I’ve been surprised at how quickly we become acclimatised to the new normal. Just like the grieving process there seems to be a “lockdown process”, and although different for everyone depending on your circumstances, I am currently in a very different place to the one I was in seven weeks ago, possibly because I’ve entered the acceptance phase. The direct debits have been cancelled, I’ve fired out as many offers of help to neighbours as I can, my weekly menu plans mean we live in a zero food-waste household, and best of all, coming up to a slightly scary big birthday I think I’m the fittest I’ve been in years. Mr WIAA and I worked out yesterday that in terms of miles covered (purely for exercise of course), we could have walked to Aberdeen and back during the lockdown period, a distance of 200 miles.
I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers:
Before anyone thinks I’m starting to sound smug, I am still a tad concerned at how on earth we are going to get our businesses back up and running any time soon, but the blind panic I was experiencing at the beginning has certainly dissipated somewhat. It is a bit of a worry that my mum is in a local care home and I haven’t been able to visit her since the beginning of March, but so far the virus has been kept at bay, which is great. Every time I phone it feels like I am interrupting all the fun, and although she appreciates the call, she can’t wait to get back to what she was doing, painting rainbows or making VE Day bunting with her friends. I think the dynamic in the care home has changed in that it has become so much more self-contained by necessity, and they have become one big family, not having to open up for visitors all day long. It costs a lot, and a week of care home charges could subsidise DD for a month, but I can certainly sleep easy which is good.
Speaking of DD, we have seen more of her in the last seven weeks than we have in years as an awful lot of FaceTiming has been going on. When your offspring first leave home you pine for them and are desperate for them to call home, but realise they are busy with their new lives so try to remain patient. Turns out that during a global pandemic it’s not an issue, and we sometimes even have to cut the call short in order to free ourselves up for the latest instalment of our current boxset (but we won’t tell her that). Families also come together in a way they might not have done in decades. We have a weekly quiz night with Mr WIAA’s extended family who are scattered all over the country and even hosted our own for the first time on Wednesday night. I’d like to say it went well, and it did up to a point, but we totally messed up the scores on the doors and there was ensuing dissidence in the ranks. Fortunately we pulled it back and gave people their correct standings by the time we closed the meeting, so honour was restored.
We Are Family by Sister Sledge:
This bit of blogging is mainly for my own benefit as I no longer keep a paper diary so my blog is going to be my only record of the times we are living through. I do have a few musical posts in my back pocket however so want to get back to them soon or else the moment will pass. Somehow we are going to have to learn to live with this new virus, as a permanent life in lockdown until there is a safe vaccine is just not an option. We all have our own views on that, and a scary premise indeed, but just as we’ve kind of quickly got used to the whole lockdown scenario, we will have to get used to living in a way that minimises the health risk and preserves the capacity of our NHS. Difficult times indeed.
Before I go, many of you will have spotted the Flower Moon in our skies this week. I have written about it before for my Full Moon Calendar In Song series but the one on Wednesday night was the last supermoon of the year, so was particulary bright. In fact it was so bright I thought I’d left the outside light on and mistakenly got up to switch it off. It kind of caught you in its spotlight making you want to go dancing in the moonlight. Cue Thin Lizzy from 1977.
Dancing In The Moonlight (It’s Caught Me In Its Spotlight) by Thin Lizzy:
I remember well watching Phil Lynott and the rest of the band on TOTP around this time and was always fascinated by their hair. Back in those days, the plethora of hair conditioning products available to us now just didn’t exist, yet his guitarist bandmate Scott Gorham had the most gorgeous long, shiny hair. As a teenage girl I was indeed jealous. As for Phil, he seemed to have managed to cultivate a “do” that covered his left eye, which was unusual for that time.
Looking at these lyrics now, it’s a song that reminds me of those teenage years when plucking up the courage to ask for that last dance can be so pivotal, and let’s face it, who hasn’t got chocolate stains on their “pants” at the cinema (heck I once dropped a whole ice-cream). You stay out too late and miss the last bus, so have to tell your parents you’re staying with a friend. All worthwhile however as you’ve been caught in the spotlight on a long hot summer night.
Until next time….
