Love in the time of COVID-19 – Part Deux

Working from home with a small kid

I’ll keep this super-short because if you’re currently working from home with a small kid (WFHWASK) you don’t have time to read anything long. In what follows I am mainly addressing my fellow WFHWASKers.

Here’s a good, upbeat place to start: well done, you’re doing great, and when this is over you’ll look back and see you had an opportunity to spend time with your kid/s that most working parents never get. When this is in the past, you’ll cherish your rose-tinted memories of this time. And even now, when in it’s in the present, there will be moments of pure joy. For me, one such moment was hearing my four-year-old daughter presenting a strong case for why we should only listen to the songs she wants to listen to: “because when I was in mummy’s tummy you chose all the music.”

Today is the start of the fourth week of my wife and I WFHWASKing, and I’m watching suspiciously to see what this week’s “phase” will look like. Here’s how it’s gone so far: week one was “@$?%*^&! there’s no way we can do this, I’m so tired!!!”, week two was “ok we’re starting to figure out a routine here, maybe we can survive this,” and week three was “how long are we going to have to keep inventing new activities for her?”

One reason I have it good: my wife is amazing, and we have now accumulated enough years of parenting experience to know some of the tricks.

Another reason I have it good: my colleagues have been fantastic. Really, really fantastic. I hear lots of stories about people whose colleagues and managers have not been so fantastic. So I’ll conclude with some half-joking, half-serious advice to colleagues of WFHWASKers.

1. Don’t say “I hope you’ve got a garden for her to play in, at least,” because the answer might be “no, we don’t.”
2. Don’t say “I remember when my children were that age,” because when your children were that age we weren’t all stuck at home 24/7.
3. Don’t say “Others have got it worse,” because we know that.
4. Do say “Read the HR guidance, do what you need to do to look after yourself, and I’m here if you want to talk about it.”

Stay safe and good luck! And I’m here if you want to talk about it!

A response to a friend

Thanks for sending your piece of writing. At first I wasn’t sure how to respond but now I have decided to respond with a piece of writing of my own. Unintentionally, my piece of writing has also been prepared in slightly similar circumstances to yours: I woke at 3am and couldn’t get back to sleep, and here I am at 4am, writing this.

I don’t want to second-guess your reasons for writing and sending your piece, but I think it’s worth noting that you haven’t sent something like this in the past, and that the current situation we are all in is extremely – unprecedentedly – weird and strange. I think we’re all trying to make sense of it, and are doing so in circumstances that push us to face and live with what is within us. Me writing this to you, right now, is part of the process of me trying to make sense of this time we’re living in, and it’s the fourth written attempt I am making to process my thoughts.

The first written attempt was an email I sent to about 5 anthropologists I know, and in that email I tried to argue that COVID-19 is like an anthropologist in the sense that it makes us re-consider our taken-for-granted everyday behaviours and ways of seeing things. (I also wrote that COVID-19 is not like an anthropologist because anthropologists don’t tend to kill people, and no one pays any attention to what anthropologists say or do. I didn’t get much of a response to my email.)

The second written attempt was a journal I started writing (it’s on my blog, which effectively means I’m probably the only person who has read it). From conversations with friends and things I’ve read, I think a lot of people have started some kind of COVID-19 journal. A very clear, strong impulse drove me to start writing the journal and then at a certain point, after about two and a half weeks of self-isolation, the impulse faltered and I became unclear about why I was writing it, and stopped. My third written attempt was a blogpost I wrote for my organisation’s intranet about the challenges of working from home while looking after a young child. I’m glad I wrote that piece, as I know it helped me get a clearer sense of the life I’m living right now.

All that I have written so far, here, is me trying to say: I don’t know why you wrote what you did, but the current situation has driven me to write, too. One last thing I want to write before commenting on your piece of writing is that the impulse that drove me to pick up my laptop and write this to you now came from reading The Left Hand of Darkness, which has been my main COVID-19 reading.

It’s not a novel about COVID-19, but there is something in it that resonates with the experience of self-isolation. The main character is an envoy, representing his civilization, his organisation, on an alien world. He is among people but isolated because he is the only one among them from a different world. At a later point in the book, the part I am reading now, he and one of the aliens are traveling on foot across the icy polar region at the northern extreme of the world. What struck me about this part of the book, as I read it just now, is the characters’ constant watchfulness: over their food supplies, their energy and health, their direction of travel, and their relationship. Because one false move in any of these areas could mean the difference between life and death in the extremely hostile environment they are in.

Without wanting to sound melodramatic, there is some similarity with what all of us are living through with COVID-19.

