View from window

I had no idea the chimney pots were this big until I saw this man next to them.

At that early lockdown stage where it’s quite nice to be released from everything, and you can just quietly read your book without feeling like you’ve wasted the weekend or that you should be out doing more exciting things like everyone else.

Not sure whether any of you lot will have experienced this feeling, but yesterday I was reading about the new vaccine (hurrah!) and that things are likely to be looking much more positive by spring, and I had a sudden sense of dread that took me totally by surprise. As much as I’m hating the pandemic there has been a really weird release from not being able to have control of your life or be expected to be progressing. Like you just do what you can do like everyone else and don’t have any options so no point worrying about it all. And suddenly there will be options again. And pressure! Not sure I’m ready for it...

Discussed this with my friends on WhatsApp and turns out loads of them had the same feeling! As one of them put it “making choices again - not as good as it sounds...”, another chipped in: “Or in a few months - pressure to actually get your shit together and enjoy wearing tight crop tops and drinking cocktails on rooftops”. I pointed out rooftops don’t exist in provincial cities, though crop tops have indeed made it this far north. Another: “I mean work is terrible, I’m fundamentally alone, I’m so tired! And then have to drink and make plans on top of that?! Can someone else make the plans for us..?”. This sparked a classic crisis of everyone-else-is-getting-new-jobs-promotions-engagements-and-babies-should-I-be-doing-all-that? We decided that no. We should not. Going to be a weird adjustment when it all ends though and people start achieving things again. The promised cocktails will just have to ease the transition...