From Cruising to Zooming/Lockdown
Bored with cleaning, de-cluttering I am back to blogging. My fans of the cruise blog, although of limited numbers have encouraged me to write a book. Braced for rejection I have put my toe in the water and guess what, I have been rejected. The first publisher I try with ( in my mind) my hilarious book ‘The Coronavirus Cruise, says he finds the blog entertaining and amusing but it would not succeed as a book. How come? I love when I find a book that is entertaining and amusing.
I have entered a competition with a compilation of what I think are the funniest bits of our adventures. However, as it is connected with the Cheltenham festival which is likely to be cancelled, I am not holding my breath for any projection to literary success.
We were lucky to miss the first four weeks of lockdown and although the cruise was not all it was expected to be by a long way, we were able to socialize, were waited on and could enjoy the sunshine. After we landed at Southampton with no discernible checks, we had a frustrating two hour wait for the taxi to take our luggage home (our son had come for us). This was a Cunard cock up as they had plenty of time to prepare for our arrival.It seemed just a little strange that compared with the caution and nervousness we were greeted with in South Africa, how casual our reception in Southampton. The very words cruise ship I thought would send shivers down the spine of any port and local authority.
The first week of lockdown here was rather fun — gorgeous weather meant barbecues every day and I set about my one room a day cleaning with some zeal. Parts of the house which have not seen a duster for years found one sweeping away spiders and wood lice and there was some satisfaction to this.
Phone a friend became the way to relieve the boredom and I have been in touch with so many from all over the world and we compare notes about incarceration. I feel very fortunate that I am not on my own as many friends are, and we have our son here to do the shopping.
I have a somewhat ambivalent relationship with my normal fitness regime but always feel pleased when I have gone to Yoga, or golf fit. I am really missing tennis and golf and walking the dog I fear is only having a limited input to closing down on that cruise weight. I don’t actually know what that is yet as I haven’t dared get on the scales. No one I have met with the two metre rule in place has said ‘Wow you look well’ — this really means ‘you HAVE put on weight’ but with the failing eyesight of many of my contemporaries and the limited numbers I have encountered, it is possibly difficult to tell and of course I am not wearing a bikini — god forbid.
Zoom is the new buzz word and we get joined up for sessions with the children and grandchildren with everyone talking at once. We celebrate my daughter’s birthday by my baking a cake and eating it in front of her family — the five year old assures me they have one too. Drinks parties on zoom are the new social life. The saving on not having to treat the guests to gin and tonics is outweighed by not being able to give them a hug and the conversation is inevitably a bit stilted as you wait to see whose voice is the loudest hence who speaks next. Yoga or fitness on line is not appealing — the chairobics on the cruise was an act of desperation when there was a risk of us being shut in a cabin 24/7.
Boris survives and has a baby. I think I should remind him not to disappear off to that second home — Chequers. Living in a Downing Street flat with a new baby may not be like being on the top floor of a high rise block in Peckham but it will give him a bit of a taste of what many people are suffering. I do have some sympathy with people fleeing to their second homes and especially with friends who have taken off to live with their children rather than remain alone but I live in the area that has been least affected by the virus and I am one of the privileged, not living cheek by jowl with lots of other people so it is easy for me to say.
The police are having fun on their little quad bikes keeping an eye on anyone not observing social distancing and trying to have barbecues on the local common. However we braved a social distant walk with some friends spread out over the common. The dog is in heaven with the lockdown as he has constant company at home and three good walks a day — he has never had it so good and cannot understand why. The welcome we got when we got home was rather like the one I get when I get back from shopping — so he clearly had not missed us that much, if at all.
There is a relaxation to the pressure I normally feel with my various commitments to charities , being captain of the (fairly lowly ) golf team and the other things I usually do and there is plenty of time to weed the garden. That loses its appeal pretty quickly and my round of instant gardening is thwarted this year by no garden center.
The rush to the daily briefing on TV is also losing its appeal as I cannot take much more of the statistics — Matt Hancock is thrilled at reaching his testing target but I do not begrudge him having something to smile about.
The de-cluttering is causing a bit of a problem as there is nowhere to put all the’stuff’ as no charity shops and still no tip. Andrew seems pretty happy weeding and I have wondered if there is a connection between this and our close neighbour’s son who seems to be surviving lockdown by getting high in their garden on marijuana which drifts our way a lot of the time.
