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Lockdown: The sequel
W
E’RE one week into Lockdown: The Sequel. How are you all?
Remember, we've been here before and we CAN do this again. But tell me, did you manage to get that last-minute hair cut and have you stocked up on loo rolls yet? That’ll be a double negative from me. I’ve not had my hair cut since February and I’m not, repeat, not panic buying. I have six or seven supermarkets within a few miles of me so really, where’s the need? And seriously, didn’t we learn anything from Lockdown 1:0? That said, these are testing times for us all, especially for those on furlough, those shielding, those with no work, those with poorly friends and family. Now is the time to come together, while being apart. We need to find ways to stay positive and strong. The big positive this time around is that the schools are staying open, for the time being at least, and surely that’s something to celebrate. With two boys in the final year of GCSEs and A-levels, I hope they can keep up with their schoolwork. They need it for their brains. I need it for my sanity. But then we’ve got the nation’s favourite, Joe Wicks, on hand again to keep our mental health in check. Have you done Wake Up With Joe this week? His “energy and mood boosting workouts” promise to help us find some positivity and energy. I’ve done them this week. It broke me!
Sploshing During Lockdown 1:0 I actually became a runner, a statement I never thought I’d make. I’ve even bought waterproof trainers so that I can run through the mud and rain. Sploshing about like a kid jumping in puddles is actually such a mood-enhancer and a lockdown activity you should most definitely try. So jumping in puddles aside, what will you be doing during the next three weeks? I recommend binge watching a decent box set while you still have the brain capacity. Do it now before lockdown exhaustion sets in. And baking is a given. I may even push the boat out and upgrade my banana bread by chucking in a few walnuts or chocolate chips. Seriously though, I’m also delighted that this time around we can meet up with a friend for a walk. If there’s one thing that the last lockdown taught me, it’s that connection and people are everything. Spending time with people impacts who we are and how we feel in a very real sense. Hands up, I know I can get obsessed with work (as a freelance in this climate I need to be!) but if there’s on thing Lockdown 1:0 taught me, it’s that I need to make time for people and feel grateful that I have amazing people in my life. I will appreciate them always. I won’t flake on plans and I won’t allow myself to get too bogged down in the mundane. In the meantime, my brother, who has been in Tier 3 for months now, has suggested a family Zoom quiz. Like I said, these are testing times. Rachel is founder Gossip Girl Gang, a networking group for women in business in and around the borough
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Distance is kindness Staying inside is now love and this may seem unfair but distance is kindness and kindness is care. This month will soon pass we just need to sit tight sometimes living quietly is the best way to fight. Each day that we do this means one day we’ll be free when your world is less busy you accept and just be. And when you know how to be well, then you really are free.
Tina Cathleen MacNaughton November 2020 (second lockdown) Tina MacNaughton divides her time between Crowthorne where she works as an acupuncturist, and her home city, Portsmouth. She is also a writer and poet and has a professional writing services company, WriteRhymes, which produces bespoke celebration poetry on commission. Tina has enjoyed writing uplifting poems for shielding patients, family and friends during the pandemic. write.rhymes@outlook.com
We love receiving reader’s poetry. Email your submissions to letters@ wokinghampaper.co.uk
You are what you eat THE OLD saying you are what you eat is about to be tested to the very limits: and it could be a Wokingham borough couple that puts it through its paces. A gardening webstore is offering couples £1,500 if they accept the challenge to be aphrodisiac testers. WhatShed.co.uk says that the probe is timely: a recent survey of British bedroom habits revealed that two-thirds of respondents felt things in the bedroom were in a bit of a rut, thanks to, what else? Lockdown. So, the gardening and shed review site is looking to find three couples to try some plants over two months, and see how beautiful the music they make actually is. All plants, tools and instructions will be provided – a mixture of plants, produce and fungi. All the couples have to do is try them and see what blooms. The roles come after Whatshed.co.uk’s survey, which looked into the lifestyle and relationships changes of 2,000 couples aged 18-60 over the last six months. Nearly two thirds (61%) have seen a negative change in their libidos as a result of lockdown. And 28% of people in relationships admitting they now have sex less than they did before lockdown. When asked why they thought their sex life was dwindling, 29% admitted that they were bored with their sex in general, 16% said their mood was affecting their arousal negatively and 13% even said they were less attracted to their partner now than they were at the start of lockdown.
