CALENDAR CONTEMPT
Anyone else feel their calendar is laughing at them? Back in the olden, pre-lockdown, days I could look at the weeks ahead and see what promises they held. Science Festival events. TradFest gigs. Plays at the Traverse. Matches at Murrayfield. Some appointments and meetings related to my volunteering role. Train times showing when I'd be on my own for a few days. And then our world changed.
On the plus side, I suppose, a load of money winging its way back to my account, refunds for tickets I'll never use. The biggest downside is a bit more obvious. No live entertainment for ... however long it's going to take. Be patient. And the unexpected sideswipe of a calendar that mocks me, telling me about all the things I should have been going to see. I could have deleted them, but they seemed to offer a form of measurement, watching how many events would pass before we could start booking again. But that's about to end. The final notification for the A Play, a Pie and a Pint series flicked up yesterday. On Saturday week the last league game of the season, the big derby match against Glasgow, was due to be played. And that's it. At least my calendar can stop taking the piss after that.
Hardly a big deal, I know, but a trivial illustration of what so many are going through. Packed diaries, be they for work, domestic or leisure purposes, rendered meaningless. Replaced with Zoom meetings, Whatsapp calls, reminders to clap and bang pots, and a sudden fascination with parcel tracking numbers. We have had to alter the patterns of our lives, lower expectations, recalibrate the meaning of achievement.
Change. That's all it is, some of it temporary, some of it more long term - and the uncertainty of not knowing which is which. But human beings are good at change. We can rationalise, replan, manage our lives and adapt. There will be good things as well as bad to come out of this pandemic. We can only hope that our political leaders, and wider society, are able to recognise and embrace the good, and not simply try to return to past practices because "that's how things were done".
That sounded like an upbeat note to end on. Then I remembered we still have Doris over us.... Oh well.
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