Baking madness

Whether you nurtured your own Sourdough starter or made a 1000 loaves of banana bread, lockdown was certainly the time people got their cook on. From virtual pasta making classes to trying out new recipes that previously seemed too much effort, lockdown was the perfect time to turn that meal for one into a meal for fun.

Fixer-upper

Lockdown was likely the longest time we had spent in our houses for a while. And with that comes the inevitable realisation that certain things about your home have been happily neglected for years. But one thing we weren’t short of was time, so people spent that time turning their tired looking furniture and overgrown gardens into creations they could be proud of. Whether you ditched the old for an IKEA upgrade, or turned that one piece of furniture that never fit with the rest of your ensemble into your new favourite statement piece, people certainly gave their creativity a workout.

Keep it moving

Lockdown fatigue did not take long to set in. After weeks of baking and supporting local takeaways, it was only a matter of time before online workouts became the thing to do once those lockdown pounds became hard to ignore. Whether you joined Joe Wicks online or de-stressed with some virtual yoga, working out at home is likely to be something we carry into a post-covid future.

Learning something new

People ran out of things to do pretty quickly during the first lockdown, as there is only so much banana bread a person can make. Luckily for us, online courses and masterclasses were abundant to keep people entertained and to get them expanding their skill set. From masterclasses with the likes of Margaret Atwood to learning new languages and calligraphy classes, lockdown meant there were no excuses to further put off all the things we’ve always wanted to try but didn’t have the time for.

Please don’t stop the music

Not being able to go to live events was certainly a hard pill for some to swallow. Luckily, artists felt your pain and came together to spread the love of music by putting on online concerts with the likes of Apple and Amazon. It may not have been the same, but with some of the modern greats like Billie Eilish and Megan Thee Stallion jumping on the bandwagon, it certainly made for a nice change of pace from blaring out your Spotify from your free Google Home Nest Mini.

Reconnect

Lockdown wasn’t all about learning new languages, baking and watching straight to TV movies. Some of us took this time to perform some much-needed self-care and reconnect to ourselves or loved ones. Lockdown, in many ways, gifted us with the time that we don’t usually have to do the things that matter, and people took well-deserved advantage of that. Whether you turned off your phone for a day to gain some perspective, reached out to family and friends or pampered yourself silly with a gross amount of online deliveries, it’s important that when things go back to normal, we still make time to do all those things.

The show must go on

Volunteer a hand

Whether you virtually befriended an older person or joined the NHS Volunteer Responders, many Britons used this time to give back to those who were most in need. Organisations were grateful for the extra manpower to help some of the most vulnerable groups in society – like the homeless – be as comfortable and looked after as they possibly could in such a troubling and uncertain situation. For those who did volunteer, it was certainly time well spent.

Woke foot forward

Being trapped in the house during lockdown, whilst bearing witness to some momentous events, at times made being online undoubtedly overwhelming. However, instead of getting lost in the black hole that is Twitter, or being triggered by images on Instagram, people decided to separate themselves from the noise and take the time to educate themselves. Whether you boned up on matters like race, mental health or trans rights and tribulations, people made themselves more aware of current societal issues to show solidarity to those suffering.

Zoom the night away

From quiz nights to parties to merely catching up with friends and family over a glass of red,  Zoom certainly helped fill the bar-shaped hole in our hearts for nights of fun, friends, and alcohol. For those of us working from home, we may have found that we were spending whole days on the platform, but once you got over that Zoom fatigue, it was a great way to feel connected to those we were socially distancing from when we wished they could be there with us.