- Stage of quarantine: A and I have rediscovered long neglected creative projects. Kids have rediscovered old favourite movies (Ponyo, Totoro, the entire Tinkerbell oeuvre). They have also rediscovered Art and gone through an entire all-media sketchbook in a week, so it’s just as well some shops are reopening; Coop Bau & Hobby has an ok crafts selection.
- I’m going to come out of this whole experience with my aversion to work fully entrenched. Freelancing is for the birds. I want to be able to just be. Just be with my kids. Just be with myself. Not always struggling to fit work in around everything else, and stressing about finding more work. Total bullshit. I should have a proper job and proper family and chill time and that’s all.
Of course I also have a profound aversion to the notion of a job for more than two days a week, so. I just suck, basically. - Following on extensive Twitter discussions I have come to realise that sourdough baking is like parenting: everyone does it completely differently and it’s all fine. It was pretty funny to see how very differently people are doing it, but very freeing.** In fact I’d have to say I’m finding it comforting. I can do it on autopilot and I feel pleasingly earth motherish, delivering tasty fresh loaves to my family a few times a week. Going through a lot of flour, but at least I don’t have to worry about depleting the scarce yeast supplies.
- I am very much enjoying the extremely reduced pace of life in lockdown. Obvs I am not enjoying everything about it (bored kids especially), but I do like this extreme lack of time sensitivity. Especially now that I’ve officially caught up on All The Things. I love the general sense that yeah, I want to do X, but it’s okay if it happens tomorrow. I can clearly see that stuff is happening. Progress is being made. Weirdly, it feels like I finally have time to clear the decks on things that have been buried under everyday crap for literally years. I am not sure why this should be the case, given that we are literally still in PJs after noon every single day – and I really, really don’t think anyone should feel inadequate if they’re not getting that same sense of progress – but for me, this slow-but-steady pace is working really well. Although I’m not sure how I feel about the fact that the world had to almost literally stop turning before I could get on top of things.
- Today marks the start of school term, but still at home. Claudia will be kept busy with her school iPad. I may or may not try to do some more actual work with Max. I tried this week. It did not go well.
- 27 April is South Africa’s Fourth of July – the anniversary of our first democratic elections. Name feels a bit ironic under global lockdown.
** Top tips: (1) starters like raisin water! Soak dried fruit for a while, use the water to revive a sulky starter. But (2) it’s actually fine if your starter doesn’t rise, as long as it’s bubbly. And (3) sprinkling with bicarb before the second rise makes for a light, airy and less sour loaf. Clearly horrifying to purists, but fortunately I don’t care.
Woolly thoughts (and fuzzy logic) 