Séverine and I spent most of the day outside, gardening, or rather tidying up the garden. Séverine even went to buy a few plants at a nearby shop.

After lunch, I went with the two boys up Mærradalen. Compared to our morning rides on Thursday and Friday, there were more people. Not crowded, though. But we had to be careful not to get too close to anyone. At one point, Hugo fell and someone went to help him. I was like “no, no, don’t”. Séverine and Sarah went for a walk. Simpler…

Back home, the boys watched “La Grande Vadrouille”, a french classic movie.

The music of the day: Simon and Garfunkel – “Hello darkness my old friend…” But don’t worry, we’re fine. We also listened to the 90’s classic “Rhythm of the nigh” by… Corona.

We left the house at 10:30 to go on a bike tour, to Lilleaker area. We stopped for a picnic in a park, and went for a bit of shopping, DIY things for the kids, and food for the family. It’s all very stressful, at any time: we have to constantly make sure that we’re not getting too close to anyone, we have to clean our hands. There was not too many people, fortunately. By contrast, home is very relaxing – it was nice to come back!

I started to clean the outdoor table and chairs. Usually the last thing I will do. But here we are, with plenty of time and not much to do.

I had a poetry evening with my friends from Trondheim, on video. And then spent an hour reflecting on what the future would be… I have no idea. It was quite simple to anticipate the pandemic. We knew what was coming. But what comes next is anyone’s guess. How will the economy and the markets cope with a situation that is now quite severe in Europe and in the US? How will that affect us on the long term?

Today’s music was Ed Sheeran’s cover of Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time”

Timothé and I went for our daily cycling tour, up Mærradalen. We reached higher today.

It was the last day of the week, of a second crazy week. Work-wise things start to stabilize. Most of our colleagues are back to Norway, they have established plans and routines with their kids. We have adapted our priorities and plans.

Sarah had a piano lesson, with two screens/camera: one on the hands, one on the face. She also had a chat with her main teacher. After a week, these video solutions are working well. It’d good that the kids get to talk to their teachers and instructors, and that they can have some of their normal activities.

We had our traditional Friday pizza for diner. In the evening, Séverine has a video party with friends from Trondheim, and another one with rugby friends. We’re starting to wonder how far we can push this video experiment.

Friday’s music was the Lion King “Naaaants ingonyama bagithi baba…”

Thursday
Timothé and I started the day with a it of cycling in the Mærradalen, a nice little valley just a few hundred meters from the house. The beck that runs here gives its name to our street.

Workwise, it was a busy day for me, with numerous of video meetings and video chats. It’s quite draining. I’m saying that but I will not complain. We’re lucky – we can work from home, we have plenty of space in the house for everyone, we live in a quiet driveway, the kids can be outside a lot.

Severine took the kids by car to the other side of the city, at Ekeberg Park. It’s good to go out every day, but it’s difficult to find new options, where we know there won’t be too many people.

Timothé had a tuba lesson by video today. Went well!

Music of the day was Amélie Poulain and the melancholic tunes composed by Yann Tiersen.

It’s already been a week since the schools closed. We were surprised how fast it had gone, after all.

Wednesday. Same routine as yesterday. Routine is good, it’s a relief for parents. Everybody was working in the morning.

The weather is nice. It’s still bit cold, but the sun is shining, trees and grass are getting greener, days are getting longer. That’s nice and helpful 🙂

The kids had their first video lesson, for their instrument practice. Hugo started with cello, then Timothé on cello as well, and finally Sarah on the violin. They also watch a live guided tour of the Bergen aquarium, and of the Oslo reptile park.

They all went for a walk while I was wrapping up my work day. I took a bike tour later, on my own, to get some fresh air.

Music of the day was Porgy and Bess, sung by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Legendary. Feels like having a nice lunch outside in the shadow of a huge tree, on a nice and sunny spring day… Or even at summertime, may be.

Tuesday, the routines have been slightly adjusted. We changed our daily plan a bit with the learnings from day 1. Timothé works on a schedule, his teacher is closely following them. Hugo has less to do, which is good because he still needs a lot of help. Sarah takes care of herself, and she prepares lunch for everyone. Nicole gave a math lesson and exercise to Timothé via video – I think they both enjoyed.

Sev and I manage to get quite a lot done workwise. There is much to adapt to as well, both because everybody is working from home, but also because of the challenging situation with the oil&gas market at the moment, with oil prices halved within just a few days.

The boys spent a lot of time playing in the trampoline. They went for a walk with Séverine late afternoon. Sarah and I went for a bike tour in the neighborhood – funny to realize that we were visiting some of the local areas for the very first time. We discovered waterfalls, portugese-style houses, old farms and villas.

At 18:00 we went outside our front door to congratulate all the health workers for their work. Timothé played the tuba, to make sure we would be heard.

Music of the day was “The Sound of Music” soundtrack. Sarah taught us the handsigns for each note. We practiced our Do Ré Mi!