Pinot, Bretzels, and Cathedrals

6 weeks ago, I sat on on my terrace and shared this photo:

It was Sunday morning, and what should have been a morning filled with the expectation of me heading to work in the evening turned out to be a day filled with sweet Sunday bliss. A mild wine hangover to deal with- cured easily by a cup of tea and a fried egg- followed by a nap; a walk; a lazy read; family tv series bingeing and no Sunday evening ‘boarding school blues’ to deal with.

While the weather had been pretty warm for the end of winter, my garden was still pretty barren, with only the daffodils and crocuses that had bloomed. 44 days have passed and I feel like we have re-invented the wheel, such has been the nature of our rebirth. I started out vigourously sharing recipes and menus on various social platforms- I even made 2 very arbitrary videos, so out of character I’m surprised the camera on my phone didn’t break. We’ve gone out for daily walks in an attempt to maintain our e-watch goals (10 000 steps, making sure we have moved every hour between 8 and 6, and even doing something marginally cardio for 20 minutes every day). We discovered the ‘burbs on the other side of the farmers lands: There’s a little school, a baseball court, some football goal posts, and a animal enclosure where we can see a [insert collective noun for] of roosters and hens; a goat; 2 horses and some homeing pigeons. There’s the cat that sits in the old window who reminds me of my cat Tiger from Netherby days.

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The owner of the horses really looks like he belongs on the little rocky islands of Crete or Greece. He’s tanned, grey haired and has not an ounce of body fat. Yesterday evening we saw him riding one of those horses bare-backed, and a few weeks ago, he was out walking them wearing nothing but a pair of ass-tight white shorts. My most favourite moment has possibly been seeing him out for an evening walk, with both horses and the goat. I deeply regret not having my camera that day- it was definitely the highlight of the week.

Alex has planted lentils. Both kids made themselves a ‘stocking head grass man‘, and I have reaped some of my wayward thyme to dry it out and replanted my mint into a bigger pot. The magnolia in my garden finally bloomed, we watched those blooms frost and turn brown, and then continue to bloom. The roses are full of foliage, the irises are in full flower, my peonies are growing by the day, as is the transformance of the cherry tree. The Plane Trees in my garden have gone from being bare to throwing shade at last.

These are all moments we don’t see when life is ‘normal’. Normal is leaving home 5 days a week at 7h30, and returning at 11 in the darkness of night for me. Instead, my days are filled with happy cooking, roaming around with my camera trying to challenge myself with a brand new photo of the same buttercup field and the same spring children. Reading, napping, some writing, making sure the girls are doing their schoolwork, learning cross-stitch and knitting (I finally finished the winter mittens that I started in December- they’ll be good for next winter), and making up names for our neighbours who are familiar and friendly, and yet we’ve never really connected with enough to greet them by name. Instead we pass each other in the field, greet with “Bonjour Monsier/Madame”, and out of hearing range, I call them Mr Labrador, or Mr Boxer, depending on their pets.

The one thing we haven’t done is ‘house party’s’ or Zoom meetings. I chatted to my family on Easter Sunday and Anton had a cricket zoom meeting but we both realised we’re really terrible in these situations. Friends, if you haven’t seen my pretty face, it’s just because we are not virtual socialisers.

Meanwhile, with all the baking, 3 square meals, and in between snacking, the kilograms are not staying away so Anton has taken to dragging my sorry ass out of bed at 7:20 in the morning so that I can go for a 40 minute ‘run’. I say run in inverted commas because I do walk for at least 30% of the time. The truth is, I despise running. But it’s free and there are no obligations. I only ever run in the morning, on an empty stomach and before my daily shower. If there’s anything that needs to be done before a morning run, I’ll forfeit the run quicker than you can say “pancake pan”.

When it comes to exercise, we are pretty fortunate for 2 reasons. Unlike our South African families, we are allowed out of our homes to exercise which is something they are not. I’ve seen so many tracked Fitbit/Strava/Garmin/Runstastic runs that are a veritable scribble on a map.

Our limitations are restricted to 1km radius around our homes, and while I have loved every single bit of space and time we have living out in the outer suburbs for the last 3 years, I couldn’t be more grateful and happy for this space while in lockdown. We have seen no police out here and have more opportunities to get out than if we were in the city.

The news of yesterday is that we can begin a slow re-emergence starting on May 11th. Apparently primary school and Alex’s age groups are returning to school. However, there are so many conflicting positions, that I have my doubts it will happen. Apparently returning to school won’t be compulsory. If parents are concerned about their kids getting sick, they can keep them home. On the other hand, the schools will be re-opening to accommodate parents returning to work, so school will become a babysitting service. Now the conundrum stands- who teaches the kids staying home? There’s no ways any teacher can be expected to do both right? Anton is not expected back at the office until June 1st and will continue to work from home. I’m completely at a loss as to when I will return. Restaurants may only be reopening in mid June. Some restaurants have opened just to be be able to sell take away meals. Since my work is more reliant on sports, drinks and socialising, there is little point to offering take away meals.

In the bigger picture, I doubt anybody can say definitively when life will return to normal. Certainly, there will be a ‘new normal’ and perhaps the French Bis may become an extinct greeting? ;-). Sadly, we are having to consider the implications of missing our holiday in South Africa in our summer- this is even on the proviso that SAA is still flying.

I know that there are so many people who are struggling to get through these times, both on a simple level at home, and more complex levels out there… There’s uncertainty, fear about jobs and income, poverty and where life will take us. I’ve personally have had days where I’ve stomped around home in a mood as foul as the dark grey skies currently on our horizon purely because the monotony of my kids asking to watch tv again is more than my guilty mommy brain can handle .

If there is one thing that gets me through those dark moments it’s this:

I try not to stress about the stuff I can’t change. Let it be what it is. Live in the moment and embrace what you have in the palms of your hands.

The other thing I try to remember is that the world over is generally in a similar situation. No matter where you are, no matter what your situation, we are not alone. Economies across the world are crashing. So many governments are going to have to bail out their economy. No country will come away from this unscathed.

All our children are getting the same home-schooling, although some are at a greater disadvantage than others, I’m hoping that no person will look back at 2020 and say “that kid didn’t finish school so he can’t do the next thing in his life’. By the looks of it- all of our children won’t be finishing school with a recognised education certificate this year- at some point, there’s going to be a ‘leveller’.

And nobody is travelling and seeing new things, experiencing new cultures so hopefully FOMO won’t be a cause of concern either 😉.

I realise that these are pretty vague ideas, and some people are sitting with abuse in their homes, while others can’t feed their families or selves. Many people in rural countries simply cannot benefit from being home schooled or afford to keep their children home, but in some ways we are all battling with something. In order to stay positive personally, I am definitely counting my good fortune to simply have the head space to be able to get though my bad moods, because that’s all they are- just a bad mood.

But I think by now I have kept you long enough. I would love it if you would reach out to tell me how you are doing.

Before signing off, I’m just popping in my Hummus ‘go-to’ recipe. According to my Lebanese friends, this is not the real McCoy (it doesn’t actually need parsley, and if Anton can make a rustic hummus, I don’t see why you can’t try it.