Writer and comedian, Paul Kerensa, reflects on lockdown life and how a little light reading might help pass the time …
A message to all readers, writers, copers and fellow pandemic-perseverers. I tick all those boxes too, so this is also a message for me:
Go easy on yourself.
As a freelance writer, I feel I should be using these days to create that weighty pipe-dream of a novel. Or even a small pamphlet.
As a reader, this seems the perfect chance to read those books staring at me from the shelf. The ones waiting for a rainy day. Now it’s a rainy year, and they stay put.
As a stand-up comedian, every gig has cancelled. Three shows a week became three shows a year, and one of those was outside in a car park, the other two at reduced capacity with a scattered crowd. I’m doing online shows to an even more scattered crowd, but it’s not the same. The commute is easier – the traffic between kitchen and webcam is a lot lighter than the M1. So I feel I should be using the time to write full-length touring shows for when the gigs return, or at least a few one-liners. Punchlines can be hard to come by.
As a father, I feel guilty attempting to work when my kids are on a break in home-schooling. Then I help with lessons and feel guilty I’m not working.
I feel guilty that I haven’t fixed that pipe, put up those pictures, done the numerous household jobs on the To Do list for years.
If you can’t get these things done in an enforced lockdown, when can you? But it’s not as simple as that.
Hands up (I’d love it if you actually put your hand up) if the pandemic means you’ve got more time than ever? True for many of us. It could be furlough, unemployment, shielding, retirement that looks different to what you’d planned, or myriad other reasons.
Hands up (go on) if you’ve got less time than ever? Equally true for many of us. Maybe it’s caring for a loved one (or even a tolerated one – it’s been a long year), trying to find work, home-schooling, working longer hours on the frontline... The list goes on.
I ran a poll on Twitter, asking who had more or less time than before. 31% said lockdown life gave them a lot more time than usual, 26% had a little more, 22% had a little less time, and 21% had a lot less. We know how divided our country is going to be after all of ‘this’ – there’s also a division in how we’re experiencing it.
But even if we do have time – to read, write, create – many have struggled to do those things. Lockdown life can lack focus. What use is time, if it’s the wrong time?
So that’s why I say: Go easy on yourself.
If you’re finding it tough, I prescribe:
- Fresh air when you can. Coats are our best invention.
- A wordsearch, maze or Sudoku. Whatever puzzle’s your preference. (Go on then, pass the jigsaw.)
- On TV, watch entertainment only after 9pm. If you want news, series-link the six o’clock bulletin. Huw Edwards is great, but just before bed, have a sitcom (I co-wrote the aptly-named Not Going Out in the first lockdown – but other sitcoms are available).
- Treat yourself.
- Christmas socks. Year-round.
- Find a new book, to start when you feel like it.
- If, like me, you can’t focus, put a book in each room. Hide them, if you have family members who might tidy up. That way when you’re in a reading mood, you can just reach and read whatever’s near.
- Plan your reading, but it’s okay if you’re not racing through War and Peace just now. Little and often (or even little and seldom) is a great place to start.
If you’re of the Christian persuasion, you may or may not have followed a Lent course before. You can follow them in groups, but also individually – and in housebound days, that can be a nice thing to do this season. There are hundreds of Lent courses out there, but let me bang the drum (in a thoroughly biased way) for a range of books to which I’ve contributed.
DLT release a short book each Lent that follows a film. You watch the film, you dwell on it, you read the course, you ponder. You hopefully improve your outlook and philosophy on the world at large. You may discover God, prayer and life as we know it in a new way.
Television is keeping many of us going at the mo, so why not use this time to watch a classic film, then consider what we can learn from it? It’s a nice, user-friendly way to improve our lot. That way, we are creating – maybe not a book or a hobby or the like – but a new improved version of ourselves. That’s a great use of time.
The book I wrote with my wife follows the film Casablanca. It’s called A Beautiful Friendship (that’s not a summary of our marriage), and I’d recommend it for a Lent like this one. I would say that of course, so do Google for reviews not by the author – though I have secretly written many of them.
In your reading time, you may find it tricky to focus on huge magna opera (I’ve checked – that’s the plural instead of magnum opus), so these short books are great to dive into. In an era when somehow we are literally saving lives by staying in and binge-watching boxsets, now and then it’s nice to watch something different than the latest Bake-Off.
Casablanca has themes of self-sacrifice,
love, social commitment and hope: all welcome reminders. Its wartime setting, memorable
dialogue, inspirational characters and nostalgic atmosphere all contribute to it
being a film to treasure. If you’ve never seen it, now could be a great time.
What do we give up for the greater good? How can those defining moments help us be who we are called to be? How do we make those tough decisions? How can we thrive in times of crisis?
Another question I asked on social media: What message would you give to the ‘you’ of early 2020? Most people said ‘Buy shares in Zoom’. But others added...
- Buy a good desk chair
- See your extended family
- Have that holiday now
- When you think ‘I can’t be bothered to go to that pub or party’, go to that pub or party
- Stock up on jigsaws
- Enjoy your local cinema
- Don’t buy that suit. Buy jogging bottoms.
- Take your favourite mug home from the office in February
- Stock up on hugs
- Move to New Zealand (To quote Casablanca, ‘If you don’t get on that plane, you’ll regret it, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon...’)
- Don’t worry
- You’re better prepared for what’s coming that you realise
- Hold on tight
- Hang on in there
So I say it for a third time: Go easy on yourself. Here’s looking at you, kid.
Paul Kerensa has been on the writing teams for Miranda and Not Going Out for all series. As a stand-up comedian he tours the country, has won ITV1’s Take The Mike Award, and performed solo shows for numerous years at Spring Harvest, New Wine and Greenbelt. He and his wife Zoë Young are small group leaders at their church in Guildford.
A Beautiful Friendship: A Lent course based Casablanca is available now in paperback for £5.99.
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