Holidays in lockdown
How do we take holidays in lockdown? It might seem peculiar, in a time of enforced mass inactivity, to talk of Summer holidays. We don’t want time off work! We need to get back to work…! And yet, old habits die hard: despite the changes, we are advised to keep things as “normal” as possible, our usual yearly activities almost always include a long summer vacation and in less that two weeks, both my husband and my daughter will be “on holiday”.
If we are forced to shelter in place or isolate, how can we enjoy a holiday feeling? I have a few suggestions which you can maybe relate to, and which I hope will soften the blow of a staycation, even if you are yearning to get away.
~ Since holidays are all about being looked after by others, take steps to share the burdens of daily living: routine tasks such as cooking, cleaning and laundry are much more fun when shared. Make a party of it and put on music, dance.
~ Buy a new set of linen and put it on the bed. Freshly laundered sheets always make me feel happier.
~ With our weekly shop, we can experiment with new foods, dishes and meals that take the sweat out of cooking. Eat a main meal at lunchtime instead of in the evening and try out new salads, drinks and prepared foods. Short-cuts can be such a boost.
~ I’ve cleared out my wardrobe again and I’m wearing a lot of the clothes I keep “for special occasions”. If you’re anything like me, the time is fast approaching when that special occasion is right now, this minute. If you need matching gear, order it on-line, and if that is beyond your budget, browse for ideas and accessorise with what you have at home.

~ Clear out cupboards and put together a present box: wrapping papers, celebration bags, ribbons and bows. Recycle the old, well used seasonal stuff that you don’t really like, so that you know, next time you want to wrap a present, it’s all organised tidy for you. Then exchange presents for the season. Small is beautiful.
~ spend more time outdoors in all weathers. There’s no restriction on walking and travelling near home, so let’s spend more time out in the fresh air. It’s such a wonderful time of year.
I’ve been up since the crack of dawn and have already recorded and sent a contribution to The Word Bin, a new audio podcast, “The Word Bin” from Fair Acre Press. Check out the link and have a go, it’s great fun!
Thanks for listening.
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August 31, 2020
“Eat Pray Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert
Fran Macilvey Books I Have Reviewed, Happiness Matters, Making Miracles, Memoir 2 Comments
“Eat Pray Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert
I can totally understand why “Eat Pray Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert has garnered so much attention and a devoted following worldwide. I’m not put off by the cynical reviews, though reading the book, I’m less convinced by the film – which I saw first. I understand film and book as loosely paired, each bright exponents of their own art: the film as very colourful, the book as a very readable exploration of how spirituality can marry well with the best of western values.
“Eat Pray Love” is full of the kind of pithy wisdom that we might collect for ourselves and deploy over a life-time, taking our favourite nuggets with us on our holidays, or into our encounters with difficult people… And it is also an immensely readable story of how one brave woman learned to slough off the trials of her life to find something more rewarding.
If she can manage to do that, so can we. Speaking as one who has spent years in a spiritual quest to understand Why? and who now acknowledges increasingly that Why is not the point: it’s more useful to work out How… it is heartening to notice many of my own suspicions echoed in this volume. I nod, agree “Yes, of course!” and “Oh, so now I understand…” Which is what, for me, makes this book such a gem.
“Eat Pray Love” is well written, and grapples with seeming ease, with abstruse spiritual concepts that would leave many of us floundering. With a seeming effortlessness, Gilbert lays out to view her evidence for a kind, generous all-seeing deity who loves us totally, and would like us to be happy. To argue with that seems churlish.
Rather than write a glowing review and indicate that this book saved my life, I would rather you read it and collect from it what suits you, given where you are now, and where you are going. It’s the kind of tale that will resonate with each of its readers differently, so that will have to be my main recommendation: read it, because it might just be the book you’ve been looking for. If not, then working out the reasons why not, is useful to know.
If I have one quibble, it’s that Ms Gilbert – who has such an amazing array of language she could use – in her heated moments references disability as an insult. I wasn’t really expecting to see it written, so when I saw “spaz” it was a jolt, and to see “spastic” used as a form of abuse was like tasting metal in my mouth. Once, as Lady Bracknell might say, is unfortunate. Twice begins to look like carelessness.
Nevertheless, a book I will keep.
Thanks for reading.
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