Dancing In The Moonlight (It’s Caught Me In Its Spotlight)
(Song by Phil Lynott)
When I passed you in the doorway
Well you took me with a glance
I should have took that last bus home
But I asked you for a dance
Now we go steady to the pictures
I always get chocolate stains on my pants
And my father he’s going crazy
He says I’m living in a trance
But I’m dancing in the moonlight
It’s caught me in its spotlight
It’s alright, alright
Dancing in the moonlight
On this long hot summer night
It’s three o’clock in the morning
And I’m on the streets again
I disobeyed another warning
I should have been in by ten
Now I won’t get out until Sunday
I’ll have to say I stayed with friends
But it’s a habit worth forming
If it means to justify the end
Dancing in the moonlight
It’s caught me in its spotlight
It’s alright, alright
Dancing in the moonlight
On this long hot summer night
And I’m walking home
The last bus has long gone
But I’m dancing in the moonlight
[Instrumental]
Dancing in the moonlight
It’s caught me in its spotlight
It’s alright, alright
Dancing in the moonlight
On this long hot summer night
Dancing in the moonlight (I’m dancing in the moonlight)
It’s caught me in its spotlight (It’s caught me in in it’s spotlight)
Dancing in the moonlight (dancing in the moonlight)
On this long hot summer night (It’s got me hot)
What's It All About? 
I’m glad you’re finding ways to deal with, if not completely accept, the current circumstances, Alyson. Keep looking for the positives.
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I think we just get used to things but surprised at how so many of us have adapted so quickly. Definitely want to keep some of the things going that we’ve now started – The daily hour of exercise, the menu planning, the keeping in touch with family a bit more. Time will tell, but none of us are going back to how it used to be for a fair while, if ever. That could be a good thing.
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You know, Thin Lizzy made a lasting impact. You still their music on certain radio stations. The song of theirs that you chose is a terrific one.
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Gosh, I hadn’t realised that Thin Lizzy made an impact across the pond. Yes, I love the lyrics in their “moon song”. Phil was kind of in the wrong age bracket to sing them but they would have resonated with so many.
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It is interesting, I think, how many of us have quickly found ways to streamline our lives – although in this household what we’ve been saving on making our loo rolls last longer (we’re fast becoming origami experts…) seems to have ended up going on chocolate digestives. I don’t know why, we never used to have biscuits in the house, but suddenly we’ve had cravings!
So glad to hear your mum is ok in the care home and clearly enjoying the pastimes. Very impressed by your quiz too (Feel free to borrow any ‘mystery lovechild’ images if you fancy throwing them into the mix any time!)
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Yes, I did start out having an awful panic (mostly about the economic side of things to be fair) but as time’s gone by I’ve got used to the fact things will not get back to what we were used to for an awful long time, if ever (which might be a good thing in the long run). We’re definitely going to keep up the exercise and the menu planning as I feel healthier than I have in years (which is ironic considering we are living through a health crisis). Don’t feel guilty about the chocolate digestives – Suddenly such treats have become massive luxuries and we are appreciating them more.
My mum really is doing fine but that’s because they seem to having lots of things to do and the home has kept the virus at bay. It happened with my granny who spent 4 years in our local hospital after having a stroke – Her family became the nurses who looked after her and her face lit up when they came into the room, when we came into the room, not so much.
My quiz is a bit lowbrow and not particularly musically orientated but seemed to fit all age groups and abilities. Thanks for the offer of using the mystery lovechild pictures – They could make for a really good new quiz round.
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I saw Thin Lizzy in April 1979, a few days after my 19th birthday. A friend and I hung around at the stage door after the gig in the hope of getting the band’s autographs. We’d do this for most hometown shows and eventually amassed a fairly large collection. On this particular night, drummer Brian Downey appeared first giving us a cheery smile and happily signing our programmes. In contrast, Gary Moore was the next out of the door, but refused to acknowledge our presence and actively went out of his way to avoid us. He walked out of the band a couple of months later in the middle of a major US tour. Perhaps tensions were already high, which might explain his sour mood that night. Then there was a long wait. A very long wait. The little gaggle of fellow autograph hunters disappeared one by one, until it was just myself and my mate left. Some time after midnight Phil Lynott and Scott Gorham stumbled through the door, quite tipsy, but genuinely lovely people and surprised to find anyone still hanging around. They stood and chatted with us for a few minutes before being summoned to their tour bus by their impatient road manager. Good times.
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Great story. Yes it seems Gary Moore was not in the right frame of mind for chatting to autograph hunters on that occasion. Nice of Phil and Scott to have a chat though – Until I wrote this post I didn’t know the name of the guitarist with the lovely long shiny hair but I was always jealous. Sad to think Phil was no longer with us only 7 years later.
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What a lovely story from TS!
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