Lockdown had ended but there was still restrictions. That’s why I was massively shocked when I went back to school in September.

We were forced to wear masks in the corridors and keep all the windows open in the classrooms so “the air would travel”. I swear that is the recipe for pneumonia! As you can imagine, autumn(fall) in Manchester is cold and having the windows open can make you get a cold. Until the Christmas holidays I was freezing trying to learn in classrooms, not being able to focus and feeling sick from wearing a cloth over my face. I told my parents that I didn’t want to see the school building anymore.

From January to March there was another lockdown which resulted in online school. It was in that moment when I realised that teachers could be replaced with videos. I started thinking about other options like homeschooling. We had decided to sell the house and by that time we had a buyer for the house so we were looking for sailing boats to buy. I felt like I was going insane in those 4 walls. My head felt like it was exploding, I felt dizzy all day and I was losing more of my vision by the day. Both my physical and psychological health was being affected by staying inside for most of the day. Yes I talked to my friends online but it just wasn’t the same thing.

Then at the beginning of March school opened. To go to school you were supposed to take a lateral flow test, wear a mask all day and to sit with all the windows open. I couldn’t concentrate when I was cold, let alone if I wore a mask in lessons (obstructing oxygen to the brain and causing hypercapnia) so I decided to not go.

A month later we sold the house, bought Mistress and moved on her.