56 Gscene
Hydes’ Hopes
Scene & Done It
BY REV MICHAEL HYDES
BY MICHAEL STEINHAGE
Interesting times
Not quite a getaway
) Speaking of the 1960s, Bobby Kennedy said: “There’s a Chinese curse which says ‘may he live in interesting times’. Like it or not we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history.”
) So the other week I cranked the heating right up to the max. Then I dragged the big yucca from the lounge to the bathroom, put Greatest Club Anthems 2000 on shuffle, and got into a lukewarm bath with a jug of Sangria. Pretend really hard, and it’s almost Ibiza I reckoned. God, I need a holiday.
The same is true of today. Covid-19 has made life challenging in ways I couldn’t have imagined. In order to overcome some of those challenges I have found that we need to be creative in new and inventive ways.
We decided to make every Saturday night ‘date night’ and took it in turns to ‘take each other out’. The first couple of weeks the weather was nice so we put a gazebo up in the back yard. We played music to help set the scene – Thai music to go with a pad thai and Indian music to go with a curry. But then the weather got cold so we moved the gazebo and set up an ‘outside’ space inside.
I’m not asking much of you, 2020, but how about just a little break? Nothing fancy, no one expects a fortnight off from those sudden surprises that seem to jump from behind the next, well, next anything really. On a much too regular basis. No, we’ve all become accustomed to that fact, and we know our place, 2020. You’re in charge, that much is clear to even the most adamant Covid-denier by now. But is a few days too much to ask? It’s like that lady on the radio, when everyone had to leg it back before the quarantine deadline. “Was it worth it, would you say Madam, to go to Paris?” “Well,” she told the reporter, “for five hours not really, but it’s nice to get away.”
Over the weeks we became increasingly more inventive. I found a two-hour Youtube video of a view over a Tuscan lake. In the gazebo I set up the TV, put a fan on to mimic a breeze, found some restaurant noise and chill-out music, ordered pizza from Pizzaface, and created a Tuscan Pizzeria. We talked for hours, just like we were on holiday,
“The ski vacation almost worked, even though Jess and Tim from upstairs soon ran out of cotton wool balls to throw out the window”
Every week we treated each other to an evening ‘out’ – even dressing for the occasion. Using a webcam feed of the Brighton seafront, we had fish & chips looking out over the pier. We had a snow scene for a ski-lodge theme, and a PC on the floor showing a video of a roaring fire. A night at the aquarium using videos, screensavers, and a night light that had fish gently swimming round the room. We celebrated Christmas in July (complete with Christmas dinner), and a Mexican evening with a piñata full of chocolate. We spent an evening at the theatre, a movie night with hotdogs and popcorn, and a Burns Night in the Scottish highlands with haggis and whisky (in our kilts of course). Chris created a Dutch pancake house, a 1950s American diner, and a Chinese meal complete with new year’s fireworks. We had dinner in the International Space Station (where going round the Earth made me motion sick, so scratch that one), a night at an art museum, afternoon tea on the Love Boat, a Teddy Bear’s picnic at the Brighton Bear Weekend online event, an evening of Spanish tapas overlooking a gorgeous courtyard, and more besides.
Lockdowns, quarantines and cancellations, one just can’t know if it’s worth it to chance it these days, or whether you should even bother hunting for the passports in the admin drawer. So I thought alternatives. What else are we to do? The Mediterranean mini-break in the bathroom wasn’t a bad start, but I couldn’t stretch that out to a whole weekend – I got wrinkly granny skin after four hours (and you’re always worried it won’t go back to normal). The ski vacation almost worked, even though Jess and Tim from upstairs soon ran out of cotton wool balls to throw out the window, us sat on the patio in our tracksuits and Ray-Bans. To be honest it was the Jägermeister that pulled that one off more than anything. Then we tried watching David Attenborough’s Deep Ocean, wearing swimming shorts and snorkels, but the door bell went for a delivery, and that kind of spoiled the Maldives fantasy. Couldn’t really see through the goggles anyway. “Finest French cuisine ideas to make at home,” I thought, if that doesn’t make you feel like you’re dining ‘al fresco’ in Marseille then what will? Well, the thought was there, but it’s just not the same if you have to cook for yourself, and pretend to be your own ill-mannered French waiter.
I’ve seen relationships implode, or even explode, under the stresses of Covid-19. But then I’ve also seen relationships flourish and deepen. Chris and I found that making time for each other has made all the difference.
Some evenings worked really well. Others not so much. But we talked for hours and hours, felt like we were away somewhere special, and had the chance every week to do something special for each other. Even after 18 years together our relationship deepened and has been the rock that both of us have used as a touchstone during the Covid rollercoaster. My advice in the midst of all of this is be creative. Don’t be afraid to be silly, try something new, and spend time – real or virtual – with those you care about. You might be surprised at the difference it makes.
So, speaking of France, at the end of the day we did the only thing we could do, and stayed in our kitchen, crying into yet another glass of Merlot. At least all my friends are stranded too, and Facebook is eerily devoid of people with tans, holiday countdowns, or hammocks hung between palm trees. We’re, how does that tired old slogan go, ‘in this together’. A small relief, but just to be safe, I’m gonna hibernate for a while and come back out when it’s Easter.
