The Adventure of the Lockdown Musings
Lockdown continues and my beard grows ever longer. I'm tempted not to trim it until restrictions are finally lifted which and it will feel like I'm Robinson Crusoe finally able to leave his desert island. Indeed, sitting at home is not unlike sitting on a desert island, albeit we have Wi-Fi.
A huge trend on social media this week was #MeAt20 where people were encouraged to share photos of themselves at that age. Here's twenty-year old me:
I think that photo was taken on a night out- I was at university at the time so it was probably in the student union. The thing I always notice when I see an older picture of myself is the hair and the fact there's a fringe. I always liked having hair covering most of my forehead, largely because I posses the same enormous forehead as several previous generations on the paternal side. These days the best I can manage is a couple of individual hairs making a valiant effort to do the same job but to no avail.
There's also the notion of how much I've changed as a person. Twenty was about the height of my drinking years. I'd put on a decent shirt and a trendy narrow tie, head out to somewhere with sticky floors and gradually consume alcohol until I had lost enough inhibitions to sing and dance loudly yet was still unable to approach a girl I fancied. In some ways I do miss that time and the fun I had but it was only ever short gratification which led to feeling terrible the next day. These days I'd rather relax at home watching something on the TV.
Speaking of which, one of the joys of recent weeks has been watching Masterchef. I don't want a great deal of reality TV, mainly because I don't want to watch people trying desperately hard to achieve fame as if that's a route to happiness. I recently read a book called Dead Famous by Greg Jenner which is a history of celebrity. It's a fascinating book which I fully recommend and one recurring theme was the troubles that nearly every celebrity featured faced during their lifetime.
Anyway, Masterchef isn't about seeking fame, it's about pursuing a passion and taking skills to new levels. I'm not much of a chef but I do love eating food and there's something fascinating about the way they elevate food from a necessity to a piece of art. It's also incredible to watch the contestants grow as chefs and indeed as people; they change from amateur chefs to professional ones and you see them start to create ever more elaborate and incredible dishes and often they develop a new self-confidence which didn't exist at the start.
In this time of lockdown there's something comforting about the show too. It's a competition but never horrifically competitive, everyone is friendly even when they're giving criticism and you feel like you get to know a group of people over time and share their successes with them. I normally discuss each episode the next day at work with my friend but we had to change that to text conversation during lockdown and that only enhanced my viewing experience. Whilst not an officially recognised condition, I fear I shall enter a period of PMD (Post-Masterchef Depression) now that the series has finished.
Whilst there is something inspiring about the Masterchef finalists, a man who is one another level is Captain Tom Moore. Moore is a 99-year old army veteran who decided he wanted to raise money for the NHS charities during this difficult time. He aimed to walk one hundred lengths of his twenty-five metre garden before he turned 100, hoping to raise £1,000. Whilst you and I would have no problem walking this distance, this a 99 year-old man who has to use a walker to walk. On Thursday he completed his laps and has raised so much money he's decided to keep on going. At the time of writing he's raised over £23 million.
What a man! It's incredible that he decided to go about this challenge at all and I'm delighted by the enormous amount raised in his name. No-one would have complained if he'd stopped at his target 100 lengths but he saw the opportunity to raise even more money and has kept going. What an inspiration! You can find out more on his Justgiving page.
That's all for today but I'll be back next week with, if things go to plan, a lockdown inspired piece of fiction. I now have to try and come up with a title for this random train of thought! In the mean time, stay home and stay well!
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| Artist's Impression |
I think that photo was taken on a night out- I was at university at the time so it was probably in the student union. The thing I always notice when I see an older picture of myself is the hair and the fact there's a fringe. I always liked having hair covering most of my forehead, largely because I posses the same enormous forehead as several previous generations on the paternal side. These days the best I can manage is a couple of individual hairs making a valiant effort to do the same job but to no avail.
There's also the notion of how much I've changed as a person. Twenty was about the height of my drinking years. I'd put on a decent shirt and a trendy narrow tie, head out to somewhere with sticky floors and gradually consume alcohol until I had lost enough inhibitions to sing and dance loudly yet was still unable to approach a girl I fancied. In some ways I do miss that time and the fun I had but it was only ever short gratification which led to feeling terrible the next day. These days I'd rather relax at home watching something on the TV.
Speaking of which, one of the joys of recent weeks has been watching Masterchef. I don't want a great deal of reality TV, mainly because I don't want to watch people trying desperately hard to achieve fame as if that's a route to happiness. I recently read a book called Dead Famous by Greg Jenner which is a history of celebrity. It's a fascinating book which I fully recommend and one recurring theme was the troubles that nearly every celebrity featured faced during their lifetime.
Anyway, Masterchef isn't about seeking fame, it's about pursuing a passion and taking skills to new levels. I'm not much of a chef but I do love eating food and there's something fascinating about the way they elevate food from a necessity to a piece of art. It's also incredible to watch the contestants grow as chefs and indeed as people; they change from amateur chefs to professional ones and you see them start to create ever more elaborate and incredible dishes and often they develop a new self-confidence which didn't exist at the start.
In this time of lockdown there's something comforting about the show too. It's a competition but never horrifically competitive, everyone is friendly even when they're giving criticism and you feel like you get to know a group of people over time and share their successes with them. I normally discuss each episode the next day at work with my friend but we had to change that to text conversation during lockdown and that only enhanced my viewing experience. Whilst not an officially recognised condition, I fear I shall enter a period of PMD (Post-Masterchef Depression) now that the series has finished.
Whilst there is something inspiring about the Masterchef finalists, a man who is one another level is Captain Tom Moore. Moore is a 99-year old army veteran who decided he wanted to raise money for the NHS charities during this difficult time. He aimed to walk one hundred lengths of his twenty-five metre garden before he turned 100, hoping to raise £1,000. Whilst you and I would have no problem walking this distance, this a 99 year-old man who has to use a walker to walk. On Thursday he completed his laps and has raised so much money he's decided to keep on going. At the time of writing he's raised over £23 million.
What a man! It's incredible that he decided to go about this challenge at all and I'm delighted by the enormous amount raised in his name. No-one would have complained if he'd stopped at his target 100 lengths but he saw the opportunity to raise even more money and has kept going. What an inspiration! You can find out more on his Justgiving page.
That's all for today but I'll be back next week with, if things go to plan, a lockdown inspired piece of fiction. I now have to try and come up with a title for this random train of thought! In the mean time, stay home and stay well!
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