Citylife in Lichfield July and August 2020

Who knew so many people enjoyed baking their own bread? Or
exercising with their family? Or writing novels? 2020 has been
a year of people discovering things about themselves they never would
have. “Running is fun” was not something I thought I’d ever say, maybe
“Running is fundamentally against my principles” or “Running is
funnelling all the life out of my friends” then yes that does sound like
something I would have said in 2019, however it’s become a huge part
of my 2020 coping mechanism.
My wife, in turn, has thrown herself avidly into cooking. When it
became clear that takeaways were about to be an even rarer treat, like
guilt-free birthday cake or silence in a household with children, my wife
made it clear to the universe that if we couldn’t travel physically
internationally we would do it gastronomically. Every mealtime is a
voyage of discovery: Which country are we eating today? At one point
our youngest daughter, a notorious connoisseur of food, requested we
have blander fare, stating that while she enjoyed the regular curries,
stir fry, garlic-infused flatbread and salted caramel chocolate squares,
she wasn’t appreciating them as much as she used to and please could
we just have some sausage and mash or maybe a slice of dry bread.
Our daughters as well have discovered new ways to enlighten
themselves during this time. When presented with the same four walls
our youngest, nearly thirteen, decided to cover them in paintings that
over the last fifteen weeks have gone from something a parent would
wince at, put on the fridge for a week then slip into a bin when
everyone was asleep, claiming ignorance of its location when
48
Honing New Skills in Lockdown
By Chris Purchase
..........................
questioned to
framed pieces we
have replaced art
we paid money for
with.
Finally our eldest
has discovered she
has green thumbs
but not just your
average planting
seeds, watering and
hoping they’ll grow
kind
of
horticulture, no. She looked at the food waste we’d normally take to
the pigs at Heart of the Country and saw a cornucopia of future
ingredients. She took anything that could be regrown, constructed a
hanging garden made from recycled packaging in her window, nurtured
the plants and started providing my wife with home grown ingredients
for her multitude of dining experiments, much to the chagrin of her
little sister.
I know we’re not the only family who have grown through this
incredibly difficult time, I’ve seen you run or ride past my window,
smelled the delicious cooking from my garden and smiled at the
artwork in your front gardens. We may have been very quiet but we’ve
all be very very busy!