Well, that pandemic certainly happened and is continuing to happen. I had great plans to post here every month, but that fell by the wayside. Here are some things I've done this year.
Last sea swim of the year - pretty magical!
Audio
- My piece "A Cartography of Trespass" was published in Elsewhere Journal (this piece first appeared in Queer Out Here Issue 04)
- Took part in the earlier weeks of Audio Playground, creating short audio pieces in response to prompts
- And then in November one of my Audio Playground pieces, "The Shape of You in Her", was picked up by Short Cuts on BBC4 - one of my favourite shows
- Allysse and I published Queer Out Here Issue 05 (Side A and Side B)
- Dan and I did some backing instrumentals and vocals for our friend Martha's cover of Folsom Prison Blues
- Not me, but Dan did a whole bunch of musical stuff - I am properly addicted to this cover of Kokomo that he took part in
Craft
I decided in January that I'd try to do a bit of crochet this year... now it is out of control! Having not done anything other than granny squares and a couple of other amateurish attempts at furnishings in the past, I ended up learning a bunch of new stitches, joining some workshops (pre-lockdown), learning how to read a pattern, learning Tunisian crochet and making:
I decided in January that I'd try to do a bit of crochet this year... now it is out of control! Having not done anything other than granny squares and a couple of other amateurish attempts at furnishings in the past, I ended up learning a bunch of new stitches, joining some workshops (pre-lockdown), learning how to read a pattern, learning Tunisian crochet and making:
- 15+ beanies
- 3 shawls
- 3 scarves
- 3 cowls
- 2 pairs of gloves
- A pair of mittens
- 13 x 30cm squares for a blanket (it will have 25 when complete)
- Two washcloths
- A onesie for a teddy bear
- A cushion cover
- Another blanket in progress (my "in-between projects" project)
First item made from written pattern
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It fits! (The teddy is in Australia, so done by photos, diagrams and measurements!)
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I've made a couple of pairs of these - cute and fun!
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How many shawls/scarves/cowls does one man need?
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Art
During the proper lockdown (the first one), I had a daily drawing session with a friend in Melbourne via Zoom. This meant that every morning I would sit down and draw for about half an hour before I had to log in to work. This was probably the nicest thing to come out of lockdown. I really saw an improvement in my drawings over the 5-ish months of practicing every day, and I had a lot of fun doing it. Since then, we still do weekend sessions. The things this short daily practice really helped with were overcoming the fear of the blank page, overcoming the need for perfection, and allowing experimentation. Things that never change: not knowing what to draw! It was also really, really nice to have a low-key social element every day.
During the proper lockdown (the first one), I had a daily drawing session with a friend in Melbourne via Zoom. This meant that every morning I would sit down and draw for about half an hour before I had to log in to work. This was probably the nicest thing to come out of lockdown. I really saw an improvement in my drawings over the 5-ish months of practicing every day, and I had a lot of fun doing it. Since then, we still do weekend sessions. The things this short daily practice really helped with were overcoming the fear of the blank page, overcoming the need for perfection, and allowing experimentation. Things that never change: not knowing what to draw! It was also really, really nice to have a low-key social element every day.
Early self portrait
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Playing with black paper
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I was tired a lot
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Contour drawing of the kitchen sink
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Countryside on an overnight walk
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He moved in the middle of the drawing
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Sea swimming
As summer kicked in, we wanted to make the most of our proximity to the beach so we drove down whenever the weather was good. I bobbed around and floated and played in the breakers and did somersaults in the water. We usually went early in the morning, before work, to avoid any crowds - but to be honest, people were pretty good at keeping distanced. A couple of times our friend met us and we spent longer on the beach and got chips for lunch. Good times. My final sea swim was in September on the way home from work (schools are open again now), during golden hour as the setting sun lit up the white cliffs at Birling Gap. That was probably my stand-out visual memory of the year - it's when I took the pic at the start of this post!
