Staycation – jonbeckett.blog

Bank Holiday Monday

The final day of my staycation started at 7am when I heard Miss 17 leave the house to go feed a neighbours cats (they are on holiday). She returned ten minutes later after not being able to get in the front door – so guess who extracted himself from his sleeping bag (yes, I’m still on the sofa while my other half self-isolates) and accompanied her back to the house is question.

At least it’s sunny outside.

There’s an old saying – “a change is as good as a break” – that’s been the story of my week. Rather than working each day I’ve been washing clothes, cooking, grocery shopping, washing up, tidying up, and so on. Granted, I do most of those things anyway, but it kept me busy at least.

I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to cook today. Perhaps a curry? At least curry is relatively straightforward. I’ll wander into town in a bit and get some quorn or something. My other half is vegetarian, and two of the kids are coeliac – so it’s easier to make one thing that everybody can eat, rather than a collection of different meals.

(a couple of hours pass)

I bought quorn pieces, and a ready-made curry sauce. Lazy, I know. We already have courgettes, onions, and peppers in the fridge, so I’ll bulk out a vegetable curry with that later. At least I don’t need to think about what to cook now.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go jump down the deepest internet rabbit hole I can find – because that’s how we’re supposed to spend our last day “off work”, isn’t it ?

Slowly

Today was the first of my “staycation”. Nine days away from work. I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to fill those days with, given that we can’t really afford to go anywhere or do anything, but I’m sure the universe will figure out something that needs doing each day, and results in returning to work without really feeling like I’ve had a break.

It’s funny how that happens.

Everything feels so detached at the moment. I find myself rarely setting foot in Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. “Social” feels like such a lie. I suppose if I’m honest, I’m really not a very “social” animal at all. I used to think I was. I would share thoughts about things as they occurred to me. Share photos. Words. These days I find myself hesitating over anything and everything.

Having an opinion has become poisonous. Any firmly held view can be demonised by a vocal minority, and suddenly you’re fire fighting perceived judgements that haven’t happened.

I can’t help feeling it’s easier to keep quiet than volunteer much of anything to anybody any more.

I sometimes wonder if I’m the only person that has realised the truth behind the various influencers and mouthpieces that dominate online discourse – that their deliberately mansplained lectures are designed more to cause reaction than to evoke empathy, or understanding.

Perhaps I should try harder to remember that the vocal self-proclaimed majority of the social internet are not only a small minority of the largely silent online whole, but an almost immeasurably small fraction of the wider world.