Vertical gardening – pea frame

Recording my lofi album

The following is a distraction from the daily reality of social isolation. Also a creative outlet.

Taking far too long to understand what lofi is

https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:cc84039c-3d30-484e-84b4-8535ba4a54f8/download_file?safe_filename=AHarper%2B-%2BLo-Fi%2BAesthetics%2BThesis.pdf&file_format=application%2Fpdf&type_of_work=Thesis

Pavement were merely the revenge of those who never had more than tuppence to scrape together to visit recording studios, who wallow in the strange, distorted shapes their music consequently throws up, freed – if only by circumstances – from the restraints of chart complacency. True 1993c, cited on page 288

Wasting additional time reading around the subject

https://academy.izi.travel/help/production/prosessing-audio-files/

How to Send a Killer Email to Anyone in the Music Industry

Getting stuff on bandcamp

All you need is love… and a band name, some audio files in the right format, and some image files the right size.

https://www.zamzar.com for converting music files into the format required by bandcamp

Image: In the Preview app on your Mac, open the file you want to change. Choose Tools > Adjust Size, then select “Resample image”. Enter a smaller value in the Resolution field. The new size is shown at the bottom.

And finally…

Hey presto, a lofi singer-songwriter is born: https://fish-in-venice.bandcamp.com

 

Travels in Eco-land: Naked Larder

Saturday was my third trip to Naked Larder. I try to make it an adventure for my young daughter. At Herne Hill station we go through the ‘underground tunnel’ and then the ‘secret passage’ (under Academic House) before turning to head up the hill, then left on Kestrel Avenue (what a great name for a road) and ‘look for the glove on the gate’. And before we even get to the shed there’s the mystery of the ‘treehouse’ with no tree and no ladder, always prompting the question “how do we get up?”

My wife discovered Naked Larder, not me. I got sent there on the first trip with our daughter, a print-out of our order (made by my wife), and a selection of tupperware and some pillow cases. Gazed round in wonder at all the boxes, and quickly realised that filling up our containers could be easily turned into a game.

I could explain what Naked Larder is, but their website does it better than I could: “We buy dry goods and eco-friendly cleaning products in bulk to minimise packaging and reduce cost. Our customers collect their orders using their own reusable containers. Join us in our quest to create a brighter future for our planet.” Do I feel virtuous as I leave with my coffee beans, bread flour, oats, rice and sugar? Of course I do. I also feel hopeful.

Gig 3: Hope and Anchor, 27/9/19

My band Sea Noise played its third gig on Friday at the Hope and Anchor in Islington, courtesy of Dead Or Alive promoters. Some of the other bands on the bill for the night were really fantastic, my favourite being Sanchez Vs. Fighter Pilot, who played before us and brought a huge amount of energy into the room. Also loved the Patti Smith-PJ Harvey-esque vocals in the grunge band who played after us, but didn’t catch their name.

And finally, for what it’s worth, hats off to whoever was in charge of the playlist in the bar on the ground floor of the pub. After our set, and after a few more beers, this genius knocked us over by playing several tracks by IDLES and then launching into cheesy 80s synth pop. Visionary.

The tragedy of yeast

Writing with brevity on a Monday morning (there is work to be done, to be done) while yesterday’s wholemeal bakes. About 10 000 years after mankind started cultivating wheat, and 7 months after I started baking bread, I attended E5 Bakehouse’s Advanced Sourdough course, yesterday.

For me, key take-home messages included lessons on stretch-and-fold techniques (“the straitjacket” being my favourite), warnings about the unreasonable expectations and aspirations that follow from the popularity of “crumb shots” (that’s a real thing) on Instagram, and explanations of the relationships between time, different types of acid, strength of gluten networks and flavour.

Other take-homes included two loaves and a flatbread we crafted and baked during the day, the wholemeal loaf currently in my oven, and an E5 starter which is 200 years old or a million years old, depending on who you ask.

I’m really grateful to Lizzie and Kate for their expertise and enthusiasm, and impressed by their ability to remain poker-faced as two participants (one of two mother-and-daughter duos on the course) collapsed into fits of giggles during the afternoon as we pondered the sad fate of yeast in a starter that isn’t properly cared for.

I’m also really grateful to my wife, who gave the course to me as an anniversary gift. It was the perfect anniversary gift for me.

The unusual shape of the wholemeal loaf below is a result of misadventures on my journey home.

