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24.05.20 – Darrell Priestley
We live in an age of reflection, which is a valuable thing if you stop and think about it. Certainly, it’s something that doesn’t happen often, in fact I can’t imagine another time when so many people stopped to consider their lives, the way we live, and where we might be headed, all at the same time. Surely, this must give rise to some brilliant quotes?
I was pleased just now to see someone saying, “My post corona goal is to have fewer possessions and more valuables”. I have a lot of sympathy with that view, and feel the urge to respond with “Spend less, live more”. Meanwhile, as wildlife expert Chris Packham says, ”While we’ve been locked down, nature has been ramping it up”.
One of my favourite quotes from 2020, though pre-pandemic, is by Gary Young: Imagine a world in which you might thrive, for which there is no evidence. And then fight for it. That seems somehow more appropriate now than ever. What phrase have you heard that summed things up for you? Was there a memorable one you found pithy, thoughtful or wry? One that made you think, or fired up your imagination? Perhaps you have come up with one or two yourself. Here are some I can imagine people saying.
”Those care home workers who moved in are beyond amazing.”
”A lockdown in time saves your life and mine.”
”Now, what they should have done, is…”
”In a contest like this, no-one wins unless everyone wins.”
”Ooh, what I wouldn’t give right now for a proper coffee.”
”Heroes are just ordinary people doing extraordinary things.”
”Turns out, I really like this clean air. Can we keep it?”
”Why didn’t they do something sooner?”
”Doctor, W.H.O. could describe half the guests on TV right now.”
”It’s people that matter.”
”I just hope my favourite shops/cafe/hairdresser will still be there.”
”After this, I’d like to work closer to home.”
”A National Youth Corps could really help young people right now.”
”What I’m most looking forward to is…”
”Do you suppose I could opt for a four day week?”
”I just can’t wait to see my family again.”
Now, if you need a laugh amidst all this, check out this video, introduced by Seth MacFarlane and featuring Tony Shalhoub reprising his TV role as germophobe crime fighter, Adrian Monk. Anyone familiar with his ‘defective detective’ will love it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4W2xmqjvx4
21.05.20 – Darrell Priestley
It’s 21st May, and light enough (just) to walk around the garden at 3.47am without falling over the watering can left on the lawn, provided it is not a perfect colour match for the fading grass. How do I know this? I wake up at funny times, and of late, the first thing I can think about is the veggies. But don’t feel sorry for me, the garden has been sustaining me, and that’s before it really swings around to food production. At this point, everything is still little, except the potato plants, runner beans and sweet corn, which are all romping away, but growing things is just so uplifting that sometimes I’m out pottering in the garden until you can no longer make out the seeds you are trying to sow.
Right now it’s like nature has just hit us. People everywhere are noticing things around them. Why are the birds singing so enthusiastically this spring, for instance? Do they know something? Maybe they have noticed the cleaner air, but more likely it is simply us noticing them more. And this is happening all around us. As we have detatched ourselves from our routines, from the treadmill of having to be a certain place at a certain time, we are many of us out doors more often, and cue the nature show! Not only birds, but bugs, spiders, leaves, flowers, exciting growth and skies so blue! By 4.45am dawn looks amazing, (er, no, I don’t know anyone called ‘Dawn’), and you look out the window and think, wow, here we go again, another brand new fabulous day.
Even the Americans are getting in on it. My great friend and US correspondent, Vicki in Connecticut whom I used to teach way back, wrote yesterday to say she and her husband had set out their garden with veggies, and other than that they were pretty much not going out, but they sound as excited as we are with their plan to put food on the table. Good luck to them, I think they will have success. And everybody is doing it! Folks are planting strawberries in hanging baskets and tubs, herbs out on the patio and the kitchen window ledge, tomato plants just outside the back door, peas and beans where they can find a few old garden canes and the odd bit of netting for support and protection. But watch out for those pigeons!
While we are feeling all environmentally aware, its easier than usual to think about what we have versus what we would like. At first, I think people were just hoping for normal back, whatever that is. But they are moving past that now, and questioning if something better might be achievable. I certainly hope so. Nature gives you hope. Before the pandemic, climate change and the environment were still abstract ideas for a lot of us. Sure, we knew there were worries ahead, but it wasn’t easy to envisage the dangers that scientists and others were warning about. Somehow, it’s becoming a whole lot easier now. Thinking about it might never be convenient, but the pandemic wasn’t convenient, and that didn’t do much to stop it changing our world.
If we could articulate our hopes for a post pandemic world in one phrase, what would that be? Surely, between us we could come up with many deep, profound, impactful thoughts, but for today I offer just this simple and sincere wish: ”Safe cycling to all!” Go ponder.
