Hands up who’s sick of the phrase ‘unprecedented’? Yeah me too. But these truly are strange times we’re living in at the moment. I was worried when the ‘rona got serious and we were all banished to our houses in lockdown, that I wouldn’t have much to write about anymore. Thankfully that hasn’t been the case, although I’m conscious of not becoming ‘Honestly Covid’ so have been interspersing my corona content with regular scheduled programming.
It dawned on me when I was chatting to Steph (over Zoom, of course) that this lockdown has forced me, you, us to do things we would never or have never done on the outside. Some good, some bad, some just ridiculous!
Food
Any diet we once had has gone out the window and we’re very much panic/comfort eating now. We’ve also had more takeaways in the last 7 weeks than we have in the last 7 years. A combination of reasons really; we can’t go out to the pub or restaurants, which we did regularly so a take away is instead of that. We’ve also been lucky to have been gifted lots of NHS discounts for various takeaways and both Dave and are are key workers. So we’ve been using them too.
I’m also trying to support local business as much as we can, so when we have been getting takeaways, we’ve avoided Dominoes and Papa Johns, and ordered from local places instead. And for Easter, instead of lining Cadburys pockets like we normally would. I bought 6 Easter brownies from Marsh Loves Mallow for Dave and I, as they’re freezable and something we can look forward to at weekends.
Exercise
I’m really, really missing the gym being shut. Not only was it where I kept my body healthy but it’s where I kept my mind in check too. Thankfully we’re still allowed our 1 piece of government sanctioned daily exercise outdoors so have been running more. I’m trying to go out every other day, which is something I would have never done before because of my old knees. It’s been hard to get used to, because I like variation, and the same run all the time is boring.
I’ve rediscovered my love of dance, and on the days I can’t or just don’t feel like going out for a run. I’ve been doing hip hop dance classes on YouTube. I may not be very good, but what I lack in skill I make up for in enthusiasm and I bloody love doing them. I would never even have tried if we weren’t on lockdown.
Money
Wonders never cease and I now actually have money in my account at the end of the month! Which raises many points about my spending habits but not least about how much money I spend on ‘going out’ or ‘doing stuff’. Even a few drinks in our local can set us back £30 a pop. So, other than treat myself to a small few items of loungewear (the new work from home uniform) I decided to use my money for good rather than evil and send some flowers/chocolates to my friends to cheer them up. And then tell everyone about it on the internet. #selfless.
Clothes
As mentioned above, I’ve been pretty much living in my gym kit for the last 7 weeks, which I would NEVER wear for work, not even on dress down Fridays (although it hasn’t been unknown for an Adidas t-shirt to make an appearance on a Friday). Lots of people have been saying they haven’t worn a pair of jeans in weeks, and that’s not quite true of me, I have worn jeggings a few times, but they’re just one step up from leggings aren’t they? It’s also become apparent to me, through the constant use of Microsoft Teams, how many of my tops look like pyjama tops form the waist up. But I assure you, I have never worn my pyjamas to work. Yet.
Hair and make up
Spare a thought for the poor souls who were two weeks overdue a trim before lockdown happened. My frazzled ends were starting to become the bane of my life so I did something I never imagined I would ever have to do. I let Dave cut my hair. The first time he was so nervous about doing it he barely skimmed the edges. Second time though, we went in all guns blazing. The phrase ‘I’ve really gone for it this time’ is never one you want to hear when you husband is standing behind you with a pair of scissors. However, being a man used to working with a spirit level, he’s got a steady hand and did a grand job.
I haven’t worn make up now in nearly 7 weeks, which, apart from perhaps when i’m on holiday, I’ve never done before. I’d considered putting on make up for said MS Teams meetings but quite frankly, I couldn’t be bothered. This new way of working is offering an insight into all of our lives; some people have some really swanky looking spare bedrooms I’m noticing! And the insight I’m providing to my team is what I actually look like. I have been wearing my glasses to hide the fact that you can no longer see my eyebrows anymore though. Even I have my limits.
Tik Tok
Ok, yes I probably would have relented eventually and joined Tik Tok, because I hate missing out on things. But the point is I didn’t. We (and you’ll know why I say ‘we’ in a minute) joined in order to record a boredom inspired game of world cup doubles with my Backstreet Boys Funkos (which we still haven’t done). Dave has turned out the undisputed star of all the tik toks though, and is a proper one take wonder. I however, never get my lines right and need to do over multiple times. Typical really, that even at dicking around on the internet, he’s better than me.
What has lockdown driven you to?
Love this Helen. Xx
Really enjoyed reading this and so true lol