The domestic violence watchlist

has apparently expanded rapidly in the last eighteen months. 

It's disturbing but not surprising. I suspect it has always been under-estimated. The Covid19 restrictions, the lock down, working from home, having children not going to school, uncertainty about employment, loss of employment and... the list could go on. 

Our street is very short. I know everyone in it by sight and most people by name. I know what they do in the way of work. I know what their living arrangements are like. They have all coped reasonably well. I would be concerned about two families. The mother in one has had to take the young twin girls out for extended periods most days so that their father can work. I sense tension there. At the other end of the street there are more school age children and the mother has admitted to me that, after a week of keeping her three at home, it was "much easier to risk it and send them to school". Yes, they are lively. There are more school age children in the street and they went to school throughout. Their parents are essential workers of one sort or another.

The library was closed of course so I made mine available. We sorted out times and who might need to borrow what. I made piles of books I thought the children might be able to read for themselves and other piles of books I thought the parents might read to them. We sorted out socially distanced borrowing for all of them and for children I know in several surrounding streets. The shelves had gaps for a while. Now the library is open again and the gaps have closed again.

I have had children admit to tension at home. There have been comments like, "Dad gets mad if we make too much noise" and "Mum and Dad had an argument about going out of the house". The differences must have been resolved. Families are, thankfully, still together for the most part. There was some graffiti splashed around at one point but the culprits were soon hauled into line. (All this was nothing on the young teen who was harassing me at one point. Covid19 had more than a little to do with that as well.) It has not been easy here. In other parts of the world it has been even harder. People here could get out for a walk or bike ride or do their morning run. For the most part they live in houses separated by gardens, not in flats/apartments.

I think we have been pretty lucky here. All but one couple seem to be getting used to the restrictions we now need to live with. It is that couple which concern me - and others - the most. They have made me even more aware that domestic violence can take many forms. It may not always be obvious to everyone else but observation tells me it is present in that house. Other people think the same. 

There are cultural and language barriers there. I hope the person being abused really does believe that there is a safe place here or in several other houses in the street.  It's hard to know.