During the lock down we have already seen the husband force/convince (whatever you’d call it) the first born to shave his head. This experience ended with the husband also sporting the stubbly bald look, basically because he felt guilty, but now he keeps shaving it. I didn’t realise that this was an actual thing and people all over Facebook are sharing their home version of a buzz cut. Women for their part are home dying (I plan to join them soon) or (as I am now) proudly showing off their black roots and red ends. I also managed to trim the girl’s fringe, to which she shouted “Oww, you cut my eyebrows off!” (I didn’t). The little one, surprisingly, has grown hair. I say ‘surprisingly’ because both the first born and the girl spent their initial two years of life being completely bald (no home shaving involved). The little one now looks like Ralph from The Simpsons, you know the one.
So it’s made me think, what else can we get away with no longer needing to do, shaving? washing? dressing? OK, so maybe not that extreme but the first born would certainly jump on the ‘no washing’ band wagon and the girl loves nothing more than to live in her pajamas. But what sort of stuff is going to change, become the new norm and, hopefully, result in us living a more care free and fulfilled life with loads more time on our hands.
Eyebrows – No more waxing, threading, tinting, plucking and shaving (if the latter is even a thing?) just to stencil the things back onto your face with the objective of looking surprised all day. The same goes for top lips, arms, legs, beards and any other special areas.
Nails – Nails aren’t my thing, I cut them, I don’t file, if I wear polish, it’s black and stays on until it’s just chipped bits, because I can’t find the remover anywhere. My nails grow at the speed of light and I just don’t have the time to sit and shape them or make them look nice, not that I wouldn’t like to do this. The girl likes me to paint her nails, usually with stripes or with each finger a different color. I’ve never known a four year old to have such a large collection of nail varnish. But I understand, from research, which basically means conversations in the kitchen at work, that nice nails are a thing. Apparently, there are places you can visit where you end up with wonderful looking nails, I thought this was just a thing of my dreams (but even saying that it implies to you that I get some form of sleep). I didn’t know there was such a thing as gel polish until I picked up a black one at the chemist last Christmas, it was just sitting in the pound basket which lives next to the till and I’m a sucker for a pound bargain. But what if this lock down results in nails falling off, growing back or becoming natural. What if, because we’ve all been furloughed and don’t have to take nasty calls from customers and clients, we stop biting our nails and what if I find the remover and manage to get this chipped black gel off???
Shopping – I’m not sure about anyone else but so far, I have actually saved a bit of cash during this lock down. I suspect it’s because I am not frequently visiting the cheep stores to stock up on yogurt drops and fruit strings and generally buying shit I don’t need because it looks like a good deal. Nor have I been visiting Greggs or New Look during my lunch hour. Instead I buy a once a week(ish) shop and that’s it. I have adopted a new ‘do I really need it’ mentality and managed to stop myself from purchasing too much crap online. When the lock down is lifted and the shops start to gradually re-open will you be hitting the high street? The latest fashion trends being face masks and blue gloves. Or will you, as I will probably will, only venture out if you absolutely have to? Will the term ‘retail therapy’ mean something completely different in 2021?
Working – My hope is for a better work / life balance for everyone. We know now, from experience, it’s possible to keep the country running, for some time at least, while most people work from home. So I am sure we would cope with a handful of home workers at any one time. So why not take that idea and offer people a little more freedom, let them decide how they can make life work for them. I am sure some expert somewhere would agree that this would have mutual benefits for businesses too. Have a think back to life before lock down. Personally, my (office) work days often consisted of sitting in miles and miles of traffic to make my 15 minute journey to or from the office. The drive would turn into 45-50 minutes of just inching forward and getting annoyed at people who tried to cut in, because really people, we are all in the same traffic jam, can’t you just wait your turn? During this time I would stare out of the window like a zombie and dream of just packing it all up and building a log cabin in the woods, far away from everything. But the days I worked from home, radio on, PJs on, rotating cup of tea to hand I was productive with my work. I achieved house shit during lunch, so it wasn’t waiting for me when I got home and that just made me smile and, I didn’t have the commute. I felt happier and like I just had a better day all around.
Hugging – The media has stated that when we start looking at the exit strategy, when life slowly starts to resume and we start to interact with others we are going to be overly cautious. What does this mean for relationships, friendships and how do we grab a coffee or go for lunch together? Will we be wearing masks? Gloves? Standing two metres apart? How are we actually going to function in a group of people, at meetings, during events? How on earth are people going to enjoy the delights of the hand buzzer thingy the first born got on his birthday?
Caring about others and generally being a nicer person – Because that’s a thing now isn’t it? I mean we say ‘how are you’ and we mean it. I know this whole thing is shit for us all so I’ve made a conscious effort to be nice to others, I no longer just hang up when call center people phone me, I just politely decline whatever they are offering. They don’t need me making their day shit, it probably already is because of this bloody virus and it’s rippling effects. I give the Amazon man a thumbs up instead of hiding and I am making a conscious effort to do small talk with the neighbors. I read a Tweet yesterday about a Mum who got all emotional because a couple let her into the shop before them, she was queuing in the rain with a toddler in the pram and they were just being nice. I got it, I totally understood why she felt the face sting and held back some tears just because someone was nice to her.
Feeling inspirational – This one is for Captain Tom, isn’t he an inspiration to us all? He’s an example of how one person can simply make a huge impact and inspire us all to do something good. He certainly captured the first born’s attention. I’ve never actually seen him watch the BBC News all morning before and I think I suffered slight withdrawal symptoms from not hearing the Chipmunks theme tune on loop. The first born has watched Captain Tom with eager eyes, he’s amazed that this man is 100 years old and that he got a thousand birthday cards. He’s a bit jealous that Tom got a Spitfire flyover and a cake, but he does now know what he wants for his 8th birthday. He doesn’t quite understand what the £30 million is for but he knows this man has done something good, something selfless and he’s now just a really impressed 7 year old.
