Wild rose

It turned out to be a busy day. We took an early but shortish walk, and then I got down to work. At lunchtime I headed up to Real Foods, and also picked up some sausages in Crombies. That should be tasty. I had a zoom with PM in Helsinki in the afternoon. Cooking up some collaborations. We also had our weekly delivery, which I had specifically requested needed to be early enough for me to do the evening cooking, as it is Mr A's birthday. No big celebrations, and it's not a big birthday, but even so I felt I should make him a birthday tea. I was a bit disappointed with what I cooked up (squid ink spaghetti with wild garlic pesto and pancetta, with scallops). Mind you, it was the first time I ever cooked scallops, so I'm just a learner.

After dinner, we started watching the NT production for this week (all about Barber Shops) and while it was moderately interesting, it wasn't really grabbing us. Lack of a narrative. Anyway, I'd forgotten I'd earlier arranged a skype with P and H in Argyll, so we interrupted the watching anyway, and had quite an entertaining 'meeting'.

On yesterday's blip, EAnnBlair, who has actually known me quite a long time i.r.l. made this comment, which got me thinking:

"You’ve spent your whole working lie travelling. All that stimulation and human contact. It’s no wonder you are finding lockdown a trial."

I guess that's fair comment. Normally when we are at home, we probably go out less and socialise less than many people do, but we have had the luxury of a pretty mobile lifestyle, certainly for the last five years or so. Before that, it is true I travelled a lot for work, and yes it was stimulating, but it was also incredibly wearing a lot of the time, and often involved seeing only the insides of airports and aeroplanes, meeting rooms and hotel rooms (all of the sorts of places where one can imagine the virus having a fine time of it), and nothing of the cities in which they were located. It was not glamorous!

So I do concede that some of anxieties are probably related to the loss of stimulation, and the inability so far to rebuild that environment from the comfort of my study at home. But I remain on the lookout for some other triggers which are bothering me, because I don't think it is just the loss of travelling.