Issue 20

 

Drastic measures:

 I love writing. Throughout the pandemic, I have found finding time to write far harder than I normally would. It is ironic, as when the lockdowns first started, the silver-lining was that I would be working from home and so the wasted travel time could be used for more writing. That just hasn’t happened. The travel time has slowly been absorbed by work time and just like many find it hard to differentiate between work time and home time, I find it hard to switch between working on a laptop and then sitting at the same desk and suddenly writing fiction.

 With me writing creatively was all about location. My desk at home was somewhere different from work, a coffee shop was different, the pub was different. All of them triggered the creative part of my brain.

I’ve tried changing rooms, but it is not quite the same. There have been the odd good days but like everyone Lockdown 3 – the return of the tedium has been hard. The kids are really struggling this time round. Joe needs constant hand holding with his lessons to both explain to him what he has to do and make him do it! Jamie who thrives in school is not enjoying the live lessons, missing the structure and acting out. The other day after melting down and not being able to articulate why, I asked if he wanted to sleep and he burst into tears and nodded – it was 11am! He has become anxious at night and not sleeping unless we are near and so Em and I aren’t getting any time to ourselves. Poor Toby just can’t understand why no one can play with him. We have just sent him back to nursery which is helping a little.

 It is weird how I now look back at lockdown 1 with rose tinted spectacles. The birds singing, the evenings in the garden and the home-schooling seemed a novelty. 

So, what does that digression have to do with my writing. My family quite like me with stubble, they hate me with a beard. I come up with the idea of not shaving my beard until I had written 20,000 words of my new book. In the past I’d average at least 1,000 words a day so 20 days roughly to achieve my target. 

I didn’t allow for Christmas or lockdown 3. The good news is that my drastic measures worked. The family couldn’t stand my unkempt beard as it grew to unruly proportions to the point where they actively encouraged me to go upstairs and write.

 20,000 words were achieved very quickly after that. Maybe it is the way forward from now on!

Candles!

Speaking of the beard and writing. The other day I was on a call with some good friends and the unruly nature of my bead cropped up. I said I was going to shave it off, but I had kind of got addicted to the scent of the beard oil I used. My friends inevitably enquired what the scent was, having no idea I was sent to retrieve the oil to see. It turns out it was Cedarwood. I was then promptly informed you could buy candles with that scent. Two minutes later I had bought a Cedarwood and fir scented candle from Amazon.

Fast forward 24 hours and the package was delivered. My eldest Joe was standing nearby when I answered the door and excitedly opened the box.

“What’s that?” he enquired.

“My scented candle,” I replied unashamed.

“Not very manly is it?”

To which I did not respond and bounded up the stairs.

One of the reasons I am writing a little less is the working environment. Before lockdown the coffee shop was my choice location. As soon as I entered one, I had the itch to write. At home it is very hard to be working at a desk and then switch off from work and start writing at the same desk.

So, a few hours later with the work laptop shut, I pulled the curtains closed, lit my new candle and put on some music, instantly the room felt different and the words flowed. 

Half way through writing there was a knock on the door – Joseph wanting to show me something on his phone. He opened the door and instantly his face lit up,

“Wow it looks really cool in here,” he said. I agreed.

“What is that smell? It smells amazing,” he said.

“That would be the unmanly candle.”

“It’s the best smell ever. Honestly really nice.”

“What did you want to show me Joe?”

“I…I…I’ve forgotten.”

Joe left the room and I smugly went back to typing.

 

Snow

I couldn’t have a Working From Home Herald issue without taking about the snow. Unlike the rest of the country who seem to have had snow in abundance, in West Wickham we have had none whatsoever this winter.

There have been promised. The forecasts have all predicted heavy snow and we have woken to nothing. My sister who is less than four miles away in Biggin Hill has had a few flurries and even had day where it settled.

Last Sunday was different. The week before said it would snow all day on Sunday, with heavy snow in the morning. As the week progressed, I became cautiously optimistic it would happen. The night before I cleaned the sleigh up, just in case we needed it, fully aware I was tempting fate.

Even people that hate the cold and snow were looking forward to it. Something, anything to break up the monotony. At 3am I stirred and checked the app. Not only was it due to begin snowing at 8am it also said it would be 5 hours of heavy snow. I gradually went back to sleep.  

Like a kid on Christmas morning, I awoke at 6:30 and looked out the window – nothing. But that was ok, the app had said 8am. 8am came and nothing and the app had changed to light snow! LIGHT SNOW! Surely it couldn’t happen again. The app promised!

 At 10am I gave up and walked the dog in brilliant sunshine. Sulking and in a bad mood, I got half way through my walk and then the sky clouded over, the air temperature dropped, and snow began to fall – really fall. Scout and I raced home catching snowflakes on our tongues.

 Indoors, the kids were already pulling on layer after layer. Toby who had never seen snow kept looking out the window and shouting in an excited voice, “What’s happening out there?” We told him all about snow ball fights and when Jamie told him we mustn’t aim for people’s face, Toby (aged 3) gave him a derisory look and simply said, “good luck with that.”

As a family we charged out as the garden became covered and for a good hour, delighted in throwing snowballs, sledging and skidding in the snow. Scout had never seen snow either and chased every thrown snowball and ran around like a mad dog.

For the briefest of mornings all thoughts of the pandemic, school work and work were forgotten and everyone of us had broad smiles. We really need more days like that!