Plants and food have long been considered natural aphrodisiacs, so WhatShed.co.uk has created the roles to definitively reveal which plants have the desired effect in the bedroom. Kate Fromings, from the company, said: “Couples are always looking for new and interesting ways to improve their love life. “Coronavirus is forcing us to spend more time with those in our households, whether we like it or not and it is not unusual that this would get boring, the pandemic really is affecting every aspect of life and, as our survey shows, that does not stop at the bedroom door. “A lot of people hear about aphrodisiacs and their mind jumps straight to oysters, champagne, and strawberries, but there are so many herbal and plant-based aphrodisiacs that you can grow in your own back garden, you probably eat lots of them on a regular basis without even realising it.” She added: Gardening is already proven to help with your physical and mental health and if we at Whatshed can help any couple improve their sexual health as well, then we will be more than happy to do so.” At the end of the two months, each couple will be asked to send their reviews from both perspectives, including a description of how they used each product and intimate details. Applicants must be aged between 25-65, with good spoken and written English. Couples keen to apply, or those just looking for some ideas on what to grow, can log on to: whatshed.co.uk/aphrodisiac-tester/
WOKINGHAM.TODAY Thursday, November 12, 2020
Forget couch ran 100k in the s By CHARLOTTE KING cking@wokingham.today FORGET running 100km in a month – one Wokingham resident ran that distance in just one week.
Last month, Vicky Hammond embarked on the mammoth task of running 100km over seven days to raise money for Helen & Douglas House, a hospice which provides end of life care to terminally ill children in Berkshire and beyond. And Vicky managed to raise more than £3,000 for the charity. After completing the Virtual London Marathon on Sunday, October 4, the keen runner set off on the 50km Run to the Sea Ultra Marathon the following weekend, all the while raising money and awareness for the hospice. “I initially signed up for the London Marathon in April and it was postponed to October,” Vicky explains. “And when the October race looked like it was going to be cancelled, I decided that I didn’t want to waste my training so signed up for my first ever ultra marathon – Run to the Sea.” Over the course of the week, from Sunday, October 4 until Sunday, October 11, Vicky raised £3,289. She did so through holding her very own coffee morning, which raised £560 for the hospice, as well as an online auction which raised £950. And alongside sponsorships for the run, she smashed her original target of raising £2,500. “Helen & Douglas House is a local charity that has been the lifeline for many Wokingham families, providing a home-from-home care for terminally ill children and their families,” says Vicky. “At the toughest time of their lives, families are given the time and space
Vicky Hammond was spurred on by her family
to enjoy the precious moments they have left with each other. “These donations mean that families don’t have to face the unthinkable alone.” According to the hospice, it costs £3.6 million each year to run its
‘Oh, Barbara!’ SOMEONE to turn to. A shoulder to cry on. That’s me. A repository of worn-out clichés. My adhesive labels. They phone me with their troubles and I comfort them. Seems it’s my role. ‘Oh, Barbara! I can’t stand being alone. It’s grinding me down. I’m sleeping badly and I wake to find I’ve clawed my arms until they bleed. Red spots on the sheets. Then I can’t be bothered to change them. So I go to bed in bloody bedding and that upsets me.’ I listen while my dinner burns then we go through changing the bed and she feels better. I hear the next day she slept well. I didn’t. ‘Oh, Barbara! You’re the only person I’ve spoken to this week. I have this heavy cloud around me. I miss my son. He could phone me but he doesn’t.’ So we talk about her making the call. No, she says. He should do it. I persuade her while my washing gets soaked in a heavy shower. ‘Oh, Barbara! We had such a lovely chat!’
I try not to sigh. And a couple more cries from a couple more friends. I should be glad – I was once – but it’s not enough. There’s a storm inside me. I stand in the shower to wash away the panic. In water and in tears. I can feel the thunder in my head and flashes like lightening make me screw up my eyes. Who helps the helper? The phone rings. Yet another ‘Oh, Barbara!’ call? I search for my compassionate voice. ‘Oh, Barbara! Just thought I’d give you a ring to see how you are. I love talking to you. It’s been too long. I’ve got some good news to share…’ She didn’t realise what she had just achieved. � By Linda Fawke (author of A Taste of his own Medicine and A Prescription for Madness available on Amazon). This entry was highly commended in the Wokingham Writers Group summer writing challenge, on the theme of Stormy Weather.
