It has been a strange few weeks.

Like the rest of the world we have been gripped by the relentless spread of Corvid-19.

We have watched in horror as the virus has gone from an epidemic to a pandemic.

We have watched countries all around the world go into lockdown.

We have watched with morbid fascination as lives have been placed on hold.

We have watched hospitals and health systems overwhelmed.

We have watched as it crept closer. Until finally it was here and now we are going through the now familiar rituals of a society infected.

The pattern here has been a carbon copy of other countries first, hand washing, then social distancing, school closures, shops emptied and finally lockdown and life is paused.

This is the new normal everywhere and here.

Cayman’s schools have been closed for a week and look set to be closed for another six. 16th March until 27 April.

Teachers have been tasked with working from home. We have had to find ways to provide some continuity of education for our students.

The technological solutions adopted in many countries simply will not work here. Homes just don’t have the same technological infrastructure.

In some schools the levels of poverty means that the communities do not have access to the internet. Distance teaching through Zoom or Teams is not a viable option.

For other families, with both parents working from home, older siblings preparing for CXCs, Caribbean GCSEs, the youngest simply do not get a look in. They do not get computer time.

So we have a mishmash of work packs being put together. These are supplemented by WhatsApp and Facebook conversations with class teachers.

WhatsApp Web has been a Godsend, enabling teachers to interact with students and parents in real time sharing files and videos.

We had our first staff meeting by Zoom on Friday. It went well, lots of laughter, shared ideas and everyone glad to see each other.

But you could sense the worry that is a universal constant, another new norm.

Fear is everywhere you can feel it, you can smell it and if it wasn’t for the social distancing you could touch it.

Rumours and disinformation are rife, no one trust the government and conspiracy theories are fanned by verifiable behaviours. Stories straight out of the tale of Guy Fawkes!

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Pubs, restaurants, churches salons, and shops are shut. Cruise ships are banned, the airport is closed. Everyone is working from home and social isolation is the order of the day.

It’s like living in a ghost town. The sea normally busy with floating cities is empty. The sky bridge to the world is silent, no planes arrive or depart. We are cut off from the world. Extreme self-isolation on and island wide scale.

In this new quiet birds sing and in the last two days we have seen an eruption of butterflies. Clouds of them everywhere with flights of swifts gorging on their bounty.

People sit and contemplate, books are read, music is played. We cook and bake turn our hands to new distractions.

Today James and I turned our hands to cutting each other’s hair. Well, the barber’s is shut.

Much talk among the church communities is openly of the ‘End Days’ and ‘Signs’.

Living in such a fervently religious community one fact of life is that the Bible is a living thing and provides a frame of reference for understanding daily and world events.

2020 has brought us environmental destruction, earthquakes, fire, the news of swarms of locusts in East Africa, famine and now a plague.

For religious minds it is more than reminiscent of Bible stories it is the embodiment of prophecy.

To those of a secular philosophy it is strange but here it’s part of life. Faith is lived, belief is reality.

It adds a level of complexity to the way people are responding to the events around them and at a time when so many believe we are living in ‘the time’ churches have had to close their doors.

One of the few things you can do, at the moment, is dive. The virus does not spread underwater or in highly salt saturated environments.

As you can imagine this weekend I have spent a lot of time underwater.

I have managed four dives in two days.

Perfect isolation and an antidote to the endless news cycle.

Oh and we had two earthquake both around 4.5mag.

The first on Sunday while we were underwater. We were at about 40 feet and the sea was crystal clear then for no apparent reason the sea suddenly went cloudy as the sand was stirred up it was quite spooky.

The second was Monday evening at 9:00pm.