It's St Lockdown's Day, the first anniversary of the Prime Minister telling us all to stay at home.
Little did we realise quite how disruptive it was going to be and for quite how long.
Here are a few of the things I haven't done since. (not an exhaustive list, just some utterly abnormal highlights)
In the last 12 months I have not...
• seen my Dad
• been in a car
• been on a bus
• been to a museum
• been to the cinema
• bought clothes or shoes
• spent a night away from home
• been inside a cafe or restaurant
• been to 22 London boroughs
• been to a funeral
• used a cashpoint
• gone abroad
In the last 6 months I have not...
• left London
• been on a train
• been inside a pub
• used public transport
• gone more than 5 miles from home
In the last 3 months I have not...
• seen my family
• touched someone
• stayed indoors all day
• had a visitor to the flat
• been inside someone else's home
We all have similar (but different) lists, which one day we'll discuss endlessly when we're finally allowed to meet. If you feel the need, you could share your most pressing 'I have not...' here. comments
But I have three particularly unusual things I haven't done in the last twelve months, and these are they:
In the last 12 months I have not taken part in a Zoom meeting
...or a Microsoft Teams meeting, or any other kind of digital videoconference. I know a lot of people have spent a lot of time chatting with people in little onscreen boxes since last March, but I haven't Zoomed once. I haven't needed to join for work, nor wanted to take part in an online event, nor been invited to any kind of group chat whatsoever. My Dad's been involved in dozens of Zooms, be that the local parish council meeting or the fortnightly creative writing group, but we still do all of our inter-personal communication via an old-fashioned telephone. I'm fortunate that my sense of personal wellbeing isn't tied to talking with someone face to face in lieu of social contact, and that other non-visual means of communication are readily available. This may not be how you roll, indeed videoconferencing may have been the saviour that's got you through the pandemic, but I can live without.
In the last 12 months I have not had any packages delivered
I did have one envelope that needed to be signed for, and there was one package that somebody else sent, but I myself have not bought anything boxed or bagged that turned up on delivery. I know my neighbours get stuff delivered all the time because I hear the postman knocking on their doors and sometimes I step out in the middle of their grocery deliveries. When shops are hard to reach or long-term closed, sometimes the only way to get hold of a product is to have it shipped. But I haven't once needed, nor more importantly wanted, to have anything whatsoever specially wrapped and zipped round to my door. I have sufficient clothes, I already have a library of books, my cupboards are sufficiently stocked and I can easily walk to the supermarket. This may not be how you roll, indeed home delivery may have been the saviour that's got you through the pandemic, but I can live without.
In the last 12 months I have not bought food anywhere except my local Tesco
I've double checked this and it's true, the only place I have bought food and and drink since March last year is my local supermarket. It is thankfully a big supermarket and generally well stocked, but it's still insane that over the last 365 days I haven't bought a scrap of nourishment anywhere else whatsoever. Every tin, every loaf, every chicken, every chocolate biscuit all came from the giant Tesco by the A12. I haven't felt the need for a speciality pastry or Deliveroo takeaway, nor once popped into a cafe for a hot drink while out and about, but to be fair this is entirely normal behaviour when you're me. I did have three meals round at BestMate's house during Tier 1 so my diet hasn't been entirely Tesco-based, but 99% of the time it very much has been. This may not be how you roll, indeed nutritional variety may have been the saviour that's got you through the pandemic, but I can live without.
