From baking botched banana breads to finding household items to polish and shine for no reason whatsoever - it seemed I suddenly had time to do it all, says RTÉ One's Nationwide and News presenter Zainab Boladale
I've probably seen every Sci-Fi film out there thanks to the lockdown days. From baking botched banana breads to finding household items to polish and shine for no reason whatsoever - it seemed I suddenly had time to do it all.
March started out as a month of new beginnings. My partner and I had just made the decision to live without housemates, and as we were making the move into our small apartment (which took forever to find), there were already talks of Ireland going into a potential lockdown.
By the end of our first week in our new place, the decision had been finalised by the government. I could not have imagined that I would be spending much of my lockdown really.. really.. really.. making myself at home. So what did I get up to? I wish I could say I spent lockdown learning new hobbies and discovering new talents.
As Nationwide was still ploughing on, I had work surrounding the programme to keep me busy and sane. We had a bank of Nationwide stories that had yet to air, which I think definitely helped the team adjust to the sudden filming restrictions put in place to protect us and the people we go out to meet.
The days felt longer without my routine of getting ready to leave the house, to then catch a bus back and forth to the RTÉ Campus. Those early lockdown days forcefully made me slow down as the realisation came that this would be a long term reality.
By the time April rolled around, my partner and I were feeling a bit blue as we were supposed to spend the Easter weekend in Bulgaria and we had spent prior months feeling excited to spend half of May in Argentina. Of course, neither trips happened. As upset as we were, we both knew our safety and the safety of those around us has to come first.
There came a point where I was like, "OK girl, let’s do something fun with this all of this extra time".And as any true Gen Z would, I joined the TikTok world. Let me tell you something, some of the dance moves TikTokers do are far from easy, and then you have the added labour of having to look cool doing it? I tried... and then quickly pivoted to just making videos about makeup, food and generally just things I find interesting.
The extra time at home gave me freedom to explore the things I forgot I enjoyed. I decorated our apartment in budget-friendly ways - this was when the online shopping phase kicked in. At some point, the excitement of seeing parcels arrive was the highlight of my day.
I spent a lot of time cooking, mostly Nigerian food. Nigerian dishes can be time-consuming but during lockdown a pot of Jollof Rice and a tray of Meat Pies were stirred up with love and patience in my kitchen!
Audio books, physical books and podcasts also brought me great joy. What I mostly listened to is the The Receipts podcast, a comedic #Nofilter girl talk show with a slight 'agony aunt' twist. As for books, I usually read thriller, mystery and Sci-Fi books but what I did like about Girl, Woman, Other is that it's probably the first book I’ve read that not only showcases different types of black (British) women with different roots but also acknowledges black women in the context of gender and sexuality.
Even though I found an umpteen amount of ways to keep myself entertained, I greatly missed my family who are based in Clare. My sister who usually lives in Dublin, she’s studying in IADT, had to move back when colleges shut down. And my younger brother who’s 12 was also feeling sad about suddenly not being able to see friends - so I sent him books and baking decorations as it’s something he loves to do.
Lots of text and calls went back and forth between me and my family and friends.
I think I really realised the importance of checking on the people you love during a time like this. When the world feels like it’s turning upside down, it’s important to have people who ground you to talk to.
Listen to Rick O'Shea's recent interview with author Bernardine Evaristo on Shelf Life here
