What I did in lockdown

Originally published Summer 2021

Many people used the opportunity of lockdown to learn something new or complete a new project. In the last issue we heard about Graham Toole-Mackson’s autobiography and a friend bought a canoe and a wetsuit and now is to be seen canoeing at Rustington Beach. We thought it would be interesting to find out what others have done. Here are a few examples.

Nick Field

I want to learn to play the blues, plus a mixture of rock classics- Stones, Kinks, Neil Young etc. Basically songs I like!

I started lessons with Will Hall just before the first lockdown- we had one face to face lesson and then had to resort to WhatsApp! We have one lesson a week- he’s a brilliant teacher who lets you go at your own pace, learn the songs you actually want to play (no Greensleeves or Michael Row the Boat Ashore) and makes it fun! If only I’d had a music teacher like him when I was at school!

I’m definitely going to keep it up- it’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was a teenager, but never got round to. Finally I’m beginning to play songs that are vaguely recognisable! I’d love one day to take part in an Open Mike session in a local pub- but I’ve got a very long way to go before I’m good enough! It’s good to have a goal though!

Learning to play has given me a huge respect to all the kids that lock themselves in their bedrooms and emerge, butterfly like, sometime later with the ability to get a tune out of a guitar. Youngsters have sometimes been on the receiving end of criticism and derision for wanting to play in a band- I now realise the dedication, hard work and precision it takes- and I’m just trying to play other people’s music! Actually writing something decent is an incredible achievement!

Liz Horkin

I have been doing Art classes with Adult Education for some time but I think we get lazy in terms of new knowledge so I have been doing live Art classes with my Art Teacher over Zoom with 5 or 6 others. I didn’t think it would work but she has done a great job with interactive demos using a second camera etc. and I have revisited some techniques but also acquired new information and ideas. Then I did a Lino printing course with her which was entirely new to me. So I am fired up with all sorts of ideas!

Oliver Hawkins

Having lots of time but no opportunity to see my daughters and grand-daughters I embarked on a series of email programmes, sending daily messages or images relating to various topics. So one series consisted of scanned pages from holiday journals, with sketches I’d done over the years of the girls on beaches in Greece, picnics in France, even the occasional archaeological site in Turkey.

A series for grand-daughters consisted of an alphabet of favourite artists with images and stories attached; another, for one studying economics, was a series of improbable statistics. Did you know that more land in Surrey is used for golf courses than for housing, or that by United Nations standards London has enough trees to count as a forest?

The longest series, over fifty consecutive days, was a collection of family stories, going right back to my Quaker ancestors in Chichester, my great-great grandparents being introduced by Charles Dickens, my grand-parents’ encounter during mixed hockey on Hampstead Heath, right through to my meeting Diana at an art school fashion show. A lot of the stories are very much family related, some more edifying than others, but details of the war years, for example, have some historic interest. My mother’s duties billeting East End evacuees were possibly as challenging as my father’s serving with the Commandos. The making over of the family garden to food production- 336 lbs of carrots being picked one day, and 146 lbs of peas another – gives an idea of how different priorities could prevail. Our own recent experiences can, I think, be better appreciated in the context of what has happened before.

Sue Hepburn

I joined a Zoom lunch club run by my friend Lucie Simon, who is a nutritional therapist and who I have known for a few years from working together on yoga retreats. She cooks the most delicious, predominantly plant-based food and is very knowledgeable about what is good for us and why.

Lucie emails the list of required ingredients to the participants several days in advance, and we get together on Mondays at 11am on Zoom to cook together for an hour. Sometimes there is a little advance preparation required, but mostly we cook it all in real-time and it is an intense and hugely enjoyable experience, requiring total concentration. Over the months a real community atmosphere has developed and we share ideas, recipes and results via a WhatsApp group too. Occasionally Lucie is joined by a ‘guest chef’ – we recently did a couple of sessions on South Indian food with a friend who has lived in India. The joy for me is cooking new and different dishes that I wouldn’t usually attempt, experimenting with a wide variety of ingredients and flavours from all over the world. And John (Sue’s husband) absolutely loves Mondays as he gets to eat yummy food!

