Hold my hand

“Standing in a crowded room” – sheesh. Nothing like six months of behavioural conditioning and anxiety to make something that seemed so natural seem so damn strange. Early on, I watched movies and got upset because the characters weren’t keeping their distance. It was so weird. Now, I wonder what the hangups are that we will have for years to come. For example, having recently come from the Cape Town water crisis, in which we were limited to 25l per person per day, and got, erm, creative with hygiene and flushing the loo, to very rainy (famously very rainy) Manchester, Alex and I still find it difficult to shake some of those waterwise habits. According to the water company, we use less water than they estimate for a single person, and there’re two of us. So, bearing that in mind, will we find ourselves in years to come using feet and elbows to press buttons and push open doors?

I was part of a writing webinar last night, and someone asked the speaker how she thinks we’re going to cope with 2020 in our writing, films, series and other art forms going forward. Are we going to just collectively ignore the year? Or are we going to turn it into crazy suspense? Like, the gripping anxiety of the early phases really could be a sci-fi movie, but they never really get into the long-term ground-down phase. I suppose war movies don’t either – the battles are the questionable ‘glamour’, and you don’t get scene after scene of living life on rations or building a bomb shelter in the back garden.

“Hold my hand” – I’ve also been thinking through the importance of social processes through lockdown. I’ve been really thankful for incredible friends and family members who keep me going, even when we’re so far apart. Nothing like a little call home, or call to my sister or a friend to perk me up out of the depths of despair.

This is song number one on a 100 Upbeat Songs list on Spotify. I feel like I’ve got my evening’s kitchen mosying a soundtrack. There’s nothing like a good little kitchen boogie.

Think about songs you like, that give you that kitchen boogie feeling, and stick one on. If you need inspiration, here’s that Spotify playlist. Dance your lil heart out. Go on, it’ll make your day better.

Lightning blog 58.

Writing song: