I need to rationalise my current behaviour – to
myself.
Like an extension of self-isolating, I want to
self-explain my coping approach. I have
to understand the strategy I’m developing for adjusting to the pandemic. Like everybody else, my objectives are
two-fold, one positive the other negative.
The former is to stay healthy; the latter is
not to burden the NHS.
In sporting parlance, my tactics combine defence and
attack, with some midfield interplay to moderate between them and provide
entertainment.
Defence
Defending oneself from a highly contagious and deadly virus
that has no known curative vaccine means heeding the advice from medical
experts.
When the wise physicians tell
us to wash hands regularly, to avoid contact with people and observe mandatory distancing
guidelines, to stay at home, and to exit only for exercise, essentials and
medical reasons, there is no argument.
Attack
In attack, exercise is an important weapon.
The priority must be to look after the
respiratory system since that is the target of Covid-19.
With all the talk about ventilators, the need
to look after the body’s natural ventilation system is apparent. This must mean
action to exercise heart and lungs.
Weather permitting, my preference is to begin the day
with vigorous activity outdoors.
One
day, that may mean a brisk walk from home; the next, it may involve a bike ride
also from home.
What works best for me is
attacking the hills, climbing while standing up and pumping on the pedals in an
appropriate gear. This raises the
heart-rate, thereby training it to self-adjust naturally on return to a lower
cadence.
Whereas the effort can involve
some pain, the wonderful after-glow especially on fresh sunny spring days - now
that the air has become cleaner - makes it worthwhile.
 |
| One walk: Belvoir Forest, Giants Ring and Terraced Garden |
Charities have been adversely affected by the lockdown,
primarily because of having to cancel fund-raising events many of which are
sporting.
A couple of days into the
lockdown, the peace building charity Co-Operation Ireland launched a Spin It
Out Challenge. Emailing clients, it
asked us to put a princely £1 in a jar every time we go out for a bike ride this
month.
Funds raised will go to the gallant
health services battling on the front lines on both sides of the border.[i]
An irresistible challenge adds purpose to the
exercise.
With gym attendance in abeyance, I am going to yoga
classes online. It acts as a
counter-balance to the aggressive walking and cycling sessions.
The mantra that yogic asanas should be
breath-led assumes added significance in this pandemic.
I have joined my daughter’s very low-cost yoga classes in
Renfrewshire Scotland on a couple of weekdays; and occasionally my niece’s free
yoga class in Calgary Alberta at the weekend.
Different styles of yoga and contrasting
teaching techniques – miles apart, I’m thinking - add interest and variety to
the surreal experience of communing with others far away.
Mid-field
The strategist in me aims to flood the midfield with
creative players. Explain.
It jolts normal routine having to adjust to the
shutting-down of our favourite local venues.
These include the Queens Film Theatre, the MAC (metropolitan arts
centre), the Lyric Theatre, the Ulster Museum, and night classes at Queen’s
University’s school of Open Learning. The public is deprived of live music, drama,
further education and art.
Life’s not fair.
Fear not, however, as the arts across the stricken globe
have been finding creative ways to fill the voids.
Many of the world’s top museums and art
galleries as well as our local arts organisations continue to connect with
their audiences.
In a constantly
deteriorating situation, captive adults (and children) are more receptive than
ever to their delights. Barred from live
shows, the next best thing is to sample the offerings on-line in the comfort of
home.
Some of the world’s most famous museums and galleries[ii] are letting us enjoy a
virtual visit. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Museo Frida Kahlo in Mexico, the
British Museum in London; not to mention monuments like the Taj Mahal in India,
the Great Pyramid at Giza in Egypt, the Colosseum in Rome, Machu Pichu in Peru;
and great cultural institutions like the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Sydney
Opera House – these and many more are responding to the emergency.
At home, I will be visiting the Uffizi Galleries
in Florence very soon, doing so with no impact on my carbon footprint and
without sore feet.
