The Toilet Roll Archives (5) - Easter Edition
Easter has always been my favourite holiday. It’s a whole lot more stress-free and often sunnier than Christmas, it comes with a four-day weekend, and it means I get to spend the entire day with my family. It’s just a typical Sunday, really, I suppose - just with more chocolate and less jeans (because who wants to be wearing those when devouring roast parsnips?) Plus, my competitive childhood self (which deffo hasn’t extended into adulthood, I swear!) was obsessed with winning Easter egg hunts at my Nanny’s house; one year she tricked us all with hard boiled eggs which was both disgustingly disappointing and disappointingly disgusting.
This year, though, things are going to be a bit different. Normally, at this time on the Saturday before Easter Sunday, I’m getting ready to go and meet my friends in my hometown, dreading the thoughts of waking up tomorrow morning and being forced into attending church because little cousins have begged me to go and the only way they’ll sit there quietly is if I am there too to entertain them / scare them into behaving. This year, I’m sat in my flat in London. My flatmates are playing some weird Xbox game and I’m sat in gym clothes with a hole in my socks; my laptop is balanced on my knees and I’m thinking about uploading my second blog post of the day because I am that bored.
This year, in the midst of the Corona pandemic, my traditional Easter weekend is looking slightly different. Rather than giving my family spherical chocolate treats, I’ve got to make like an egg and stay in my shell.
Of course, I’m not alone. Social distancing rules and quarantining means that families and friends who don’t already live together can’t share the weekend together. And it’s a proper shame tbh. It’s not like I practice religion or anything anymore but my family are Irish Catholics so Easter is technically a bigger deal than Christmas for them and the fact that I’m not there is kind of disappointing. I already know I’m going to have to deal with my mum’s sad wee smile on h0us3par1y tomorrow and her claims that “it’s just different! I knew you should have stayed home!”
If I’m honest, though, being apart from them is much better than living on top of each other for weeks on end, resulting in a tense, tiring Easter that lacks the usual sunny, celebratory happiness a bank holiday brings. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family more than anything. Moving back in with them in the midst of a pandemic, though? Not a chance. Nope. No way. No thank you. That’s why smartphones were invented.
BC (Before Corona), Easter was a Sunday roast with lots of telly, lots of walks and lots of family time. Sounds similar to a regular day of Corona if you ask me. Most of the usual emotional pressure-cooker points BC - like being cooped up together over the Easter or Christmas holidays - have clearly defined exit points. But in a Corona world? We lack that certainty. My friends who have moved into their family homes complain over a lack of personal space and the inability to have any kind of independent time alone.
I wonder if we’ll throwback to Corona (or, if you will, throwbaCorona – end my existence pls) and laugh at how we were left seething with irritability with the people we live with? Maybe we’ll remark on how it has brought us closer together. Who knows. Lack of certainty and all that.
Not like it can be helped, though. I plan on lying on my sofa, potentially going out for a walk at some point, returning to, once again, lie on my sofa. Will video call my family to check in. It will be Day 27 of Quarantine tomorrow and I’m still – somehow – sane.
Happy Easter everyone. Hope you eat your body weight in chocolate. All the love (I’ll ring you tomorrow Mum I promise!) xoxo
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