Voices from The Coronavirus: Isolation through poetry, gardening and meticulous planning

Maurice Spillane is a poet living in Liddington. He has several books published. His background was in the software sector as an entrepreneur until he semi-retired. In recent years he has been a mentor to young entrepreneurs who he’s in contact with regularly during this crisis. His wife, Fiona, is a leadership consultant and coach. Fiona’s clients are all on hold because of the virus. Between them they have five children and eight grandchildren living in England, Ireland and Belgium. This is his voice.

I was up early for a run this morning, couldn’t sleep, and lying in bed awake is debilitating. It was a beautiful morning and I’d the fields and roads to myself. On the way back my Labrador, Rocky, came along with fur in his mouth. I freaked, thought it was a rat, told him to drop it. A little bundle fell to the ground and started to hop away, a baby rabbit. Poor thing, it must have been scared silly, but it was ok. So that’s a story and I thought: “This might be the highlight of my day.”

That’s what self-isolating does to us. It would’ve been a story anyway but because there is so little interaction it might turn out to be the only story. Saying: “How was your day?” could get the rebuff: “Same as yours. We ate together, read the same newspaper, worked in the garden metres from each other, saw nobody, spoke to nobody, went nowhere. What do you mean how was my day?”

A few weeks like that and the divorce courts will have boomtime. To save our marriage my wife and I vary our day. I look after the vegetable garden and she, who knows the Latin name of every plant, focuses on the flower beds. Weeding, composting, sowing seeds needs to be done in these weeks anyway, but this year there’s been robust discussion on planning. My wife can visualise a flower bed over a year of matching colours, rotating blooms, coloured stems. She’s extended the seasons both ways so even in winter it looks great.

I’ve caught up with her and have done the same this season. I made drawings of the vegetable beds and planned, rotated from summer and autumn glut to what’ll be available through next winter. Planning is possible because I’ve the time.

I’ve also taken on tasks which have been on lists for years. I nicked pallets from a local building site where they were destined for burning and made three compost areas. Three!! I’m getting so picky about composting that my wife said yesterday: “Bugger off, I can still make a salad out of those leaves.”

I sawed all the wood around the place and made a spectacular log store. There should be photo competitions for log stores. I envisage separate categories for round and split logs and one for “others”: chair legs, tables, furniture.

I set aside time every day to write. I finished a play recently and circulated it to our kids and friends. I asked for feedback but not everyone read it which was disappointing until I was scolded by one daughter: “Dad, do you have any idea what it’s like being isolated with a husband and young children?” Oops! Another daughter loved it but said it failed the Bechdel Test. I had to look it up. It’s a measure of women in fiction that asks whether a work features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. That required a bit of a re-write.

Then comes evening, which means Zoom chats with family or friends, always liberating.

We’re of one mind on film, though Netflix’s catalogue is dated. There’s a grump right there. If anyone in self-isolation wants to recommend good movies, I’d appreciate it.

 

Swindon Link is calling on its readers to write to us about their experiences for our campaign called 'Voices from The Coronavirus'. The idea is that we can share our experiences underlining that none of us are alone.

We want to hear from you from whatever walk of life you come from to hear how you are dealing with this new reality. Everybody has a story to share from keyworkers to teenagers. It doesn't matter what your writing ability is, the whole point of this is to make sure every voice is heard so that people don't feel that they are battling this alone. We will try to publish your story on our website no matter who you are.

All you have to do is write to us with your experiences to [email protected]. Please make sure that you send a picture of yourself to go with the piece and try and keep it under 500 words. Please also include some basic details about yourself. For more details press here

And for previous entries into our Voices from The Coronavirus series press here