FORGET LISTS, JUST GET THROUGH IT!

On page 32, several writers describe what lockdown has been like for them and what the surprising upsides have been. I have to admit, I think I’ve been coping quite well with it. I’m a very sociable person but I’m also very content with my own company too. That said, I haven’t had to deal with the chaos of home-schooling, which I can only imagine is stressful and time-consuming. I haven’t turned into Nigella Lawson, nor have I perfected a new language. I haven’t even managed to make a sourdough bread. But what I have done is caught up with people I haven’t spoken to in quite a long time, read a book a week, gone out for a daily cycle, indulged in some of the many box sets that have eluded me due to a lack of spare time and finally sorted out my wardrobe. (This latter achievement was almost immediately nullified by my online shopping habit, which only seems to be increasing, despite the fact I have nowhere to wear the lovely items I’m ordering!) If you’d asked me at the start of lockdown what I could achieve if I had nothing to do except my base work hours for almost three months, I’d have written you a list the length of my arm. It would have included big targets like getting my novel started and little items such as getting the curtain I bought six months ago up in my bedroom.

Neither has been achieved yet – nor some of the many things in between. But I’m happy, healthy and will hopefully come out the other end of this relatively sane. And that’s the biggest achievement of all. I can’t wait for the loosening of restrictions on Monday, when I can finally see my parents again properly and not from the bottom of the garden. That first roast dinner in my mam’s is going to taste so good – it’s still a few weeks away but at least it’s in sight.

Next week is National Carers Week, a time when we should all take a moment to thank and pay tribute to this extraordinary bunch of people. Whether it’s within their own family (like Penny Wincer on page 40) or as outside help, their dedication and kindness is second to none. They often get forgotten in the tributes to frontline workers during the pandemic so it’s timely that there’s now an entire week in which to celebrate them.

Enjoy the issue.