We are now approaching Self-Isolation; all change.
WE MADE IT GUYS! And by "made it," I here mean, we're on the second post. Much like running, if I can do two in a row, the third is made just that little bit more likely, so you know, we're onto a winner here. Okay, I'm onto a winner, this isn't a team sport. Or is it? I don't know. Should I be having a conversation with myself here? No. Will I stop? Eh, probably not. Anyway, my food is in the oven, so I have approximately fifteen minutes to get this done. Or longer. But then I'm accepting that it will be burnt.
*shrugs, having already accepted the prospect of a cremated cod fillet*
It feels like weeks since my last post, which is a really surreal and confusing experience. COVID-19 is beginning to hit the UK hard, and in one week, we've gone from social distancing to pubs, clubs, restaurants and theatres being closed. I've never experienced anything like it in my - admittedly so far, quite short - life, and the uncertainty around how long this will last, whether more restrictive measures will be brought in and what the hell happens when this is all done is really beginning to bite. I went to bed yesterday with a not-so-insignificant headache, having spent the day either on the verge of, or in, tears (against my will). I wish I could predict what would happen next because then I could plan for it, but that's not really an option, so instead, we've got to make the best of what we can.
In that spirit, I decided to take a trip on the now delightfully quiet bus (see, there are some benefits to people isolating) to find myself some distractions to get me through the long period of self-isolation. Being the alpha male I am, I therefore found myself in Hobbycraft. Side note - Hobbycraft, your presence in Birmingham is WOEFULLY small. Up your game. There's gonna be a lot of retail space available when this ends, and you need to take advantage and E X P A N D. Although that said, I'm in no way a business expert, so you might not want to do that. Could be risky. I don't know.
In all my years of life, I still struggle to find anything in Hobbycraft, and sadly today was no different. I had a simple list: a painting-by-numbers kit, a cross-stitch kit and some pieces of card. Three (3) items. Reader, I was in there for an hour. AN HOUR. "How did you spend that long in there," I hear you ask. "It's not even that big." And you would be right. It really isn't that big, a point proven every time I nearly walked into the same old woman. God, I hope she's all right. She probably thinks I was one of these panic buyers, intimidating her away from the shelves so I could fill my basket with small wooden easels and balls of rainbow wool because I'd heard they were at risk of selling out. Anyway, I digress. I went up and down the stairs four times. Four times, my friends. And by that I mean four sets of going up and then coming back down. Truly, you have never seen such a sad sight as a man looking increasingly flustered in Hobbycraft. I even took five minutes to try and find someone who was working there, before realising they were at the tills, dealing with other people, and presumably the aforementioned terrorised old woman.
BUT I SUCCEEDED. The swag was claimed and acquired, and my self-isolation has become 'Crafting with Chris'. Given that my art teacher once asked me in Year 7 to put my paintbrush down because I really wasn't getting it, painting-by-numbers feels at the same time to be exactly my level of challenge and incredibly outside of my skill set. But, hey, there's no-one around to see, if it gets too bad, I'll get rid of it and remove all the evidence. You won't even remember reading these words.
I guess the underlying thing here is that right now, nothing is happening, and yet there's a whole lot of change. Self-isolation is surprisingly disruptive, not least to our mental health, and I don't know how well I'll deal with it. But if I'm going to be stuck inside for a while, then I may as well teach myself some skills. Who knows, maybe my art teacher will be proved wrong. And I tell you what, if I have time, I might even read up on social skills... namely "how to stop walking into the elderly."
*shrugs, having already accepted the prospect of a cremated cod fillet*
It feels like weeks since my last post, which is a really surreal and confusing experience. COVID-19 is beginning to hit the UK hard, and in one week, we've gone from social distancing to pubs, clubs, restaurants and theatres being closed. I've never experienced anything like it in my - admittedly so far, quite short - life, and the uncertainty around how long this will last, whether more restrictive measures will be brought in and what the hell happens when this is all done is really beginning to bite. I went to bed yesterday with a not-so-insignificant headache, having spent the day either on the verge of, or in, tears (against my will). I wish I could predict what would happen next because then I could plan for it, but that's not really an option, so instead, we've got to make the best of what we can.
In that spirit, I decided to take a trip on the now delightfully quiet bus (see, there are some benefits to people isolating) to find myself some distractions to get me through the long period of self-isolation. Being the alpha male I am, I therefore found myself in Hobbycraft. Side note - Hobbycraft, your presence in Birmingham is WOEFULLY small. Up your game. There's gonna be a lot of retail space available when this ends, and you need to take advantage and E X P A N D. Although that said, I'm in no way a business expert, so you might not want to do that. Could be risky. I don't know.
In all my years of life, I still struggle to find anything in Hobbycraft, and sadly today was no different. I had a simple list: a painting-by-numbers kit, a cross-stitch kit and some pieces of card. Three (3) items. Reader, I was in there for an hour. AN HOUR. "How did you spend that long in there," I hear you ask. "It's not even that big." And you would be right. It really isn't that big, a point proven every time I nearly walked into the same old woman. God, I hope she's all right. She probably thinks I was one of these panic buyers, intimidating her away from the shelves so I could fill my basket with small wooden easels and balls of rainbow wool because I'd heard they were at risk of selling out. Anyway, I digress. I went up and down the stairs four times. Four times, my friends. And by that I mean four sets of going up and then coming back down. Truly, you have never seen such a sad sight as a man looking increasingly flustered in Hobbycraft. I even took five minutes to try and find someone who was working there, before realising they were at the tills, dealing with other people, and presumably the aforementioned terrorised old woman.
BUT I SUCCEEDED. The swag was claimed and acquired, and my self-isolation has become 'Crafting with Chris'. Given that my art teacher once asked me in Year 7 to put my paintbrush down because I really wasn't getting it, painting-by-numbers feels at the same time to be exactly my level of challenge and incredibly outside of my skill set. But, hey, there's no-one around to see, if it gets too bad, I'll get rid of it and remove all the evidence. You won't even remember reading these words.
I guess the underlying thing here is that right now, nothing is happening, and yet there's a whole lot of change. Self-isolation is surprisingly disruptive, not least to our mental health, and I don't know how well I'll deal with it. But if I'm going to be stuck inside for a while, then I may as well teach myself some skills. Who knows, maybe my art teacher will be proved wrong. And I tell you what, if I have time, I might even read up on social skills... namely "how to stop walking into the elderly."
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