The Little Lockdown Pleasures

Right now, I’m working from my bed. Not my bedroom, my bed. I’m under the covers with a laptop on my knee and a hot water bottle at my feet. Today, I’m planning to do everything we’re told not to do in lockdown – I’m going to stay inside, not talk to anyone, wear my pyjamas all day and drink wine as soon as is remotely respectable, or when Joe Biden is confirmed President of the United States; whichever comes first.

Level 5 lockdown is a game of two halves in my mind. Yes, we’ve got to push forward, take chances, create opportunities and stay on the ball personally and professionally, but there’s also an argument for just hunkering down in a defensive position. Sometimes, the right strategy is simply to hang back, and hold on. Today, I’m hanging back. I haven’t got it in me just now to follow the HSE’s 5 Ways To Wellbeing – Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning, Give Encouragement – and I’ve realised that that’s okay, because sometimes each of us needs a little alternative therapy, so to speak.

There’s been an awful lot written and said about what we’re missing out on in lockdown, and of the threat it holds to our mental health, but today I’m planning to make the most of the pleasures it actually provides us with.

Firstly, an excuse to cosy up under the covers on a random working day. How many times during my 20-odd years of 9-5 did I think that it would be divine to simply hide out at home and work happily alone? Plenty. Now I’m living it, and in the greater scheme of things it probably won’t last for very long, so today I’m going to appreciate and enjoy it in all it’s inert glory.

There’ll be plenty of cups of tea, and digestive biscuits dunked. My excuse for turning a perfectly good tea break treat into baby food is that I’ve recently had a mouth brace fitted so solids are proving as challenging for me as burping is for a baby. But today, I don’t mind because nap-inducing comfort foods fit right in with my mood. This evening, I’ll make some manner of slowly cooked beef stew, which reeks of red wine and with meat so mellow and moist it feels sinful; the kind of generous dish I used to save for Saturdays when I had time to linger in the kitchen for as long as I liked. What a luxury on a Thursday. Lunch will be a less sophisticated affair – Heinz spaghetti hoops because they’re easy on my mouth and heavy on childhood nostalgia.

When I was office-based, two of my former colleagues used to carry around hot water bottles with them throughout the winter. I always thought it odd to find a furry covered rubber bottle lined up on the kitchen counter alongside mugs filled with tea bags. Isn’t it akin to wearing slippers to work? Yes, unless you’re in the world of remote working of course. Today, I’ll be clutching mine the way Linus in Peanuts grips his security blanket. A hot water bottle can, if not cure, at least mollify, all manner of aches, pains and ills – physical as well as emotional – from period pain and muscle strain to headache and heartbreak. It’s even helping to quieten my US election week nerves. Every lockdown household should have one.

I’ll light a fire about 4 pm, transferring myself from bed to sofa and I’ll lock horns with the latest US election reports. Netflix can’t offer anything like the good versus evil narrative that’s been playing out on CNN since Tuesday. Lockdown has been a real gift this week, offering us the time and space to consume the drama of Biden v Trump 24/7 without worrying about waking up on time for the morning commute or missing a vital swing state result because of a face-to-face meeting (remember those?). Staying up late tonight in the hope of a Biden victory will be a little like holding out to catch a glimpse of Santa as a child. I fear the odds are only marginally better though.

Besides the election, I’m tuning out today; of email and Instagram, of work when I finish this article, of life admin and anything else that forces me to engage with the outside world. Lockdown lets us do this, and today I’m grateful for that. I’m way past feeling obliged to spend every day of this pandemic working prolifically. In an article earlier this year, The Guardian referred to this pressure to be productive during lockdown as part of the “hustle culture”. It claimed that the concept of the hustle promotes an “illusion” and “reinforces the expectation that every free second is monetizable.” Whereas my self-esteem, like that of many others, would have always been benchmarked against the job I held, and the quality and volume of my output, 2020 – and lockdown specifically – has forced me to re-evaluate that mindset. I won’t think less of myself today for having a duvet day. I’m going to indulge it along with my need for soft foods and hard news.

Tonight I’ll go back to bed late, switch out the light and binge-watch Friends From College on Netflix until I’m finished the second series or until I fall asleep, whichever happens first. Tomorrow, the so-called hustle begins again, and that’s okay. I’ll get back in the game because one day of lockdown lounging is enough. At least for this week.

Marie Kelly, November 2020.