Covid Stories: "It's brought me back to church regularly and I love that"

Ariane's contribution to the Collecting Covid: Wales 2020 questionnaire project.

I'm living in Bryncethin (near Bridgend and Aberkenfig) in a detached house with my parents and my boyfriend. It's over three floors with a decent sized garden.

I've been on Skype with my family. We've done a birthday party and a pub quiz. I've also Skyped friends. I've also helped my mum out with her virtual church services by helping with the worship and helping her to communicate online with her congregation. Lewis controls my mum and my dad's phones which stream to Zooms and Facebook Live. Mum also has Zoom on her laptop which screenshares the service (liturgy and hymn lyrics). Me and dad lead the worship with guitar and singing. It's like a normal service from my mum's study but minus the congregation. It's brought me back to church regularly and I love that.

I was furloughed at the beginning of lockdown, so other than cleaning and gardening, I’ve been helping my mum with church, playing video games and watching telly. I also blog a bit – my sleeping pattern is horrendous. Lewis is a student nurse who was called up to work with the University Hospital of Wales, so I also drive him to and from his shifts, and if he's on nights then I affectively am too.