An elderly couple who lost a relative to coronavirus have vowed to continue to ‘keep the nation smiling’ after creating a Facebook page dedicated to their fun self-isolation activities.
Linda, 73, and Alan Price, 76, from Upminster, Essex, started documenting their daily adventures after the global pandemic of Covid-19 put them into home isolation for 12 weeks.
The couple, who have been married for 53 years, choose a new theme each day, and upload photos to their Facebook page called 'Keeping Up with the Prices Isolation Adventures'.
So far they’ve enjoyed a game of cricket and a romantic meal in the kitchen, taken their china dog for a walk while wearing crash helmets, and battled dragons in a Game Of Thrones-inspired duel.
Mrs Price said they are currently mourning the loss of Alan’s sister Eve, who died after contracting Covid-19, but they are thrilled to be bringing a smile to people’s faces.
She said: "It started off as a laugh between the family so my daughter decided to share it with her Facebook friends. We had so many comments and likes encouraging us to make daily adventures to uplift people and give them a laugh!
"My daughter thought it would be a good idea to set up a page for us so we could bring a smile to even more people’s faces plus it keeps our spirits up when we read the wonderful comments."
Mrs Price said: "Our most sentimental day was last night's isolation adventure as it was dedicated to my sister-in-law who has just lost her life to Coronavirus."
The couple shared a post dedicated to their loss, writing on Facebook: "As many of you may know we lost our dear Auntie Eve last night to Coronavirus, she was a mum, nan, sister-in-law and Alan’s sister.
"As our family grieves, Alan and Linda want to continue to make you all smile and this is their way of dedicating and keeping Eve’s memory alive and for all the people who have lost their life to this terrible virus.
"So Boris let us shout out there will always be an England and it’s not goodbye it’s until we meet again."
The former retail assistant and retired site manager, who fans saw celebrate Eve’s life with a British-themed afternoon tea, have their daughter Nicole Adams to thank for creating their social media page.
She joked she now feels like her parents’ PA and secretary after thousands of comments have made them local celebrities.
The Facebook page so far has more than 500 followers and includes snaps of how the retired elderly couple are maintaining their high spirits during the crisis.
Fans of the page have seen photos of the couples dressed in their wedding day attire, as well as with Elvis records, wearing bandanas, holding blow-up guitars and with flowers in their hair.
They’ve also taken a virtual flight to the Caribbean and home-schooled each other with a geography lesson.
Mrs Price: "We cannot put into words just how amazing people have been and what a difference we have made to people’s lives.
"Especially to key workers who have had a particularly bad day to come home and see what we have been up to and bring a smile to their face.
"It goes to show just how lovely and kind the British public is. We are having a laugh with each other and know it’s not forever and we are counting each day until we get to see our family again."
The couple said they wake up every morning and discuss the day’s theme over their morning coffee.
Mrs Price said: "We sit and discuss what we should do. One morning, we realised we had our grandson’s toy dragons here from when he was little so we decided to do a Game of Thrones day.
"We didn’t know much about it so we went on the internet for research. It makes our days go by so much quicker and keeps us entertained for hours."
The Prices’ documented their Game of Thrones day on their Facebook page, writing: ‘Day 10 of isolation. Well Boris, it’s a kind of Game of Thrones type of day featuring the mother of the dragons Queen Daenerys Targaryen aka Linda and her nephew Jon Snow aka Alan fighting off the dragons...Keep safe everyone!’
Some of their other adventures include a ‘ Netflix & Chill’ day in bed, taking photos as they pretended to complete a two-mile jog around their garden keeping their social distance with a homemade two-metre stick and a day of cooking Gino D'Campo style.
Linda and Alan insisted they are scared about coronavirus, but believe it is important to have fun and keep laughing.
They said: "It’s about showing the world that even though we are all scared and worried about what’s going to happen, we still need laughter and happiness - that’s all that matters.
"We know people are grieving, feeling sad, and are scared with the uncertainty of not knowing what will happen and we too are experiencing all these feelings. But we can’t forget it’s about bringing a little sunshine until the storm passes."
