Lord Potato is the next up on the Covid Chronicles. This dapper chap is not one to be messed with, using his good looks and cunning to get exactly what he wants from his humans. But how are they all coping during Covid?
I’m Sarah and my little pomeranian (Lord Potato of Highbury) will be turning 2 in June! He’s my first ever dog (after desperately wanting one my whole life!) and he’s the light of my life
Highbury, London
Is it on lockdown
Technically, yes. We are only meant to go out once a day for essential shopping (food, medicine etc.) or for 1 hour of exercise which includes walking the dog. No socialising with anyone outside of your household and you must keep a distance of 2m between yourself and other people outside. Londoners (in the areas I have seen) don’t seem to be taking it particularly seriously though and the streets are busy and the parks are flooded with sunbathers and picnickers…
I’m a singer
What is your normal day routine like?
On gig days I get up, feed the bunnies (Ike and Tina, they live in our roof garden), get dressed, take Potato for a quick walk and then start getting myself gig-ready (showered, dressed/beautified and fed). I then head travel to close to my gig venue, have a pre-gig coffee and then sing. I head home straight afterwards and am welcomed home by a very
affectionate little Lord Potato. My gigs are usually in the afternoon so in the evening I would usually either travel towards my partners area of work with Potato for dinner/drinks or we would meet at home to all head out together.
On non-gig days I have no specific routine outside of feeding the bunnies and taking Potato out, however we would go for a longer walk/play in the park and then run errands or perhaps head to our favourite cafe (Sage Kitchen) or favourite shop (the Sylvanian Families store). I would likely fit in some singing practice/recording, a bit of housework and perhaps a little daytime TV. In the evenings we would usually go out for dinner or stay in and watch a film/series on Netflix as a family.
I can no longer work as the venues I would sing in (largely care homes) are all closed. As such I have no income at all while we are in lockdown. My partner is now working from home (he is a management consultant) so we are both home and together all of the time (apart from when he goes for a jog or when I walk Potato).
We are all loving being in lockdown in spite of the fact that we would usually go to restaurants and pubs a lot! Potato absolutely adores having us both around him 24/7 and the extra attention he gets. The only tough thing for him is not getting to play with dogs quite as much. I miss seeing my parents and friends but we still speak and message often. We are lucky to have a good size roof garden which we are all making the most of on a daily basis (and the weather has also been glorious since the lockdown started!).
Potato’s favourite home activity is running around the terrace with his parents (or the bunnies!) either being chased or playing fetch). He also loves chilling indoors watching TV and playing with his snuffle mat (the latter only when he’s in the mood for treats though as he isn’t very food oriented) and one of his new favourite pastimes is floating around on his fish float in the hot tub with us (he just loves being included in everything we do!).
To summarise:
The freedom to go out whenever you want and go to our favourite pubs and restaurants.
Between being interviewed and going to press, the lockdown rules in the UK have slackened a little and unlimited exercise is now allowed. Working from home is still greatly encouraged, with transport being kept to a minimum.
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