I read years ago that if you’re playing the radio or a tape of something you want to learn as you drop off to sleep, you’re more likely to learn and remember it. It’s something to do with the mind being more open and retentive with less distraction and resistance. My students didn’t need encouraging to fall asleep, in fact I think some of them were experimenting with the technique during my lessons. I’ve been listening to podcasts quite a bit, usually while I’ve been washing up, but today, while lying on the settee, I decided to listen to a TED talk about using storytelling to help people with stress. It started off quite interesting but the next thing I knew I was listening to someone playing uillean pipes on a rock on the Isle of Skye. I’m not sure how many podcasts I’d slept through.
The tendency to fall asleep is the one factor that has militated against my becoming the most learned and widely read of scholars. I invariably fall asleep reading and in front of the TV. I even fell asleep for a few moments watching David Tennant play Richard II at Stratford. Sometimes, especially in this dull grey weather I want to go to bed and wake up when all this Covid disruption is over; in fact I thought at the beginning I would quietly doze 12 weeks away contentedly festering in an armchair. However I often compose this blog at 3am or when still half asleep in the morning, which could be any time before midday.
The sub-conscious, I’ve always found, can be a potent cauldron for fermenting ideas. However acting unconsciously can be worrying. Deirdre may become the first person to catch the Coronavirus from a Barbie Doll. She was so reluctant to buy such a grotesquely pink princessy thing for her great niece, that she unwrapped it in despair after delivery without a thought for sanitization. This could have severe repercussions as the horrible simpering thing probably came straight from Wu Hun and at this very moment might be infecting the cellar where she has been interred. Of all the research findings to emerge so far, nothing has demonstrated that Barbie Dolls can’t be asymptomatic carriers. I had suggested we get the 3 year old an Action Man, but was informed in no uncertain terms that he would be rejected. It’s amazing how that little bit of extra plastic discreetly positioned can have such a remarkable effect.
I have a lot to look forward to today now the rain has eased off. I have an expedition planned to the greenhouse to water the tomatoes, then I will perambulate around the block watching the sky carefully and nodding to acquaintances, then we will go to Sainsbury’s car park to collect what we have clicked. All in one day – it’s simply too much! The rain makes everything shrink, not just our jeans and T-shirts but our world and our expectations. Earlier this morning we were home-schooling, admiring the constellations, naming stars and measuring temperatures and distances in multiples of billions and traversing Ursa Major; this time last year we were planning our trip to Peru; this time this year I am plotting a route up Chapel Lane, Bennett’s Lane and thence home and agonising about what to wear.
Skip on three hours and I have left a trail of conversations which are a microcosm of the lockdown experience. Walking routes featured; grandchildren and how they’re coping were discussed. Elsewhere it was supply chains and the difficulty of acquiring building materials, especially plaster. There was the guy who having had an enforced lay off from work rather enjoyed his taste of retirement and will be henceforth reconsidering his working status. Then was a reflection that the money that was in our wallets 12 weeks ago is still there and the imminent demise of the cash economy. So there you have lockdown in a nut-shell: physiological, sociological and economic. I expect soon news reporters will be going to the inevitable market traders for their ‘man in the street’ interviews to ask their opinions on everything from epidemiology to the potential liquidation of 2nd Division Football Clubs. Why watch ‘Newsnight’ to gain a perspective on lockdown when you can simply wander around Crich. Or you can read this blog!
Another good indicator of the societal implications of lockdown is to note the number of skips outside houses and to examine their contents. I saw construction skips containing masonry, tiles and rotten roof beams. I saw horticultural skips containing rocks, stones, top soil and tree roots. I saw domestic skips containing cupboards, mattresses, old toy tractors an old barbecue and a car steering wheel.
I can’t believe I have just written this last paragraph! Chapel Lane, Bennett’s Lane and home – there are those who would say I’ve lost my way.