaccine. With transmission reduced by the lockdown, hospitals are still running out of vital equipment and medical staff are working harder than it's possible to sustain in the longer term.

Our lives are extraordinary now but we've become used to it very quickly. We're quite jolly and calm, perhaps a little more intolerant than usual and a little more sentimental, but people are finding ways to cope. For some, that's keeping busy with work or gardening or baking or exercise. For others, it's keeping connected through zoom or Twitter or Facebook. In my house, we've all remained entirely in character. I want to feel useful, so I've found a way to feel useful. My husband's planning for the longer term and digging up the garden for vegetables. One son is content with his own company, the other is permanently connected to the outside world. Although we're all spending time doing our own thing, we're pulling together more than usual and finding more things to do together as well. While the sun is shining and there's food in the shops, I think we'll look back on this as a happy time.

What I'm not doing at the moment is writing. I've been too busy with the community group until recently and putting off getting back down to it in the last few days. Next week, I'm going to find out whether it's possible to continue working in an imagined world without Coronavirus. I'll let you know.