Week 8 of not going out to courts or custody cells.
How do I feel about it? I am enjoying it quite a lot. No early mornings on the bus, tube, or train. No sweating in the rush hour carriages, no overpriced croissants and cappuccinos, no running across ten platforms of Clapham Junction to catch the 6.58 to Reading.
The other side of this is that this is week 8 of relying on telephone interpreting as the only source of continuous income and-slash-or looking into changing professions entirely, again. I thought Brexit would bring a slow and agonising death of my public service interpreting career, I did not expect it to be cut short rather more abruptly, nearly a year earlier. Talking of Brexit, I wonder what is happening with it?
Week 8 of trying to decide whether I enjoy the legally enforced break more or miss the work more. Still thinking about it. I don’t miss Magistrates Courts, no love lost there, but I wouldn’t say no to a well-prepared, well-argued Crown Court trial nearby.
Week 8 of weighing my options.
When will it feel safe to start accepting face to face assignments again? When will I be ready to drop the excuses and actually accept these jobs? I can see a growing discrepancy between the two.
In the whole month of April I clocked in approximately 100 hours of telephone interpreting work. That is less than half my pre-lockdown average.
The nature of the calls had evolved over the last few weeks.
In the early days of lockdown, I had a number of disturbing virus-related calls to NHS 111, with the person on the other end of the phone having a coughing fit and struggling to speak. Some of those calls felt so uncomfortable that I contemplated not logging in at all. These calls are long gone, which is slightly odd, bearing in mind we are still in the grip of the pandemic.
In the early days of lockdown, I had a number of disturbing virus-related calls to NHS 111, with the person on the other end of the phone having a coughing fit and struggling to speak. Some of those calls felt so uncomfortable that I contemplated not logging in at all. These calls are long gone, which is slightly odd, bearing in mind we are still in the grip of the pandemic.
A couple of weeks later the most common calls were the dental pain cries for help. I did not like those either. By the end of the health assessment every single one of my own teeth ached for a while. These seem to have subsided now too.
The ‘new normal’ or perhaps just temporary normal has established itself. Babies continue to be born, with mothers-(very soon)-to-be screaming their consent for epidural between contractions.
Heavy drinking continues, but it moved from town centres to behind closed doors, depression, anxiety and debilitating sciatica carry on as usual.
Doctor’s consultations are done over the phone, patients are stunned by the availability of specialist appointments within days rather than months.
Homeless immigrants have been temporarily housed in hotels, and their support workers make their weekly welfare checks by phone. The main issue seems to be lack of anything to do, and there is therefore a widespread appeal for light reading in foreign languages to ease the boredom.
Calls from energy companies virtually disappeared, nobody moves homes, so no setting up of new accounts, welcome break for me, but I appreciate it’s not good news in the looking at a bigger picture sort of way.
Based on the nature of my calls in recent weeks I can confirm some trends already documented by mainstream media.
Patients with social anxieties are reporting improved symptoms when there is no need for them to socially interact with anybody from outside their household.
Patients with social anxieties are reporting improved symptoms when there is no need for them to socially interact with anybody from outside their household.
People who live alone are beginning to struggle with their mental health, and reach out to services for help.
What seems to be bucking the trend is that domestic violence related calls have gone down, but I do appreciate that my data might not be statistically significant.