 

So long, 2018

Some yummies

https://www.themediterraneandish.com/mediterranean-three-bean-salad-recipe/

http://allthatsplatters.blogspot.com/2009/05/pasta-with-walnut-sauce.html?m=1

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/12/squash-pumpkin-recipes-yotam-ottolenghi-gnocchi-braised-mash-butternut-coquina-queen?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Pasta e broccoli

Cabbage With Peas (Bund Gobi And Mater)

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/videos/techniques/how-make-pizza

 

 

 

 

Street jam #1

Friday 6 July, 6pm-10pm, CL and me, guitar, trumpet, tin whistle and a copy of the Buskers’ Code. We start at Founders Arms near Blackfriars Bridge. Discuss possible locations. Agree that on a scale of exhibitionism between 0 and 10 we’re probably looking for a 5.

We set up between Founders Arms and Bankside Gallery. I knock over my beer. After 10 seconds of playing a resident tells us to shut up.

Fortunately, a passing musician tells us about a formal busking site by the river near the Tate Modern. Unfortunately, there’s a guy setting up his guitar amp there when we walk by.

We toy with the idea of setting up outside the Globe theatre. Which is an open air theatre. So no.

We set up under Southwark Bridge. Great acoustics for unplugged playing. We play one song before a guy tells us we can’t play there. He’s a Hungarian musician with years of busking experience. Apparently he had this location booked until 7.30 and someone else has it from 7.30 onwards. When the new person arrives we move on.

Opposite the entrance to Southwark Cathedral, which is flying a LGBT Pride flag, is a large block of rock that provides us with a seat, a gap between two office buildings that gives a breeze from the river, and an appreciative audience in the form of customers at the Mudlark pub and passers-by, which facilitates level 5 exhibitionism. In the opinion of our audience, the highlight of our set appears to be an extended freestyle reggae interpretation of the outro of “Demon Cleaner” by Kyuss, featuring CL on trumpet and vocals (but not simultaneously).

On the way back to Blackfriars we tip our Hungarian mentor, who is back in the Southwark Bridge spot playing bassoon with a friend on trumpet.

 

 

Garden Buildings Direct Sales Rep lied to me about FSC Certification

So I’m buying a wooden garden shed, because I’ve reached that stage of life where one buys a wooden shed. I want it to be made from timber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. I know FSC Certification is not perfect or a panacea for what humans are doing to forests (and their inhabitants) across the world. But I think it probably still makes sense to buy FSC Certified timber where possible.

I saw a shed I liked, for sale by Garden Buildings Direct, a brand name of Kybotech Ltd. On their website it doesn’t mention FSC Certification so I called them to ask. Their Sales Rep (based in the Philippines) told me they are FSC Certified. The FSC website disagrees:

I then tried to ask the same question in their online customer support chat, and got no answer:

Garden Buildings Direct/Kybotech Ltd. aren’t getting my money. I bought from ShedsDirect.co.uk instead.

(Apologies for the poor quality photos.)

Incidentally, there is an organisation called What Shed? that reviews companies that sell garden sheds. Niche market, right? Which would make you think that their reviews would comment on aspects that are specific to sheds, which are almost always made from wood. But reviews by What Shed? make no mention of FSC Certification at all. Here is their review for Garden Buildings Direct, which is very positive.

Coincidentally, today I also got a quote for repairing sash windows. I asked if the wood used was FSC Certified. The guy giving me the quote said “Now you’re getting all technical on me. What’s FSC?”

Finally, here are some thoughts on this story, shared by a friend on Facebook (where I posted a link to this blogpost):

i’m loving this: As one of the largest manufacturing company’s in this sector they [Garden Buildings Direct] are a specialist in selling high volumes of products at very competitive prices. As such please take this into account when dealing with them. By this we mean they are very focused on a lean operation so they have a company owned customer service center in the Philippians [???] and they offer many options to help you customise your building to the specification that is right for your budget. As such if you are expecting the level of customer service and product quality you would expect from Roles Royce all from a UK based call center then this company might not be right for you.

so basically, please stop having Rolls Royce level expectations from uneducated, third-world folk…. also according to the reviewers “On this page you should find everything you could ever possibly want to know about Garden Buildings Direct”
ergo, FSCs are not the sort of thing you need to know about before buying a shed.

I replied:

Or, alternatively, “On this page you should find everything you could ever possibly want to know about Garden Buildings Direct” means “We are assuming you want to be as happy as possible with the product you buy. We are also assuming that if you know that their FSC certification has been suspended, you will be less happy than if you don’t know this. Therefore, logically, this is not something you could possibly want to know about the manufacturer. So we won’t tell you.”

The moral of the story: don’t go round making assumptions.