Lazy lockdown is raising the spirits

LOCKDOWN has changed many of my habits for both good and ill. I now drink more, by which I do not mean that I get tipsy or drink earlier or pour stronger measures but simply that all the reasons not to drink have disappeared. I do not touch a drop if I am driving, making a speech, giving a theatrical performance or an interview or needing hard concentration, but I now rarely have to drive, never have to make speeches and never need to work in the evenings.

I have grown undeniably lazier. With all the time in the world to get things done, I cease working in the afternoon and procrastinate in a way that is impossible when a packed diary means there are not enough hours in the day. I live in old clothes, rarely wear make-up, get up later and go to bed earlier. I nap more during the day and hardly glance at a clock.

YET it is not all bad. I have time to appreciate the moors and my garden. I am spending far less and indeed one of the most surprising lessons of lockdown has been how little I really need to live on if I do not work.

I am, slowly and unhurriedly, carrying out tasks I have been meaning to get round to for years. There is no rush about anything and I do not inwardly sigh with impatience if somebody rings me up just as I am about to write this column.

For me lockdown will only truly end when I can address theatre audiences and big gatherings for lunch or dinner, when almost every day I am buzzing along to talk to WI meetings or Probus Groups or political audiences, when I am once more setting out my book table at events but social distancing looks to be with us for a while yet.

So will any of these habits last or will I simply take up where I left off? Time alone will supply the answer.