Get Wacky with the Wacketts : A Lockdown Overview

I tend to think that writing about your family often goes one of two ways. The first is that you'll get loads of recognition and praise. Maybe your mum will even thank you for not telling the world she forgot to pick you up from school a few times (this actually happened to me on multiple occasions and I've had to trek 40 mins home ). Or the fact that she only packed you 1 single Frube that time for lunch at primary school (again true). The alternative is that the whole world will think you and your family are utterly crazy and your family will just disown you. Well, luckily this weeks post doesn't contain any major beef to cause any arguments with my family, and so subsequently I have decided to share my lockdown shenanigans that have been happening with my family, and decide how much of a lockdown cliché i really am.

I am well aware of the fact that many students, myself included, went home for quarantine, and by now are all very much missing their mates, a cold beer, maybe even the ASSL?! I most certainly am. This is not to say I do not appreciate everything that my family, the NHS and the government are doing during these unprecedented times, but I think it’s fair to say that being in someone’s company for a long period of time can definitely be taxing.

Those of you lucky enough to have been introduced to my whole family will know that I come from a family of 4 girls. Anyone who read that as “aww cute”, stop it. You’re lying to yourself, and you know it. It’s a nightmare. Literally no one shuts up. The noise is relentless.

Only those with a family of four girls can truly understand how dramatic and hormonal females really can be. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that we are the weaker sex, I’m just saying from personal experience I’ve seen my fair share of emotional breakdowns, mostly deriving from the most insignificant things. There is no single way to describe us, but the look on my father’s face when he comes home from working in London all week to a household full of girls dancing manically to Beyonce’s ‘Crazy In Love’ in the kitchen says it all.

According to the Telegraph, families argue on average 46 minutes a day, and that was BEFORE we were in each other’s company 24/7. 10 weeks being cooped up together has therefore lead me to learn A LOT about my family.

For instance, my younger sister puts me to shame every morning to do a workout whilst I lie in bed watching a Louis Theroux documentary. I’m pretty sure my eldest sister has a shopping addiction – I've never seen anyone move as fast as she does when she hurtles herself out the backdoor to wisp up her packages. If anyone sees this she insists that she needed to “treat herself”. My father and my second eldest sister seem to disagree on about everything under the sun, many arguments deriving from how to stack the dishwasher the correct way or the fact that her bedroom is an “absolute PIGSTYE”. (Disclosure: it often is, you detty pig Katie ).

This then leaves my fabulous and somewhat crazy mother left. Ahhhh whats that i hear? My mother saying how amazing we all are? Nope. It's the sound of those much loved and cherished monotonous phrases all mothers love to use, and ready to be put into extensive use. The classic ‘Because I said so that’s why’ or ‘I’m not asking you I’m telling you’. You can hardly forget the classic ‘You’ll live’, which may I add, was used straight after my sister broke her big toe last week. I like to think of it as character building. One of the biggest things I’ve picked up on over the past weeks is that my mother tends to throw a hissy fit if she catches us drinking anything from a tin. She insists that we pour said alcoholic beverage into a glass, and I still can't work out why. Don’t get me wrong, I love them, but I think it’s fair to say that during these unusual times many people are probably getting a tad fed up with their lockdown buddies, and I think that is something we should all acknowledge and accept.

Throughout lockdown I have to admit I haven’t started up my own business, run 5K or read 30 books. Instead I've spent a lot of time sunbathing and listening to The High Low or How to Fail podcasts. I don’t do this every day and I do attempt to watch my lectures or practise Pilates as a stress buster. But the point I am trying to make is that it is okay to feel unmotivated, lonely or even stressed. No one is expecting you to run a marathon after this or be fluent in French and Spanish, everyone is different and are spending their time in different ways. We are going through a pandemic which no one has ever witnessed before and that is something to take note of!

So, as I conclude my blog post for the day I have decided to write four (trivial) things i have learned during ‘The Great Pause’, which I think are fairly revolutionary.

1) I am AWFUL at online Pictionary – my artistic skills are entirely shoddy

2) After 10 weeks of lockdown and many cup of teas, I have acquired the art of dunking a chocolate digestive biscuit for just long enough so that you get the perfect balance of soggy YET firm enough to munch on

3) Even though my fellow school mates nominated me for cross country EVERY SINGLE Sports Day doesn’t mean I enjoy it, and the thought of going on an hour run with my dad makes me want to puke

4) No matter how many times you play She Moves in Her Own Way by The Kooks, it will never, ever, get boring.

Happy lockdown!!!

Izzy xx