19.05.20 – Darrell Priestley
Yesterday was a good day. A landmark, even. After precisely eight weeks of working exclusively at home, my wife and I returned to work, accompanied by Pip, our pet poodle. He was thrilled, checking all the familiar scent posts along the way; it seems he had really missed them, the way he lingered at each one. On the other hand, in between trees and posts it was like trying to take a tank engine for a walk; but that’s Pip for you!
Inside the building it was very quiet, of course, as we continue to be closed for the present time and were working with the door locked. Truth be told, we rattled around a bit, but still there was a sense of purpose. For the most part, my time was spent teaching in my usual studio again, on one of my favourite pianos, and oh how I had missed it – it was glorious! The light was better for teaching, the sound improved too, and somehow, even though I taught the same students as last Monday, it just felt better. Not as good as teaching in person, admittedly, but still feeling like something of a return to normal, and I was very glad indeed that this was possible.
My wife, Eileen, spent her time at her desk catching up with phone calls, messages, banking, business suppliers, etc. Returning to work after a long break like this feels a little odd, part apprehension, part anticipation, but in the end the feeling was positive. Significantly, one benefit is that we can now draw a line between work and home again, which is something that can get a mite blurred when almost all of one’s existence takes place under just one roof. One more benefit, which I will enjoy while it lasts, is spending evenings off duty at home, much of the time in the garden, now that teaching is concentrated into the daytime for a change.
Many people are understandably missing the office, their friends and colleagues, and some have found it more difficult than others to adapt to home working. Equally though, lots of us have been surprised about how productive we can be in these less than ideal circumstances. My own experience has been an odd mix, being very glad indeed to be able to continue teaching, something which I really enjoy, but missing the immediacy of working live, where you can duet, count, play or clap along in real time with the student’s performance (ie with no delay), or illustrate a point easily with a musical example, or sometimes even just a gesture.
Working from home, it took me a while to find my feet, to get to the point where I felt properly productive in the way I would expect of myself. If I’m honest, I have really missed working with students in person, and communicating has been so much harder than usual. Students process information in such different ways, and in the classroom it seems easier to compensate for this and find ways to help every individual learn in a way that works for them. The challenge presented when teaching online is in trying to ensure that everyone is comfortable, while working in remote locations and in circumstances which are quite unfamiliar. Although only one day in to my return to teaching from the regular studio once more, the experience was uplifting, and maybe just as it has helped me feel better, the familiar background may also have put students more at their ease.
As one of our parents, Kelly, observed, returning to ‘normal’ is all about taking baby steps, and we took one yesterday. As to the future, we very much look forward to welcoming students back to enjoying their lessons at the Northern Music Academy, which will happen when the time is right. In the meantime, I look forward to welcoming my students to lessons where the background, at least, is comfortingly familiar.
16.05.20 – Darrell Priestley
While we while away the hours at home, I’d like to bang a gong for all of you who have been doing fun, kind, imaginative, challenging or other wonderful things to help yourself and the people you care about endure the enforced home leave. Some of the children I teach have been ploughing through a surprising amount of school work their teachers have set them. Meanwhile, parents working from home while simultaneously helping with their childrens’ education have been absolute stars; having to learn to do their own roles remotely, at the same time they have somehow found the capacity to support their children in continued learning, which cannot have been easy, and all this while keeping house and home and trying to make sure that everyone is happy!
It occured to me the other day that, having spent a long career in performing and teaching music, not since my early teens have I ever spent much more than a dozen evenings in a row at home, and only then when on holiday from work to do home based projects like gardening and decorating. Evenings at home have been marvelous, all the better for having previously been so rare. Looking on the bright side, because you have to, we are all fortunate that this event has coincided with a wonderful time of year, with spring in the newly clean and fresh air, sunny days, longer evenings and lighter nights. It would have been much tougher in the depths of winter.
There’s a line from the song ‘Oh What a Beautiful Morning’ from Oklahoma, which goes ”The corn is a high as an elephant’s eye”, and this year I am trying find out if that might be true. On 5th April, I sowed 3 kernals of corn, (Incredible F1 variety), though only two germinated, but my word, they like to please. Watching the corn grow is giving me daily pleasure, and puts me in mind of Jack and his magic beans. I sowed a further dozen kernals exactly 2 weeks ago on 2nd May, all of which germinated, and the largest of which has spurted up 2 inches in the last 24 hours. Awesome! If we are very lucky, we will get to eat home grown corn this year for the first time ever, but even if that doesn’t come about, it will have been such a pleasant distraction.
Wishing you well, and hoping you too will find pleasant things to focus on. We can’t wait until it’s possible to get back together, but as ever the priority for us all right now is staying safe, so we can enjoy the future that this long lockdown was devised to make possible.