Oh, and I have managed to obtain all the ingredients I needed for Lunch Club in our wonderful Arundel shops, with only a very few substitutions necessary and no visits to big supermarkets or online shopping! Lucie’s website is www.eatfreshandfeelgood.com

Lucy Brett

James Morgan, the Music Director of the Brighton Festival Chorus, said at the end of our regular Zoom rehearsal last week ‘well, some people have learnt Spanish, some have conquered sourdough, some have cleared out every cupboard in their house but since Christmas you lot have learnt the greatest choral work ever, the Bach Mass in B Minor, ‘karaoke style’.

Actually, it was bonkers trying to sing this monumentally difficult piece alone in a bedroom with only a performance on YouTube as a guide, not hearing one’s fellow singers, all the while peering at James conducting. James’ love of, and expert insight into, the piece was unmissable and gave the 100 or so of us who pitched up each week a challenge we relished. As one member said – ‘it made me realise again why I sing in this choir’.

The other great value of these rehearsals are the physical and mental benefits of singing which is certainly proved with our Zooming- we breathe better and we are linked up however briefly with others who share our love of music.

We are now onto rehearsing for our concerts in the Brighton Festival and planning actual performances for the summer, but I don’t think we’ll forget our Zoomed Bach in a hurry. For more information about the Choir and their Bach go to https://bfc.org.uk/journey-with-b-minor-mass/ day, and 146 lbs of peas another – gives an idea of how different priorities could prevail. Our own recent experiences can, I think, be better appreciated in the context of what has happened before.

Sandee Lewis

Ever since seeing the film The Way several years ago, I have had the desire to walk the Camino de Santiago to Santiago de Compostela. As it stretches just over 480 miles, however, I did not expect to ever realise that dream. In January, just after the start of the most recent lockdown, I saw some apps on Facebook inviting people to walk the Camino virtually. Each day you would record on the app the number of miles you’d actually walked and you would then receive pictures and information about the places you had travelled on that day. You could even get your virtual passport stamped! I chose the Camino for Good app because the money raised would go to support the albergues (hostels) which are struggling to survive during the pandemic. I began my “journey” in January and have just completed my 484.6 miles 15 weeks later. With my puggle, Freddie, by my side, we averaged just over 30 miles a week and explored many local areas with which we were unfamiliar. The virtual walk was a very valuable activity during lockdown as it gave my walks a focus and a goal to strive toward. More important, it has inspired me to really do the Camino – or at least a part of it – when life returns to normal. It’s an experience I don’t want to miss.

Charlie Waring

Photoshop is very daunting to comprehend, there is so much that can be done to create, change, alter, manipulate or merge photos that it would take a full time course to master the vagaries and complexities of the subject. So lockdown seemed to be a perfect time to try and get to grips with this very powerful tool. The attached image is just something I played around with for a bit of fun, however I find it very time consuming and not something I will be using on a daily basis, but as an art medium I find it very intriguing!

Anne Quieti

The first lock-down I approached slightly differently to the tier 4 restrictions and this latest lock-down. I had a number of musical projects on the go- for our community orchestra, The Benedetti Foundation, and The Virtual Choir of St Nicholas. For my own continued musical development I set myself little targets. Apart from taking the dog out and cooking, I divided my time into thirty-minute blocks and working on a task/ project for each of those blocks. By doing this, I achieved a lot, was always busy and never got bored with my projects.

With time moving on we found ourselves with Christmas behind us, moving into tier 4 and then the lock-down from which we are now slowly emerging. It was also the time to think about new year’s resolutions and so I made myself a promise to learn Spanish, a language I had thought of learning. This very much coincided with the latest lock-down. Whilst I already had a number of text books which weren’t enticing me sufficiently, I decided to try the free version of Duolingo.

I started just with the Spanish but quickly added other languages- French, German and Italian. The Spanish, French and German I started at beginner level- I had done some French at school but that was so very long ago I wasn’t sure if I would remember it. The Italian I started at a higher level as I do have a certain level of ability already.

My daily target is to do at least an hour covering Spanish and one other language. I tend to do this early morning (routine is a better way of learning). Very often, time allowing, I will return to one of the languages later in the day. With Duolingo it is possible to achieve something even in a short period of time.

