Lockdown projects

We are in a very odd time in history at the moment. A huge proportion of the developed world is in a self-isolating lockdown because of a global pandemic. There is a new Corona virus called Covid-19 which is spreading like wildfire, so we have been legally required to remain home for 7 weeks now. People can't work outside the home unless they are key workers, and you are not allowed to meet people outside your household. Parks and playgrounds have been closed, all leisure facilities and restaurants have had mandatory closing, school has been closed for almost 8 weeks (they have remained as a childcare facility for children who do not have a parent who is not a key worker. Mother's Day and Easter have come and gone without being able to see family. It's just been bizarre.

There was this assumption at the beginning that we were all going to have so much more free time. That really doesn't happen when you have children! Especially as D is a key worker and has still been in the office. But it's very fashionable at the moment to have a list of new hobbies you've been working on during lockdown. So here's mine:

• Catching up on Covid-19 news during breakfast but pretending I'm checking out today's school assignments. Amelia's school send the lesson materials to an app on my phone, so this works great. (I can't let Amelia know if I'm checking the news because she wants to hear details, but to be honest it's pretty bleak and sometimes grisly, so I have to carefully choose what and when I tell her)
• Finding creative ways to go to the loo alone. These include setting the kids up with snacks, casually leaving the catnip spray on the table, and waiting until they are both out the front on their scooters. There is ALWAYS an Amazon/Royal Mail delivery.
• A rather halfhearted plan to watch all the Marvel films in chronological order, since we now have Disney+. This idea lasted all of 30 seconds.

Ok here's the genuine list:

• Getting to a decent stage of piano playing. I got a couple of new music books for Christmas which are both showtunes, so that's been a fab incentive.
• Getting back into writing. I actually entered a poetry competition for the first time since high school.
• I crocheted a uni-kitty for Amelia. And haven't felt any desire to pick up a hook since!
• I have a little journalism project on the go about people's responses to the lockdown. It started as an idea for the key workers, since we have so many people classed as key workers who have been carrying on in harm's way while a lot of people have been paid to be home off work. I don't think we as a society realise how many people have been keeping our lives going.
• I've done a bit more reading, read a great sci-fi novel by Blake Crouch called Incursion. It really captured me and showed me what a writer can do if you just go for it, no lingering or fussing.
• A few theatre companies have been publishing shows and plays on youtube for people to watch for free during lockdown. Most notably the National Theatre and Andrew Lloyd Webber. This has been fun and a very positive social experience for me as I've been able to talk to people about theatre who I have never been to a show with.