Day 160 – Limbo

Wow…day 160

Looking back, I am not sure I thought this is where we would be after 5 months.  I guess I didn’t really have any idea what life would look like post-lockdown.

It’s almost like the novelty has worn off – not to demean any of the horrors and sadness that have taken place – I just mean that there was an element of newness at the beginning.  The world was a strange, still place with empty roads and closed shops.  Watching the news was like being in an apocalyptic film and none of us really knew what the coming day would hold.  But I have relished the peace and quiet and found comfort in the solace of the farm.

And now we are in a kind of limbo.

Things have not reverted back to what we always knew, and yet we haven’t moved on to a completely new way of thinking, working and living (but we are getting there!).  The world is still not a safe place to be and there are restrictions and guidelines and we are all (mostly) trying to adapt and protect ourselves.

In most respects I have embraced the “new normal” and am used to waking up and logging on, a dribble of milk down my chin and Shreddies crumbs around my laptop.  I am thrown if I receive an invitation to a face-to-face meeting as I am so used to seeing people virtually.  And I work well without other people tapping away at their keyboards or asking questions.  In fact, I used to listen to the radio or telly as I worked, but the theme tune to Homes Under The Hammer now makes me want to throw an actual hammer at the TV screen.

But is it the same for everyone?

I ponder this as I open the door for the third time today and am greeted by another delivery man.  Sadly for me, none of the packages have my name on.  Sadly for the delivery man, this is the day I chose to wear my nightie sans bra.

Is this their new normal?  Seeing more people in their PJs, hair un-brushed and faces make-up free?  I’ll bet the number of deliveries has more than doubled, and I wonder if this will remain, even when our society settles back to the old norm.  If that ever happens (and I’m not sure I want it back that way).

Personally, I have definitely ordered more things online, and I am paying for very different things than I was last year.

I am spending less on:

• Make up  (I’m not wearing any so I don’t need to replenish it)
• Greeting cards  (I have the time to make my own)
• Vegetables  (loving my veg patch!)
• Takeaways and restaurants  (I have the opportunity to cook more)
• Diesel  (hurrah for less commuting)

I am buying more:

• Pasta  (I need to attend Spaghetti Eaters Anonymous #SEA)
• Flour  (Pizza bases, cakes, cookies….I am on FIRE)
• Butter  (as per the above)
• Washing powder  (but I am wearing less clothes, so…?)
• Loo roll  (dammit)
• Gin  (dammit!)
• Hand soap  (poor little chapped hands)
• Hand sanitiser  (obvs)

In addition to these changes, I have also found myself using terms I have never used before, such as:

• “man alive”  (exclaimed when I felt a bit chilly one morning)
• “chap”  (as in “there’s a chap coming round to look at the meter”)
• “dithering”  (something I have found myself doing)

Is this country living, age, or lockdown fever?!   Answers on a postcard please (unless you are going somewhere tropical…then bugger off because I am jealous).