As a writer, I’m used to hunkering down for fairly long spells. My main sources of fuel are Spotify, walnuts and, as many writers will attest, espresso. For one deadline I worked weekends over the Christmas period with Vangelis’ Chariots of Fire soundtrack on repeat to help spur me on. However, no amount of volume could drown out the sound of revellers getting merry on mulled wine mid-afternoon in the packed-out bars of nearby Clapham. At times like these the FOMO (fear of missing out) can bite, (though of course it’s always worth it when you hold a copy of the book in your hands for the first time). During lockdown earlier this year, FOMO vanished and was replaced with a far more pressing and less trivial set of fears, for many of us.
Great British Spirit
New pressures inevitably emerged. The world had shut down but humans are industrial creative beings, compelled to keep active. Amidst the toilet roll memes, social media feeds were overflowing with ideas to fill your time if you were furloughed – take up Mandarin, customise your own clothing or master standing on your head. I didn’t take up any of these, although I finally discovered what all the fuss about Scrabble was when I began playing it online. I also found myself engaging in activities that should probably never be inducted into the ‘new normal’ – after hairdrying an onion I’d thoroughly soaked for half an hour after a food shop, I concluded life is just too short, even in lockdown.
I was fortunate to begin work on a new writing project, which returned me to a reassuring normal I’d known for many years – putting words down on a page. This resulted in the book ‘Great British Spirit: acts of kindness and heroism’. During my research, it was both uplifting and sobering to discover the extraordinary, and often perilous, circumstances so many people featured in the book had faced.
RELATED: How I spent my lockdown by Leona Deakin
It reminded me that although, at times, my freedoms felt infringed, I was lucky to have a chair to sit on, a desk to write at, and the opportunity to watch the seasons pass in relative peace and safety.
Modern day heroes like Captain Tom (who features in the book J) reminds us, just what a difference attitude can make. We all need his motto: ‘tomorrow will be a good day’ right now. But as a second lockdown looms, it’s important to acknowledge that this is also a challenging belief to hold on to. As I read in a post today, while another lockdown, for some, means more time with their children or the chance to work on a new hobby, for others it means the devastation of their businesses and livelihoods. On top of this, people are unable to seek refuge with loved ones or friends, when they need it most. Technology has been a great help for those of us who are fortunate to have it. But as much as it’s pleasant to see people lined up in rows on a screen, many are beginning to feel it’s quite a poor substitute for real, proper connections. In the meantime, I’ve sworn to never again begrudge people getting drunk on mulled wine in the afternoons, even if I have got a deadline on the go.. it will be an absolute joy to hear those sounds once again.
Great British Spirit by Charlotte Browne, published by John Blake on 15th October 2020
RELATED: How I spent my lockdown by Cloadagh McKenna
Like everyone the first week of lockdown was quite overwhelming – the worry of catching the virus, the sadness of not being able to see family and then work being cancelled and all of a sudden you are house bound. I knew that I needed to keep myself mentally and physically well so the first week of lockdown I decided to record a recipe video every day for IGTV, who knew that I would end up recording over 100 recipe videos!... to read more click HERE