As summer kicked in, we wanted to make the most of our proximity to the beach so we drove down whenever the weather was good. I bobbed around and floated and played in the breakers and did somersaults in the water. We usually went early in the morning, before work, to avoid any crowds - but to be honest, people were pretty good at keeping distanced. A couple of times our friend met us and we spent longer on the beach and got chips for lunch. Good times. My final sea swim was in September on the way home from work (schools are open again now), during golden hour as the setting sun lit up the white cliffs at Birling Gap. That was probably my stand-out visual memory of the year - it's when I took the pic at the start of this post!
We had some gorgeous mornings with very few people around - looking back at this now makes me long for summer!
We ate a lot of ice cream
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Most days were like this - a handful of people and calm sea
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Travel
- Did not go to Australia at Easter.
- Did not go to Portugal in August.
- Did go to Devon on a socially-distanced family holiday with Dan's family. We went cycling for a day and did some walking on the Tarka Trail. We randomly met Blanca (from Blanca on a Bike) on the side of the trail one day! I also found a little river to paddle in - and then, after it rained a lot, it was deep enough to submerge myself in. It was freezing. On the way home we had a cup of tea with the best view and weather of the trip!
- I went for an overnight walk after work one Friday in September, camping on the South Downs overnight and then meeting Dan for an early lunch on the Saturday.
- We went camping for a weekend near Bristol with Allysse in October. On the way home I paddled until my feet went numb (so, less than 5 minutes) in the River Wylye.
Setting off on my overnight walk, the sun rising over the downs (featuring trig point, radio mast, tree)
On the way home from Devon
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October camping with Allysse
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Misc
- Published my short piece "The Dogs" in Confluence Issue 11 - this is a piece that draws on some of our experiences of the Snowy River adventure a few years ago
- Did a poetry writing course on FutureLearn, which I really enjoyed (I also liked the poems I wrote as a result, but they have not been accepted for publication anywhere yet)
- Did a few nice walks with people when it's been allowed - family in Devon, a colleague up Mount Caburn and in Abbot's Wood, an old friend at Sevenoaks and on the North Downs, another friend on the South Downs, another at the beach
- I did another, shorter version of the after-work Friday walk, with Dan picking me up a couple of hours in
- Tried joining a queer Zoom choir, but it didn't work for me
- Watched a few plays and musicals when the first lockdown had lots of places putting things online
- Bought a pair of trail runners to wear instead of walking boots (and without my orthotics) - this is still an experiment in progress, but I'm enjoying them a lot so far
- Dreamt about long walks that I want to do, mostly in Australia
- Have read hardly any books - I just haven't been in the mood
- Discovered a new favourite local wood to walk in - when the weather was OK, we'd drive there, walk up to the top of the hill and make a cup of tea under a beech tree, enjoying the views out towards the next hill and village
- Became completely obsessed with a Chinese drama called The Untamed (and to a lesser extent another Chinese drama called The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty), fell back into fandom and started learning Chinese (Mandarin) on Duolingo. (To be honest, I probably spent more time on these shows than anything else outside of work for a good couple of months!)
We loved walking in the woods out the back of our place, especially when the bluebells flowered in spring!
In our new favourite local woods, where we enjoyed many a cuppa in late summer and into autumn
All things considered, with the exception of the fear and grief of the fires in Gippsland at the start of the year, 2020 has not been terrible for me. Nobody close to us has died of the virus, which is kind of astonishing given that 1 in 1000 people in the UK have died of "Covid-involved" causes (that's 1 in 1000 people, not 1 in 1000 deaths). Dan and I are very lucky that we have both kept our jobs and that lockdown life doesn't affect us too badly. It was actually quite nice not having to go to work during the first lockdown (we saved a lot of petrol money and 2hrs a day on the commute!). Apart from not being able to go on our two planned international holidays, it's mostly just been a case of just not seeing many friends/family in person, not going to restaurants and not doing our monthly group walks. But as I say, we're the lucky ones, especially given the complete ethical failure of the UK government to care for its population.
I hope you have managed to have as good a year as possible given the circumstances. Here's to a better 2021.
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