Lockdown revisited

I’m still going into the office as I’ve successfully made the case that I don’t have a home, let alone a home ‘from where I can work effectively.’ Our office is spacious and deserted and I feel absolutely more distanced from other people in there than in any shop or eatery that I’ve visited in recent months. For many people there is a massive wellbeing justification to not work, live, eat and sleep within the same four walls. I hope others who are now locking down again have found a solution that works for them if they’re forced to work from home again.

After seeing me having a frustrating day, Sara gave me this worry doll, in Mayan attire, something she may have picked up during Central American travels. From her lunch leftovers she also gave me the pot of coleslaw propping up the worry doll. It was a good day for freebies.

It feels like Bonfire Night has passed with extremely little fanfare and not a toffee apple in sight. This is understandable as we enter another four-week lockdown. As I cycled away from the office it was noticeably quiet in town, and a lone firework burst overhead whilst I was on Jesus Green. I wonder how differently the course of UK government and society would have run if Guy Fawkes had succeeded in his plot.

Would that have been disruptive enough an event to shape the country differently? Would we think any more collectively as a nation and have a smaller number of anti-lockdown protestors? Would more charismatic members of the cabinet have been ushered in? Would I be able to leave items on a draining board to dry rather than dabbing water droplets from them with paper towels, as we are now obliged to do in the office?

So many big questions to ponder.