The pandemic will
need to last a long time to get round even a few of these magnificent attractions.
The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is opening its epic
archive of filmed concerts.[iii]
I have watched some of their free Easter
Festival presented live from the Orchestra’s concert hall.
The mid-week programme in Holy Week concentrated
on Mahler, including selected footage from the Orchestra’s archived film. It interspersed these horn-filled Mahlerian
epics with live recital from the Berlin stage by one or two musicians.
The Easter
Sunday programme includes music by Prokofiev, Ravel, Bruckner, Mozart and
Mussorksky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
The
phrase goes – what is there not to like.
And our neighbours in Edinburgh, the RSNO (the Royal
Scottish National Symphony Orchestra) has broadcast footage, recorded in
February 2020, from its Friday Night Club.[iv] Appropriately for Good Friday the aired concert
featured Brahms’s German Requiem.
For
further listening, the RSNO online playlist includes Beethoven Eroica symphony
no 3 (aired on 27 March) and Saint-Saens organ symphony no 3 (3 April).
Meanwhile in Belfast, the Ulster Orchestra has been
releasing a daily film clip of its musicians individually under the banner of
Lets Play at Home.[v]
Every day at 3 pm, the public is being treated
to a skilled professional performing solo (accompanied on occasion by a partner
or friend).
The musician plays
well-known classical, film, children’s and other music from the privacy of
their own homes.
This is a good example
of providing something for everyone – with the added personal touch. The clips are posted to YouTube. And all of this provided free while the
Orchestra is starved of box office revenue.
Likewise the QFT, Queens Film Theatre, has made available
some classic feature films as well as filmed productions of theatrical
productions.
On the weekend of 3 April,
for example, I watched the 2019 production by the Lyric Theatre of “Abomination:
a DUP Opera” in its entirety.
The next
day, I read a post from the Northern Ireland Arts Council praising the play for
winning the recent Irish Times award for best opera production.
Any slight prior apprehension about the
subject matter was soon dismissed by a production which deserved its new
accolade for best opera.
Family bonding
Family groups are dealing with the privations in their
own creative ways.
This geographically dispersed family, for
example, has held a weekly UK-wide quiz on my favourite new app, Zoom.
I must admit to never having heard of Zoom
until Covid-19 appeared; now, it seems, that its usage has magnified
exponentially as families everywhere enjoy conference calls writ large.
This weekend, to vary the routine, our group
of six families will play bingo.
The press is replete with examples of how imaginative
people cope with the restrictions of quarantining.
One of the best that caught my attention is
the story of Molly O’Cathain, a 27 year old theatre designer at London’s National Theatre.[vi]
She became stranded at home in Dublin with
her parents Liz and Brian when the lockdown was imposed.
To cope, she has “conjured a portrait every
day,” and not just any old portrait.
Hers are based on artists like Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dali and Gustave Klimt –
“that cast her parents, both 60, as leads in famous paintings.”
 |
| Molly O'Cathain's parents as the lovers in Gustav Klimt's The Kiss, complete with Ikea cushions |
How brilliant
is that?
©Michael McSorley 2020
[i]Cooperation
Ireland Spin It Out Challenge https://www.facebook.com/CooperationIreland/?epa=SEARCH_BOX
[ii]
The Irish Times Gemma Tipton Ticket 28 March 2020 “A Masterpiece in your Living
Room? Virtual Journeys through Great Art” https://artsandculture.google.com/project/street-view
[iii] Berlin
Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall “Free Our Easter @Philharmonie Festival
[v]
Ulster Orchestra Lets Play at Home. https://www.ulsterorchestra.org.uk/whats-on/let-s-play-at-home!/
[vi]
Observer 5 April 2020 Tim Adams “Dubliners Recreate Masters to Beat the
Boredom.”
Thanks for some ideas Michael
ReplyDeleteI’ve always wanted to go to the Uffizi!
ReplyDelete