How do you beat the boredom of lockdown?
Inspired by this article in the Guardian about the ways that people have found to entertain themselves at home, I was wondering if anyone was prepared to share something that they ve started doing or a hobby they ve (re-) discovered or a strategy they ve developed to help them keep their sanity under these restrictions.
I ll start. When I was a teenager, I played recorder (alto and descant) in an early music trio. Like many teenagers I decided my hobby was boring and stopped playing and performing. I wondered if I could still play and to my surprise I could. Not to the level of my teenage self and my arthritic fingers struggle with jigs and reels but I can nevertheless still pick out a tune (and the advantage of early music is that it is quite slow!)
Zoom calls can be very revealing. On last Monday s Ireland AM, Derry Girls star Nicola Coughlan appeared from her flat in London to discuss the new Netflix show, Bridgerton. The Galway-born actress had some nicely festive decorations on her mantelpiece, and a trim little Christmas tree tastefully decorated, together with a picture of David Bowie on the wall. The day before, on the same programme, Chris de Burgh had been interviewed against a wall festooned with gold records - his own, presumably - shining more brightly than the sun. Every day must be like Christmas in the De Burgh household with that much bling on constant display.
Books, Netflix, and National Theatre live were three of the pillars supporting my sanity this year. As it draws to a close, we must remember that there was lots of good stuff in 2020 and much of it came from the arts.
Whether it was a new novel from Maggie O Farrell or William Boyd, Gillian Anderson (as powerful in Streetcar as she was in The Crown), or The Queen s Gambit, they brought comfort and joy.
Our erudite quiz setter Alison Walsh has looked back at the strange year that was 2020 and devised a compelling test of artistic knowledge. So take time out from trimming the tree and see how much attention you were paying.
worried about the danger to the levee quickly spreads. nobody zone is safe now. will. be attacked is your word i m taking my mother and my children to my sister s house then i need to get home to protect everything from the water i m afraid my house is going to be washed away we re going to go a little late. to new.