It’s been a weird old time. There has been horrendous suffering and pain, there’s no denying that. But there have also been positive changes, discoveries and seemingly much more compassion floating about in the air. I hope it carries on floating as the weeks and months go on. Talking of floating, I’ve been drifting between the ‘I want to read/watch/plan/do/make/dream everything and knowing I need to soak some of the calm of this time up. I think there’s definitely a happy medium. No doubt we’re all using that bit of extra brain space thinking about what we want out of life, what’s important and what we can leave in pre-lockdown world. We also might be using some of that time to learn some completely random and seemingly useless things…. That perhaps might not have emerged otherwise.

I thought I would share a few *completely essential* things I’ve learnt in lockdown….

1. Roast Potato Omelettes are AMAZING. So much so, that it justifies the use of capital letters for Roast, Potato and Omelette. I use my Dad’s flawless roast potato recipe and have recently been making extra each week after I discovered my new holy grail recipe. I crisp them up again in a bit of butter in the pan before I add the whisked egg, perhaps throw a few slices of mushroom in there too, OBVIOUSLY add cheese (goat if you’re asking) and voila! Just a sexier version of a Spanish omelette really….

2. My dog Ted LOVES yoga. Every single time I put my mat out, he looks up at me as if to say ‘is that for me?’, trots over and takes prime position right in the middle. I don’t know whether it’s the mat, the relaxing voices on the other end of the virtual class, or just knowing I won’t be moving for the next hour (clingy pup problems)… but he absolutely loves it.

3. I love birds. The comforting sound of bird song in the morning, the gathering of robins, blue tits & goldfinches on our bird feeders, the ritual of sitting with a coffee, watching them dip and dive across the garden. I know, I’ve gone completely loopy, but it really is lovely.

4. Table football is highly addictive. We started playing evening tournaments, scratching our scores into an old piece of slate and became extremely loyal to our teams. I’m always blue. Always. The plastic goalies with no faces even have names now so we can cheer them on when the ball comes shooting towards them. You know I said I’d gone loopy? Second example.

5. Anne Tyler novels are like a warm hug, a bubble bath, a mug of hot chocolate all at once. (With a side of chopping onions.) They’re the perfect, comforting read for a time like this, although they do have a tendency to knock you sideways with a ‘dagger in the heart’ style sentence.

6. Zoom Articulate is great. We have (v originally) been having weekly games nights with our close friends and as an alternative to a quiz, I would highly recommend Articulate. Obviously both families have to have the game, but pick teams across each family and away you go. If there’s a lag in the connection though, you’ll have to shout STOP THE TIMER STOP THE TIMER…. It gets serious.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed and I hope you all keep on keeping on….while enjoying the random learnings as well as the really important ones xx