Jane Edden

Finding a way through …

Jane Edden

What a journey the Country has travelled in this pandemic. It seems unbelievable that the first lockdown was over a year ago. How did you fare? Were you like others I’ve talked to who found it easier to endure than the other two? Indeed, it was the most glorious Spring, and with few cars around, wildlife seemed to celebrate, giving folk with newly found leisure time, plenty of opportunity to enjoy the natural world as perhaps not experienced for many years. Gardens beckoned, as did all those uncompleted tasks neglected in the sometimes hectic timetable we forge for ourselves in retirement.

Why then was I so astonished when in August one friend reported that she had ‘absolutely loved it!’?

Quite simply because for me it was an altogether different experience. At 5am on Day 1 of lockdown, I found myself lying on the hard wooden floor in the hall having missed some stairs in search for water. How could this happen you may ask? Confession. All my life if I needed to get up in the night, I would do so in the dark, and up until March 23rd 2020, it had worked. What is that saying about Pride … ? Yes, it was an accident waiting to happen, you may rightly say, but some lessons have literally to be learnt the hard way.

Once through the shock and nausea, I assessed the damage, was thankful I could still walk and eventually got back to bed. Without boring you senseless, it turned out in the days ahead, that my left side had taken the brunt of the fall, resulting in clearly what was a broken rib, twisted ankle and damaged finger. This put paid to any of the activities that I normally would have turned to at this time. Walking, gardening and playing were all out of the question and apart from being in considerable pain, I failed to get a diagnosis from three different GP’s – (all, of course, on a video call on my mobile phone) as to what had happened to my misshapen finger (alarming for a wind player) – that sorry saga could take the rest of this piece – but relax, I shall spare you. Suffice it to say it has been a very long journey, but eventually I was able to resume playing for which I’m most thankful.

So, how to emerge from the doldrums into which I well and truly sank? Poetry was helpful. Did you perhaps hear various broadcasters reading their favourite poems on the Radio 4 Today programme? That introduced me to some new poets and I was able to join a U3A Poetry by Heart group on something called Zoom ! Hurrah – what a lifeline that became for so many of us! I signed up for everything that vaguely interested me and it was marvellous to eventually continue both Book Clubs resulting in hearing and seeing everyone (another steep learning curve!)

Still feeling rather physically limited. I pondered on how I might positively reach out to others within the restrictions we faced at the time. As I very much enjoy reading poetry aloud, I came up with the idea of Poems by Phone. This would have involved people emailing me with their phone number together with a favourite poem –I would then ring them at a set time and read them their choice. I tested the idea on a few friends and met with positive responses all round, and having set up an email, I braved it and contacted Look East. The next day I received an affirmative response which was quickly followed by a surprise phone call from Radio Cambridge. They too enthused about the idea and wanted to interview me on air. A radio interview in one’s own kitchen felt very strange, but whilst on air, someone phoned in and asked me to read Wordsworth’s Daffodils. So I was given a second 'airing', when standing by the sink I did just that! All positive with good feedback. So why didn’t the idea take off? It was pointed out to me by various friends that perhaps Radio Cambridge didn’t have the highest number of poetry readers, but I also wondered whether people were averse to giving their phone numbers? Or a mixture of both and a myriad of other reasons (I hasten to add that I don’t think I made too bad a job of Daffodils!) For whatever reason, it was at best good to have made the effort.

Then came a suggestion made by a friend, which has had far greater consequences. Back last century (!) on my year’s teaching exchange in Trinidad, I found myself amongst a keen group of photographers, and with a wealth of photographic opportunities, it became a fulfilling hobby. Although I had still kept my old SLR camera and equipment, time and systems had moved on, laziness set in, and – as many of us do – I relied on my mobile phone and a small compact camera. It was the frustration, however, of their limitations that I was relaying to a friend one day, when she suggested I should invest in a ‘proper’ camera. (Incidentally, it was she who had asked me some years ago to be the official photographer at her parents' Ruby Wedding – a scary undertaking!). After some thought, I took action, sold my old equipment and ended up with something I’d never heard of – a mirrorless camera – lightweight, but with lots of possibilities. As luck would have it, an offer of a new one-term U3A Photography course appeared on my

screen, which entailed offering up three photographs a week on a prescribed topic [a selection of four are shared below and another is this year's front cover picture Ed]. This was somewhat daunting as clearly the other members seemed to be much more experienced than I, but nevertheless I learned much from them, and they put up with my attempts! As someone who has failed dismally at drawing and painting throughout my life (when the art teacher enquired who wanted to do O Level Art, she bypassed my name!) photography is the only I remember years ago a quotation from Jacqueline du Pré, which clearly must have sustained her, to the effect that it was important to turn to anything that had ever interested one. The pandemic gave us all that opportunity, and in a strange way, I feel fortunate to have been able to find new inspiration with which to move forward. I hope we were all able to find the good in this extraordinary time.

Sunset December in Norfolk

January on the Dunes Norfolk Walk

Household Chores

Just after I had finished last year’s Newsletter I remembered that I could have added a ‘snippet’ to Charlie Jenner’s obituary. I truly love ironing – the perfect antidote to any stressful day – and each time the ironing board comes out so I remember Charlie, always. Well ever since that day in the Combination Room when Anne Johnson told me that Charlie had told her that if one irons 10 items every day, the ironing pile never grows! I think it is true.

Libby