Barbados has had almost tripling of Covid-19 cases: to 14 now. Scary, but it still isn’t the thing on the top of my list. Not yet.

It’s Delph. Delph has made proper friends with the boys from the The Mob, Henri and Charlie. She has been hanging out with them – on her own. On her own!

This is our normally shy kid. Only two days ago, Delph was sure she didn’t want to be on her own with them. Then Lulu told her she wasn’t going to the beach that day. She didn’t feel like it.

‘You go instead,’ she said to Delph. ‘You’ll be fine.’

Delph wasn’t sure. Like ‘I don’t want to go!’ sure. Then Henri and Charlie picked her up on the paddle board. Delph went silent but she slipped on her sun rashie and the three of them went into shore.

She came back grinning. The next afternoon, Delph said, ‘You don’t have to go to the beach today if you don’t want to, Lu.’ We all stopped what we were doing. Delphine!

Now to these 14 Covid-19 cases on Barbados. The news is still emerging. Apparently two returning nationals arrived in Barbados on the 13th and walked around for a week before they were isolated. So far, all of the traced contacts who’ve tested positive are in a quarantine facility. Ok. It was going to happen.

We think flights to the UK are going to stop soon – though they haven’t announced it officially. American Airlines and JetBlue are ceasing flights from the US to Barbados by tomorrow. Virgin are changing passengers’ flights too and bringing them forward. I read someone’s post on the Visit Barbados FB page, ‘My flight’s been changed from Gatwick to Manchester – and my car is in Gatwick.’ Wince.

So my mum needs to make the painful decision. Whether she stays here and is ‘stuck’ or if she goes home and risks catching anything on the way home. The British Consulate in Barbados (we called them) is recommending British nationals return home, while the WHO is advising against non-essential travel. Who do you listen to? Certainly if Alicia goes, she’ll have to quarantine too – tricky when her mum is living with her.

Most the other islands are now closed. In Carriacou for example, a small island part of Grenada which was still open, subject to a 14-day quarantine, the island was so inundated with yachties who weren’t following the quarantine rule, authorities have shut the whole island down. You can’t even leave your boat now to go ashore. No one can check in.

They could also quarantine us onboard here in Barbados. Would I hate it? Not going to Jordan’s supermarket, but getting them to deliver to the dock? Half an hour conversations with the lady at the checkout? Here’s to hoping.

If we were quarantined too, then at least our kids could still play together. This will be the hardest decision to make – keeping them separate. It’s the next measure surely. For this decision, I just don’t know whether to wait or to make it now.