Covid-19 Lockdown: Day 11

I don’t know about you, but I’m battling to control my involuntary shuffles to the fridge during the day. I’m frequently finding myself staring in there for things to eat almost as if junk food will magically materialize if I open it enough times.

To be completely honest the only thing I indulge in is chocolate. I eat a lot of it and when I pms a slab of chocolate can become a meal. I pulled this stunt last week for two days and now we’re almost two weeks into lockdown and I feel like a giant marshmallow. Also I don’t know if my mind is playing tricks on me but I feel like my butt is expanding. Paranoia made me pedal on the indoor trainer for two hours today until I was comfortable with the amount of calories I burnt. I also watched Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and cried for my mother a little bit. Tomorrow I will video call her.

Afterwards I made a really healthy smoothie to self-soothe. I also decided to bake a batch of healthy gluten-free cookies for tea time instead of treating myself to pancakes or flapjacks.

While I was baking my front door was open and my neighbor went outside for a walk to the bin. We had a short conversation - two meters apart of course - and he shared a beautiful story about his ex-wife and him decided to get back together. I couldn’t help but wonder whether this lockdown is making people introspect and appreciate their friends and family a bit more.

Anyway I ate leftovers today I didn’t have to cook so I gravitated towards my couch after lunchtime and have stayed there and read all day until supper.

Last week I finished Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - a Nigerian author who’s poetic style of writing excites me. This week I’m reading The Keeper by Marguerite Poland. It’s equally as good but the styles of writing ignite very different responses. Adichie writes with raw emotion that makes me almost smell the streets of Lagos. Poland’s writing on the other hand challenges me and I sometimes have to re-read paragraphs because some of the details of her characters and their decisions are abstract. It can get exhausting and I last felt like this when I read her historical 1993 offering, Shades.

After supper I watched another movie called Juliet, Naked. I loved it so much. I loved my day. I will break my 24-hour news ban when I wake up and start preparing for work on Wednesday. Right now though I am appreciating the fact that I could rest and be as lazy as I wanted to without any deadlines.