Whenever anyone starts a blog they secretly hope that it goes viral. Well be careful what you wish for, I say.

Our trip is supposed to start with a flight on BA to Costa Rica on Tuesday 24th March. Planning has been going well. Perhaps that should read “had” been going well.

We had put our house up for let on a furnished or unfurnished basis. We knew what a balls ache it had been packing and storing everything last time.. We thought that self storage of just our personal gubbins would be much simpler.

Agent after agent told us that there just wasn’t a market for furnished except in the apartment market and so we had been resigned to having to pack the whole kit and caboodle.

I’m not sure what the actual odds are of a house fire in the village just 500 yards from our house resulting in a family of four looking for a 4 bedroom house “fully furnished” in the vicinity, but whatever they are I don’t really care.

I had to stop myself saying out loud, “every cloud has a silver lining”, each time we met our prospective tenants! Calling them the Firestarters was definitely off limits.

Everything was going swimmingly. Terry, the self storage guy, was super supportive and accommodating (literally). Booking for our first week away on the Costa Rican, Caribbean coast was in place. Travel insurance had been obtained.

Then the world shifted on its axis.

Countries going in to lockdown, international travel restrictions and the possibility that the Airline may not even exist when we are due to fly. My God the end of the world is nigh.

Wait a minute. let’s stay at home and not go. Call the Estate agent and ensure the Lease is not signed. ” Yes, Mrs De Gier, we signed it on your behalf about an hour ago.” Nooooo.

Brilliant. Out of our home and potentially nowhere to go. We had planned on having a short farewell tour of UK family in Liverpool, friends down south and Number One son in Oxfordshire.

“Hi mum. Unfortunately that RAF house booked for you has been commandeered to be used in the event of any forces staff needing self isolation.”

This just gets better and better.

Why don’t we get to Costa Rica and hunker down there. What’s not to like about that as a plan? Well for a start all the bars are closed and restaurants are to work on a 50% occupancy basis. Oh and we may not be able to move around the country.

Looks like we will have to spend the summer in UK and enjoy a “staycation”. In normal circumstances this may be an acceptable alternative.

It is likely, however, that travel restrictions could be imposed at anytime. A sort of travel musical chairs where you have to stay where you are when the music stops. Better than travel “Russian Roulette”? Or maybe just the same depending where you are!?

At a complete loss, having had a brain freeze, I turned to my online social circle for advice. Offers ranged from a friend’s cousin’s B&B in Dorset (very welcome), my own cousins apartment in London, also a very kind offer but unfortunately in the one zone that I fear would even further restrict our living conditions in time and even a suggestion from Malta that I go to Samoa!! Thanks guys.

So, here we are in a cottage in West Oxfordshire, close to where our son lives, with a booking until the end of the month and a possible extension until Easter. Hopefully by mid April we might be able to move into our son’s new house, assuming the completion goes ahead!!

It affords us temporary refuge and the opportunity to “self isolate”, however we cannot quite see over the horizon at present.

Que sera sera.

It occurs to me that as a homeless person I could take on a pitch selling the Big Issue. At least I could then be assured that people in the street would keep their distance.