Pen
Christine's Story
It’s a rural setting here, about five miles out of Huddersfield and that’s really new for me. I’m approaching my 62nd birthday and I’ve never lived in the countryside! It’s quite interesting in terms of change as I was going through some really significant life changes. I would travel down, and stay in an Airbnb depending on my work pattern I would stay for the week. I would travel up and down a lot. There is a really significant point in the traveling back up, where you’re coming out of Barnsley and you’ve climbed and climbed and you come over the hill and you see Huddersfield. Then you see the most beautiful moor at West Nab, it’s our favourite moor. I see where my-sister-in laws live, but I haven’t seen that view for some time. I see that view and think ‘I’m home coming home.’ It was quite an intense life style really. I have been to Sheffield once during Covid-19 to visit a friend who lives on her own and has had a bit of tough time. But other than that I haven’t travelled.
My mum moved up from Cornwall, and so she lives around the corner from me now. She’s out for a walk right now – she’ll be getting soaked – but she’ll see it as part of the fun, part of the adventure. My husband’s family live here also. Where we live is quite a little place. Following his heart attack we decided to move here, we started to think about our support networks and who we wanted to have close by. Previously to this we lived in Stamford middle England and Karachi Pakistan. My mum wasn’t interested in coming to Stamford, but when we said we were coming to live here, in Yorkshire, she said she wanted to come too. Reflecting on the pandemic, the fact that she’s only 60 footsteps away has been really important to us, and this has meant I haven’t had a really hard dilemma about where I should be – I probably would have had to go to her. I think that’s how life was before.
I’m not ready for things to loosen-up yet, with my husband and his condition and my mother. I’m very aware of my position within the family. I’m the person that does the shopping. We’ve also bought a second property, so I have been managing that too – I’m really a town person!
What life has been like since the pandemic – I’ve saved hundreds of pounds on not having to fill the car! I haven’t been unpacking and packing. Work has been more intense, much more tiring. I’m the lead on the ITT programme. The workload has been exhausting. The decision was made that it was really important the we had a strong assessment process so schools were willing to recruit them for September – lots of the students have given up jobs to do this, it was a lifestyle change. The vast majority have been recruited, they are such a strong group and very committed. It was a massive responsibility.
I missed coming into the office! Deciding who’s going to make the coffee! I am fascinated at how these relationships continue on-line. I’ve just done the ITT inductions on-line and feel so connected to all these people I’ve never met. That is really strange – but I have been really lucky I have a room in my mum’s house, so I get dressed and come here to work.
This is a tiny community. There is a courtyard with parking – there are ten families around these buildings and another six houses nearby in the church grounds – It’s such a lovely community. I appreciate the people. Prior to June I wasn’t working full time so would make a decision – am I walking today? And I would walk either with my mum or my husband. When you come to the main road you come to Holmfirth and Meltham, they are large villages and there’s a golf course – so it’s been brilliant because it’s been closed so we’ve been all over the course! We’ve met people, who are saying, ‘We’re really getting to know where we live’. And I agree with that – I’ve been coming here since 1977 and I’ve realised how little I knew it. So that has been a real positive … that feels cruel. I don’t like to say that, it’s horrible to say that. Maybe it’s things that have nourished us – they’re things that are so toxic about this time – those moments have nourished us. We have couples either side of us and one of them orders an Indian take away for us all, and that has brought a sense of social occasion to us all.
I did start to journal, but it’s still sitting there, with one entry, I did think if I’m going to do that – now would be the time. But it’s still sitting there. Emotional landscape of what we’re experiencing … I was listening to the BBC news this morning and I had one of those dips… and I think we’re all thinking ‘what are people doing?’ For me it all feels too much. I wear a face mask when I go shopping, I wear gloves, as touching things that’s where the risk is. I know I might not be doing much and there is variance in the advice – but it makes me feel like I’m doing something.
I would like to say something about our amazing students who are now qualified teachers. I have a tutor group of nine. Early on I asked them what they were doing for children, their stories are amazing. I have been overwhelmed and in complete awe of what they’ve done and what they’ve achieved. They have pulled together the case study presentations of what they’ve done over the year and I get quite overwhelmed when I think about that.