Lockdown - week 6: 28th April - 4th May

Rain! Argh. After so many dry weeks, this week started wet. The garden was getting dry, I was having to water the huge garden pots every day (as well as the seedlings in the greenhouse), and the water butts were empty, so we needed rain.








But it's dull - and of course, after a morning of it, I was looking for things to do, so I made rhubarb muffins and, yes, tackled the ironing pile (it's my default go to when I have too much energy)






It's been another week of exceptional streamed theatre and music ...

Wednesday - Gecko Theatre's dance/mime production Institute. I saw this at Nottingham Playhouse a couple of months ago, back in the days when we could go out to theatres, and think it had more impact on stage.

Thursday -  KT Tunstall performing live from Los Angeles as part of the Albert Hall Home series of shows which should have being taking place right now but cannot.

Over Thursday and Friday, I caught two performances of Frankenstein from National Theatre Live. In the first, Benedict Cumberbatch played the monster, and Jonny Lee Miller played Frankenstein; for Friday night's performance they swapped roles. Both versions were absolutely brilliant. Cumberbatch's portrayal of a 'new born' trying to find out how to work hands and feet, and move about was stunning - and more so, I think, because I wouldn't have imagined him as a very physical actor. Overall though, I preferred Miller's monster - more sympathetic and humane - and Cumberbatch's scientist - arrogant and proud.


Saturday - A Midsummer Night's Dream from The Globe Theatre. I'm not sure if this was part of the current 'lockdown' screening of shows or just something that was already on Youtube. A fun, riotous romp.



As hope is growing that the end of lockdown is in sight, I've heard people talking about their plans for when the virus has passed. I'm not entering down that route. Over the past years, unable to take holidays due to my parents' health, I learned patience, and found it didn't help to plan ahead - in part because the only way out of the situation was their death which obviously I didn't want to hurry - but thinking of where I would like to go made me fidgety, wanting to take the holiday right then, not in however many years time. Hunkering down, finding small pleasures at and around home, made things more bearable. And that's how I'm dealing with the situation now.

I have the garden to potter in, a wide variety of entertainment streamed to my TV (in between the special performances listed I'm catching up on several seasons' worth of Elementary and New Girl), social media where I can chat to anyone and everyone, and, although it's not the same as seeing them, I video chat with my family several times a week. My husband is spending most days trying to get the allotment back into order after the past few years of neglect, so I have a lot of time free from interruptions when I can pick up habits and hobbies I've dropped. Yes, a lot of time is spent in the garden, sometimes doing as little as watching the breeze blow through my bonsai trees, but I have several unfinished sewing projects lying around, and in these peaceful afternoons I've started working on them again. I feel I might even find the headspace to settle to something more artistically creative.

I can survive as I am for a while yet, but thinking about what I might do 'after' is likely to unsettle me. I'll keep my focus on the small everyday things, and not think too far ahead.