Has it?
Ended, I mean. My 2020 started with an almost full year of sits booked or in the process. One by tearful one have bitten the proverbial dust. Emotionally, if not physically, painful. Does your world look anything like my world? Has your world changed?
The last few months enforced inactivity may have altered perceptions as to what is, or is not, normal.
Mind you, I have always wanted an excuse to ask visitors to don overshoes, so rather too enthusiastically have pinned a ‘covid-19 precautions taken here’ notice to my front door. I also long wanted to wear a traffic pollution minimising mask, but didn’t want to look the odd-one out. Well, that’s another box ticked until cleaner air becomes the norm – but I’m not holding my breath. Perhaps the human race needs to go back to the beginning and start again?
Or simply alter our trajectory as per http://www.lowimpact.org ?
Low impact living is a concept that I can fully endorse and encourage. One of my more discreet hobbies is to find creative ways to save on utilities – water, gas, electric – in ways that don’t leave me a dehydrated, cold, skeletal pile of dirty rags in the corner.
A girl can be only so keen.
With regards to water consumption, I already use ex-dish wash water on the garden etc so casting round for further inspiration, I spy the garden water butts. Ha! shower material? Sadly, the creativity became as dry as the butts since the wall-to-wall lockdown, blue sky has reduced the contents to dust in the bottom. Painful.
Nurturing the veg.patch had been my number one lockdown activity (watching the blackbirds fledge was number two: no, I didn’t get out much, but perhaps that’s because I’m not famous. Yet.) so that’s where the water went, plus some more from the taps when the butts ran out.
The latest bill has laughed in the face of my herculean efforts. (I wonder if Hercules minds being reduced to an adjective? muse over.) Suffice it to say, the electricity (for the fan) and gas (comfort eating) went the same way, although buying a pair of ethically sourced cashmere fingerless gloves over the winter months had been an attempt to reduce heating use. The meagre savings were more than overtaken by the price of the gloves [sigh].
So with house and pet sitting on hold for a variety of reasons – well, one, mainly – I am still trying to find ways to tilt the world back onto its axis. Where’s Hercules when I need him?
Stay safe, peeps.