My name is Lewis, I am 13 years old and I’m isolating with my mum, dad, brother and dog, just outside Edinburgh.


I really miss my friends and all the activities I did before, like hockey, ballet and acting. It’s so surreal, going from such a hectic schedule, to staying at home, in my PJ’s for half the day, and having time to watch Stranger Things.


My average weekday now looks like this: I clamber out of bed at around 8:30am to sign into Microsoft teams, I then check my schedule for the day (meetings, how much work I have, etc.). I try to do all my schoolwork in the morning, because I find that is when I am most productive. In the afternoon, I go out for my daily outdoor exercise, usually it’s walking the dog, cycling or playing badminton in the garden. Recently, like many people, I ran 5K for the NHS as well. I have found that I need projects to do, because I am not the kind of person who can sit around and do nothing. I’ve started numerous art projects, but I’ve spent by far the most time creating this website.


I am really worried about my dad who has brain cancer, and has had to take medicine called chemotherapy for the last year - one of the side effects is a weakened immune system, so it would be very bad if he were to catch COVID-19. I am also worried about keeping fit during isolation, without my usual high dose of sport every day.


There have, however, been some surprisingly positive things that have come out of isolation - I would never have had enough time to set up the Curious Times without my forced self-isolation. The first thing that I am going to do after lockdown, is go and play a hockey match with all my friends.