Three Questions

As November lurches to a close and we remain in Covid-19 lockdown mode, The General and I still marvel daily at how lucky and privileged we are to be able to hunker down without the added responsibility of entertaining (and educating) young children and maintaining a job. We also never lose sight of the luxury that is called having a door that opens into a back garden. I remain fascinated too by how long this has been going on and how we have been able to adjust to restrictions that would have been considered unfathomable only a year ago.

On the very rare occasions when we see or talk to other people (The General was unusually animated about chatting with his dental hygienist last week!) the warm-up questions are always quite similar.

How are you guys doing? This is a thinly-veiled and not unreasonable question about one’s mental health as well as physical and never comes out as casually as it used to as a greeting. People really want to know. They listen carefully to your response. (And your cough if you have one …)

What have you been up to? Well intentioned, but honestly? Nothing – I have been doing nothing. As someone who has loved cooking all their life and thrives on a list of tasks, I now look at recipes every day that I will never make and then ask The General what he feels like eating? He is routinely surprised by this question for some reason and after a few seconds suggests “How about hamburgers?” in a bright, expectant voice as though he has never said it before. (Since yesterday, I mean.) There was a brief return to my normal self recently when I made Naan from scratch and we had a bit of an Indian feast (later realizing that it was Diwali!) and afterwards I felt so pleased. But it was strangely difficult to force myself to begin. Stanley, our young terrier, is a great devotee of anything that takes place in the kitchen since he has learned that errant, rapid-fire potato peelings can often be caught in mid-air and will always generate much applause.

What are you guys watching?  This is actually my favourite question because Netflix et al is what is really uniting everyone at the moment, celebrities and non, alike. The General and I take our viewing very seriously  and we’re careful to balance gripping-yet-disturbing plot lines (Broadchurch, Giri/Haji, Happy Valley, Unorthodox) with the giddily clever which we rely heavily on the Aussies to deliver so well (Kath and Kim, Offspring). There’s also been Indian Matchmaking, the Danish hit Rita and PBS’ Flesh and Blood. We are already meting out our Christmas viewing by proactively stalling the newest season of The Crown and looking forward to a relaunch of All Creatures Great and Small. All of this seems hopelessly banal as I write it down but it’s a ritual that calms us and, if timed correctly, can prevent The General from viewing the last news of the day. Which I cannot deal with before (trying) to sleep.

I’ve made a few half-hearted attempts to clean up the basement lately but The General’s hoarding tendencies can be reawakened by this. My new favourite rationale for his keeping something came last week when he was caught returning a treasure to its place on the shelf: “You know, maybe this is one of those things that we may want to start using again in the future?” I don’t know about you, but unlike – say – a piece of art that has been languishing somewhere for a while, I can state with some confidence that I will never want to reunite with a kettle that is no longer working.

To add to my own calming rituals, I have been trying to get up early and either read something significant like this superbly written article from The Guardian or spend some time at the Tembe Elephant Park online. Even if the elephants are not at the watering hole (my favourite) I adore hearing the birds and just listening to something other than Trump. With a cup of tea or a glass of wine, I have also recently spent some quality, voyeuristic time visiting other people’s window views here via this curiously addictive project.

And how are you guys doing? What have you been up to? What are YOU watching?

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