I’ve been delaying my lockdown experience blog-entry for a while, to the point that I’ve been in two continents by now, three countries (four if you count the layover) and I keep pushing it because I am tired of the screen-time but I think that London deserves a first piece as it adopted me for four months at the beginning of this crazy times.
Facebook actually reminded me that it’s been a whole year since the day I landed in London, I have some photos of a sushi date with a lovely view… London was still “open” and Seamus had met me outside Liverpool train station and after sushi we headed to the Howl. We were sure London was going to “KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON” but five days later, London lockdown happened and it was just sooooo freaking bizarre.
As anyone, I feared for my job situation. I was wondering how I was going to be able to stay, what was going to happen with my project? ‘Don’t worry’ I said to myself, ‘your contract is up until July 2021 anyway’ but my visa wasn’t. My visa has to be renewed every year and EVERY OFFICE WAS CLOSED. What if I couldn’t go back to Ireland in time? To top up my panic, my UK visa was going to expire in May 2020! All sort of thoughts crossed my mind, even the idea of me going back to Ecuador with an uncertain future. That was the last thing I wanted to do but couldn’t rule out any possibilities. However, what I could do was to TRUST MY GUT, which I did, and I stayed calmed (not all the time but boy I made an effort!).
Luckily, we had a place to stay with good internet connection, lovely coffee around the corner and a canal to walk through and look at dogs as a daily routine for the first month. Within that first month we also had COVID, but I won’t get into details and I’ll just say that I don’t want to feed the panic because from my point of view, panic was bigger than the virus itself and I did not let it hit us and a massive part of our recovery was that, to just stay calm.
From the second month we moved to another place, with a great coffee place too that was right in front of us and whose staff then became “my friends”. It was like saying hi to the security guard at the Western Gateway Building, part of the routine I had created to feel more normal. That place also had a tube station right below us so I quickly got used to the noise and different characters around.
Four months in London showed me levels of patience I never thought I had, skills that I never knew I would need and resilience in so many ways. This latter is the most important, witnessing how people were getting creative to keep the lights on was the best part and creating a routine out of a lockdown was my biggest accomplishment.
I’ve got to admit that my levels of patience weren’t always the great, from refreshing the Government websites every day, almost every hour to check that my visa had been automatically extended to waiting in the Howl for Seamus to finish his shift or a meeting he was having for the sake of the Howl were challenges that I am grateful for. In the meantime, I had things to talk about to people, explaining my situation, listening to the new ideas for the Howl, listening to others’ stories too were my favourite part but I thought I wasn’t doing enough so I decided to help the Howl, asked the girls to show me how to pour a pint and make some cocktails and for the last month or two I also had my shifts at the Howl. I’m super proud of that because I can barely make tea haha just ask Seamus how I almost killed him with a raw piece of chicken… that is also part of my London lockdown experience but I try to focus on the positive.
Anyway, pouring a pint and using the till were skills I never knew I would need and it’s not like I needed them but I needed them, if you know what I mean… for my own wellbeing, for my own will to find something to do on the weekends while Seamus was working, I wanted to do something too and helping out was the best idea and thank God it worked (not like the chicken situation) and thank God for the girls’ patience too and for their stories and support but most importantly for making me feel I was one of them.
After the reopening of the pubs in London on July 4th, I had a couple of lovely days and nights at the Howl garden but I needed to go back to Ireland, had to go back home to renew my visa and I also felt that my time in London was up, at least for the lockdown thing… Only a few days passed and then Seamus joined me, my visa was renewed, my birthday was celebrated in the middle of an Irish summer with open pubs too and we found a new and warmer place near the university and a block away from Blue & Harley (the pups I walk and love so much).
Things were going great until they weren’t… Lockdown in Christmas sucked but my spirit was up anyway, I mean it was Christmas for f*ck’s sake so I’ll just save Lockdown 2 for my next blog-entry. It includes a broken ankle, a Squat squad, London at its lowest (with not even take-away pints), Africa at its finest with safaris, beach and who knows?! Maybe a St. Patrick’s day celebration in the Indian Ocean.
Stay tuned… cuz I couldn’t stay home.
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