So here we are, one week into Lockdown 3, which comes after some convoluted tier system that was at best tricky to follow and at worst just plain confusing. Needless to say it's been a long 10 months and the end doesn't appear to be coming into view any time soon.
With that in mind I thought I'd share with you how we have coped since last March and how having a routine has got us through it so far and has us set to push through for a while longer.
We're fortunate enough to have several streaming services available to us, including Prime, Netflix and Disney+.
We tried to set one evening a week aside for each series we wanted to watch and that way we always had something to look forward to. Homeland is always Friday - I can't stand Carrie Matthison and I'm sure we only continue to watch it so Rosie can hear me make some passive-aggressive comment about her character.
Mando-Monday was always worth waiting for. The Mandalorian is such a brilliant series, made better in my opinion by a great (and short) opening sequence and some stunning artwork over the closing credits. It's like there's nothing Jon Favreau can't do. When Mando wasn't on we were working our way through the Bond films from the very beginning. I don't know if people have an overly romanticised memory of Sean Connery but if his films were shown now they should definitely have one of those warnings about "this film contains attitudes that were not acceptable then and are not acceptable now but we've left them in". Connery's Bond is just an awful awful man!
Wednesday was usually film night and likely a Marvel. As we have Disney+ we've been watching the MCU in choronological order, starting with Captain America: The First Avenger. Watching them in sequence means that they make so much more sense than watching in release order. We've just watched Civil War which means I think Spiderman Homecoming is next.
Thursday we tended to do our own thing. Before Lockdown 1 we didn't live together and then we decided to throw ourselves in to it and move in so we could still see each other. But that meant sacrificing all sense of personal space. So we decided that on Thursdays we'd do our own thing, whether that was watch our own TV series separately, or go off and read or do jigsaws. It's important to keep your own interests alive, even (or perhaps especially) in such weird times!
Back in Lockdown 1 there was a YouTube channel called The Shows Must Go On and every weekend they released a different recording of a live show. It started off as just Andrew Lloyd-Webber's but lots went on in the end - Phantom, Cats, Joseph, so many! They were uploaded on Friday and usually available for 48 hours so Saturday night we'd have a good meal and open some prosecco and pretend we were off to the theatre! We still do this sometimes as we have enough films or recordings of musicals that we can fire it up on a Saturday evening and pretend we're off to The Curve or the West End.
Having these little things to look forward to can really help the time pass, especially when so many trips and holidays have been moved or changed or cancelled altogether.
At the end of the evening, just for a bit of light relief, we like to watch something short - a comedy series with episodes only 20-30 minutes long. Since last March we've finished The US Office, Parks and Rec and we're almost finished with The Good Place. Have you got any recommendations for our next comedy series? We've watched an episode of Schitt's Creek which has potential but it would be good to have a back up.
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