Slow Down

Writing a blog has in the past been a time for reflection. To sit back and thoughtfully consider what has been happening, and enjoy the process of putting the words together in a way that is the equivalent of aesthetically pleasing. Or perhaps it is in fact aesthetically pleasing? I'll have to give that some more thought.

The last few posts on here however have felt like a rush to make sure nothing about these days is forgotten. I almost instinctively went to type difficult days but now more than ever it feels impossible to find the right adjective to describe what these days really are. To some of us they are lazy lockdown days, sitting in the sunshine with a good book and even enjoying gin at 5pm. Apparently this, along with making a sourdough starter and baking banana bread, are typically middle class reactions to a period of pandemic quarantine.

Yesterday's sermon-eque entry concluded with a few rather random thoughts taken from the "notes" app on my iphone. This is where I deposit the random thoughts that may or may not make it into a post here. At the moment the list reads Life as it was, Pandemic life, How did they catch it, Enjoying life? Try Zoon, Hard to get up and Every sniffle - which makes me wonder if gin at 5pm is such a good idea after all?

To take the first one first - Life as it was. Today I read something about FOGO. As opposed to FOMO or Fear of Missing Out, FOGO is what we can expect to experience later this year when the lockdown restrictions are lifted. Fear of Going Out, when we will wonder and worry if it is safe to go out, see and speak to people outside of our cosy household bubbles. This has been very much on my own mind recently and to be honest I don't think there is much to say as none of us know how that is going to feel. We pray for those developing a vaccine as surely this - and effective treatments - is going to be the answer.

Life as it was feels so long ago now. Many have said that seeing images of concerts, sports events, cafes and restaurants filled with people is already giving them a strange feeling and concern. Social distancing has become the norm, though many are now calling it physical distancing which is perhaps a much nicer turn of phrase. To think how readily we took for granted popping on the tube and spending an evening in town - at the theatre or eating out. The streets of London are now deserted and it is almost impossible to imagine them otherwise.

So Pandemic Life is something else altogether and as I'm sure I have alluded to elsewhere on more than one occasion it really does feel like the luck of a pretty unfair draw as to what it's like for you. Within the UK there are those such as ourselves living in a nice house with a garden. Not that far away there are families in flats with no outdoor space. In the developing world there are people living in refugee camps, in squalor, with little or no sanitation and food. We have heard little on the news about these places, the focus being very much on the hospitalisation and recovery of our Prime Minister.

But for now Pandemic Life continues with an Easter Monday Family Quiz!