These Doorstep Diaries beautifully capture life in Dubai during lockdown

“Zeus has adjusted to this year much better than me. He enjoys the lazy life after all. I started the lockdown being productive, doing all sorts of crazy physical challenges from 10,000 kettle bell swings in 10 days, to climbing the height of Kilimanjaro up and down the staircase of my building. I was all about making the time count, reading books, studying and taking courses. I thought that the only way to override my anxiety was by not resting. But soon enough, I’d hit exhaustion. I went from being superhuman to attending all my team calls in my PJs. I had to motivate my team (about 30 people across different countries) when I couldn’t even motivate myself. I had to tap into some serious inner strength to push on. Through it all, Zeus has been there; my trusty companion comforting me on tough days and putting a smile on my face, and I cannot imagine how much harder this all would have been without him to love and be loved by.”

“Our lockdown has been both a breeze and unbelievably hard. When curfew was first announced, I decided to pull out some things from storage that I hadn’t seen for years. I dusted off my Nintendo 64 and old cassette player to show Adam these retro gadgets but also for my own fun. I used the old cassettes as background music to my yoga practice. I also used the time to be more vigilant with my practice. That part was wonderful. But then, I got slapped with the home-schooling. Google classrooms. iPad work. Zoom classes. Printing off hundreds of pages of a school syllabus. We don’t even have an iPad or a printer! I found myself completely out of my depth trying to teach Adam French, English, Arabic, religion, grammar, math, moral studies, social studies, science – it was chaos. So yeah, if you put me back in lockdown I’m all for it. Just please, keep me away from home-schooling.”

“’Look mum and dad, it’s like a beautiful dream’. That’s what our four-year old daughter said the first time we left the house after lock down. We were on Al Qudra roundabout. Not exactly the Whitsundays, but to her it was everything. It was such a beautiful moment and something we’ll always cherish as a reminder to appreciate the small and simple things in life. Of course, much of life has changed. We spend a lot of time teaching our kids the importance of washing their hands, and trying to explain how masks help minimalise the spread of germs. That’s not an easy feat when you’re speaking to little ones. It’s been as much a learning experience for us as parents as it has for them. But we’ve learnt that being available, present and having real conversations with family and friends has been key for guidance and support. As things open, watching the kids find excitement in what was previously normal has been amazing as we discover the world anew.”

“We became grandparents during this lockdown – first-time grandparents. Our little granddaughter was born just before the curfews, and now she is six months old. We’ve been watching her grow remotely, mainly over Zoom calls, and seen how she is changing in front of our very eyes, from a tiny mite who barely could open her eyes, to a little laughing bundle who is sitting and crawling and actually smiling at us on camera. We are longing to see her and cuddle her, and are waiting for better times. So this lockdown has not all been bad – these are very precious moments that we’ll never forget.”

“Entertaining a toddler at home for days on end is a challenge – especially when you’re experiencing the emotional rollercoaster of pregnancy at the same time. We took for granted just how beautiful and amazing the teachers are at our child’s nursery – how much work they put in and how they play such a pivotal part in shaping our child’s life. I think my A-HA moment during lock down was realising just how important the social aspects of health are. How just simply hugging someone fills my cup, and not being able to be hugged by another person definitely took a toll on my mental status. Combine that with the daily sense of worry – will we be OK? Will our families in Canada be OK? – and it’s tough. We’re living a sort of Groundhog Day, unable to fill our cups. On the other hand, I felt inspired. The community came together. There were more phone calls than ever before. There were more communications with family and friends through Zoom sessions. It’s allowed us, for the first time ever, to slow down, appreciate the small things, and truly appreciate family.”

“At first, all of us being together all the time was quite exciting. But that quickly turned to frustration and fear. We received news of friends ill in the UK after contracting the virus and that made us realise the severity of the situation. I could see it taking its toll on the kids and I knew we had to do something to bring life back into the house. Inspired by friends, we contacted UAE Little Angels shelter and suddenly we had nine dogs in the house: Husky Nina and her eight four-day old puppies. Nina had been through a lot of abuse, but after some TLC, she came to trust the whole family. The dogs became our family mission. We made charts for them, named them, and we couldn’t have done any of this without our incredible nanny Maricel. As those husky pups grew, the play areas had to be built bigger and higher. They’d love to escape and run around the house, hiding in all sorts of places, while we ran around after them. It was crazy but incredibly fun and the blood, swear, tears and endless cleaning up after them was so worth it. Now all of them, including Nina, have gone to loving homes. Well, all except one – our beautiful Flash.”