So here we are in unprecedented times the world on lock down our freedom of movement removed. Who could of seen this coming? I for one was happy plodding along doing my thing when life changed for the unexpected and who knows when normality will resume. My life on Hive has been all about ocean life, posting pictures of things I see when diving but when I saw this initiative launched by 
I'm a 53 year old brit living in the Philippines, Moalboal on the island of Cebu to be a little more informative. After holidaying many times here a opportunity arose where my wife also from UK was offered a job as a diving instructor, it was a big decision for us as we had a comfortable life in the UK and had no guarantee of how things would work out if we moved, so after much discussion and soul searching we decided we would go for it and start a new adventure in our lives. After a hectic six months of preparation, getting tenants for our property in Newquay Cornwall and saying all our goodbye's to family and friends, we made the jump in October 2017. We had already made some good friends in Cebu on our previous visits so settling in actually was very easy we found a nice little apartment to rent work was plentiful and we were enjoying becoming a part of the local community. In early January 2020 we got told about a apartment coming available in a really nice complex as things were going well we thought we would upgrade to a nice place on the coastline so we signed a contract and agreed to move in early February. It was also just after new year we started to hear about a new virus hitting a city in China, I had never heard of Wuhan prior to this. Oh well that's in China was the general view of most not foreseeing what would come. On the second of February the Philippines closed its doors to flights from that region still most of us saw no major issue . A few days later we moved into our new home.
This is the life we thought, nice home.
Pool.
And stunning view.
Still at this point we didn't see much to worry about with this "new virus". How wrong we could be, over the following weeks more and more talk of the virus we now knew as covid 19, countries all over the planet registering large numbers of cases talk of mass deaths suddenly this thing was starting to look serious. Then in a short time flights grounded people looking to get home to their respective countries and families, chaos ensues.
So for us at the moment we are as of the 30 march on enhanced community quarantine, limited movement only one household member allowed to leave the home for essentials and at night we have a curfew between 10pm and 5am. People flouting them rules can and have been put in jail and to make things even more scary the crazy guy that acts as President here Duterte has told police to shoot people who break curfew, i'm sure he thinks it will be for their own good, the guy is a lunatic. For now for our own safety the gate to our compound will stay firmly shut.
Here in Cebu we have been very lucky, in addition to the government stopping flights coming in they also stopped travel between islands this was a really good move, in a nation of 7000 plus islands boat travel is used everywhere, at present there are only 36 cases in Cebu with only 1 new cases 4 days ago for us this containment is looking to be working, in high population areas such as Manila the case is not so good, and the Philippines as a whole has about 4200 cases at time of writing. My thoughts go out to those in much worse circumstances around the world, while closer to home in the UK is where this virus is hitting us the hardest we sadly know three people who have died from coronavirus, all were quite elderly but by no means frail and certainly taken earlier than they should have been, after being somewhat complacent about the whole thing in it's early days the news of each one passing has brought us down to earth with a bump each time. We keep in touch with friends and family as much as possible and without a doubt have learned to appreciate who and what we have in this world. It is after all these relationships that contribute to who we all are, without we are just lost lonely people.
What do you do when your stuck at home twenty four seven? Well for us a lot of home cooking not always successful yesterday I tried to bake, Greggs (UK institution) bacon bites but over cooked them still gobbled them up any way.
The wife is doing a lot of exercising and putting me to shame, i'm spending a lot of time blogging and photo editing, more TV than I have ever watched, currently watching all the Star wars from beginning to end, last night Rogue One and A New Hope the original.
While in between fitting in the daily chores and runs to the shopping mall for provisions, here's myself and friend/neighbour Cameron 
Through the checkpoint, we have road blocks in place to control movement.
Back on the move, the supermarket is about 3-4 km from our homes. The usually busy roads are virtually empty.
We arrive this is Cam's bike again in a eerily empty car park usually hundreds of bikes here.
And this is my machine, could do with a good clean me thinks, something to do tomorrow.
Topped up on food and drinks, no alcohol though for some reason there is a ban in place. Back home unpacked and wonder what the next day may bring.
For us all the next days, weeks, months are uncertain we will all have to wait and see how things pan out, although this containment is difficult to deal with at present it seem the only way to stem the tide. Patience is what we will need a rush to get back to normality could mean this goes on longer, in the UK people are already asking for the quarantine to be lifted, even though they haven't got to grips with the situation, this seems crazy to me. Until a vaccine is developed we won't see an end to this, countries are not going to open their borders up to travelers from infected nations for risk of new outbreaks, movement around the globe is going to be slow to recover, with a massive economic effect. On a more personal level I don't know what the future holds for myself and the wife, currently stuck here in the Philippines along with thousands of foreigners, we had flights to go back to the UK at the end of May to visit friends and family but Cathay Pacific have cancelled all flights. If in time flights are available to the UK would we find it impossible to return to the Philippines at a later date? We love our new lives here and had no plans to change for the foreseeable future. Time will tell and until then like everybody we shall have to wait and see. Not sure I can add much more to this so i'll finish off with a simple, be safe, take care of you and your's. We will get through this.
