To a New Dawn: Letters of Solidarity Anthology

EMILY, 16 Dear me, If you are reading this, then today’s date is the 22nd of March 2020 and you are preparing for your upcoming GCSE exams. Tomorrow the prime minister will announce a national lockdown to fight the recent Covid-19 pandemic and reduce the spread of the virus, so I thought I would offer you some advice for the next couple of months, because, like it or not, life as you know it is going to change.

Whilst we are on the topic of change – which, ironically, was the brief for your drama exam – one thing you will notice right off the bat is the amount of spare time you are about to receive. A whole six months of it. I know it sounds like a dream come true, but it can turn into a nightmare if you’re not careful. The second thing you will notice is that you will procrastinate, a lot. Also, you know that hair that took you so long to grow out, and that you said you would never cut off? One missed hair appointment ended up with you cutting your hair twice and then colouring it fourteen times, so have fun with that. Was it worth it? I’ll let you figure that one out on your own.

Even though this lockdown period is good for you, growthwise, you miss out on one of the most important things in your life: your friends. Suddenly, you go from seeing your 57