‘Gilead’

It is Sunday morning and again the sun is shining, it is quiet.

It has only been seven days since I last posted my blog, yet so much has happened in our world.

We are all beginning to adjust to this new way of life, the first week of lockdown here in England and a week of reading, listening and watching the news; alerts on our smartphones, the daily briefings from our government and our emotions, that seem to emerge in various forms and guises and take us daily by surprise.

I am learning to adapt to the technical challenges of online teaching. I have cussed and burst into tears at various points due to my ineptitude to navigate it seems, the most basic of tasks.

I was born into a world without text digits and I still type phone messages with one finger, much to the eternal dismay of my two daughters, who were both born into this technological life.

However, this being said, I have learnt several new skills and my laptop and I ( which incidentally sounds like the name of film) have began to tolerate each other. We are not quite at the ‘friends’ stage but I’m hopeful.

I, like everyone have now discovered the ‘art’ of food shopping, although not the supermarket shop we are all so used to experiencing.

I am sure I am not the only one, to notice the similarities between Margaret Atwood’s novel ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ set in the dystopian ‘State of Gilead’ plagued with environmental disasters and our current crisis.

This shopping trip felt like I had truly been plunged into her world.

At first, which really was completely ludicrous and irrational, I felt that I couldn’t look at anyone. This was not because I thought I would contract the virus but because it might imply that everything was normal and that perhaps I was not taking the situation seriously enough and therefore judged by society.

Knowing the outcome for such crimes in Gilead, may of course added to this.

Eventually, my commonsense took over and I had a lovely chat with the lady in the grey cardigan in front of me. This journey into the supermarket being so long and taking such time, that we are now going on holiday together when this blows over!

I enjoy writing this little blog and sharing life’s connections with you all, yet after I posted my blog last week I had a little moment in which I was completely, emotionally, overwhelmed.

My phone alerted me to the heart-breaking news that another frontline NHS worker had passed due to the virus and this selfless event for me, suddenly compounded the enormity of this pandemic.

Of course I know that all over the world, humanity is suffering the most henious loss of life. I think my heart at that point just ‘crashed’ with all the sadness.

I think we will all be touched by these moments, it is after all what makes us human.

I have always found solace in words and it was such a weird day. The weather seemed to mirror every emotion, a day of bright sunshine in Essex and then snow!

So, that being said I began to write and encapsulate everything I was feeling.

The poem is entitled ‘Lockdown: End of Week One.’

I have been very fortunate in that BBC Essex, are going to air a voice recording of said poem, on Monday 6th April around 6.15pm on their “Your Essex” show.

I also believe I am to be interviewed by the presenter but my contact at the BBC and I, ironically (considering we both have nowhere to go) keep missing each others calls. The details are slightly sketchy on the voicemails we seem to both be leaving but I think that’s roughly the gist.

As another week approaches, I hope the wonderful stories of hope and kindness of which there are so many, raise your spirits.

We really are, all in this together.

For your FYI: I am obviously not going on holiday with the lady in the grey cardigan but I do think we will all begin to feel much closer to each other as humans beings so, who knows!

Until next time; stay home, stay safe and always remember, we just might be…

“ Under his eye” 😉

Joy xx