In my spare time of late, I have been enjoying the various photo challenges that have been taking place on Facebook over the lockdown where people have been posting various photos and memories that have been a blast from the past. There are so many positives to this hideous situation the world is dealing with at the moment and time to reflect and share is one of them. People are changing the way they use social media over this time. Yes in many cases it is still a highlight reel but at the moment , often of times gone by. A time where our values were simpler, life was slower and we enjoyed a sense of community that is different from the one we do today. We stayed local, looked out for our neighbours and made the best of what we had.
Necessity is the mother of invention they say. From that necessity we have seen women ( and some blokes ) returning to the front line behind the pinny baking and cooking up a storm. Never since the great depression has flour and yeast been in such short supply and its wonderful to see people enjoying creating and sharing food for their families with love in the current circumstances. People are remembering how to use a freezer and its amusing from afar that white-ware suppliers are reporting stock shortages on all these types of items as panic buying set in at the beginning of the lock-down period . Country folk have always relied on freezers and stockpiles of staples in the cupboard, so for them life hasn’t really changed. They aren’t missing the takeaways, they are used to long life milk, frozen bread and infrequent trips to the supermarket.
Spending time alone encourages creativity . If you have been cooped up in the house with small children you will be hanging out to spend some time alone and some creativity I bet! . Things haven’t changed a lot apart from the fact that during the week I am working remotely from home. I have always enjoyed that and apart from the fact that the lights aren’t good and my chair is giving me a pain in the neck and my productivity has gone up without the constant interruptions you get in an office. I spend a lot of time alone and like my own company, but I must say the pets on the property have all gained weight as they embrace the fact someone is home to whinge to about being hungry all the time. A stray cat turned up a few days before lock down started, dropped three kittens and so now I find the grocery bill for 5 cats, 1 dog, 4 hens and one randy rooster has surpassed mine big time. While they are lounging about with full tummies, I am embracing the pioneer spirit and living on the smell of an oily rag.
Due to the move here in November, my garden isn’t good this year and I have missed the harvest I usually have but it has allowed me to enjoy the fruits of a small market garden that is trying to get off the ground next door. I have enjoyed wandering over weekly with my wheelbarrow to pick up my order of fresh veges from the gate and the quick 5 minute chat with a neighbour until now I have had nothing to do with.
Over the Easter break I dusted the cobwebs off my sewing machine and revamped some cushions using material I have been storing for 15 years or more and did some mending that has been in the pile since Adam was a cowboy. I recovered light shades, made curtains and revamped a couple of rooms in the house. People are getting stuff ticked off their lists and for some the forced break has been an opportunity to do exactly that.
Some people aren’t coping so well and my sympathies go out to those people who are in the most trying of circumstances – those who are struggling with close quarters and those who are struggling with being alone at this time. I had a phone call through the week from an Aussie dating agency. I have never listed myself on their books so god knows where they got my number from but it is no secret that I have been alone for a very long time. The woman from the agency was very persuasive and explained that their membership had taken a leap over this time with some men finding it incredibly lonely stuck in their homes and unable to get out and about. She had the perfect match for me if I would agree to take a call from this gentleman last night. Empathy won out in the finish and so I sat by the phone waiting on the call.
That call was 20 minutes of my life I will never get back! After I had heard about his shed full of Massey Ferguson tractors and previous date with a 68 year old who could have been his grandmother, I decided it was time to cut loose. I politely suggested that I wasn’t in a position to travel to north Canterbury with my five cats and all my animals to meet him after this is over and really I was much more suited to being a solo practitioner stuck in the back blocks of bum fuck Idaho baking bread and picking up horse shit. I think he was disappointed at my inflexibility but I have decided I’m here for a good time, not a long time and if that means buying shares in the Whiskas company to ensure a simple life then so be it.
I’m currently parked up in paradise and have no intention of going anywhere, particularly on a Massey Ferguson.