I have to say that I am pleased with what I have learnt – yes, I could have learnt more by spending more time per day but the way I am approaching it, boredom is not setting in.
Why am I learning these? I enjoy being able to greet visitors from a other countries, in their own language, give directions if asked or just a basic conversation. Walking my little dog is a surprising way to have people stop and chat. The Italian language is used for conversing with family in Italy, most of whom do not speak English. My spelling, in Italian, is not always perfect so Duolingo is helping me to improve.

Duolingo appears to be a bit of a whacky program but there is certainly a method to it which gets you learning and using the same words in different contexts. I will continue to use it until whenever! No time limit- just as long as the interest is there. I am guessing, that when you reach the top level in all topics, you can continue to revise them!
The music continues and is boosted by Zoom lessons on sight-singing, music theory and aural exercises with Sarah Plumley. We are only a small group of four but it has certainly boosted our knowledge, ability and confidence and to top that, it is very enjoyable.

Eloise Kent

Lockdown meant I had no weddings to plan and thus no income! I decided to transition into making earrings, home décor and nursery décor and have now signed up to a year’s worth of the farmers markets. It was always my plan to do this at some point, possibly when having another baby in the future, but COVID made me do it earlier! I’m hoping to always use recycled or eco-friendly products to make them. https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/thebeautifuldayuk

Nina Mills

For Nina Mills a reader from Madehurst, lockdown really started in February 2020, ahead of even the mention of Covid. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in January and had her first blast of chemotherapy on 7th February, after which she stayed with a friend in London to be as close to the Royal Marsden where she was having treatment; ‘they are above and beyond fantastic- they really are’. Treatments completed she returned to Madehurst last October, ‘just in time for the tier system and then further lockdowns.’

‘Initially, I wanted all my treatments to be over and done with as soon as possible- which of course is not possible – the treatments had to be assessed and carried out
in the best way for my health. Even during the Spring lockdown last year, I received all treatments when needed, which was truly incredible.

The night of the first treatment, I lay in bed in my friend’s spare bedroom and found myself realising overwhelming feelings of negativity-I wasn’t at home, nor with my son; I wasn’t working, driving, swimming (a passion) yoga (another passion) nor was I near a lot of my friends. My life had effectively gone on hold. To have these feelings was bewildering although totally understandable. I am a very positive, glass half full person. Now I was completely out of my comfort zone- the me I relate to. All the above list is negative and I quickly realised, that this all had to change for me to get through the next 9 months or so.

I decided to relinquish all my feelings around what I’d lost and specifically, I relinquished myself to The Royal Marsden for them to work their miracle, which they have.

My project may not seem obvious but it was completely about mindfulness. Being totally aware of the moment that I was experiencing and going with the flow of the timings. Being completely grateful for each day- not in a heavy way but in a lighthearted warm way- my heart full of love and gratitude for who was looking after me on my journey. I can honestly say that I was not frightened about having cancer, I had no fear in me at all and, thankful for the years and years of practicing yoga breathing, was able to maintain a calmness within myself. I had a feeling that if I were anxious in any way, that this might block treatments from flowing.

I returned to Madehurst last October and walking along the track near to where I live I was suddenly truly aware of what mindfulness meant- well, to me anyway. I was completely in the moment, no anxiety whatsoever, a deep stillness within myself and a joy and contentment. Being made redundant from my job last May was, and is, a silver lining for me.

With everyone going through the lockdowns and personal inner struggles and also discoveries about themselves, my experience may just help one person, from a mindfulness aspect and equally from a health aspect surrounding cancer experiences for themselves or others.

I realised I needed to create a sense of purpose for myself.

I am fortunate in having a large garden and, although I have lived here for nearly 5 years, haven’t really be able to give it the attention it deserves as always too busy or too tired. My new project is my garden- my intention is to get the garden looking lovely so that I can have an open garden to raise money for Cancer Research. It’s already looking much better! I have also started initial discussions with MacMillan to be a volunteer in some way next year once I know my energies have fully returned.

The love and kindness of my family and friends truly helped me. A friend of mine is going through her treatments now and, because of my experiences, she was able to ask some very relevant questions to her team, that she wouldn’t have thought of- it has helped her so much- which is all I would wish to do. Please contact me through the Editor at The Bell if you would like to.