Bm@il
Every week BARBARA FISHER looks at issues that affect us all – the issues that get you talking. You can join in by emailing bmailbarbara@gmail.com
REMEMBER before social distancing when we used to complain about being squashed on the underground, sitting in traffic jams or finding parking impossible?
We used phrases to describe our frustration like ‘losing the will to live,’ but the worst that could happen was that we’d arrive somewhere late, get a parking ticket, or in my case (on the tube) suffer claustrophobia.
We felt frustrated by traffic wardens, who incidentally were first introduced in Hillingdon exactly 50 years ago in 1971, and we later railed at congestion charges. Looking back, we see that all this angst was a waste of energy, and nothing compared to today’s challenges, when those of us who are shielding can’t go anywhere much.
The other day it felt like Armageddon when I went to collect medicines from Boots in Intu. It was so quiet I could hear my own footsteps and – good grief – I was the only one at the drugs counter. That’s never happened before.
I quite expected to see zombies emerge from the doorway of Next, or a deadly gas emerge from The Perfume Shop. There were plenty of aliens: gloomy looking masked people; all of us deliberately avoiding each other like the plague (oops).
That dastardly Covid, like a cartoon character or a chameleon, tries to hoodwink us at every turn,even changing its appearance when we’re getting close to defeating it.
Where’s Superman when you need him? Probably too busy in his other guise as journalist ClarkKent, asking questions at the regular Downing Street press briefings.
I really wish certain questions at these briefings could be banned. The main one is ‘when will all this be over?’
It’s like when you’re on a long road trip to Cornwall and the children start asking how much longer before they can go to the toilet, eat their sandwiches or see the sea, when you’re hardly out of your own drive.
We can be sure that the Government, scientists and health staff will be longing for the day when we’re back to some kind of normal and they will no longer hear us whingeing ‘Are we there yet?’
Meanwhile we must just hang on to the fact that we have the vaccine – and remember that in history pandemics come and go and, for most, life goes on.
The Good Life
Actor Richard Briers died on this day (Feb 17) in 2013 but it feels like he’s still alive because of all the repeats of his much-loved sitcom in which he co-starred with Felicity Kendall.
Regular readers will remember that The Good Life was filmed in Northwood (Bm@il 1.04.2020).
We’ve all seen more of our gardens during the pandemic, even growing stuff like the Goods, but not getting anywhere near selfsufficient. Mr F’s tomatoes produced a decent crop, but not enough to fill the new kilner jars with chutney. They now stand apologetically in the spare bedroom so we don’t have to look at them.
My desk in the Gazette newsroom was, at one time, next to a fellow reporter whose name was the same as Briers’ character. The pair of us being Tom and Barbara (Kendall’s character’s name), we used to have daft conversations about having a mini allotment under our desks. Well, it amused us anyway.
Felicity is still in business. Aged 74, she is set to star in her first musical this summer at The Barbican. Let’s hope we’re allowed out by then or they’ll have to change the title from Anything Goes to Nothing Going On.
Heart to heart
We are constantly encouraged to think about our health and wellbeing, but never more than now. February is Heart month and Hillingdon Council has provided us with plenty of things to do.
Free on-line events include: Dementia Live – reminiscence and chat for those living with dementia and for their carers; Tiny Tales, stories and songs for under-fives; Laugh Out Loud Adult – inspiring stories, poetry and a good laugh; and Once Upon a Bump for expectant mothers and new-borns.
Also on offer are craft and art sessions for children, mindful creative writing, and chair exercises for older residents.
Most exciting of all, the Mayor of Hillingdon, Councillor Teji Barnes, would like residents to share their photos as part of her Feel-Good Photography Competition.
Places need to be booked for most things in February Heart Month. For more information see the council website or follow this link https// www.hillingdon.gov.uk/heart.
Vocal Locals
Mr F and I tuned in to see Dr Sarb Johal doing an author talk for on Hillingdon Libraries Facebook page last Wednesday. You will remember he is the author of Steady: Keeping Calm in a World Gone Viral.
A few days before that, I heard Dhruti Shah being interviewed by Michael Rosen on Radio 4 about her book .... Bear Markets and Beyond: A Bestiary of Business Terms.
They are both highly successful in their own fields – Dhruti, a journalist for the BBC and Sarb a psychologist who advised New Zealand on its pandemic course – but please indulge me for feeling a personal pride in both of them. Sarb’s family were neighbours and his sister Simi was a regular playmate of Fisher Junior. Every year we received a Christmas pudding from the family, so I always think about them in the festive season.
Dhruti, an Oxford graduate, whose work for the BBC recently included a stint in the USA, credited her work experience at the Gazette, while she was still at school, for giving her a kick-start in her chosen career. Best of all – and worth a huge celebratory cheer both of them grew up and went to schools in Hayes. Dhruti even mentioned to Rosen that hearing him speak at her school made her want to be a storyteller.
A tale of two locals – it doesn’t get any better than that.