Lockdown isn’t all about work though it sometimes feels that that is the way I have framed it because that is one obvious affect on me. However, because I am working from home I no longer have to commute on a crowded train, and I gain two hours in the day to use as a please. Right from the beginning I committed to getting up at the same time that I would do if I was going to work. This means I am starting work earlier, and finishing earlier! Eventually I integrated a morning walk into this pattern as I was missing the fresh air and exercise that I would get walking to the station. Most morning I now walk up the lane behind our house that leads to a farm at the top of the hill. I stop about halfway up, and if the weather is clear I can see across to Devon, and get a smidge of a sea view, I also get to hear skylarks and can pretend I am on holiday walking across moorlands looking for ancient sites.
Some of the extra time I have gained I have used in having fun painting. Over the last ten years I visited 50 stone circles. I am trying to write up these visits into some kind of book, but I also decided that it would be fun to produce some little painted sketches of these sites. I did sketch them at the time of my visits – very rough and ready images – along with lots of photographs. Now I am experimenting with paints to see how I can illustrate them (mostly just for myself!). They might not be masterpieces but I have fun painting and listening to podcasts at the same time.
