In the long-shadowed light of late afternoon, a magpie (so cleanly black and white) is highlighted in the plane tree. Autumn is easing down on us. The nights are colder and today, when we went bike-riding, I wore a jumper both up hills and down.
The Easter long weekend is over. What did you miss, this Easter?
I am not an extrovert in that I find crowds of people I don’t know incredibly intimidating. I am the worst mingler you can imagine.
But I love chatting to people one on one. I love coffees with friends, hugging my mug with two hands and hunkering down over the steam. I love saying to P “Let’s invite so&so over for scones” or whatever. I love long afternoons with family, in the living room discussing all manner of politics, family stories, going for a walk, throwing a frisbee. I love the incentive to clean the house, make a yummy treat, get the kids buzzing about some performance they want to put on of scooting or bike-riding or musicianship.
In isolation, it is on us four (or five including the cat) to be inspired, get baking, clean the house, go for a ride, etc. Socialising is done by phone or by internet. It is more distant, less congenial, less planned. Twice over the weekend, people we know have ridden by and I have chatted to them from two or three metres away – standing in the sun or cold, unable to offer cups of tea or tasty treats, unable even to offer a seat.
And the variety is less (at the moment). There are people I meet at school who I chat eagerly to, look forward to seeing, but have never exchanged phone numbers with.
I really must get around to planning a proper internet cuppa – a time, a location, a friend. Otherwise its just phonecalls among chores, kids interrupting, trying to drink tea before it gets cold or do the washing up with one hand.
Maybe I can start weekly resolutions:
1) Internet cuppa
2) Spend one hour drawing
3) Hand write a letter to a friend
#isolationresolutions
Out of the Cave 