The Extreme Staycation

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown Good Friday The weather has been absolutely beautiful recently.  I find that in the UK, the Easter weekend is either gorgeous like this or flipping cold and miserable - one extreme or the other! However, the good weather has not helped encourage people to stay inside and there have been ridiculous reports of the police having to break up hundreds of house parties.   I truly don't get it - literally thousands of people have died and are unwell - if there has ever been a time to be unselfish and think about our personal impact on society and the world, it's now. The best analogy I've heard is this (it's a little crude, apologies): Imagine the world is a swimming pool.  Someone pees in the pool.  Do you still want to risk getting in the pool? On a more positive note, here is a BAFTA winning filmmaker doing his bit: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/apr/08/bafta-winning-film-ma...

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown I am a Londoner born and raised.  As an actor, I have travelled to pretty much every corner of the city for auditions, rehearsals, performances etc so I feel I know this sprawling metropolis pretty well.   One of my favourite things to do, is to walk through London with no particular place to be.  It's the best way to explore any city.  I love all the sights and sounds and smells you get to experience when wandering along. And London is so immense that there is never going to be a shortage of places to explore, of new discoveries to be made, new views to be seen. One of my favourite quotes is this well known one:  'Sir,  when  a man is  tired  of  London , he is  tired  of  life ; for there is in  London  all that  life can  afford.' ... Samuel Johnson, to which I totally agree. And right now, I miss my city.  It's b...

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown Many many people will now be earning less money. But here are some things I am saving money by not buying/spending on: Take away coffee Make-up Oyster card The gym Going out to dinner/the pub/cinema/theatre etc I don't know if this is good or bad, I'm not going to label it.  I just wonder if/when we come out of this if my priorities will have changed.  If my habits will alter.  It will interesting to find out. Supermarkets have now sensibly brought in stricter rules about numbers of people allowed in shops at any time and advised us to queue outside, at a suitable social distance and because we are British WE ARE ABSOLUTELY NAILING IT.  The one thing we can do, is queue.

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown Last night, I logged on to Zoom with 6 of my friends and we took part in a pub quiz.  We were viewing on YouTube but it was also being broadcast on Facebook.  Apparently live viewing figures topped out at 300,000. 300,000 people! And actually, it was probably more than that, because there were in fact 6 additional people watching the one screen via Zoom so surely the number must have been even higher! Anyway, the important point is that we got 34/50 which I think is pretty decent. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-52065425 I look forward to next week's challenge! Nice thing today is a picture of a quokka .  Just because they're unbelievably cute and look like they are smiling:

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown As of Monday night we, the UK, are on lockdown. Like a lot of people, I was relieved that this was finally being enforced.  It seems that this is the only way to beat this thing, so let's start now so we can get past it. I've been heartened by many people's responses - Adam Garcia giving beginners tap classes on Instagram , Davina McCall making her website free for 30 days, Audible giving 30 days free access to children's books and many more. I have three predictions: 1. There will be a baby boom in December 2. There will be a large number of divorce petitions by June 3. Home burglary rates will dramatically decrease (probably the opposite for businesses sadly) For my part, I'm going to follow the government's advise, I think it is the socially responsible thing to do.