Life On Pause

Lockdown. You either love it or you hate it; much like many people’s relationship with Primark.

It has its flaws, yes; it’s dampening affects, but have you reflected on the joyous time we spent locked in with the ones we hold dearest, making memories and creating laughter while a moment in history was being marked? Well, if you haven’t yet, I’m going to remind you of some of the little things we did to make that dragging of time just a little bit more bearable. I’ll start where you expect, the old sibling chaos. When Boris announced national lockdown, to say the nations’ hearts dropped was an understatement. I’ve always been close with my siblings, don’t get me wrong, but that doesn’t mean there is never the chance of world war three breaking out whenever we’re in the same room. Nevertheless, living under one roof, for however long it’s been (in my opinion a lifetime), I thought only one of us would make it out alive, yet I have learnt that I value the connection and time with my siblings more than I ever thought I would. And how have I achieved this? Well, I give great credit to a show which is romantic, action-packed, enchanted and fit for a 21-, 17- and 12-year-old. How we sat through 65 episodes of a show that is nothing more than being about a magical man called Merlin every night is beyond me, but that shared escapism that we all embraced will never be viewed as time wasted. Another thing that has become apparent is how we can see our parents turn their fridge into their own wine bar, as they attempt to drown us out with that cheeky glass of wine on a Tuesday night, their excuse being every day in lockdown feels like a weekend and besides its “rude not to”, and I’m obliged to agree.

The frozen face. The buffering voice. The “you’re on mute”. The dreaded quiz night of a Thursday. A time to check in with the cousins, to discuss shows and to test whether our brains have truly turned to mush. It’s all fun and games when on the film section, everyone knows the answers due to the long days of movie reviewing that we’ve all endured; yet the geography round rolls and the only thing crossing our minds is our ‘staycations’ on the sofa. We kissed goodbye to the sunburn and long-haul flight for a Christmas getaway a long time ago, and now we’ve swapped the queues at passport control for the queues in the rain outside the co-op, waiting to gather the ingredients so that we can embrace our inner Gino at tea that night. Yet we must admit, we were never going to be on his level no matter how hard we tried! The lockdown makeover. The glow up. This was the time to stop following Joe Wicks, and instead actually become the fitness guru that is him. Meal prep. Workouts. 10,000 steps. Never before would I have thought that I would be so eager and enthusiastic to “feel the burn” in a workout and to count the number of steps I do a day. I guess this is where you can tell that I’ve been confined within the four walls of my house for way too long, meaning that even a simple walk around an abandoned golf course seems like a step towards normality.

The fashion sense and need to look put together went flying out the window as soon as the dreaded ‘L’ word was announced. The look of sweatpants and an old hoodie replaced the crisp look of jeans and that cute top you bought in town last month; yet comfort was key and unbeatable and to be honest, I’m kind of sad I can’t get away with that look anymore, jeans are rather uncomfortable.

When the old birthday rolls around, the usual laughs, bubbles and celebrations were replaced with the computer showing the faces of family and friends, to which you awkwardly chat about the absolute nothingness happening in your lives. The nicely wrapped gifts normally received were substituted with vouchers that were found within the stack of birthday cards along with the message of “hoping to see you soon” and the advice to shop online; it almost feels like a normal day in lockdown...except for the extra chocolate! Christmas was another celebration that came and left without its gatherings and merry chaos that comes along with the snow. However, the normal stress of whether or not there is enough wrapping paper was replaced with the worry of whether or not we will be able to collect the turkey from the butchers for the classic Christmas roast. That’s corona for you.

Lockdown meant that not only school and work ground to a halt, but also activities such as clubs and pubs. It’s safe to say that the garden turned into a football pitch every Saturday with Dad dressed in neon sportswear with a whistle around his neck pretending he’s the new manager of Liverpool. Not only was the garden transformed, but the lounge became the new dance studio Mum never planned for, yet the tutus and dance shoes were ditched, and instead were replaced with Wii remotes and a good 2000’s tune blasting from the TV mid just-dance dance off.

New hobbies were also adopted, baking being my personal favourite. I must say, I have never been more excited for a trip down to the Co-op to purchase myself a bag of self-raising flour for the crazy cake I’ve been eyeing to make from the random cookbook Mum had stashed in the drawer. Let’s all agree, we start the process with high hopes of being the next winner of the Great British Bake Off, yet we soon realise how Nigella makes the process seem all too easy in comparison to the chaotic reality we really to encounter. So yeah, maybe I’m not gonna be the next winner, but it’s the taking part and trying that counts, I guess.

But in all seriousness, I think we can all agree on the fact that we have grown into mature and understanding young adults from this global disaster. I hope that history remembers how the youth have supported the vulnerable with the home deliveries of essentials and the long chats with them by the front door, in which we finally realised that they aren’t all technophobes, and perhaps even better with the old iPad than myself. Shhhh, don’t tell anyone.

Written by Emily Anderton

Photography by Thalia Cosgrove