Hello everyone. Harry asked me if I’d like to write something to be posted on here, so I thought: ‘only a fool could possibly turn down such a great honour’. But then I came to the issue of what to write about. At first, I thought maybe a piece discussing my experience of university or what I’d like to do in the future, but I’m not sure that is something that would entertain the reader. Really, with the world in its current state, it seems only right to talk about what my experience of lockdown has been. 

If I’m really honest I’ve enjoyed it much more than I expected. Yes, I do miss being able to go out and meet people over a pint and of course there are people, particularly one person, whom I would want to see as soon as lockdown has been lifted (sadly Harry this isn’t you I’m talking about). But apart from that, I think there are some good things to be taken from this experience. First of all, I have loved being able to spend so much time with my family. I have been told repeatedly how absurd this is by a certain Mr H. T-T, but it’s true. Often when I am home from uni there tends to be a very limited amount of time where all five of us are together. Particularly with Ellie, my older sister, we always seem to just miss each other when I am home. So, it’s been very nice to spend a bit of time together without looking at the clock, waiting to leave to see other people. My dad keeps telling me, which I do agree with, that we’ll probably never experience something like this again, so we should aim to spend as much time together as possible before the world returns to some form of normality.

I have also been making much more effort to keep in regular contact with people. Not that I don’t usually keep in contact with people at all, but I tend to not message people unless I particularly need to ask something. Perhaps I’m just not a huge fan of forced small talk. Even with my own family, which I know is terrible, I have occasionally found myself not getting in contact with anyone for a period of time whilst at university (though this may only be a week or so at a time). I’ve never been able to work out quite why this is. I think generally I’m quite an independent person. I tend to be quite happy to go off and do things by myself. Not that I’m not interested in what other people are doing, but social media has almost filled that issue of not knowing what people are up to. But, back to my point, I’ve been trying harder to message people and not disappear during all of this. Ironically, I feel closer to some people now than I did way back when we were free to meet whenever we wanted. 

Luckily, I have had quite a lot to keep me busy during the lockdown, so I haven’t started going insane just yet. The amount of uni work I have had has been outrageous, but it has been much more manageable working from home. I don’t particularly enjoy doing the work but doing it at home seems to have provided a bit of extra motivation, perhaps this is because I feel more relaxed and comfortable when at home. Having moved house just before Christmas, there have been a lot of renovations going on. It’s great to see the house slowly changing from the unloved state that it was in when we first moved in. I’m not naïve enough to think that I’d be anyone’s first choice to help out with manual work, but I have been enjoying it, plus it provides an excuse to not do work. 

Part of that enjoyment came when organising the garage, where my Dad and I made space for the weights bench. I’ve always tried to keep up a good level of fitness but recently I’ve had a lot of motivation to get on with it. Not that I want to be huge or anything along those lines, but I’ve never really been able to put on weight no matter what I eat or do, so it would be nice to start seeing some change in my body, even if I am the only one to notice it. It does seem somewhat ridiculous to complain about having always been skinny, but it is, at least to some extent, an irritation. I have been trying to exercise every day and a friend gave me a great basic routine for me to use. It does help that Dalbury Lees is a very beautiful place to go for a run when the weather is nice, and any passers-by are always very smiley and friendly. Not only does doing exercise give me something to do, but I really do feel better having done it, both physically and mentally, even if it isn’t very physically noticeable yet. 

My aim with this piece hasn’t been to be overly optimistic about the whole situation. I’m very aware that everyone’s experience of this strange time will be different, and some are sure to be struggling more than others. Rather, I’ve wanted to honestly say what it is I am going to take away from the experience. It may only be my opinion, but I think it would be much easier for me to be pessimistic about this situation. Not everything is amazing, but I think that we are very lucky to live in the world we do, where, even when things are as difficult as they are now, we have the ability to just tap a screen and be able to talk to almost anyone we want.

I’m not quite sure how to end something like this, but I have enjoyed writing it. I am slightly fearful that this will come across as rather self-indulgent when being read. I honestly couldn’t tell you when, if ever, I last freely wrote something purely about myself. If you have enjoyed it then fantastic, if not then that’s not a problem either. I’m not sure whether I would write one of these again. Part of that would be to do with how this is received, but I would also want to take some time to write about a different topic that means something to me. This was written off-the-cuff and it seemed only appropriate to talk about the current situation. I think it would be great to hear multiple people’s experience of all of this, as I’m sure we will all have a different view of the world at the moment. 

I hope you are all keeping well, whether you are enjoying lockdown or not. Just remember, we’re in this together and it won’t last forever (a slight rhyme for you there).

Anyway, I think I’ve rambled on for just about long enough now, so I’ll leave it there. 

See you soon x