Lockdown was an interesting time, it exposed a lot of domestic malfunctions, says musician Vyvienne Long
Kids off school, but not really off school. Everyone working from home and the house suddenly feeling way too small.
Then the sun shone and it was a fantastic spring and early summer and we are lucky enough to live beside a wood and in lockdown the forest trumps the shuttered mall. Sorry to use that word - trumps.
In May, my husband mowed the lawn at the end of the garden, measuring out exactly the dimensions of a Badminton court. So we got good at Badminton, damn good Badminton players now, the lot of us.
The transfer of education to Zoom classes did my head in. This might have been a chance to catch up on some of my own work, but my computer had to be handed over (not my husband's computer). Worse still was that when whatever Zoom class ended, Minecraft Nerf War video game seamlessly began, so for device addiction, as a family, we haven't looked back.
Songwriting pulled me through. When Zoom school ended, I began work on a new song, A Glass of Laughter, commissioned from the Arts Council Covid 19 Award. The sense of purpose I had writing the song far outweighed the monetary incentive, I'm deeply grateful for that.
Immersing yourself in the creation of a new work is the most worthy salvation. I played chords and pulled lyrics until they made sense to me, and then I played and pulled some more, until they lifted my spirits every time I sang them.
So much of 2020 has felt like we are all walking blindfold, fumbling to predict the unpredictable.
The invisible disease gave everyone a platform to judge their neighbour on how well/unwell they were upholding the rules, or how accurately or inaccurately they were predicting the future.
But it gave others a chance to show great imaginative kindnesses as we realised how important the lives of those around us are.
Who knows what will happen. Who knows if the festivals, the live performances, the sporting events that marked our calendars, gave meaning to our lives, separated us, elevated us from the rest of the animal kingdom, will return? We cannot thrive culturally through a Zoom screen, so at some point we've got to emerge from our homes, bleary-eyed but excited to be a fan again.
Vyvienne's new single new single A Glass of Laughter is released on Bandcamp. Listen here
