At a Naked Frank Theatre creative writing workshop, we were asked to write two things. It definitely made us reflect so decided to share my thoughts.
We have all been commemorating the anniversary of the first UK lockdown so:
Write a list of 10 things you have done/learnt about yourself this year.
1. Gardening
2. Visiting hospital bedsides, for work, for the first time.
3. What birds’ song sounds like with no traffic.
4. Checking in with friends via technology.
5. Seeing people in parks despite weather
6. Involved in tensions on buses: mask wearing.
7. Met an Olympian.
8. Annoyance over news coverage particularly when it builds up tension, is incorrect and not balanced.
9. Sanitisation of mobile
10. People washing hands more regularly. Greater levels of cleanliness
Write a letter from yourself to yourself.
That is write a letter from the self who has experienced a year since first lockdown to the you who is about to start it.
Dear Qaisra,
Don’t worry the bathroom and garden will look lovely. Vaccination and better ways of coping with Covid 19 are coming. Family and friends generally fine so just breathe and do your best.
Isle of Wight is a great holiday destination and in August you will have lots of meal deals.
Working in different environments and apparent chaos will be okay.
We will all meet again.
People will start washing their hands more often: never saw anyone, since lockdown, walk out of a toilet without washing their hands. Greater cleanliness tinged with paranoia.
Learning to appreciate all the people who have an impact on our lives and we could not do without. Clapping for NHS but what about the plumbers, builders, farmers, …. The list is endless once you look at who you and your family/friends are connected to. In March 2021 world trade will be disrupted by a ship being stuck in the Suez Canal! The Ever Green, is apparently, the length of four football pitches and is lying across the southern end of the canal preventing other ships from getting through one of the world’s busiest waterways. Learning about how many people we are connected to and should be grateful too reminds me of that song the family of Man keeps growing.
The Family of Man
The family of Man keeps growing
The family of Man keeps sowing
The seeds of a new life every day
I belong to a family, the biggest on the earth
Ten thousand every day are coming to birth
Our name isn’t Davis, Hall, Groves, or Jones
It’s a name every man should be proud he owns
I’ve got a sister in Melbourne, a brother in Paris
The whole wide world is dad and mum to me
Wherever you go you’ll find my kin
Whatever the creed or the colour of the skin
The miner in the Rhondda, the coolie in Peking
The men across the ocean who plough, reap and spin
They’ve got a life and others to share it
So let’s bridge the oceans and declare
From the North Pole ice to the snow at the other
There is not a man I wouldn’t call brother
But there isn’t much time, I’ve had my fill
Of the men of war who intend to kill
Some people say the world’s a horrible place
But it’s just as good or bad as the human race
Dirt and misery or health and joy
Man can build or can destroy
Fred ‘Karl’ Dallas
You will learn loads and you will enjoy sharing your knowledge of the history of the 1918 Pandemic, Suez crises 1956 and even talking to people who had been through WW2.
Start breathing exercises and be more proactive about yours and others wellbeing.
There are some lovely people out there, so smile from behind your mask.
Love from me to you Qaisra
