Strange times lead to strange solutions. As humans, we are unaccustomed to being cut off from our fellow human beings. It brings a multitude of problems of which social isolation is only one. It changes us. Our reality becomes a different reality. The new normal, whatever that is.
But we humans are, if nothing else, innovative. We are reluctant to let go of our social lives. So, we turn to virtual living through apps like Zoom and several others. In the process, we have all become proficient Zoomers.
I must admit, until we went into lockdown I had never heard of Zoom. But now I’ve taken part in meetings, chats, virtual coffee mornings, quizzes, and even an AGM. Not forgetting a couple of author panels and some interviews. Who would have thought?
Click the link to watch the Dundee and Angus Crime Panel on YouTube:
People also engaged in other activities. Exercise, walking (when we were allowed out), cooking, and baking. I filled my freezer with individual homemade meals within a short time after I locked my door to the outside world. I’ve also baked cakes and scones, something I haven’t done since the early years of my marriage before I became caught up with more important things.
I’ve also learned how to freeze things like spare bread – I use to just bin the leftovers. I’m old enough to remember rationing and it’s as if that time has returned to haunt us. Nothing goes to waste.
The lockdown gave us all time. Time to reflect, time to indulge in other things, and something which had become alien to me – leisure. I’ve always been a workaholic, so to have all that spare time on my hands was a unique experience. Not that it did me any good.
You see, for some authors the lockdown was a chance to increase their output, for others it had the opposite effect. Raising barriers to the writing process where no such physical barriers exist. I’m afraid I come into the latter category. My production over the lockdown period has been abysmal. I suppose it boils down to the old saying ‘if you want something done ask a busy man – or in this case a busy woman’. And, the availability of masses of extra time means we are all less busy.
But now lockdown is more or less over and we are being offered more freedom, how is that going to affect us? I suspect that, apart from the section of the population who want to crowd out the pubs and go on illegal raves, the rest of us will be cautiously turning the key in our locked door and seeking the outside world with a degree of trepidation. We may have been offered our freedom, but are we brave enough to take it.
Will it be a brave new world where anything is possible. Or are we entering into a world which is no longer safe? Only time will tell.
Chris Longmuir
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