Etched Behind Eyelids | March 2020
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31.03.2020
March has been a strange month. As always, it started in winter and ended in spring, but we have also transitioned with the seasons from normal life – work, trips to the botanical gardens, plans for trips to the forest and mountains this spring, and a camping trip to France for our tenth wedding anniversary this summer – to a state of lockdown which may last six months or longer. All of my work – weddings and documentaries – has been put on hold for the foreseeable future. Ed is off school and doesn’t know when he’ll go back. September? December? Who knows.
As always, I’m focusing on the little moments in my everyday life that make me happy, and there are lots of them. I’ve been playing a lot of violin and piano, studying Polish, trying to read fiction, and making bread whenever I can find bread flour in the shops. Minou is well, and the three of us have been spending a lot of time at home together which has been the silver lining in all of this as I love spending time with them and these days we spend 22 hours in each other’s company, which I’m really enjoying. I just miss being able to be outdoors more, and I miss being able to see our parents, and I worry about what the future holds.
Back to the start of the month, I hadn’t seen the botanical gardens’ cat in a few months, so it was a nice surprise to discover her sat on a bench watching the parrots and peacocks on a quiet Sunday afternoon at the beginning of March.
I finally finished recovering and revarnishing my piano stool. Minou approves.
I started filming a new documentary this month about the violoncello da spalla. This project is now sadly on hold.
I’m nearly there with Chopin’s Nocturne in C# Minor, I just need to work on the fast runs in the final few bars which are proving quite tricky to get my head and hands around.
Minou insisted I pull up a chair for her, but then climbed on my lap while I played and stroked my face with her paws. She’s such an affectionate cat, and though her clinginess can be a nuisance I always stop what I’m doing and give in to her wishes and demands because I love her so much.
A few days before Ed’s school closed, he bought me flowers from the florist at Moor Street Station. I hope her floristry business survives the shutdown as her flowers are beautiful and come wrapped in paper rather than plastic. There are so many small businesses I worry will go under as a result of this pandemic and the associated financial collapse.
Secondhand books and the first of the spring light.
Anticipating a France style lockdown, we bought a basic model turbo trainer so that we can both cycle on the balcony. Ed is used to two runs a day. At the moment we’re allowed out once a day for exercise, so the bike is a lifeline for him. It will become even more so if the restrictions are tightened in the coming weeks. I’m making do with long walks at the moment, but I’m sure I’ll end up using it too if this goes on for as long as we think it might.
Trying to ignore my phone and read a book. It’s been another slow month in books, my attention has understandably been elsewhere.
