Doing lockdown the Sub Way
“To say it has been a challenging time is an understatement.”
So says business owner Gary Butterly as Britain enters its seventh week of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. Britain owns the dubious distinction of being second in the world in recorded deaths (31,587 as of May 9), only topped by the “chaotic” USA. In Scotland, the death toll stands at 1,847.*
Amid these grim statistics, capitalism has been suspended as shops, offices, bars and restaurants across the country close in an effort to stop the spread and help ease pressure on the NHS. As owner of a Subway franchise with 2 stores in Kilmarnock and Irvine, 34-year-old Gary has acutely felt the effect of weeks without any revenue, estimating that he has potentially lost up to £80,000 in sales since lockdown began on March 23. As an employer of 14 staff, he admits that meeting the April payroll was his number one stressor.
“Truthfully, we were a bit anxious” he says, highlighting the difficulties he had in applying for a Business Interruption Support Grant from the Scottish Government citing poor, patchy communication about when exactly funds would be received- a fellow franchisee “just found the money in their account one day, no email” he says. By way of contrast, applying to the HMRC Job Retention Scheme that pays 80% of employee wages was “very smooth”, allowing Gary to pay his staff as normal.
With that worry gone, Gary says that he has been largely okay during the lockdown, being able to spend more time with his wife Elaine (an NHS Doctor), catch up on his reading and playing FIFA — inserting Celtic into the English Leagues and working his way up to the Premiership, a process that sounds easier than sorting out the actual Scottish leagues.
With Zoom now the go to video conferring app, Gary says that he feels like he’s “speaking to some people more than I did before” and he takes part in regular quizzes with family and friends. Any anxiety Gary does have revolves around his wife Elaine, who is expecting their first child in November. Gary sensibly suggests asking Elaine how that feels as she walks into their kitchen.
“It’s a bit of weird time to be pregnant” Elaine says, adding that there is “some worry that COVID 19 pregnancy can lead to premature births”. Being a doctor (albeit working from home due to her pregnancy), Elaine is still able to do her part by studying for a PhD. Naturally, this makes her a lot less anxious than if she was working in a hospital though she does speak of the disappointment of not being able to share her first ultrasound appointment with her husband, pre-lockdown.
“Gary was KB’d at the door- no men allowed!” which he magnanimously accepts made sense.
It’s not surprising then that the couple are enthusiastic participants in the ‘Clap for NHS Workers’ ritual that now takes place 8pm every Thursday — “It’s nice that everyone’s in the same boat” Gary says.
However, this isn’t necessarily the case for everyone.
“I’m fucking fed up with that, aye” says David Gibson (22), not out of a lack of respect for NHS workers but rather the hypocrisy of people who make a show of clapping the NHS but break the strict lockdown rules. He continues.
“I have a feeling that some people on my street think this street is immune” adding that this selfish behaviour makes him sympathetic to police attempts to enforce the lockdown rules. It’s not a surprise then that he isn’t missing dealing with the public, something he is used to as a part time staff member of Gary’s Kilmarnock store. During the week, David is a Mechanical Engineering student at Strathclyde University which has also been affected with all classes and exams now online.
Ironically, this hasn’t been as bad as perhaps first feared as his exams are now open book meaning that he’s “not really stressed about them as I would have been.” David does concede however that he misses being able to study up at the campus with his classmates as studying at home isn’t ideal — “as soon as someone comes in from work that’s study over.”
Those being his parents and his girlfriend Katie, all key workers.
“We’ve only fallen out once!” he says with a laugh, perhaps over his chosen lockdown binge watch — every season of Hell’s Kitchen. He admits that he’s lucky that he’s able to see his girlfriend given the challenges of starting and maintaining relationships during lockdown.
“It could be worse” David muses — “we could be American.”
The fact that Britain is only second to America in deaths is due to the “government dragging it’s feet, hoping it won’t affect us” says Zoe McCartney, assistant manager of the Kilmarnock store.
“They waited too long to shut the country down” she says, an opinion that is shared by her colleagues David and Gary — though Gary does admit to a degree of sympathy for the government as there was “no painless option”. The coronavirus pandemic affects us all to varying degrees, and in Zoe’s case, quite considerably.
Being a full-time member of staff, Zoe has totally lost her usual routine admitting that boredom has begun to set in, missing the banter with regular customers and her colleagues.
“There’s nothing to look forward to all week…all my holidays are out the window” having booked the TRANSMT festival, a holiday to Benidorm and a hen-do in Prague, all now cancelled. Also, Zoe’s birthday- her 29th- was “weird as usually (I’d) go out for lunch with my family and a night out with friends”. That said, Zoe points put that this situation would be even worse if the internet and social media didn’t exist.
Lockdown is a “bit easier” as she is able to Facetime friends and family members, particularly her niece Jade who is high risk having been born with chronic lung disease, something which she says particularly affects her father Paul, who she lives with.
She admits that her father’s routine has largely been the same, having always been an avid walker. Zoe herself has enjoyed going long walks for exercise during the lockdown and says its something she won’t take for granted whenever it is lifted. Not that Zoe is in a hurry to see it so, having heard heart-breaking stories from friends who work in the NHS describing the horrible toll the virus is having as well as their scepticism of breezy government assurances that the virus has peaked. Unsurprisingly, she eagerly takes part in clapping the NHS every Thursday at 8 — “it’s nice to let them know that everyone appreciates what they’re doing.”
While in lockdown, Zoe has rekindled a love for reading — Agatha Christie being a favourite — having “not read a book in about five years!” Her furlough pay has enabled her to pay off some debts and perhaps most satisfyingly, got her hair done on the Saturday before the lockdown started.
“Everybody’s moaning that they can’t go the hairdressers” she says, adding with a laugh “I’m alright!”
*Stats correct at time of interviews
