Five years ago today, our lives changed dramatically. Prime minister Boris Johnson announced on national TV that Britain was going into lockdown to try to stop the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. “You must stay at home,” he told the nation.

In reality, the people were ahead of the state. Shopping centres and other public spaces were already empty as we stayed away from other people. A couple of weeks earlier, I moved seats on a London Underground train to get away from a passenger who was sneezing.

I was very familiar with Covid by March 2020. As part of PayPal’s PR team, I helped with communications to the company’s teams in China and the rest of Asia from January, sharing advice on staying safe from the virus and information about office closures. We had at least daily calls with PR people in the United States, Europe and Asia. As March arrived, I was busier than ever, especially as employees in Europe were asking to be allowed to work from home. I myself decided to do just that, exactly a week before the UK lockdown announcement.

On the morning of Thursday 19 March, I took a much-needed break from work, and popped into High Wycombe for what turned out to be my last proper shopping trip for four months. I was struck by the complete absence of people, as seen in the photo inside Marks & Spencer above. I could choose any table at Bill’s restaurant for a late breakfast. The next day, I did what turned out to be the last school drop off the 2019/20 school year.

Precious moments of exercise

That first UK lockdown was blessed by the finest spring of the 21st century to date, as I blogged that lockdown Easter. The rain and floods of the winter were followed by clear blue skies and warm weather. It made the daily outdoor exercise allowed by the Covid rules far more enjoyable.

I had been inactive by my standards in the early months of 2020, but after lockdown began I took to the bike, clocking up 500 miles a month from April to July. I was more careful than normal descending the many Chiltern hills, as I knew an injured cyclist was the last thing an NHS hospital needed. Those car-free roads were magical – once busy junctions were so easy to cross.

On Easter Saturday, I was amazed to see the transformation in the M40/M25 junction. Before the pandemic, I would join a mile-long queue of cars crawling along the slip road to the M25 towards Heathrow. That weekend, it was entirely empty, as seen above.

Family routines took on a new look. On the morning after the lockdown announcement, I went for a short breakfast time bike ride with my then 11 year old son Owen, before we went home for our day’s online school and work activities. (Fortunately our home broadband coped well with both of us spending most of the day on video calls.) A week later, I blogged my working from home tips that stood the test of time.

I relished those early pandemic months working from home. Much as I enjoy the social aspects of office life, I was used to spending most of my time on video calls with colleagues across the world, and hadn’t reported to a boss in Britain for nine years. We built a strong sense of community and camaraderie managing comms during the pandemic, with humour leavening our long days online. I was lucky to work for a company that recognised the need to support its people during these unprecedented times, with regular global wellness days giving everyone extra time off to relax and unwind.

Dad: a pandemic TV star

It was pure chance that my then 93 year old father was living in a care home when the pandemic struck. He’d moved to Sunrise Cardiff (now Llys Cyncoed) six months earlier. It was such a relief, given that we lived 150 miles away in England.

Sunrise had a great PR team, who recognised that former journalist Dad was a potential star. When ITV’s Good Morning Britain wanted to interview a care home resident for a feature on the impact of the pandemic, they recommended Dad. I was so proud of him when I watched him live talking eloquently about the care he was receiving on breakfast TV. In July 2020, Good Morning Britain featured my reunion with Dad, after the English and Welsh lockdowns were eased.

Living in another country from Dad complicated things. I could only visit him when both Welsh and English laws allowed. This was particularly difficult in the autumn of 2020, when Wales went into lockdown when England was still open. By the time the Welsh firebreak lockdown ended, England was in lockdown 2. When I was allowed to visit, I had a 300 mile round trip for an hour with Dad. However, we did manage two wonderful holidays in Wales during the pandemic, which felt particularly precious, and it meant we were able to see Dad, especially in July 2021, when more than one person could enter the care home.

One of the things that kept my father motivated during the pandemic was his blog. I’d urged him to blog for years, joking that it would mean the rest of the world shared the weight of his opinions, not just the family. He started Bob the Blogger on Wednesday 18 March 2020, the week before lockdown. His journalistic skills, honed almost 80 years earlier during the second world war, came into their own. He reported what was happening at Sunrise Cardiff, and commented on the extraordinary times we were living through. He pointed out that comparisons with wartime Britain missed the fact that even during the war people could still go to the pub, cinema and shops.

In 2021, we turned Bob’s blog into a Kindle book, and BBC Wales Today news featured Dad reading extracts from the book.

Clapping for the NHS and carers

Very early during the first lockdown, a moving ritual was inspired by Annemarie Plas, a Dutch woman living in London. Millions of people came out of their homes at 8pm every Thursday to clap as a sign of their gratitude for the work of the NHS, and care workers.

Partygate: the hypocrisy of Britain’s lockdown PM

Looking back to 2020, it’s remarkable how the British kept to the Covid rules, realising the importance of protecting the NHS and stopping the spread of the virus. What we didn’t know at the time was that Boris Johnson and his team was ignoring the laws they had introduced. They partied at 10 Downing Street when the public were told they couldn’t go to the funerals of their dearest friends and family. I blogged about this in 2022 when the truth was known.

A time like no other

We will never forgot those strange times. Lessons must be learned, especially on obvious mistakes, such as closing schools, which had a devastating affect on the education of millions of children. Covid was the first pandemic to hit Britain for a century. It may not take 100 years for the next to hit.