The tale of two innkeepers under quarantine on Martha's Vineyard
The Nobnocket Boutique Inn sits quiet in Vineyard Haven, Mass.
Simon and Annabelle Hunton, owners of Nobnocket Boutique Inn, should be welcoming spring guests, instead they’re home alone playing board games and wading through offers from the SBA. Here Simon shares a day in their new normal.
I’m not overly competitive but as we enter day 10 of the surreal coronavirus universe in which we currently exist, I have been setting myself the target of at least getting my bony backside out of bed before Annabelle each day. Despite not informing her that this competition is even taking place, I’m still losing 9-1; her guilty conscience out-witting me.
Denied the little victory with which I hoped to start the day, I fill the kettle and make the first of what will by days-end be an extremely large number of cups of tea. Being English, I was brought up to believe that adversity or distress should be faced, before all else, with a hot cup of tea. I’m not suggesting that the solution to warding off coronavirus is copious pots of tea but it helps me conjure up feelings of happier times. So with cup in hand I set off across the living room to the home office to begin today’s work.
First up is an email from Annabelle, sitting opposite, requesting a meeting to discuss office attire etiquette. Apparently pajamas and a tie are not “on brand” with the inn’s messaging. I’m guessing it’s not the tie that’s bothering her. I email reply that I will check my calendar but that I was pretty backed up as Netflix had just released the new series of Ozark, I still hadn’t finished alphabetizing all our digital photos, and I’m not positive, but I think I’m a bit behind on my tea breaks.
This time of year we would normally have been welcoming the first spring guests to the Nobnocket, be finishing up volunteering at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival and be thirstily awaiting the season opening of Lookout Tavern. Instead the inn and the island are eerily quiet, and my next task, after a cup of tea, is wading through the ever-changing guidance and forms for grants and loans to help us steer the business through this crazy year. We will come through this intact but I fear that I may develop a Pavlov’s dog relationship with the initials SBA (Small Business Administration) whereby on hearing the letters I will have a conditioned response to grab the nearest beer.
For sanity (Annabelle’s not mine) I spend the afternoon outside gardening. Well “gardening” in so much as that can be described as sitting on a sun lounger enjoying the tranquility of our woods and thinking about how the garden could look if I didn’t spend so much time sitting. This may not seem overly productive but coronavirus is teaching me to live in the moment and at the moment I feel like sitting down and staring at a tree. Obviously, as trees are living creatures too, I maintain the requisite 6ft distancing.
Evenings under coronavirus are taken up with a nightly Scrabble battle and not that I’m bothered, but just to be clear “bi” is not the plural of “bus” and there are no such words as “covfefe” or “bigly” unless you’re playing “Dementia Level Scrabble.” As we’re still under our 14 day quarantine (having recently returned from a trip abroad), we end the evening having to suck on a thermometer to check our daily temperature to ensure neither of us are showing signs of a fever. In the process we have created documented confirmation that my wife is hotter than me – to be fair I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Although these are very difficult times we’re so thankful for many things. We’re thankful that so many guests are sending messages of support and working with us to reschedule their reservations rather than outright cancelling. We’re thankful for our island friends who’ve been delivering food to us while we’re in quarantine, and we’re thankful to all the off-island friends who have become “Zoom Cocktail Hour” friends.
Best Moment Of The Week: Happy Birthday Zoom call with a friend who’s alone on the other side of Vineyard Haven. Staying in touch with friends is so important for mental wellbeing.
A Silver Lining: My amount of contact with my family, who are spread all over the globe, has increased. Makes me feel good and, hopefully, them as well.
— Simon Hunton, Nobnocket Boutique Inn