I am called Wattie, I am 12 years old and I have lived in Dubai for 7 years. I have been  in isolation for a month now with: my two brothers, my sister and mum and dad and dog, you can imagine the fighting. I am at boarding school in Scotland and my sister is at Uppingham in England, before isolation that is. I love playing rugby and hockey at school. I have also had the good fortune to be Simba in the Lion King at school.

I am missing sports the most. In Dubai, we have a rather small garden, so my 9 year old brother and I resort to shoulder barging. As we are in a different time zone to Britain, my work hours in Dubai are fairly relaxed, starting at midday here and ending at 5 to 6 o’clock. I try to get all my work done then, so that in the morning I do not have to think of school until it reaches midday. My least favourite subject is Latin and my favourite is Geography, as it is taught by one of the teachers who is really funny and is the master of sarcasm. For fitness, I join in with my brothers’ school P.E periods, which are sometimes quite hard. I also do my own fitness by having an exercise for every letter of my name.

In view of schooling, my parents have swapped their usual pursuits. In usual times, my mum would be at school as the Librarian, and she is usually there to take my brothers home and give them their supper. She has also been amazing enough to win Librarian of the Year - she has just stopped talking about it.  My dad, on the other hand, takes to the sky as he Captains an Emirates Boeing 777 300, [type of big plane].  So, on the off chance that mum comes out of her office, then she will do us the honours of taking to the cooking once more.

Our family fights through Covid and isolation by using the resources we have got. My brother and I both have pen knives, and use them by climbing the wall in our garden and cutting off the twigs, sharpening them and giving them to the rest of the family in trade for normal twigs. Games and models have become the soul part of this time at home. Without them, I do not know what we could do. It is hellish. I cannot tell a lie. The permits needed to go to the shops, the fact that only two people are allowed in the car at once and that children are not even allowed to leave to take the dog for a walk. I know that being together for such a long time is good for our relationships, but I just can't let go of thoughts of what we could be doing, if we were not in isolation: running, rugby, hockey and all the rest of the normal life we had before. I have just become more aware of how grateful we should be for what we have when we are not in a crisis like this.

Dubai has given us mad weather. There has been rain one day boiling hot the next. When I arrived there were thunder storms that flooded our garden. After this hectic time of lockdown and schooling that never has good Wi-Fi, I look forward to seeing friends and running about after months of walking. I do not know how I will be able to cope with not running for months. I can’t wait to start tackling people on the rugby pitches after lockdown. That is what is spurring me on.